From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bukovina Germans
Bukovina Germans
The Bukovina Germans were a German ethnic group who mained loyal to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.[citation need-
lived from about 1780 to the 1940s in Bukovina, part of ed]
present-day western Ukraine and northeastern Romania.
They a minority group (approximately 21 percent of the 1918–1940: Under Romanian rule
population in the 1910 census, with more Jews than From 1918 to 1919, following the end of World War I and
Christians) until the Holocaust and the resettlement of the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bukov-
the Christian population into the German Reich under ina became part of Romania. As a result, Romanianization
the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1940. measures were implemented against "un-Romanian" so-
cieties, cultural institutions and schools; this suppressed
History German culture in Bukovina.[citation needed] A similar Ro-
manianization drive, affecting other ethnic minorities in
1774–1918: Bukovina under Habsburg the new "Greater Romania", occurred in other regions
(such as Bessarabia).[citation needed] From 1918 to 1940, con-
rule flicts between the different nationalities (especially
In 1774–1775 the Habsburgs annexed northwestern Mol- among the intellectual classes) led to the emigration of
davia (predominantly inhabited by Romanians—85.33 Germans, Jews and members of the elite classes of other
percent—with smaller numbers of Hutzuls, Ruthenians, ethnic groups.[citation needed] The political representatives
Armenians, Poles and Jews). Since then, the region has of the Germans sought financial and political assistance
been known as Bukovina (or Buchenland). From 1774 to from Germany.
1786, settlement of German craftsmen and farmers in ex- From 1933–1940, some German societies and organi-
isting villages increased. They came from Szepes (Upper sations opposed the propaganda of the Third Reich and
Hungary), Banat, Galicia (Protestants), the Rhine Palati- the National Socialist-aligned "Reformation Movement".
nate and the Baden and Hesse principalities, and from Beginning in 1938, due to repression by the Romanian
impoverished regions of the Bohemian Forest. Popula- state,[citation needed] the poor economic situation and Nazi
tion growth and a shortage of land led to the establish- propaganda, a pro-Reich mentality developed among the
ment of daughter settlements in Galicia, Bessarabia and German population. Because of this, many increased
the Dobruja. their preparedness for evacuation.
During the 19th century, the developing German mid-
dle class comprised much of the intellectual and political 1940–1944: "Home to the Reich"
elite of the region; the language of official business and Main article: Heim ins Reich
education was predominantly German, particularly When Germany signed the German-Soviet Non-Aggres-
among the upper classes. After 1840, a shortage of land sion Pact with the Soviet Union in 1939 before the out-
caused the decline into poverty of the German rural low- break of World War II, the fate (unknown to those affect-
er classes; after 1850, some emigrated to the United ed) of the Germans in Bukovina was sealed. In a secret
States. Between 1849 and 1851, and from 1863 to 1918, supplementary protocol, it was agreed (among other
Bukovina became an independent crown land within the things) that the northern part of Bukovina would be an-
Habsburg monarchy. In comparison to other Austrian nexed by the USSR under a territorial reorganisation in
crown lands, Bukovina remained an underdeveloped re- Eastern Europe, with the German sub-populations un-
gion on the periphery of the realm, primarily supplying dergoing compulsory resettlement. Under this accord,
raw materials. the Soviet Union occupied northern Romania in 1940.
The University of Czernowitz was founded in 1875 The Third Reich resettled nearly the entire German pop-
as the easternmost German-speaking university; Roma- ulation of Bukovina (about 96,000 ethnic Germans) to
nianization began in 1919. In 1910–1911, the Bukovinan (among other places) Poland, where the incoming evac-
Reconciliation (a political agreement between the Bukov- uees were frequently compensated with expropriated
inan peoples and their political representatives in the farms. From 1941 to 1944, Bukovina was entirely Roman-
Federal State Parliament on the question of autonomous ian. Most of the Jewish population (30% of the population
regional administration) took place between the repre- as a whole) were murdered by the Third Reich and Roma-
sentatives of the nationalities. During World War I, from nia during the Holocaust.
1914 to 1918, the population of Bukovina largely re-
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bukovina Germans
1944 to the present: Escape, eviction and schen in Rumänien, Democratic Forum of Germans in Ro-
mania). After the Second World War, the Bukovina Ger-
a fresh start mans founded the Landsmannschaft der Buchenland-
During 1944–1945, as the Russian front moved closer, the deutschen (Bundesrepublik Deutschland) (Homeland Associ-
Bukovina Germans settled in Polish areas (like the re- ation of the Bukovina Germans in the Federal Republic of
maining German population), fled westward or wherever Germany).
they could manage. Some remained in East Germany;
others went to Austria. In 1945, the 7,500 or so remaining
Bukovina Germans were evacuated to the Federal Repub- References
lic of Germany, ending (except for a few individuals) the [1] Sophie Welisch, "The Second World War
German presence in Bukovina. During the postwar era resettlement of the Bukovina-Germans".
the Bukovina Germans, like other "homeland refugees", Immigrants & Minorities, vol. 3 issue 1, 1984
assimilated into the Federal Republic, Austria or the Ger- doi:10.1080/02619288.1984.9974569
man Democratic Republic.[1] Some emigrated overseas.
The memory and cohesion of the lost homeland were
kept alive through organizational meetings.[citation needed]
External links
• The German-Soviet treaty about the resettlement of
Notable residents the ethnic Germans from Bessarabia and northern
• Stefan Hantel (born 1968) Bukovina in German
• Alfred Eisenbeisser (1908-1991) • Appeal for resettlement of the ethnic Germans from
Bessarabia and northern Bukovina in German
Organisations This article incorporates information from the German
The political representation of the Bukovina Germans Wikipedia.
and the other German-speaking groups in modern Roma-
nia is the DFDR (German: Demokratisches Forum der Deut-
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bukovina_Germans&oldid=475817943"
Categories:
• Bukovina-German people
• People from Bukovina
• Ethnic German groups in Romania
• Ukrainian people of German descent
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