Danube Swabians in Syrmien, Croatia, Slavonia & Bosnia

The German Population and the Revolution of 1848

  Political life in Croatian and Slavonia before the Revolution was a mirror and reflection of neighboring Hungary.  In both countries, first place on the political spectrum were the nobles and their agenda.  The urban citizens in Hungary, however, were awakening to issues that had no counterpart in Croatia and Slavonia.  German speaking nobles were landlords in Croatia and supported the aspirations of the nobility of Hungary and as a special interest group they took their cue from Budapest.  The nationality question was of no consequence to them.  The German nobles also had no interest in “national” politics as Germans.  The “national” movements began among the urban populations fed on “romanticism”, mostly the poorer classes who felt discriminated against and the watchword became “Volk” (Folk) and “folk language.”  The Germans formed the largest single element in the urban settlements and went over to identifying with the Croatian aspirations and gave up their mother tongue.

 

  Most of the Croatian Nationalists were of German origin and had German names!  This was often through marriage.  Bishop Strossmayer is one important example.  In his case it became fanaticism.  But under the surface this was not the cultural and social movement born out of romanticism, but ethnic identification, another word for nationalism and racism and had political implications:  the unification of the South Slavs.  There was the demand for the use of the Croatian language by the government administration over against the use of Latin in the Counties and German in the courts.  After 1840 this became more and more contentious.

 

    In Essegg and other communities with a large German population they sided with the nationalist movement and supported their aspirations early in 1848 over the language issue.  They would support opposition against the Hungarian attempts to suppress such a movement.  In a petition they said the following:

 

  “We all desire to be united with Croatia as we always have been, but without breaking away from Hungary.  We are happy to accept the use of the Croatian language in all of the affairs of the city governance; but we will also continue to use our own language in out life and commerce…”

 

  The Croatian Nationalist became more strident and by May of 1848 they introduced the use of Croatian in all of the affairs of Weretz County.  The German population was caught between the rival nationalistic groups and had to make a choice and sided with the pro-Hungarian party.  They were attracted by the liberalism of Kossuth and a proposed new constitution with broader freedoms.  That act was a reflection of the basic liberalism of the German population in Essegg, which were the ideals of the French Revolution.

  The Banus (Governor) Jelacic opposed the aspirations of the Hungarian rebels and sided with the German-Austrian Emperor, while the German population of Slavonia and Croatia by and large followed the lead of Essegg in support of Kossuth and his allies.  To the horror of Jelacic, in April 1848 the Hungarian rebels abolished serfdom and declared that all nobles and commoners were equals!

 

  May 30, 1848 the mayor of Essegg, Alois Schmidt left for Budapest to declare the city of Essegg loyal to the Revolution.  The next day, the Town Council refused to accept or acknowledge Jelacic as the Banus and sent no representatives to Agram to a meeting of the Sabor to avoid participating in his installation.  Jelacic would never forget that.  He would later disenfranchise the citizens when he occupied the city and threatened to deport them to the United States.  It was only in 1850 that the German citizens regained their civic rights.

 

  In Srem things came a head before 1845.  Eastern Srem was heavily pro-Serbian, while western Srem was won over by the pro-Hungarian party.  The Germans by and large sided with the Hungarians but not in an overt or political way.  Ruma was an exception where the German population supported the Serbs.  But this would not last long.  By April 26, 1848 the German citizens complained to the County Administrator about the agitation of the Serbian youth who sowed hatred among the nationalities and threatened to beat up the German population of Ruma.  Other communities, like Semlin also wrote letters of complaint to the same effect.  This did not sit well with the Serbian Nationalist leadership who sought to control the Wojwodina where the largest German settlements were located.  The Military Frontier District was still under Hungarian control, but most of the officers were German and they needed to be won over.  The Serbian leadership prepared a proclamation addressed to: 

    

To Our German Brothers

 

  “The Serbian nation has been forced to preserve its national rights and freedoms by taking up the sword for the sake of its religion, traditions and customs, its language and nationality, in the face of the threats of the newly situated Magyar government, which we will oppose forever.

 

  The Serbian nation recognizes every religion, nationality, language, traditions, and customs, the right to life and ownership of every individual German brother and citizen.  The Serbian nation is not warring against German brothers, their religion, life, nationality or traditions to destroy them, nor their life, home and lands to destroy, plunder or rob, because such cruelties are not consistent with our own national character.

  Therefore, German brothers we acknowledge before God and all nations, that the Serbian nation and its military power has no aggressive intention against you, our German brothers, nor will we limit your religious or citizenship rights, on the contrary we will protect these rights as we face a common enemy and honor our loyalty to his Majesty, the Emperor, Ferdinand I, as a guarantee of your rights forever.

 

  BUT WE ALSO ISSUE THIS WARNING…all those Germans who oppose us or go over to the enemy will be treated as our enemies.

 

  Long live the Emperor, and King, Ferdidnand I, long live the German and Serbian people.  Long live our Brotherhood.”

 

  The relations between the local populations were strained.  On the local scene the Serbian population did not reflect their leadership’s actions and attitudes towards the Germans.  Violence broke out in many communities this was especially true in India.  The priests of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches both got into the act.  On the whole the German and Slovak populations wanted no part in these conflicts but were physically forced to support the Serbs.  The relations between the Serbs and the Roman Catholic population in particular continued to get worse and worse.

 

  The Serbian leadership began to mobilize the entire population regardless of nationality or religious confession.  This led to unrest and rebellion among the German population, especially in the Military Frontier District.  Troops had to be sent in to restore order and arrested Swabians and took them to Karlowitz to the military barracks.  The Serbs declared the Wojwodina a part of their state and were faced by the opposition of the Roman Catholic population.  In response to the Serbian provocations, the Roman Catholic population became more and more pro-Hungarian.  As long as the Hungarians and Serbs battled one another anarchy reigned in the Wojwodina.  Plundering, murder and robbery were the order of the day.  The Serbian population simply ran amok.  The Germans, like those in Bukowitz suffered greatly at their hands…

 

Next: The Removal of the German Language from Government and School