Both Maria Theresia and Joseph II had put a
great emphasis on the establishment of schools in the new settlements
they supported and stipulated that the schools were the responsibility
of the State (1770). Prior to that they were understood to be an
additional function of the local parish church. In this sense they
were to be "national" schools, reflecting the local
population in terms of nationality and religion. But in Croatia and
Slavonia, we find that the landlords or the communities themselves
established their own schools. In many instances it took time to
convince the peasant population of the value of their children
attending school. Even where schools existed education was limited
both in terms of content and length, which took place only during the
winter months. In these schools the children learned to read, write,
mathematics, and the catechism.
Schools and their upkeep as well as the salaries of
the teachers was an expensive proposition during the early years of
settlement and in many quarters was seen as a frill and not a
necessity. The teachers during this period were often untrained; some
were retired soldiers, tradesmen or farmers and had to take on other
responsibilities in order to make a living, such as the notary,
knife-smith, bell-ringer and organist. We can get a picture of the
schools and the lives of the teachers in this period from that
provided by the experience of the first schoolmaster in Franztal,
Bernhard Schätzchen. He had been a sergeant in the Baden contingent
of the Imperial Army. He not only taught the children in the newly
founded school in 1820, but was also the bell-ringer. For every child
he taught he received 2 Groschen per month, and received his board
from the various families in the community who took turns having him
for meals. Friedrich Falkenburger the schoolmaster in Neu Pasau who
had been fully trained in Heidelberg also carried on his trade as a
shoemaker.
After the death of Joseph II the number of schools
declined. At the time of his death there were 35 schools in Pozega
County in 1792 and there were only ten in 1847. In all of Slavonia,
including the Military Frontier District there were 48 local schools
in 1830.
German schools were established in the following
communities: Ruma 1772, Neu-Banovci 1786, India 1790, Neu-Pasau 1791,
Sarwasch-Hirschfeld 1809, Calma 1821, Neudorf 1830,
Johannisfeld-Jovanovac 1836, Erdewik 1838, Putinci 1845, Bezanja 1862,
Ernestinenhof 1865, Surcin 1869, Johannisberg 1892, Alt-Vukovar 1892,
Dobanovci 1895, Lovas, 1898. The first of the German confessional
schools was established in Eichendorf-Hrastovac and Kapetanovo Polje
in 1876, Deutsche Nijemci 1904, Becmen 1876, Obrez 1884 and private
German schools in Ivanovo Polje 1871, and Beocin 1882.
In the Concordat with Rome in 1855 the oversight of
the schools was given to the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church,
which was reorganized in 1860 and the parish priest was head of the
school in the community.
During the 1840’s the Croatian Nationalists
demanded that Croatian was to be language of instruction in all
schools. The first implementation of the regulation took effect in
1860 when Croatian was introduced into all of the schools after grade
four. But many of the larger communities were able to achieve
concessions in this regard. Bishop Strossmayer was very much involved
in instigating and carrying out this regulation and took his German
parishes to task with a vengeance, especially Esseg and others who had
appealed for reconsideration to Vienna.
Ruma had a population of 8,000, of whom 5,000 were
German, 2,250 were Serbian and there were 250 Hungarians who had been
Croatized. The community simply asked: Why not have German
instructions? And proceeded to implement it. Four teachers taught
German and four taught Croatian. But German instruction was limited to
two hours a day. The regulations were eventually successful so that by
1868 there were only eleven German Schools in all of Croatia and
Slavonia: six were in the provinces and five were in the Military
Frontier District.
In 1874 Croatian was designated as the language of
instruction in all schools unless the students had another mother
tongue, which could only be taught if Croatian was an obligatory
subject for all of the pupils. The government would not share in the
costs of any schools that used any other language as the language of
instruction other than Croatian. They especially targeted the German
confessional schools and attempted to legislate the forbidding of the
use of the mother tongue over against Croatian.
By 1881/1882 there were 48 schools that included
German instruction in their educational program. By 1918/1919 there
were 22 left, but during the two periods the German population had
increased by 60%. In 1890 there were 212 children in the average
German school compared to 118 Croatians or Serb or 205 Magyars. At
that time there were 140,885 Croat/Serbian pupils in school, 10,363
Germans and 3,682 Hungarians. The Lutherans maintained their German
schools much longer primarily due to the fact that they had German
clergy who played a leading role in the schools. Yet, by 1912/1913
there were only 4,500 pupils in German schools in Croatia and
Slavonia. In 1909/1910 there had been 13,000.
The Germans and the Confessional
Situation
In Croatia-Slavonia, 70% of the German population
of about 175,000 persons were Roman Catholic and were part of two
dioceses: Agram and Bosnia-Syrmien. During the first wave of
immigration the settlers from Germany were accompanied by their own
priests, all of the next generations were to be served by Croatians,
who were often Croatized Germans and were fanatic nationalists just
like Strossmayer. This would lead to confrontation any time their
German parishioners gave any indication of attempting to assert their
German language, traditions or heritage. Any German priests who
attempted to serve in either diocese were suspect and would not be
accepted by their Croatian counterparts or bishops. They would almost
always be appointed to parishes that were totally Croatian, regardless
of their desire to serve a German parish. None of the bishops would
permit the use of German in the Mass or allow any preaching. Some
concessions were made in 1836 and German priests were allowed to serve
in Esseg, Jarmin, India and Peterwardein and in some parishes the same
applied to the use of the Hungarian language. In the city of Agram
there were always German priests serving there because of the
cosmopolitan nature of the city and its international connections.
The long term result of this attempt to stifle and
muzzle the aspirations of the German population through the church,
led to the abandonment of the Church by the emerging German leadership
and intelligentsia who stepped outside of the Church, seeing it as
irrelevant and simply a political tool of the Croatian Nationalists.
Studying in Germany and Austria many of them became fiercely
anti-Roman Catholic in response to the growing "Free From
Rome" movement that was sweeping Austria and a new phenomenon
took place there which was repeated in Croatia and Slavonia: Lutheran
prayer houses were erected in Roman Catholic communities, schools
established and pastors called especially in the towns.
In Bosnia the situation was somewhat different in
that only about one third of the German settlers there were Roman
Catholics. Chiefly at: Windthorst, Siboska, Kalenderovci, Polje and
Sitnes. In Rudolfstal and Opsiecks the Roman Catholics formed the
majority of the population. These parishes were regularly served by
German priests many from the various monastic orders in the area.
