The Bukovina Germans, also known and referred to as Buchenland Germans, or Bukovinian Germans, are a German ethnic group which settled in Bukovina, a historical region situated at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe, during the modern period. They are part of the larger group of Romanian Germans, since the early 20th century, when they were initially living in the Kingdom of Romania.
Their main demographic presence lasted from the last quarter of the 18th century, when Bukovina was annexed by the Habsburg Empire, until 1940, when nearly all Bukovina Germans (or approximately 100,000 people) were forcefully resettled into either Nazi Germany or Nazi-occupied regions in Central-Eastern Europe as a part of the Heim ins Reich national socialist population transfer policy.
Nowadays, most of the Bukovina Germans still left in Bukovina live in the bigger urban settlements of Suceava () and Rădăuți () in Suceava County () as well as sparsely throughout other rural settlements in the center and southwest of the county. Otherwise, a significant Bukovina German diaspora can be found in Germany and Austria as well as in North America (more specifically in the United States and Canada) and South America (for example, in Argentina). In addition, the smaller community of Zipser Germans () still living in Suceava County, southern Bukovina, Romania, can be perceived as part of the Bukovina German community as well, in the greater sense that is.
Historical overview
According to the 1910 Imperial Austrian census (which recorded inhabitants according to language), the Bukovina Germans represented an ethnic minority accounting for approximately 21.2% of the multi-ethnic population of the Duchy of Bukovina (). Of those 21.2%, a large proportion was represented by German-speaking Jews. Excluding the Jews from this figure, however, the Germans in Bukovina constituted a minority of approximately 73,000 people (or 9.2%).
Subsequently, in absolute numbers, 75,533 ethnic Germans (or about 9% of the population) were registered in Bukovina when it was still part of the Kingdom of Romania (as per the Romanian population census of 1930). Historically, some of them developed their own dialect over the course of several hundred years which they called Buchenländisch, while others speak a series of other distinct German dialects, depending on their region of origin.
After the end of World War II, several thousand ethnic Germans still remained in southern Bukovina (according to an estimate 7,500), but many of them emigrated to West Germany before the fall of communism in Romania in 1989. In addition, few resettled Germans returned as well.
To this day, sparse and very small rural and urban communities of Germans (a few dozen to hundred persons) still reside in southern Bukovina (i.e., Suceava County situated in northeastern Romania) and are politically represented by the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR/DFDR).
Lastly, another important aspect on the German presence in Bukovina is the fact that the historical/geographic region as a whole has been previously sometimes labeled as 'Switzerland of the East'. In one particular interpretation, it can be mentioned that the Zipser Germans () in the southwest of Suceava County can also be included within the overall Bukovina German community still remaining and living in the county.
History
Initial settlement during the Middle Ages (13th century to 14th century)
Ethnic Germans known as Transylvanian Saxons (who were mainly craftsmen and merchants stemming from present-day Luxembourg and Rhine-Moselle river area of Western Europe), had sparsely settled in the western mountainous regions of the Principality of Moldavia over the course of the late medieval Ostsiedlung process (which, in this particular case, took place throughout the 13th and 14th centuries).
These settlers encouraged trade and urban development. Additionally, they founded, and were also briefly in charge under the title of Schultheiß (), of some notable medieval settlements such as Baia (), the first capital of the Principality of Moldavia, or Târgu Neamț ().Hugo Weczerka, Das mittelalterliche und frühneuzeitliche Deutschtum im Fürstentum Moldau, München 1960
It is also possible that the German community in Baia could have stemmed from Galicia (; a historical region nowadays situated between southeastern Poland and western Ukraine), being thus represented by a group of medieval Walddeutsche.
In the medieval town of Suceava (), one of the former capitals of the Principality of Moldavia, the Magdeburg law held sway for a certain period of time. The very same German law is also known to have been applied in Câmpulung Moldovenesc (), Siret (), Baia, and Târgu Neamț. So it is that on the current territorial extent of Suceava County, a small but influent community of Transylvanian Saxons lived during medieval times, their main occupations being trade and craftsmanship.
As it was the case of other medieval towns in which the Magdeburg law held sway, this particular German town law came hand in hand with the medieval municipal law (discernible with the foundation of Freiburg im Breisgau in the early 12th century) and the Sachsenspiegel (an important law book during the time of the Holy Roman Empire). The town of Suceava is referred to as Sotschen (an Old High German name) in one of the works of Abraham Ortelius on European geography for the 15th and 16th centuries.
Aside from the local Transylvanian Saxon community which most likely stemmed from Bistrița area (, the Teutonic Knights were also present in the region during the High Middle Ages, most notably in Siret, where they managed to build a local stronghold situated near a hill in the proximity of the then medieval town during the early 13th century. Subsequently however, most of the local Germans had been gradually assimilated in these local cultures by the dominant ethnic group of Romanians, and, to a lesser extent, Csángós.
