Germans of Serbia
Total population | |
---|---|
4,064 (2011) | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Roman Catholicism and Protestant sects | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Danube Swabians, Banat Swabians, Germans of Romania, Germans of Hungary, Germans of Croatia |
The Germans of Serbia (Serbian: Nemci u Srbiji/Немци у Србији, German: Serbiendeutsche) are an ethnic minority of Serbia which numbers 4,064 people according to last population census from 2011.[1] The Germans of Serbia usually refer to themselves as Swabian (Schwaben, Švabe), and they are grouped into the Danube Swabians or Banat Swabians in the Vojvodina region, where the majority of the population resides. Germans settled parts of Serbia in the late 17th century during Habsburg administration. The German population of Vojvodina was more numerous in the past (about 350,000 before World War II). More than 250,000 left during the withdrawal of Nazi forces. As a consequence of the World War II events in Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav Communist government took a reprisals on ethnic citizens of German origin in Yugoslavia (including Vojvodina): they had their citizenship revoked and their belongings and houses were nationalized and taken from them. Between 1944 and 1946, a prison camp system was established for Yugoslav citizens of German origin, usually in settlements where they lived. After prison camps were abolished, ethnic Germans of Yugoslavia regained their rights and citizenship and most of them emigrated to Germany or Austria in the following years because of economic reasons.
Demographics
Most of the Germans (3,272) are living in the autonomous Vojvodina region, with sizable number (498) also in Belgrade region.
Year | Germans | % |
---|---|---|
1900 | 336,430 | 23.5% |
1910 | 324,180 | 21.4% |
1921 | 335,902 | 21.9% |
1931 | 328,631 | 20.2% |
1948 | 41,460 | 0.63% |
1953 | 46,228 | 0.66% |
1961 | 14,533 | 0.19% |
1971 | 9,086 | 0.11% |
1981 | 5,302 | 0.06% |
1991 | 5,172 | 0.07% |
2002 | 3,901 | 0.05% |
2011 | 4,064[2] | 0.06% |
Early History
The history of Germans in the territory of present-day Serbia (in Serbian, the population is referred to as Podunavski Nemci/Švabe, in English as Danube Swabians, and in German as Donauschwaben) dates back to the turn of the seventeenth century and is connected with the withdrawal of the Ottoman Empire from Pannonia. At that time, the Habsburg state began establishing settlements in the areas abandoned by the Turks.[3]
Germans started to settle in the territory of present-day Serbia in the end of the 17th century, when
In 1918, following the dissolution of
In the interwar period,
World War II occupation
During the occupation in the Banat, the Backa, Baranja, and Croatia, after April 1941, the German authorities in control of the region recruited ethnic Germans for Waffen SS by way of conscription.[4]
During the
Debate between different groups exists as to whether or not the violence that occurred against ethnic Germans in the Yugoslav region during this time was in fact genocide.[7]
Post-WWII
In the latter half of the war and post war period (between 1945-1948), of the ethnic German civilians left in the Yugoslav region, approximately 51,000 men, women, and children died in camps where the conditions were maintained to cause death.[8]
After the region was liberated by the Soviet Red Army in late 1944, some ethnic Germans fled the Banat region; approximately three-fifths stayed and subsequently suffered by way of disenfranchisement and incarceration due to their association with the Nazi regime.[5]
Summary
The German military defeat in World War II resulted in flight or imprisonment of the almost entire German community (which numbered about 350,000[citation needed]) in Serbia's territory. It is estimated that about 200,000 Germans were evacuated during the flight of the German army from Serbian territory, while about 140,000 who remained in the country were sent to prison camps run by the new communist authorities. After prison camps were dissolved (in 1948), most of the remaining German population left Serbia because of economic reasons.[citation needed]
Present Day
In 2007, the minority formed a national council for the first time since the Second World War.[9] In the 2000s several monuments to the pre-war German population have been erected.[10] In 2008 the Association of Danube Swabians requested that the government of the city of Sremska Mitrovica exhume the bodies of Germans who died in a post-war camp in the town.[11]
-
Provinces of theHabsburg Monarchyin the territory of present-day Serbia, 1718-1739
-
Banat Republic, proclaimed in 1918
-
Republic of Banatia, proposed in 1920
-
South German buffer state, planned in 1941
Notable people
Main article:Category:Serbian people of German descent
- Ivan Bek
- Lujza Mišić
- Ignjat Sopron
- Đorđe Vajfert
- Helmar Müller, West German olympic track and field athlete
- Anna Stein, West German olympic artistic gymnast
See also
References
- ^ http://media.popis2011.stat.rs/2012/Nacionalna%20pripadnost-Ethnicity.pdf
- ISBN 978-86-6161-023-3.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISSN 2450-8462.
- ^ "Axis Invasion of Yugoslavia". encyclopedia.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
- ^ ISSN 0022-0094.
- ^ Christopher Ailsby, Hitler's renegades: foreign nationals in the service of the Third Reich, Brassey's, 2004. (p. 158)
- ISSN 1944-8953.
- ISSN 8756-6583.
- ^ "B92 - News - Society - Serbia's Germans form national council". Archived from the original on 2009-08-12. Retrieved 2007-12-16.
- ^ Developer unearths memories of banished German minority in Serbia, The Canadian Press[dead link]
- ^ Association of Danube Swabians proposing to exhume bodies of former camp inmates in Sremska Mitrovica[dead link]
Literature
- Zoran Janjetović (2009). Nemci u Vojvodini. INIS. ISBN 978-86-7005-073-0.
- Nenad Stefanović, Jedan svet na Dunavu, Beograd, 2003.
- Dr Anđelija Ivkov, Demografska slika Vojvodine, Beograd, 2006.
- Saša Kicošev; Drago Njerovan (2013) [2010], Razvoj etničke i verske strukture Vojvodine, Novi Sad: Prometej, ISBN 978-86-87513-20-4
- Borislav Jankulov (2003) [1961], Pregled kolonizacije Vojvodine u XVIII i XIX veku, Matica Srpska
- Dragomir Jankov, Vojvodina - propadanje jednog regiona, Novi Sad, 2004.
Further reading
- Aleksandar Krel (2010), Etnički identitet: Nemci u Vojvodini : doktorska disertacija
- Krel, A., 2012. Sprechen sie deutsch? German language and revitalization of ethnic identity of the Germans in Bačka. Glasnik Etnografskog instituta SANU, 60(2), pp.171-185.
External links
- Official Website by the Germans of Serbia: Nacionalni savet nemačke nacionalne manjine