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Germans of Croatia
*Hrvatski Nijemci*
*Kroatiendeutsche*
Total population
	2,965
Languages
	Croatian · German
Religion
	Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
	Germans · Austrians

In Croatia, there are over 2,900 people who consider themselves German, most of these Danube Swabians. Germans are officially recognized as an autochthonous national minority, and as such, they elect a special representative to the Croatian Parliament, shared with members of eleven other national minorities.^[2] They are mainly concentrated in the area around Osijek (German: Esseg) in eastern Slavonia.

Ethnology

The community traditionally inhabited northern Croatia and Slavonia. In the Early modern period they had settled from other territories in the Habsburg monarchy, and in what is today Croatia mainly settled territories of the Military Frontier.^[3] The Danube Swabians that inhabited Western Slavonia were subject to strong Croatization.^[4] The Croatian intelligentsia only acknowledged a German minority in 1865.^[3]

History

With the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the Germans of Croatia became a minority. In 1920, Germans established the cultural association Kulturbund. The Kulturbund was banned on April 11, 1924, by Minister of the Interior Svetozar Pribićević.^[5] The following government of Ljuba Davidović and the Democratic Party saw the ban lifted.

In 1922, they formed the German Party (Partei der Deutschen).^[6] The party existed until it was banned as part of King Alexander's dictatorship in 1929.

The Croatian German population reached 85,781 in the 1900 census, while this number plummeted after the German exodus in the aftermath of World War II.^[7] The Austro-Hungarian census of 1910 recorded 134,000 Germans.^[8] After World War II, 100,000 Yugoslav Germans fled to Austria.^[9] This population was not dealt with in the Potsdam Agreement which prevented them from being repatriated to Germany.^[9] The Allies considered them Yugoslavian citizens and sought their repatriation there.^[9] However, on June 4 the Communist Party of Yugoslavia released a decree that rescinded the citizenship of Yugoslavian Germans.^[9] Their property was henceforth confiscated, and the majority settled in Germany and Austria. Some managed to return to Yugoslavia and returned to their homes.^[9]

The historically predominantly German town of Čeminac built the parish Church of Sacred Heart of Christ in 1906–1907.^[10] The German population in the town was forced to leave in 1945. After democratic changes in Croatia in 1990, former inhabitants of the town, mostly living in Germany, repaired the church. However, on April 10, 1992, the church was burnt by Serb forces as part of the Croatian War of Independence.^[10] In 2001, various levels of the Croatian government contributed to its repairs, which were carried out by 2005.^[10]

In 1996, Croatia and Germany signed an agreement to facilitate the marking of German graves from the World Wars in Croatia.^[11] There are German military cemeteries in Pula, Split and Zagreb.^[12] In 2005, the Croatian government passed a comprehensive law on the return of nationalized Austrian property to its rightful owners.^[13]

Demographics

According to the 2011 Croatian census, there are 2,965 Germans in Croatia.^[1]

County	Number of Germans	Percent of total
Osijek-Baranja	813	27.4%
City of Zagreb	364	12.3%
Primorje-Gorski Kotar	237	8.0%
Istria	226	7.6%
Split-Dalmatia	220	7.4%
Zadar	176	5.9%
Vukovar-Syrmia	137	4.6%
Zagreb	109	3.7%

Geography

The main locations in Slavonia formerly settled by Germans include:

Darda (Darda)
Jagodnjak (Katschfeld)
Josipovac-Kravice (Oberjosefsdorf-Krawitz)
Kula (Kula-Josefsfeld)
Osijek (Esseg)
Sarvaš (Sarwasch-Hirschfeld)
Satnica Đakovačka (Satnitz)
Slavonski Brod (Brod)
Harkanovci (Kawinz)

There were many German settlements in the adjacent region of Syrmia (Symrien); there is still a village called Nijemci which literally translates to "Germans". The main locations in the Croatian part of Syrmia formerly settled by Germans include:

Vukovar (Wukowar)
Novo Selo (Neudorf), now the western part of Vinkovci
Opatovac (Sankt Lorenz)
Lovas (Lowas)
Jarmina (Jahrmein)
Berak
Tompojevci
Tovarnik (Sankt Georg)
Ilača (Illatsch)
Svinjarevci
Bapska (Babska)
Orolik
Banovci
Novi Jankovci (Neu-Jankowzi)
Ernestinovo (Ernestinenhof)

German settlements in Western Slavonia:

Culture

Organizations

The Germans and Austrians have created the Society of Germans and Austrians of Croatia.^[14] There is a German culture centre in Osijek, and a small number of German schools in the area.