The Protestants formed only a small minority in
Croatia and Slavonia. In 1891 there were 36,151 Lutherans and 12,365
Reformed. This number increased up to 1914 with an ongoing emigration
from Swabian Turkey in Hungary. In the national census of 1900
Lutherans accounted for 1.24% of the population and the Reformed
0.57%. With the exception of Slovak Lutherans and Hungarian Reformed,
the Protestants by and large were Germans.
With the passing of the General Regulation XXVI in
the year 1791 members of the two Evangelical Churches were forbidden
to settle or own land in Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia, but the
existing Evangelicals in Lower Slavonia were not allowed to be
harassed. The War Office in Vienna decreed in 1839 that the purchase
of land and property by Protestants in the Military Frontier District
was also forbidden. The existing Protestant populations already living
in the District were to be expelled. There were over 600 of them in
Neu Pasua alone and they began to prepare to immigrate to Russia but
their pastor, Andreas Weber through a personal appeal to the Emperor
was able to prevent it. The Protestant population continued to face
difficulties of this nature until 1859.
On September 1, 1859 the Emperor issued an Imperial
Patent for Croatia that officially recognized both of the Evangelical
Churches. It took up to 1866 before the Protestants were granted
freedom of religion by the Sabor. Opposition came from the Bishop of
Senj, Vjenceslav Soic, who protested against the legalization of the
Confessions of the Protestant Churches whose entry into Croatia was
seen as introducing a "foreign" element into the life of the
nation.
As a result of the Compromise between Hungary and
Croatia in 1868, all of the Lutheran and Reformed congregations in
Croatia and Slavonia remained under the supervision of the Seniorats
and Superintendents of their respective churches in Hungary, with the
exception of the Lutheran congregation in Agram. This would lead to
conflict and misunderstanding in the future. In 1873 the government of
Croatia attempted to set in motion the legal establishment and
administration of an independent Lutheran and Reformed Church of
Croatia and Slavonia but were unable to put it into effect.
In 1881 there were 15 Lutheran pastorates in the
country: in Agram, Alt-Pasua, Neudorf, Beschka, Antunovac, Eichendorf,
Surtschin, Bingula, Brekinska, Rieddorf-Retfala, Neu Pasau, Hrastiin,
Laslovo, Tordinci, Korodj. As mentioned previously, all of them with
the exception of Agram were part of the Evangelical Church of the
Augsburg Confession in Hungary (Lutheran).
This relationship was frequently challenged both by
the Croatian Sabor and the congregations and pastors themselves, but
there was no desire to create friction with the Hungarian government
or church authorities. Eventually in 1900, the Lutheran congregations
formed an independent Seniorat within the Hungarian Church, with the
exception of the congregations in Agram that remained independent, and
Antunovac and Eichendorf that continued their membership in the
Seniorat of Tolna and Baranya in Hungary. The much smaller Reformed
constituency maintained distance from the religious authorities in
Hungary as much as possible.
Most of the Protestant congregations were served by
German pastors and thereby avoided the struggle that the Roman
Catholic Germans had with their Croatian priests. The one exception
was the pastor in Neudorf, Senior Nicholas Abaffy, a Slovak and also a
fanatic pan-Slav who turned his congregation against him with his
determination to Croatize the members. He even attempted to change the
German name of the village to the Croatian: Novo Selo. The German
newspapers also criticized him in 1910 because of his political
agitation on behalf of the Coalition Party, claiming he used the
pastorate for non-religious purposes. In 1917, after Abaffy’s death,
Franz Morgenthaler of Neu Pasua was elected the Senior. The Slovaks
insisted that the election was void because he could not handle the
Croatian language adequately. He was given two years to learn the
language and if he failed to be proficient in it, he could not
continue in his office.
In addition to that, the assembly of the Seniorat
had to deal with the difficulties in Bingula. The Lutheran
"brothers" in Bingula were experiencing constant conflict as
German and Slovak speaking members of the same congregation sought
ascendancy in the leadership of the congregation. Because they could
not come to terms over which language to use in worship, the Germans
desired to establish their own German congregation and if that was not
to be granted to them, they would leave the church. The assembly in
convention supported the request of the German members, but that did
not settle the local problem.
Another major difficulty in many regions was the
question of religious education because a number of the Lutheran
teachers did not have a command of the Croatian language and some of
the officials of the government insisted that the instruction had to
be in Croatian. In 1905/1906 the education officials ordered that all
religious instruction at Weretz had to be in Croatian or the school
could not be opened. Weretz was a filial of Slatina and the pastor
there could not speak Croatian and therefore the children could not be
taught religious education in their "church" school!
The two Protestant Churches and their individual
congregations had regular contact, received support and maintained
relationships with Protestant Church circles in Austria, Switzerland
and Germany unlike their Roman Catholic counterparts. As a church of
the "Diaspora" the Churches also received financial support
and assistance from Germany as well as pastors. They especially
assisted in projects beyond the means of the fledgling churches and
were instrumental in providing 16,000 Marks towards the building of
the new church in Agram.
Bosnia proved to be a different situation and the
small-scattered congregations existed autonomously. Franzjosefsfeld at
first existed as a filial of their mother church in Franzfeld in the
Banat. It became a parish in 1891. This was followed by Banja Luka in
1893, Lukavac in 1904, in Schutzberg in 1910, Bosnisch Brod in 1914. A
congregation was established in Sarajevo along with a filial
congregation in Zabidovici in 1898. They formed a synod with a
president as their provisional church government.
The ethnic Germans as a "Folk
Group" in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
With the dismemberment of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire following the First World War, the long held dream of the South
Slavs was realized in the establishment of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia,
a decision that was made without the input or approval of the
populations that would be involved in redrawing the map of this
portion of the Balkans. The major partners of this union would turn
out to be the Serbs and Croats, but they were not equally matched.
Croatia was very much the junior partner and bristled because of their
secondary position in the new Kingdom that would have repercussions
for the future and in the end have disastrous affects on the Danube
Swabina populations involved.
