Description
of Coat of Arms
Gold
and white are separated by a wavy blue chevron; the upper area has
a black eagle spiced with red; below is a white fortress with six towers and a
red-roofed building on green arable soil above which float the shining golden
sun on the right and the white waning moon on the left.
The
left
and right
are described-as customary in heraldry, not from the viewpoint of the observer,
but rather from the eyes of the knight on a horse.
Meaning
of the Symbols and Colors of the Coat of Arms
As
a distinctive imperial sign the eagle holds his wings protectively over the
Pannonian countryside (Roman province) in the central region of the Danube and
symbolizes the obligation of the Holy Roman Emperor to protect those borders of
the Empire. The emperor Charlemagne
chose the eagle as imperial symbol in the 9th century.
Since the 12th century it has represented power and unity as the German coat of arms.
The
wavy chevron symbolizes the Danube-the river of destiny for the new
ethnic group on which the ancestors traveled in box-boats called "Ulmer
Schachtel" (named after the city of embarkation, Ulm).
They settled on both sides of the central Danube region from the Raab
River in the north-west to the Iron Gate in the south-east, partially as the
emperor's guards along the defensive military border (protecting against further
attacks). A German landscape was thereby created. The geographical aspect of
this group's name refers to the Danube, however, the ethnic content does not
refer to a regional dialect, but rather to a ethnological and historical
factors-combined with settlement and folklore-and has become an understandable
expression. Amidst fertile farmland which
the Danube-Swabians made arable stands the strong fortress of Temeschburg (Timisoara),
a symbol of the imperial, German defense fortifications and military border
against the Turks. The fortress is flanked by the half-moon, the temporal symbol
of Islam representing the Turkish threat to Europe which was declining during
the 17th and 18th centuries; then there is the bright rising sun, symbol of
Christ, who is honored as the sun of justice and true light-a focal point for
the future, and therefore representing victory and a new beginning for the
Western, Christian culture against barbarity and retreating Islam. This victory
was accomplished in the Pannonian basin during the 18th century. The six towers
of the fortress represent the six main regions of settlement for the Danube-Swabians:
Kis (Little) Alföld (the mountains of south-western Hungary), Swabian Turkey
(south of Lake Balaton), Slavonia-Syrmia, Batschka, Banat, Sathmar with the
Crisana-Maramures region.
The
coat of Arms shows Germany's national colors-black, red and gold, and
the Danube-Swabian ethnic colors-white and green. Black-red-gold, the symbol of
German unification as well as colors of the German League, are incorporated into
the coat of arms because Danube-Swabian history developed within the framework
of the Holy Roman Empire (under Germanic kings) until 1806.
White
is the symbol for the peaceful sentiments of Danube-Swabians; green represents
hope and also the new fields of their homeland which were cultivated to become
an important grain region.
Coat
of arms originator: Hans Diplich, 1950
(1909-1990)
Authored
by: Hans
Sonnleitner
The
Arrival of the Danube Swabians into Hungary by Stefan Jäger (“Die
Einwanderung der Deutschen in Ungarn”)
Stefan Jäger
(1877-1922) Self-Portrait
Who
are the Danube Swabians ?
The
Danube Swabians are those German colonists,
who settled during the three “Great Swabian Migrations” in Hungary (see map before WW I).
The colonization was done by explicit invitation of the Hungarian Landlords,
during the reign of the Habsburger as Emperors of the “Holy Roman Empire of
German Nation”; to repopulate the land after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire
by a contingency of German-Austrian allied forces (1683-1718). They became first
known as the “Ungarländische Deutschen” (German-Hungarians). After the
dismantling of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire at the end of WW I by the allied
Nations, the regions the Germans had settled in Hungary were divided among three
nations, Hungary, Romania and the newly created Yugoslavia, thus making the
collective name “Ungarländische Deutschen” for the Germans no longer valid.