Since the fall of communism and Croatian independence, the minority has held an annual academic conference titled Germans and Austrians in the Croatian cultural circle.^[15]

Anthropology

Surnames

Examples of Croatianized Germanic surnames in Croatia include Ajhner (Eichner), Bahman (Bachmann), Birer (Bührer), Ceglec (Ziegler), Cukerić (Zucker), Flajs (Fleiss), Fresel (Fressl), Goldštajn (Goldstein), Gotvald (Gottwald), Helfrich (Helfricht), Hohšteter (Hochstädter), Kunštek (Kunst), Majer, Majerić, Majerović (from Mayer/Meyer/Meier), Šmit (Schmidt), Šnidarić, Šnidaršić (Schneider), Špic (Spitz), Špicmiler (Spitzmüller), Šturmer (Stürmer), Šuflaj (Schufflei), Šuper (Schupper), Švarc (Schwarz), Tabajner (Tappeiner), Tišlarić (Tischler), Tunkel (Dunkel), Vinšer (Wünscher), Vitman (Wittman), etc.^[16] Among surnames that have retained their original form, Mayer/Meyer, Schmidt, Hermann, Bauer, Wolf, Fischer, Schneider, Schwarz, Richter, Müller, Zimmermann, Wagner, are examples of those found in greater numbers.^[16]

Notable people

Ljudevit Gaj (1809–1872), linguist, from Krapina-Zagorje
Adolfo Veber Tkalčević (1825–1889), philologist, Moravian German father
Josip Stadler (1843–1918), Catholic archbishop, from Slavonski Brod
Ivan Merz (1896–1928), Catholic lay academic and saint, from Banja Luka
Pavao Štoos (1806–1862), Catholic priest and poet, from Zagreb
Anton Geiser (1924–2012), Nazi, from Đakovo
Rikard Jorgovanić (1853–1880), writer, from Krapina-Zagorje, Bohemian German father
Vjekoslav Klaić (1849–1928), historian, from Slavonski Brod, German mother
Pavao Ritter Vitezović (1652–1713), writer and diplomat, German father
Velimir Neidhardt (born 1943), architect, from Zagreb
Franjo Maixner (1841–1903), academic and professor, from Osijek
Ferdinand Kulmer (1925–1998), painter, from Zagreb
Ljudevit Jonke (1907–1979), linguist, from Karlovac
Josip Hamm (1905–1986), Slavist, from Osijek-Baranja
Željko Reiner (born 1953), politician, from Zagreb
Josip Schlosser (1801–1882), physician
Josip Seissel (1904–1987), architect, from Krapina-Zagorje
Josip Juraj Strossmayer (1815-1905), politician, Roman Catholic bishop, and benefactor, from Osijek
Ante Šercer (1896–1968), physician, from Požega
Ivo Šlaus (born 1931), physicist, from Split
Rajko Grlić (born 1947), film director from Zagreb
Branko Schmidt (born 1957),film director from Osijek
Radovan Fuchs (born 1953), scientist and politician serving as Minister of Science and Education in the Government of Croatia since 2020
Željko Koenigsknecht (born 1961), film actor from Vukovar
Inge Appelt (born 1943), actress

