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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.
The term Swabian
Turkey was
virtually
unknown to most
of the emigrants
who left for the
United States
and Canada.
In the past it
was primarily
used by
researchers and
now serves as a
way of
identifying the
region that
shared a common
history and
experience.
News & Latest
Additions . . .
New:
Lifestyles Images
New:
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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