Serbians troops occupied all of the territories of
future Yugoslavia, but did so in a rather ruthless manner: plundering,
mistreating local populations, murdering and terrorizing the
minorities they encountered. There was to be no question of who was in
charge. The Serbs. In their minds Yugoslavia was simply Greater
Serbia. Croatia alone could offer any resistance and was prepared to
do so as subsequent history would prove. During this period of
transition the ethnic German population had to endure a lot and was in
no position to offer any resistance. Most of the men had gone off to
war, mainly on the Eastern Front and were prisoners of war. There were
immediate calls to confiscate the property of the Danube Swabian
minority and expel them from the country. The Serbian troops could not
maintain order and districts set up "home guard" units that
often included the older Danube Swabian men to protect their villages
from vandalism, raids and attacks from disbanded soldiers, deserters
and brigands. Women and children often had to seek safety in the
forests in the bitter cold of 1919.
With the declaration of the State and Kingdom of
Yugoslavia a whole new relationship arose among the widely scattered
ethnic German communities in the new jurisdictions in which they found
themselves and their new authorities and rulers with whom they had to
deal. In each of the areas of Danube Swabina settlement there were men
who were prepared to establish organizations for the welfare, freedom
and defense of the ethnic German minority as an identifiable ethnic
group, the so-called Volksgruppe (Folk Group), which also had racial
overtones. These areas of settlement in the new south Slav state were
the western portion of the Banat, the largest part of the Batschka
(Vojvodina), Lower Baranya, Syrmien, Slavonia, Croatia, Bosnia as well
as Slovenia. Most of these areas had a previous history with Hungary,
except for Bosnia and Croatia and Slavonia, which had an existence of
their own.
Initially there was little change for the Danube
Swabians in Croatia and Slavonia except they found themselves caught
in the middle of the struggle between the Croats and Serbs for control
of the new nation state. There was no longer a language problem since
the ethnic Germans were now Croatian speaking and not very fluent in
German at all if they still had any knowledge of their language.
Because of the enlarged Folk Group in this new centralized state, the
leadership of the ethnic German minority from across the Kingdom in
diversified groups and organizations worked towards the objective of
establishing a centralized organization to enable them to have a
national voice.
The elections that were planned excluded the Danube
Swabina minority as well as all of the others and were designed for an
electorate that consisted only of Croats, Serbs and Slovenes. This
resulted in great unrest in all of the regions with sizable ethnic
German populations. One of the stipulations and guarantees that the
new state of Yugoslavia had agreed to uphold as a result of the Treaty
of Trianon was to protect minority rights but they insisted that to
give the minorities the vote would destabilize national sovereignty.
Because the Danube Swabina minority was prevented from any role or
participation in the political and public life of the Kingdom, they
opted to form a cultural organization to unite all elements of the
minority, in the various areas of settlement, and as a result the
Swabian German Cultural Union (SDKB) was formed at Neusatz (Novi Sad)
on June 20, 1920 with over two thousand participants in attendance.
In 1921 a new constitution was passed by the Sabor
with a vote of 223-196, which made all citizens equal before the law.
This equalization of all of the minority ethnic groups began a new
phase in which the Danube Swabians could now fully participate. They
had been given the franchise and all of the political parties sought
their support for they recognized that the ethnic Germans who numbered
approximately one million persons were now a force to be reckoned
with. But the leaders of the Folk Group organizations were already
planning to give birth to a political party of their own: a
"Ethnic German Party" to protect their rights and freedoms
and full participation in the life of the nation. The party manifesto
that was passed at the assembly in Hatzfeld on December 17, 1922 began
with a confession of loyalty to the Dynasty and State and included a
twelve-point program to achieve their objectives. The party leadership
that was elected included: Dr. Ludwig Kremling of Weisskirchen,
president who served with an executive: Dr. Stefan Kraft of India, Dr.
Hans Moser of Semlin and Michael Theiss of Hatzfeld. Of the twenty
members of the party Council Dr. Sepp Müller of Ruma, Dr. Jörg
Müller of Ruma, Christian Marx of Erdwik and Franz Moser of Semlin
represented Syrmien .
The new party contested the elections in 1923 and
eight members were elected: four from Syrmien, three from the Banat
and one from Slovenia. But in various parts of the Kingdom, Danube
Swabian candidates were elected representing other parties. In Bosnia
the ethnic Germans voted for Moslems and Croatian candidates because
they were more tolerant than the Serbs who were running. Many of the
parties saw the Ethnic German Party as a divisive force, while they in
turn said they would go out of existence whenever the ethnic Germans
achieve their full rights guaranteed by the Constitution. This was
said in the context of the situation in which many of the Danube
Swabina communities lived such as Lazarfeld. In April of 1924, sixty
Danube Swabian farmers out working in their fields were attacked by a
mob of some two hundred so-called Dobrovoljci (patriots). Sixteen of
them were badly injured. The leader of the Serbian mob was a lawyer
and he screamed: "You Danube Swabians have your rights, but we
have the power!" All kinds of intimidation of voters would
follow, leading to the public beating of many of the Ethnic German
Party candidates. In the next elections, the Ethnic German Party
received more votes but only elected five representatives.
King Alexander set aside the Constitution on
January 6, 1929 and declared a dictatorship and disbanded all
political parties and issued a proclamation to his: "Beloved
people, all Serbians, Croatians and Slovenes." He made no mention
of the other seventh of the population: the minorities. He always did
it that way. He desired a centralized government and national unity,
but only on his own terms, which resulted in his assassination.
The Emerging Conflicts (1933-1939)
With the dictatorship in place, in spite of the
efforts of the leadership of the ethnic German minority there was
great discontent on the part of some in the various areas of Danube
Swabian settlement. There were questions about the finances of the
SDKB with charges of mismanagement that required the intervention of
the German ambassador in Belgrade. At the beginning of 1933 the
discontent took on concrete form. Dr. Jakob Awender, a physician from
Pantschowa headed what became known as the "Renewal
Movement" and he as its "Führer" attacked the key
leadership of the SDKB in the press and at every opportunity. This was
at the time of the Depression and there had been successive crop
failures all of which fueled the discontent. The co-operatives set up
by the SDKB attempted to respond to the crisis but only succeeded in
making it worse. Not only were the farmers critical of the leadership
but also the young academicians who had studied in Germany and Austria
were also vocal in their opposition. They were highly influenced by
the political trends taking place in Austria and Germany and were fed
up with the old leadership, values and attitudes. At first, this was
perhaps nothing more or less than a generation gap. With the coming of
the dictatorship in Yugoslavia in 1929 the German Party like the other
political parties was banned. This meant fewer positions and offices
available to the new intelligentsia who chafed at the lack of
opportunities available to them. These and other malcontents are the
ones who assembled at Pantschowa as the "Renewal Movement"
and chose Awender as their Leader. They published their own weekly
newspaper and wrote highly critical articles and personal attacks
against the leadership of the SDKB and demanded their resignations.