References

^ ^a ^b "Stanovništvo prema narodnosti, popisi 1971. - 2011" (in Croatian). Retrieved 21 December 2012.
^ "Pravo pripadnika nacionalnih manjina u Republici Hrvatskoj na zastupljenost u Hrvatskom saboru". Zakon o izborima zastupnika u Hrvatski sabor (in Croatian). Croatian Parliament. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
^ ^a ^b Oberkersch 2006.
^ Institutul de Istorie "A.D. Xenopol" (2004). East-Central Europe and the great powers politics: 19th-20th centuries. Editura Junimea. ISBN 978-973-37-0167-5.
^ Zoran Janjetović. The ethnic Germans in the political life of Yugoslavia (1918-1941) Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine
^ Vladimir Geiger. Njemačka manjina u Kraljevini Srba, Hrvata i Slovenaca/Jugoslaviji (1918.-1941.) Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
^ Emigration of Italians and Germans from Croatia during and immediately after the Second World War
^ William R. Shepherd: "Distribution of Races in Austria-Hungary", Historical Atlas, 1911 [1]
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Vladimir Geiger, Povratak slavonskih Nijemaca nakon Drugoga svjetskog rata iz izbjeglištva / prognaništva u zavičaj i njihova sudbina
^ ^a ^b ^c "Sacral heritage". Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
^ "Zbirka međunarodnih ugovora". Archived from the original on 2012-11-07. Retrieved 2008-11-05.
^ KRATKE VIJESTI IZ HRVATSKE Archived 2009-08-31 at the Wayback Machine, Croatian Radiotelevision
^ Eduard Šoštarić (6 December 2005). "Diplomate razbjesnio povrat imovine Austrijancima" [Diplomats angered by restoration of property to Austrians] (in Croatian). Nacional (weekly). Archived from the original on 9 July 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
^ Austrians in Croatia Archived 2008-12-21 at the Wayback Machine, Croatian Radiotelevision
^ 16. Znanstveni skup 'Nijemci i Austrijanci u hrvatskom kulturnom krugu'
^ ^a ^b Ščukanec 2010.

Sources

Oberkersch, Valentin (2006). Danube Swabians... DVHH.
Geiger, V. (1991). "Nijemci u Hrvatskoj". Migracijske i etničke teme. 7 (3–4): 319–334.
Geiger, V. (2001). "Nijemci u Đakovu i Đakovštini". Scrinia Slavonica. 2 (1). Hrvatski institut za povijest: 570–572.
Geiger, V. (2006). "Folksdojčeri u Hrvatskoj 1945". 1945.-Razdjelnica Hrvatske Povijest. Hrvatski institut za povijest: 271–287.
Richembergh, G. B. (2010). "Nijemci, Austrijanci i Hrvati: prilozi za povijest njemačko-austrijske nacionalne manjine u Hrvatskoj i Bosni i Hercegovini". Synopsis.
Škiljan, F. (2014). "Nacionalne manjine u hrvatskoj Baranji između čekića i nakovnja-slučaj baranjskih Nijemaca". Srpsko-hrvatski politički odnosi u 20.
Ščukanec, A. (2010). "Njemačka prezimena u Zagrebu i okolici i načini njihova prilagođivanja hrvatskom jezičnom sustavu". Folia Onomastica Croatica. 18: 149–169.
Geiger, V., 2008. Josip Broz Tito i sudbina jugoslavenskih Nijemaca. Časopis za suvremenu povijest, 40(3), pp. 789–818.
Mira Kolar-Dimitrijević, Skrivene biografije nekih Nijemaca i Austrijanaca u Hrvatskoj 19. i 20. stoljeća, Osijek, 2001.
Kolar-Dimitrijević, M., 1994. Nijemci u podravini. U: GB Richembergh (prir.), Nijemci u Hrvatskoj: Jučer i danas (Zbornik). Zagreb: Volksdeutsche Gemeinschaft, pp. 43–50.
TRADICIJSKI ŽIVOT MAĐARA I NIJEMACA U RETFALI, DIJELU OSIJEKA; Vlasta Šabić ; Muzej Slavonije, Osijek, Hrvatska str. 105-120
Osvrt na važnije radove o Nijemcima u Požegi i Požeškoj kotlini; Vladimir Geiger str. 296-307
Migracije njemačkog stanovništva na hrvatskom području tijekom Drugoga svjetskog rata i poraća; Marica Karakaš Obradov str. 271-294

External links

Community of Germans in Croatia Archived 2011-10-05 at the Wayback Machine
Representation of the German national minority of the City of Zagreb
Slađana Josipović; Filozofski fakultet Osijek (October 2008). "Odnos komunističkih vlasti prema svećenicima njemačkog podrijetla na primjeru daljskog župnika Petra Fischera" [Relations of the communist authorities towards priests of German background by the example of Petar Fischer]. Society of German National Minority Yearbook (in Croatian). 15 (1). Society of German National Minority - Association of Danube Swabians Croatia, Osijek. Retrieved 2012-02-27.