The
name “Danube Swabians” was
coined in 1920 by Robert Sieger (Geographer from Graz) and Dr. Hermann Rüdiger
(Scientist from Stuttgart) and defined by the German Foreign Department in 1930,
during the Weimar Republic, acknowledging the German origin of the Danube
Swabians. The Germans realized that, left unassisted and divided among
Romanians, Yugoslavs and Hungarians, the Danube Swabians would not be able to
resist assimilation attempts and as an ethnic group would disappear and with
them a culture and values worth preserving. This collective name would identify
and better describe the Germans, whose ancestors settled in Hungary during the
three “Great Swabian Migrations”.
The
name derived from the German province of Swabia (Schwaben), and the Danube (Duna/Donau)
River. The name Danube derived from the Celtic word Danubius their name for the
Danube. However, the name was not personally used by the “Danube
Swabians”, the youngest of the German “Volksgruppe“ (folks groups),
until after their expulsion by the Communist Governments of their respective
countries after WW II. The Danube Swabians are also referred to as “Donau-Deutsche”
meaning Danube Germans.
By
Hans Kopp
Wer
sind die Donauschwaben?
Die
„Donauschwaben“ sind jene deutschen Kolonisten, die während der drei „Großen
Schwabenzügen“ unter der Regierung der Habsburger, Kaiser des „Heiligen römischen
Reiches deutscher Nation“, nach der Schlacht von verbündeten Truppen aus
deutsch-österreichischen Ländern gegen die Türken (1683-1718), auf ausdrücklichen
Wunsch der ungarischen Adeligen in Ungarn angesiedelt wurden (siehe Landkarte
vor dem ersten Weltkrieg). Sie waren vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg als „Ungarländische
Deutsche“ bekannt. Nach dem Zerfall der Österreich-Ungarischen Monarchie, als
Folgen des Ersten Weltkrieges, wurden die Siedlungsgebiete der Deutschen in
Ungarn durch die alliierten Mächte dreigeteilt. Ein Teil verblieb an Ungarn,
der zweite Teil, wurde Rumänien zugeteilt und der dritte Teil fiel and den neu
gegründeten Staat Jugoslawien. Dadurch wurde der frühere Name „Ungarländische
Deutschen“ hinfällig.
Der
Name “Donauschwaben” wurde 1920 von Robert Sieger
(Geografiker aus Graz) und Dr. Hermann Rüdiger (Gelehrter aus Stuttgart) geprägt
und im Jahre 1930 durch das deutsche Außenministerium der Weimarer-Republik
bestätigt, dadurch wurden die „Donauschwaben“ als deutsch stämmig
anerkannt. Man erkannte auch, dass wenn alleine gelassen unter Ungarn, Rumänen
und Jugoslawen verteilt, die Donauschwaben nicht fähig sein würden der
Assimilierungspolitik dieser Länder als ethnische Gruppe standzuhalten und
sicherlich würden sie unter diesen Völkern, samt ihrer Kultur die es wert war
zu retten, verloren gehen. Mit diesem Sammelnamen konnte man die Deutschen aus
Ungarn, Rumänien und Jugoslawien, besser identifizieren und beschreiben.
Im
Namen „Donauschwaben“ sind die deutsche Provinz „Schwaben“ und der „Donaufluß“
enthalten, die beide von großer Bedeutung im Leben der Donauschwaben sind.
Der
Name wurde jedoch erst nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg, nach ihrer Vertreibung aus
deren Heimat durch die kommunistischen Regierungen dieser Länder, benutzt. Die
Donauschwaben, der jüngste der deutschen Volksstämme, sind auch als
“Donaudeutsche” bekannt.
Von
Hans Kopp
Thumbnail Maps (Click on each thumbnail image below to view a larger
image)
Land
of the Danube Swabians
(Land der
Donauschwaben)
Europe before WWI
(Europa bevor
WKI)
Europe after WWI (Europa
nach WKI)
Partial
Map of Europe (showing original and settlement areas)
Article on how the Banat was settled with Germans
History of German Settlements in Southern Hungary
by Sue Clarkson
http://www.banaters.com/banat/clarkson.asp?category=history
This
Previous Link has apparently been removed by the author!
http://feefhs.org/BANAT/BHISTORY.HTML
The
Federation of East European Family History Societies
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