In November 1933 a new German ambassador, Viktor
von Heeren was appointed and arrived in Belgrade. He officially
supported the "old leadership" of the Folk Group but he had
really come to get the lay of the land and hinder and avoid any
internal squabbles among the Danube Swabian minority, which now was
virtually impossible.
With the assassination of the King in 1935, the
political parties stepped into the void. In effect the National Party
took over the government following the elections in which only two
Ethnic German Party representatives were elected. They in turn
supported the majority party and were "welcome" to join the
party, and Dr. Kraft the leader of the SDKB did, hoping to get a
better hearing for the issues that were of primary concern of the
ethnic Germans in terms of the school and language issue. The
government carried on friendly relations with Germany and felt no need
to treat the Danube Swabian minority with kid gloves. The German
ambassador’s main concern was the foreign policy of the Yugoslavian
state and the Folk Group was left responsible for its own fate and
destiny.
Attempts were made by the government in 1938 to
curtail and prevent the sale of land to the Danube Swabians. This was
hardly a new approach on their part. The Folk Group leadership saw
this as catastrophic and repressive to the aspirations and economic
future of the ethnic Germans. In turn, their discontent was
interpreted by the Serb Nationalists as a recognition that they were
acting as a "fifth column" on behalf of the German Reich,
which sought to interfere in the internal affairs of Yugoslavia. The
government however backed down to maintain their lucrative trading
relationship with Germany.
The Folk Group leadership faced turmoil within the
organization and the Danube Swabian communities. On January 15, 1935
the ruling Council of the SDKB expelled Awender and several of his
followers in the Renewal Movement to avoid a split in the membership.
Unfortunately this only intensified the conflict. The growth and
development of the SDKB in the previous years had been concentrated on
the establishment of youth groups in every community and district and
they very quickly became the most active organizations within the
cultural union. A large portion of the members of these groups were
open to the objectives of the Renewers and their propaganda, while
there were others who sympathized with them even though they
disapproved of some of their methods and continued to accept and
follow the "old leadership".
There is no question that the National Socialist
German Workers Party (NSDAP) in Germany better known as the Nazis and
their party organs were involved in the development of the Renewal
Movement and both provided support and influenced it. The German
ambassador gave "public" support to the "old
leadership" in the cultural union SDKB in the press but was
involved in the background in providing aid to Awender when called
upon.
From the very beginning various other ministries
and offices in the Reich government felt sympathy for the Renewers and
provided massive support. This was especially true of the ‘Verein
für das Deutschtum im Ausland’ (VDA) whose concerns dealt with the
ethnic German populations outside of the German Reich. Discussions
between Paul Claus the representative of the VDA in Yugoslavia and the
leadership of the Renewal Movement took place in the spring of 1935
whereby Awender, Dr. Sepp Janko and Fritz Metzger undertook the task
to lead the struggle to renew the Ethnic German Folk Group so that it
could stand on its own two feet financially so that it would not be a
burden to Reich foreign policy.
Both the "old" and "new"
leadership sought approval and support in important Reich circles.
Early in 1935, the German ambassador in Belgrade passed on a letter of
complaint to the Reich Foreign Office outlining the crimes, activities
and faults of the Renewers, highlighting the fact that Awender had no
character at all and was a man of ill repute. They requested that the
SDKB be the only recognized official voice of the Folk Group in
Yugoslavia to speak to any issues affecting the Danube Swabian
minority. But in the central organs of the NSDAP, the ‘Völkischen
Beobachter’ (The People’s Observer) reported that there was a need
to support both groups assisting them to form a united front in
carrying out the objectives of the ethnic German minority.
This did not help matters a bit. The SDKB was
determined to cleanse itself of the Renewers organizationally. Along
with Awender they expelled the Youth Leader of the SDKB, Jacob
Lichtenburger. Assuming that they had the support of the majority of
the youth group an assembly was called on July 28, 1935 at Neusatz to
install a new Youth Führer in his place, namely Dr. Erich Petschauer.
But the installation could not be carried out because the vast
majority of the youth present were sympathizers of the Renewal
Movement and occupied the hall and heckled and disrupted every attempt
on the part of any one to speak on behalf of the Folk Group leadership
and they then walked out.
The conflict sharpened and deepened. Discontent and
concern spread among the membership of the SDKB and it was obvious
that things were coming to a head and action had to be taken. On
August 5, 1935 representatives of the two groups met in Neusatz to
work out a compromise. The SDKB was represented by: Dr. Oskar Plautz,
Thomas Menrath, Dr. Sebastian Nemesheimer and Dr. Richard Derner. The
representatives of the Renewers were: Fritz Metzger, Peter Kullmann,
Jakob Krämer and Branimir Altgayer. The talks broke down and the
quarrel simply went on.
Things came to a head at Neu Werbass on August 11th,
1935 in response to a speech by Josef Bürchel the Nazi Gauleiter
(District Leader) of the Saar-Palatinate on the occasion of a
celebration of the 150th anniversary of the settlement of
the Batschka. Both groups hoped to use the occasion for their own
purposes. Instead he spoke of the need for unity against the forces
that threatened their racial purity. His essential message was:
take pride in being Danube Swabian and in effect he did not support
either group as he had been ordered.
This was a clear indication to both groups that the
Reich was determined that the ethnic German minority would not upset
or effect their foreign policy in terms of Yugoslavia, but that the
Folk Group would adopt the political outlook of the Nazis. As the
leader of the old political establishment, Kraft knew he needed the
support of the Reich regardless of who was in power in order to
achieve such objectives as the school question. He sought such support
in the Reich Foreign Office. Although a declared opponent of Nazism he
sought out contacts within the various ministries of the Reich and the
Party for support for the Danube Swabian minority. In January 1936 he
met with Hitler’s Deputy, Rudolph Hess who was in charge of all
affairs dealing with the Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans) and Dr. Kraft
was received warmly as he later reported.
