Sudeten Germans
German Bohemians (German: Deutschböhmen und Deutschmährer [ˈdɔɪ̯t͡ʃˌbøːmən] ⓘ, Czech: čeští Němci a moravští Němci, i.e. German Bohemians and German Moravians), later known as Sudeten Germans (German: Sudetendeutsche [zuˈdeːtn̩ˌdɔɪ̯t͡ʃə] ⓘ, Czech: sudetští Němci), were ethnic Germans living in the Czech lands of the Bohemian Crown, which later became an integral part of Czechoslovakia. Before 1945, over three million German Bohemians constituted[1] about 23% of the population of the whole country and about 29.5% of the population of Bohemia and Moravia.[2] Ethnic Germans migrated into the Kingdom of Bohemia, an electoral territory of the Holy Roman Empire, from the 11th century, mostly in the border regions of what was later called the "Sudetenland", which was named after the Sudeten Mountains.[3]
For information on ethnic Germans in Slovakia, see Carpathian Germans.
The process of German expansion was known as Ostsiedlung ("Settling of the East"). The name "Sudeten Germans" was adopted during rising nationalism after the fall of Austria-Hungary after the First World War. After the Munich Agreement, the so-called Sudetenland became part of Germany.
After the Second World War, most of the German-speaking population (mostly Roman Catholic with relatively few Protestants) was expelled from Czechoslovakia to Germany and Austria.
The area that became known as the Sudetenland possessed chemical works and lignite mines as well as textile, china, and glass factories. The Bohemian border with Bavaria was inhabited primarily by Germans. The Upper Palatine Forest, which extends along the Bavarian frontier and into the agricultural areas of southern Bohemia, was an area of German settlement. Moravia contained patches of "locked" German territory to the north and south. More characteristic were the German language islands, which were towns inhabited by German minorities and surrounded by Czechs. Sudeten Germans were mostly Roman Catholics, a legacy of centuries of Austrian Habsburg rule.
Not all ethnic Germans lived in isolated and well-defined areas; for historical reasons, Czechs and Germans mixed in many places, and Czech-German bilingualism and code-switching was quite common. Nevertheless, during the second half of the 19th century, Czechs and Germans began to create separate cultural, educational, political and economic institutions, which kept both groups semi-isolated from each other, which continued until the end of the Second World War, when almost all the ethnic Germans were expelled.
Names[edit]
In the English language, ethnic Germans who originated in the Kingdom of Bohemia were traditionally referred to as "German Bohemians".[5][6] This appellation utilizes the broad definition of Bohemia, which includes all of the three Bohemian crown lands: Bohemia, Moravia and (Austrian) Silesia.[7] In the German language, it is more common to distinguish among the three lands, hence the prominent terms Deutschböhmen (German Bohemians), Deutschmährer (German Moravians) and Deutschschlesier (German Silesians).[8] Even in German the broader use of "Bohemian" is also found.[9]
The term "Sudeten Germans" (Sudetendeutsche) came about during rising ethnic nationalism in the early 20th century, after the fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the First World War. It coincided with the rise of another new term, "the Sudetenland", which referred only to the parts of the former Kingdom of Bohemia that were inhabited predominantly by ethnic Germans. These names were derived from the Sudeten Mountains, which form the northern border of the Bohemian lands. As these terms were heavily used by the Nazi German regime to push forward the creation of a Greater Germanic Reich, many contemporary Germans avoid them in favour of the traditional names.[10]
Before the First World War[edit]
Middle Ages and early modern period[edit]
There have been ethnic Germans living in the Bohemian crown lands since the Middle Ages.[11] In the late 12th and in the 13th century the Přemyslid rulers promoted the colonisation of certain areas of their lands by German settlers from the adjacent lands of Bavaria, Franconia, Upper Saxony and Austria during the Ostsiedlung migration.
In other countries[edit]
Argentina[edit]
Although to a lesser extent than the Volga Germans, Sudeten Germans also immigrated to Argentina. Some groups settled in different German colonies in the Misiones Province.
Particularly notable is the case of the German businessman Oskar Schindler and his wife Emilie Schindler, who lived in Argentina for a few years.
Likewise, Argentina-based Princess Mercedes von Dietrichstein, daughter of Alexander von Dietrichstein, has spent long years legally battling to recover her family's assets (for example, Mikulov Castle) that were confiscated from them in the Sudetenland area by order of the President of Czechoslovakia Edvard Beneš, through the so-called Beneš Decrees, which dispossessed all ethnic Germans of their property and expelled them from their land.
Chile[edit]
In 1877, a group of Sudeten Germans from the city of Braunau (historical region of Bohemia, then located in the Austro-Hungarian Empire; current city of Broumov, Czech Republic) founded the town of Nueva Braunau in Chile, in Los Lagos Region. Likewise, in the town of Colonia Humán (currently integrated as a neighborhood into the city of Los Ángeles), in the Biobío Region, some Germans from the Sudetenland joined other groups of established Germans.
In the 1930s, the Chilean businesswoman Antonia Inalaf decided to finance a project to emigrate Sudeten Germans to Chile. This group of Germans came from the city of Rossbach (currently Hranice, in the historical region of Moravia, Czech Republic), and in 1935 she founded the town of Puyuhuapi, in the Aysén Region. Although her project was to settle many more families, the Second World War frustrated her plans. Therefore, some relatives of those who had already settled were only able to arrive in 1947. First, the settler settled with their families, which gave rise to a new population.[59]
Following the expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia at the end of World War II, a new group of Sudeten Germans immigrated to Chile, either to settle in Puyuhuapi or in other German colonies in the south of the country.[60]
Spain[edit]
Before World War II broke out, Prince Maximilian Eugene of Hohenlohe-Langenburg decided to take refuge in Spain. Similarly, after the war, all of his assets were confiscated through the Beneš Decrees. However, the fortune of his wife's family prevented him from falling out of favor. In Spain, one of his sons, Prince Alfonso, founded the Marbella Club Hotel, thus beginning the Marbella Golden Mile, which he catapulted as a destination for international luxury tourism, which since then has generated great wealth for Spain.
Paraguay[edit]
On October 1, 1933, some families of Sudeten Germans founded the "Colonia Sudetia" in the Paso Yobai district, Guairá Department.[61] In the beginning the colony was difficult for them, since most of them were not farmers but had other professions, but they soon knew how to adapt and today the community is the seat of large yerba mate factories.
Languages[edit]
Various Sudeten German dialects are currently practically extinct as most Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia: present Sudeten Germans speak mainly Czech and/or Standard German.