Satu Mare Swabians

The Satu Mare Swabians or Sathmar Swabians[1][2] (German: Sathmarer Schwaben) are a German ethnic group in the Satu Mare (German: Sathmar) region of Romania.[1] They are one of the few Danube Swabian (German: Donau Schwaben) subgroups that are actually Swabian,[1] and their dialect, Sathmar Swabian, is similar to the other varieties of the Swabian German dialect.[3]

Trilingual Romanian-Hungarian-German sign in Satu Mare (German: Sathmar)

Most were originally farmers in Upper Swabia who migrated to Partium (at the time Hungary, now Romania) in the 18th century, as part of a widespread eastward movement of German workers and settlers.[1] Their principal settlements were Satu Mare, Carei, Petrești,[1] and Foieni (German: Foieni) and they also settled in Urziceni (German: Schinal), Căpleni (German: Kaplau), Tiream (German: Terem), Beltiug (German: Bildegg), Ciumești (German: Schamagosch), and Ardud (German: Erdeed).

After World War II, many evacuated, migrated, or were expelled to what became West Germany.[2] Those who remain in Romania, along with other German-speaking groups in this country, are politically represented by the FDGR/DFDR (Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania); in Germany the Landsmannschaft der Sathmarer Schwaben in Deutschland (Territorial Association of Sathmar Swabians in Germany) represents and assists them.[4]

References
  1. Monica Barcan, Adalbert Millitz, The German Nationality in Romania (1978), page 42: "The Satu Mare Swabians are true Swabians, meaning that their place of origin is solely Württemberg (today part of Baden-Württemberg, Germany). They were colonized between 1712 and 1815. Their most important settlements are Satu Mare (German: Sathmar) and Petrești (German: Petrifeld) in northwestern Romania."
  2. Jacob Steigerwald, Tracing Romania's heterogeneous German minority from its origins to the Diaspora (1985), page 14: "Since the final stages of WWII, Romania has not been the only country where substantial groups of Sathmar Swabians can be found. For over thirty-five years now, there has been a growing community of Sathmar Swabians in West Germany also."
  3. Helmut Berner, Die Mundart der Sathmarer Schwaben nebst einigen ihrer Besonderheiten Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Marianne Röhrig, Sathmarer Schwaben, Nürnberger Kulturbeirat, City of Nuremberg, retrieved 5 August 2020.
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