Things would not remain quiet for long. At a
meeting on March 18, 1936 the representative of the VDA, Dr. Helmut
Carstanjen reported on the situation of the Folk Group in which he
made scathing remarks about the "old leadership". The
representative of the Foreign Office, Fritz von Twardowski defended
them and declared that the question of the Folk Group in Yugoslavia
was a matter of foreign policy. He reported that Dr. Kraft was now
engaged in friendly discussions with the government in guaranteeing
the rights of the Danube Swabian minority and these discussions should
not be jeopardized because of any outside interference on the part of
the Reich. It was at this point that Heinrich Himmler and his
Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VOMI) intervened. He was highly critical
of Dr. Kraft and the VOMI was not prepared to have Dr. Kraft speak on
behalf of the Folk Group or under the auspices of the Reich. He
inferred that his reception by Hess had gone to his head. He
instructed the German ambassador in Belgrade to invite Dr. Kraft and
Awender to dinner, along with a representative of the VOMI some time
after Easter to work out a solution to the conflict. It was a futile
meeting. The quarrel was now waged out in the open in the German and
Yugoslavian press much to the delight of the Yugoslavian government.
Meanwhile, at the same time, the Yugoslavian foreign policy was
actively pro-German.
The VDA began to lessen its financial support for
the work of the SDKB and provided resources to the Renewers instead.
The SDKB leadership protested to the Rich, claiming to be the sole
voice of the Folk Group in Yugoslavia. They called upon the VDA and
the German ambassador for their support since they represented the
vast majority of the Danube Swabian minority. But in 1937, the
Renewers through Gustav Halwax were calling upon the Yugoslavian
government for the legalization of their Party so that they had the
right to hold meetings, conferences and assemblies. The police had
been repressive, combative and brutal against ethnic German youth
groups at their assemblies and the old leadership saw this as a reason
for the discontent and fear in the Danube Swabian communities in terms
of their rights as citizens of Yugoslavia. Kraft and the old
leadership saw this kind of treatment as tantamount to calling forth a
radicalization of the Danube Swabian minority.
The relationship between the VDA, the VOMI and the
SDKB leadership did not get any better in the summer of 1937. This led
to the leadership of the SDKB approaching von Neurath the Reich
Foreign Minister and explained the conflict with the DVA with the hope
that a peaceful solution could be worked out. The DVA and VOMI were
informed of the meeting and letters that were exchanged. In effect,
the old leadership was now without support in the Reich ministries.
The membership of the two factions within the Folk
Group wished for an understanding and unity among all of their people.
But among the leaders there was only division. A call for Dr. Kraft’s
resignation became public. It was felt that with his ouster
rapprochement with the Renewers would now be possible. The opposite
was the result and the Renewers were no further ahead because Kraft
remained in his position and they became more strident in their
opposition.
Berlin wanted no part in the quarrel. Both the VOMI
and the Foreign Office wanted nothing to do with it. The German
ambassador arranged for an arbitration panel to deal with the feuding
parties, both of which agreed in advance to accept the recommendations
and results. The panel was made up of various Folk group
representatives from other countries including Estonia, Romania and
Latvia. A solution was worked out and then presented on May 15, 1939
that called for Dr. Kraft stepping down from his position with an
appropriate pension.
Of great importance to all of the ethnic Germans in
Eastern Europe were the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria by the Reich
and the incorporation of the Sudentenland that raised their German
consciousness and in addition in Yugoslavia there was now a great
desire for unity. A "German Unity Front " and platform was
developed with the participation of Dr. Kraft and sought to establish
guarantees that the ethnic German minority had legal rights by law as
an identified separate entity. But personal quarrels and aspirations
again got in the way and impeded the effort. As always Awender and his
followers were at the head of the discontent and sought a political
solution through incorporation with the governing party but with
minimal success. The ideological struggle went on. On August 26, 1938
two of the "old leaders" Moser and Grassl agreed to support
the Radical Party and would join the struggle against Nazi propaganda
that was flooding the Danube Swabian communities. They established a
committee to plan and carry out actions against the Renewers. Ethnic
Germans who would join the voter’s list of the Radical Party were to
be granted five seats in parliament.
At an assembly of representatives of all groups
within the SDKB, on October 29, 1938 all Danube Swabians were called
upon to support the list of candidates submitted by the government at
the next election. As a result the Croatian Nationalists (Ustaschi)
conducted a reign of terror in Slavonia and Croatia among the ethnic
German communities to keep them from voting for the government party.
The occupation of Czechoslovakia on March 15, 1939
resulted in intensive anti-German feeling and alarm especially on the
part of the Serbian population, as well as the other Slavic people.
Army officers were instructed to develop strong anti-German sentiments
among their troops. Danube Swabians in the army were suspect and were
forbidden to speak German, they were scolded every day and many
received corporal punishment. But officially the government policy
towards Germany had not changed.
On October 31, 1938 there was a rapprochement with
the Renewers, who along with their youth groups returned to the fold
of the Swabian German Cultural Union (SDKB).
The Last Years of the Kingdom of
Yugoslavia (1939-1941)
With the personal resignation from the
leadership of the SDKB by Dr. Keks the successor of Kraft the
functionaries met in early May of 1939 to deal with the question of
succession. Awender proposed himself for the position with the support
of the Renewers and others. But the VOMI was not pleased with this
development. They were opposed to Awender because of his past
performance in terms of his relationships with the Yugoslavian
government. In his place the Renewers proposed Dr. Sepp Janko who was
a "leading personality" and a staunch Renewer. All those
present at the meeting cast their votes for him and the VOMI ordered
him to report to Berlin. There he was informed of the VOMI’s slate
of candidates for positions in the Folk Group. Parliamentary
representatives were: Hamm, Trischler and Grassl. The leader of the
SDKB was Sepp Janko. The Führer of Slovenia: Baron. The Führer of
Croatia: Altgayer. The Führer of the Renewal Movement: Awender. But
in effect, there would be a triumvirate who would be in charge: Hamm,
Janko and Trischler. But the plan was never put into effect because of
the swiftly changing situation in Yugoslavia. Yet, Janko ended up at
the top as planned. To all intents and purposes the organization was
bankrupt. The membership of the SDKB had always remained small during
the 1930’s and the dues barely covered the costs of the
organization. But by November 15, 1940 almost the entire Danube
Swabian minority had become members through a vast publicity campaign
spearheaded by Joseph Beer and raised 3,000.000 Dinar in one year.