Under the Habsburgs and within the Austrian Empire (1774–1918)
Following the Russo-Turkish War, in 1774–75, as per the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, the Habsburg monarchy annexed northwestern Moldavia (or the highlands of the Principality of Moldavia) which was predominantly inhabited by Romanians (as many as 85 percent), with smaller numbers of Ukrainians (including Hutsuls and Ruthenians), Armenians, Poles, and Jews.Keith Hitchins. The Romanians 1774–1866. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1996), pp. 226
Since then, the region has been known as Bukovina (). From 1774 to 1786, the settlement of German craftsmen and farmers in existing villages increased. The settlers included Zipser Germans () from the Zips region of Upper Hungary (today mostly Slovakia but also Lesser Poland Voivodeship in Poland), Banat Swabians from Banat, and ethnic Germans from Galicia (more specifically Evangelical Lutheran Protestants), but also immigrants from the Rhenish Palatinate, the Baden and Hesse principalities, as well as from impoverished regions of the Bohemian Forest ().
Over the passing of time, these German-speaking settlers who stemmed from various regions of Central Europe became collectively known as Bukovina Germans and formed an important, middle- to upper class ethnic group in the region. While they collectively formed a new community of this former Austrian-annexed territory, the Bukovina Germans had various regional identities, according to their initial place of origin (e.g. clear through the spoken dialect).
Thus, four distinct German linguistic groups were represented across Bukovina as follows:
Austrian High German (Österreichisches Hochdeutsch) was spoken in urban centres like Cernăuți (Czernowitz), Rădăuți (Radautz), Suceava (Suczawa), Gura Humorului (Gura Humora), Câmpulung (Kimpolung), and Siret (Sereth); Bohemian-Bavarian German (Deutschböhmisch or Böhmerwäldisch) was spoken by woodsmen in Huta Veche (Althütte), Crăsnișoara Nouă (Neuhütte), Gura Putnei (Karlsberg), Voievodeasa (Fürstenthal), Vadu Negrilesei (Schwarzthal), Poiana Micului (Buchenhain), Dealu Ederii (Lichtenberg), Bori (early colony in Gura Humorului), and Clit (Glitt); Palatine Rhine Franconian (Pfälzisch) and Swabian German (Schwäbisch) was spoken in farming villages like Arbore (Arbora), Bădeuți (Deutsch Badeutz), Frătăuții Vechi (Alt Fratautz), Frătăuții Noi (Neu Fratautz), Ilișești (Illischestie), Ițcani (Itzkany), Satu Mare (Deutsch Satulmare) and Tereblecea (Tereblestie); Zipser German (Zipserisch) was spoken by mine workers and their descendants in Cârlibaba (Kirlibaba, Mariensee or Ludwigsdorf), Iacobeni (Jakobeny), Stulpicani (Stulpikany), and elsewhere.Willi Kosiul, Die Bukowina und ihre Buchenlanddeutschen (2012, ), volume 2
During the 19th century, the developing German middle class comprised much of the intellectual and political elite of the region; the language of official business and education was predominantly German, particularly among the upper classes. Population growth and a shortage of land led to the establishment of daughter settlements in Galicia, Bessarabia, and Dobruja.
After 1840, a shortage of land caused the decline into poverty of the German rural lower classes; in the late 19th century parts of the German rural population alongside a few Romanians emigrated to the Americas, mainly to the United States (most notably to Ellis and Hays, both located in Kansas) but also to Canada.
Between 1849 and 1851, and from 1863 to 1918, the Duchy of Bukovina became an independent crown land within the Austrian Empire (see also: Cisleithania). However, at this time, in comparison with other Austrian crown lands, Bukovina remained a relatively underdeveloped region on the periphery of the realm, primarily supplying raw materials. This did not prevent it from being called '[the] Switzerland of the Orient' (i.e., of Eastern Europe) or 'Europe in miniature', due to its ethnic and cultural diversity spread over such a small territory.
The Franz-Josephs-Universität (Francisco-Josephina) in Cernăuți () was founded in 1875, then the easternmost German-speaking university. In 1910–11, the Bukovinian Reconciliation (a political agreement between the peoples of Bukovina and their political representatives in the Landtag assembly on the question of autonomous regional administration) took place between the representatives of the nationalities.
During the first round of the 20th century, local German-language literature flourished through the writings of Rose Ausländer, Alfred Kittner, Alfred Margul Sperber, or Paul Celan. Other notable German writers of Bukovina include mixed Ukrainian-German intellectuals Ludwig Adolf Staufe-Simiginowicz and Olha Kobylianska (who was also remotely related to renowned German poet Zacharias Werner).
Early 20th century and Kingdom of Romania (1918–1939)
From 1918 to 1919, following the end of World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Bukovina became part of the Kingdom of Romania. At the General Congress of Bukovina held on November 28, 1918, the political representatives of the Bukovina Germans voted and supported the union of Bukovina with the Romanian kingdom, alongside the Romanian and Polish representatives.
From 1933 up until 1940, some German societies and organizations opposed the propaganda of Nazi Germany and the national socialist-aligned so-called 'Reformation Movement'. Beginning in 1938 however, due to the poor economic situation and powerful national socialist propaganda, a pro-Third Reich mentality developed within the Bukovina German community. Because of this, many increased their preparedness for evacuation.
Outbreak of World War II and Heim ins Reich (1939–1941)