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Introduction To Swabian Turkey By Henry Fischer The designation Swabian Turkey refers to three bordering counties of southwest Hungary south of Lake Balaton with the Danube River forming their eastern boundary. They are the counties of Baranya, Somogy and Tolna. The term itself is an attempt at describing the fact that this area contained the largest concentration of Danube Swabians in what would remain of Hungary after the First World War, numbering over 200,000. The local population had been decimated during the 150 year Turkish occupation and this virtually uninhabited territory received the first of the German-speaking settlers responding to the invitation of Emperor Charles VI to settle in Hungary. They were the vanguard of the future Danube Swabians. They came from various principalities in southwest Germany that were part of the Holy Roman Empire. The first of the settlers in this area were Swabians and arrived as early as 1688, forerunners of the streams of settlers that headed down the Danube throughout the 18th century that history would remember as the Great Swabian Migration. Despite the aftermath of the mass expulsions of the Danube Swabians of Hungary between 1946-1948 their descendants still living there have now marked over three hundred years of their sojourn in the Heimat they brought to birth in a wilderness and called it their home.
Unlike the
settlements in
the Banat and
Batschka that
were primarily
established on
Crown Lands and
subsidized by
the ruler, in
Swabian Turkey
they were
located on the
estates of
private
landlords:
nobles,
churchmen and
military
officers who
enticed them to
leave the
Imperial
transports
heading to the
Banat to settle
on their
domains.
This would lead
to a totally
different
experience on
their part that
would shape and
form their
communities.
Large numbers of
the settlers who
followed the
Swabians came
from the
Bishopric of
Fulda,
Württemberg, the
Pfalz
(Rhine/Palatinate)
and Hesse.
The Hessians who
settled in Tolna
County on the
estates of Count
von Mercy were
Lutherans and
Reformed and
were among the
earliest
settlers to
arrive along
with a Patent
from the Emperor
that promised
them the freedom
to practice
their religion. News & Latest Site Additions . . .
I'm the Mayor in Györköny.
I was very happy, when I read information on DVHH about
Györköny. We have website:
www.gyorkony.hu.
You can read this website in Hungarian, we try German and
English too. We make the English version soon.
Gerényes in Baranya County -
By Anonymous,
presented by Henry Fischer - Experiences of
a teen age girl from the village of Gerenyes in Baranya County in Swabian
Turkey, who desires to remain anonymous. Her story is very much like those
from the Batshcka and the Banat but with a different twist because it
occurred in Hungary. Bonyhád: A Market Town in Tolna - by Henry Fischer. The early history of the community it also identifies some of the original settlers and their places of origin. Several sources were used for research, including the church records. (17 Mar 2009) Kötcse in Somogy County (Information is taken from an article published by Johann Müller of Bissingen-an-der-Enz and formerly of Bonnya, Somogy County, Hungary.) (17 Mar 2009) Village Images additions 09 Oct 2008 Závod in the Tolna - A summary and partial translation of sections of the Heimatbuch: Závod in der Tolna by Anton Mayer. Translated by Henry Fischer, 2008. Gadács and Szil: The Two Sisters - The history of two of the Danube Swabian villages in Somogy County leading up to the expulsion in 1948 that attempts to provide the historical context and consequences of the Potsdam Declaration as it applied to the Danube Swabians of Hungary after the Second World War and the expulsion of their populations as an example of what happened all over Hungary at that time. - Henry Fischer, 14 Jun 2008 Emigration From Somogy County To Slavonia and the United States. A sociological take on the disproportionate numbers of Swabians who left Somogy at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries and actually provides information on individuals and villages from that area (including my own grandfather). - Henry Fischer, 15 May 2008
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Swabian
Turkey
Schwäbische Türkei Last updated: 07 Jan 2010
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