The outbreak of World War Two had little effect on
the Folk Group. On September 2, 1939 a partial military mobilization
was ordered. Some Danube Swabians were called up and horses and wagons
were requisitioned, especially if they were known members of the SDKB.
Many of the reservists and recruits who were called into the army who
were ethnic Germans were called: Hitler’s swine. Germany was seen as
the Arch-Enemy of Yugoslavia, and the land would become their cemetery
if they dared to invade it. Most of the army officers were very
critical of the government’s pro-German foreign policy and the
demise of the Small Entente. There were however 450 officers in the
armed forces who were ethnic Germans.
But the speech of Adolph Hitler on October 6, 1939
caused a great stir and deep concern to the leadership and membership
of the SDKB. He called for the re-settlement of the ethnic Germans in
the Diaspora back home to the Reich. There was great upset and
confusion. No one had a desire to leave "home". The
Yugoslavian government also asked for clarification as to how and when
this would take place. There were only evasions and no answers
forthcoming. By October 28, 1939 Berlin had no alternative than to
respond and did through the German ambassador who reported: "The
re-settlement to Germany of the German Folk Group in Yugoslavia is not
actually planned at the present time."
Meanwhile the Croatian Nationalists gained new
concessions and a degree of autonomy from the central government in
Belgrade, which was dominated by the Serbians. In short order, Bosnia
was also seeking autonomy. Slavonia was now made into a separate
jurisdiction and Croatia was making a play for parts of the Vojvodina,
but there were also autonomy concerns on the part of the people living
in the area.
Dr. Philip Popp, the bishop of the Lutheran Church
in Yugoslavia who served the congregation in Agram was appointed to
the Croatian senate in March of 1940. Some of the concerns he brought
to the government’s attention were the school issue, the use of the
German spelling of family names, rescinding the law that forbade the
purchase of land by the ethnic Germans. He was successful in that in
1940/1941 session of parliament, a private German Lutheran school was
opened in Agram.
Fears with regard to a "fifth column"
continued to plague the country at the instigation of military men.
From their perspectives all ethnic Germans were spies. All suspicious
persons should be arrested. The Western Powers appeared to be behind
it and supported the spread of leaflets to scare both populations.
During May and June of 1940 ethnic Germans were arrested in Syrmien
and Slavonia and charged with being spies and guilty of espionage. On
June 6, 1940, Ludwig Ritz, a close fellow worker with Altgayer was
arrested and taken to the feared Glavna Jaca prison in Belgrade where
he was badly tortured but he did not incriminate himself in any way
and was later set free after a long well publicized trial.
After the fall of France, Yugoslavia was having a
nervous breakdown of its own. It began to assess its relationships
with its neighbors and re-established diplomatic relations with the
USSR on June 24, 1940 and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia came out
of the woodwork. The borders to the north and west were strengthened
in fear of an Italian/German alliance. Men aged 40 to 50 years of age
were called up to do the defensive preparation and again also included
ethnic Germans. These men were not given uniforms nor did they receive
rations or shelter. Nor did their families receive any support while
they were in the armed forces.
On June 28, 1940 Russia occupied Bessarabia and the
northern Bukovina. As a result of an agreement with the Reich, Russia
allowed the emigration of the ethnic German populations for
re-settlement to Germany. The Folk Group in Yugoslavia took on the
task to build a transit camp at Prahovo and Semlin and provided
provisions and assistance to the 140,000 ethnic German émigrés.
Semlin could accommodate 10,000 at a time, and Prahovo some 5,000
persons. Thousands of young people were involved in setting up the
camps over a period of four months. In Agram and Urplje in Croatia aid
stations were set up by German girls and women from Slavonia, Croatia
and Slovenia at train stations to serve warm meals and refreshments to
the people in transit to Germany. The costs were over 2,000,000 Dinars.
As a result of the Vienna Accords of August 30,
1940 Hungary regained some of its former territory lost to Romania and
fear reigned in the Vojvodina as the local Hungarian population
agitated for a return to Hungary and the Serbs were convinced that the
ethnic Germans would support them. By the fall of 1940 political and
foreign developments were drawing Yugoslavia ever closer to possible
conflict with Germany fueled by the Serbian nationalist circles which
became more and more vitriolic in terms of their mistrust of the
ethnic German population that led to quarrels, confrontations and on
occasions physical mob violence. During one such melee in Beschka,
Peter Deringer a well-known member of the SDKB was shot and killed by
a Serb in November 1940.
The highest military authorities began to plan
measures to take along with the local authorities in the case that war
would break out. In all communities with an ethnic German population a
list of names of the most prominent and important members of the SDKB
were to be prepared by the local officials and these individuals would
be immediately arrested and taken as hostages. This would not be true
of the other minorities and their leaders. It was the task of the
Secret Police to keep their eye on the ethnic German leadership. The
implications for the ethnic Germans should war break out were
threatening to say the least. Appeals to the German ambassador were of
little value nor was he sympathetic to their concerns.
Sepp Janko who was ill at the time when the
question of what would happen to the leadership of the ethnic Germans
should war break out, sent Fritz Metzger in December 1940 to the VOMI
and asked for weapons to protect the leadership. The ethnic German
population was unarmed except for hunting rifles. Because the Reich
was still working with the Yugoslavian government in hopes of
establishing a military pact, the idea of arming the ethnic Germans
was out of the question. There were all kinds of rumors and stories of
arms and ammunition being shipped down the Danube to Werbass and
buried there in the cemetery. All of the stories were eventually
proven false as late as 1963.
But there is also another question that is played
up in some circles of whether or not ethnic German men left Yugoslavia
and volunteered to serve in the Waffen-SS. The first volunteers from
among the ethnic German men who served in the German forces were those
who had gone to seek work in Germany prior to the war and had remained
there. Their numbers were not large. Some hundreds of younger men
accompanied the ethnic Germans from Bessarabia who journeyed from
Semlin to the Reich. Janko and the others were not prepared to
consider a voluntary recruitment program at this time because of the
complications involved. Later when such recruitments took place and
parents became aware of what was afoot they raised such a rumpus that
Janko had to high tail it to Austria and tried to talk the boys into
coming home and they were released in order to do so. This involved
about two hundred such volunteers.
The Waffen-SS was in search of recruits for the war
effort and sought "volunteers" from among the ethnic Germans
throughout Eastern Europe. Under the orders of the Folk Group
leadership, Gustav Halwax was sent on a mission to the Reich where he
volunteered to serve in the Waffen-SS and saw service on the Western
Front. In December 1940 he returned to Neusatz. At this time, Janko
was apparently sick, or at least he later claimed to be, and Metzger
took over for him. Halwax met with his old comrades from the Renewal
Movement to win them over to his plan to carry out VOMI policy and
goals because Berlin was not happy with Janko’s independent
"politics". Metzger and his cronies had the VOMI recall
Halwax to Germany where he could do less damage to the ethnic German
cause.
In spite of what the SDKB leadership was saying, on
January 24, 1941 the VOMI in writing to the Foreign Office indicated
that Heinrich Himmler had announced the arrival of 200 Waffen-SS
volunteers from Yugoslavia, 500 from Hungary and 500 from Romania. The
VOMI planned for a mustering and recruitment of ethnic Germans in
Yugoslavia and sent Dr. Hans Huber, the official physician of the SS
to be in charge. He would travel around in sport’s circles offering
his services and examining the young men without the men being aware
that he was actually mustering them for the SS. They would participate
in sport’s events in Germany and then later return home. In March
1941 Halwax reappeared at Neusatz sent under the auspices of the VOMI.
The plan was now to convert all of the youth organizations into Sports
Clubs and received the approval and endorsement of the German
ambassador.
All of this took place two to three weeks before
the military uprising in Belgrade and the outbreak of the war and
these Sport Clubs could not be put into effect as a recruitment tool
of the VOMI.
These sport’s fraternities were not be confused
with the Deutsche Mannschaft (German Men’s Fellowship). Its origins
were within the SDKB in the early summer of 1939. These groups were
established for men beyond the parameters of the youth organization
and had their beginnings in Apatin, Lazarfeld and India and then
spread. They were also involved in assisting in the resettlement of
the ethnic Germans from Bessarabia at Semlin and Prahovo. They were
characterized as para-military organizations, but very often that was
only window dressing for their real purpose that was defensive in
nature.
Yugoslavia maintained its neutrality in the first
phase of the Second World War. The USSR was on the move in the Balkans
with the occupation of Bessarabia and Bukovina in June 1940 and German
interests lay in Romania as a source for wheat and oil. From the
perspective of the Yugoslavian government the British were not
reliable allies and the Italians were massing troops on the frontier
of western Yugoslavia. By October 4, 1940 German troops were stationed
in Romania to help keep the peace with Hungary and as a buffer against
any moves made by the USSR.
December 27, 1940 saw the signing of the Axis Pact
between Germany, Italy and Japan to keep the Western Allies and Russia
off balance. Molotov visited Berlin and saw German policy as
threatening to the interests of the USSR and demanded to have a free
hand in the Balkans…Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia and
Greece. As a result Hitler saw that war with the USSR was inevitable.
The Italians launched an invasion of Greece on
October 29th, 1940 that ground to a halt through British
intervention and Italian stupidity. The British could now bomb the oil
fields in Romania so Germany had to act to secure the situation. The
Axis Pact was signed by Hungary on November 20, 1940, followed by
Romania on November 23rd and Slovakia on the 24th.
Bulgaria hesitated, afraid of the Soviet response, but joined the Pact
on March 1, 1941.
In a letter to Mussolini on November 20th,
Hitler indicated that they needed Yugoslavia to secure the oil fields
in Romania and that efforts had to be undertaken to entice the
Yugoslavians to join the Axis. Meanwhile, the British and Americans
tried to win Yugoslavia to their side. The British went so far as to
supply weapons and armaments. Negotiations and meetings were
undertaken and finally Germany asked for an answer on March 25, 1941.
The Royal Council of the king of Yugoslavia voted
to sign the Axis Pact on March 24, 1941 because of the pressures
coming from all kinds of directions. Two ministers of the Council
voted against it and resigned from the government. The Pact was signed
in Eugene of Savoy’s Belevedere Palace in Vienna on March 25th.
But a military coup took place in Belgrade on March 27th
and installed a new king. Riots and demonstrations broke out in
Serbian and Slovenian areas. "Better War Than This Pact,"
was the rallying cry and slogan. The German ambassador was publicly
insulted at the coronation of the new king: Peter II.
The new regime was not ready to ratify the Pact and
sought other options and considered an immediate mobilization that was
suggested by the Serbian Orthodox Patriarch, Gavrilo Dozic in order to
gain some time. Berlin was also trying to read the signals coming out
of Belgrade. On the 27th of March, Hitler indicated that if
the new government would refuse to follow the terms of the signed
agreement they would be considered enemies and they would be stamped
off of the map of Europe.
The leader of the coup, Simovic sought to use the
leadership of the Folk Group as intermediaries with the Reich
government. On April 1, 1941 he had discussions with the leaders of
the Belgrade District of the SDKB, Christian Brücker and Hans Moser.
He told them that he wanted to hinder a war with Germany and to break
off relationships with the British and the Americans. It was the wish
of his government to enter into talks with the Reich government. He
also wanted to meet with the Führer of the Folk Group, Sepp Janko as
well as Hamm the parliamentary representative to speak on his behalf
to the German Foreign Office and other German functionaries. He was
personally prepared to go to Berlin to pursue such discussions.
Following the coup and the coronation of Peter II,
Janko had sent a telegram on behalf of the Folk Group with a pledge of
loyalty to the new regime and indicated to Simovic of his readiness to
work and co-operate with the new government. But on the same day he
was invited to meet with Simovic he was asked to meet with the police
chief in Neusatz to discuss matters related to the leadership of the
SDKB. On that day, March 28, 1941 he was taken into "protective
custody" in Gross Betscherek and taken to the Neusatz police
station and prison. On the following day he was taken to Simovic and
he was to speak to the German embassy to arrange for communication
with the Reich government, because Yugoslavia was not prepared to go
to war. The message that Janko received from Berlin was, "Keep
negotiating, but promise nothing!" That was a way of saying that
it would be war. Simovic wanted Janko to speak over the radio
indicating that Yugoslavia’s foreign policy would not be negative
towards the Axis Powers and that the Danube Swabian minority was not
being mistreated in any way in spite of propaganda reports on Austrian
radio from Graz. Janko pleaded that he was such a man of conscience
that he could not do what he had been asked, after all he himself had
been arrested and jailed at Simovic’s orders.
In his third meeting with Simovic, Janko refused to
speak over the radio but suggested that he would accompany a
government official to Berlin to begin talks. Agreement was reached
and the flight would leave on April 6th or 7th.
Simovic wanted to meet with his cabinet first. He had already sent a
mission to Moscow, which tried to arrange a military alliance with the
USSR, but the Russians were only prepared to sign a "Friendship
Pact", with some "nice" words from Stalin:
"We are brothers of the same blood and same
religion (?). There is nothing to divide our two nations. I hope your
army will hold back the German army for as long as possible. You have
mountains and forests, where tanks are useless. Organize a guerilla
war."
The issues of the safety and security of the ethnic
German minority in Yugoslavia was not lost on Berlin, the Foreign
Office or the VOMI. A telegram was sent to the German ambassador in
Budapest from the Foreign Office, signed Weizsäcker:
"For your personal information, I inform
you that the VOMI has received the following instructions: The German
Folk Group in Yugoslavia is in danger of being called up to serve in
the Yugoslavian armed forces, and in order to escape that they will be
encouraged to cross the border into Hungary on their way to Germany.
Please convey to your Hungarian counterparts to permit the fleeing
Danube Swabians to freely cross the borders of Hungary and allowed to
go on unhindered to Germany."
Other telegrams were sent to Rome and Bucharest,
asking for the same kind of assistance to the "refugees".
There is no evidence that such a call for flight on
the part of the ethnic German minority was ever issued. Janko is quick
to point out that Hitler’s so-called order for the ethnic Germans to
refuse to comply with their call up into the Yugoslavian army on March
28, 1941 was never received by the SDKB leadership. Very few failed to
respond to their call-ups into the military. (Translator’s note: From
my own personal perspective it is interesting to note that the concern
of the VOMI and the SDKB leadership was not the danger facing the
ethnic German population, meaning the women and children and the
elderly, but only the men of military age. The rest of the population
apparently was expendable as would prove to be the case in the
holocaust that followed.
The Collapse of Yugoslavia
Following the coup of March 27, 1941 the ethnic
German population became restless and afraid. In Syrmien the local
ethnic German populations were confronted by demonstrations by Serbian
Nationalists hostile to Germany and advocating war against the Reich.
The Danube Swabians held back in order not to cause any reprisals
against them. To a great degree they remained in their houses awaiting
the outcome of the developments that were taking place, realizing that
not much good news awaited them. But the Croatian and Serbian
populations were just as upset and uncertain about what was happening
in Belgrade or the streets of their own communities and the
"unknown elements" that might be on the prowl. In some
villages with mixed populations, each group depended upon the support
of the other to defend them from army forces as they had done during
the First World War.
Right after the coup in Belgrade, those settlements
with a large majority of ethnic Germans were occupied by Tschetniks
(Serbian Army), which guarded all public buildings and installations
and kept the population off the streets and in their homes. The Danube
Swabian community later paid for this protection. The call up and
mobilization of men for the Yugoslavian Army was publicly announced in
all communities on April 1, 1941, but all ethnic German men had been
called up two or three days earlier. Along with the mobilization there
was the requisition of food and supplies, horses and wagons. In some
cases this involved shooting and violence.
There is no official record of the numbers of
ethnic Germans mustered into the army, or how many failed to report
for service. In each community, it was a different story, the only
consistency was what was true of one nationality was also true of the
others. According to the information contained in the various
Heimatbücher, most of the ethnic Germans reported to the Army. The
vast majority of them were assigned to duty in remote areas of Bosnia,
Macedonia, southern Serbia and Herzegovina.
At 5:30 pm on April 6th, 1941, the
Reich government announced that the German Army had invaded Greece and
Yugoslavia during the night. To this day we have no idea of how many
ethnic Germans fell in this war against the German Army. Numbers are
usually not given in the Heimatbücher either, and those that list any
names indicate that they were murdered by Yugoslavian troops, usually
by men from their own units. The war lasted only two weeks and the
losses suffered by the Yugoslavian Army were not very high since the
campaign was short. That was also true of the ethnic Germans serving
in their armed forces.
As soon as the war broke out the police confiscated
all weapons in the possession of the ethnic Germans, mostly hunting
rifles and in addition they also took all radios. The prepared lists
of leading ethnic Germans were used to arrest them as hostages in
Syrmien. In Belgrade and Semlin all ethnic German men were arrested
(even an 80 year old man). In Syrmien the total number of hostages
numbered about four hundred. The dungeons of the fortress of
Peterwardein were filled to overflowing so that those from Syrmien
were kept in their own regions. They were released within a few days
as the German Army moved quickly into Syrmien and the Yugoslavian
troops fled from the area.
Talk of a "fifth column" at work to
explain the rapid victory of the German Army really does not hold any
water in terms of historical fact, nor does the use of the Deustche
Mannschaft units doing rearguard action. All of that is the figment of
the imagination of the retreating Serbs. Many of the Yugoslav troops
deserted and wore civilian clothes and headed for home.
A day after the invasion began the news spread that
all of Yugoslavia was disintegrating. On April 10, 1941 Slavko
Kvaternik declared the independent state of Croatia in Agram and the
Hungarians who had not participated in the fighting were already
moving in to occupy the Batschka and the Lower Baranya. Along with the
retreating Yugoslavian Army fled the authorities and local officials
along with the police forces leaving anarchy behind them.
By Easter of 1941, a week after the beginning of
the Yugoslavian campaign all of the larger settlement areas of the
ethnic Germans in Croatia, Slavonia and Syrmien were in the hands of
German troops that were welcomed by the inhabitants, in Schutzberg in
Bosnia as the German troops arrived the villagers stood on the streets
and sang, "Now Thank We All Our God."
