Daniel Reeves and Dr. Samuel Otterstrom, Geography

From the Middle Ages to the present there has been—to varying degrees—a German minority among the Slovak people. Though nearly nonexistent today, this minority has historically been an important part of Slovakia’s population. German settlers were drawn to Slovakia for several reasons over the centuries, and in the year 1400, with a population of 400,000, their influence on Slovakia reached its peak. Today, the German population in Slovakia is limited to adventurous businessmen and students. These dramatic changes form a base for this research, which has been designed to study the settlement patterns of Germans within Slovakia (Jahn, 1971, p. 16).

To better understand the Germans of Slovakia, I studied histories from different perspectives. I found that German historians tend to emphasize a powerful German influence in Slovakia, while the Slovaks minimize such influences. While many sources were available describing the forced expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia at the end of World War II, information on the Germans of Slovakia through the 700 years preceding World War II was difficult to find. These historical sources gave many clues to the movement and change of Slovakia’s German population. With this information, I pinpointed specific reasons for German immigration to Slovakia, movement and population change among the Germans within the country, and their eventual emigration back to Germany and Austria.

German settlers began to immigrate to Slovakia in large numbers in 1250 in response to an invitation from King Bela IV, the area’s Hungarian monarch. He was trying to resettle the northern reaches of his kingdom in the aftermath of a destructive Mongol invasion. As an incentive, King Bela IV offered these Germans the right to own property and an elevated status in local society. These initial immigrants settled in the fertile mountain valleys of central Slovakia (Jahn, 1971).

By 1500, the original, large enclave of Germans that covered much of central Slovakia had seperated into three more-concentrated settlements. Turkish invasions and civil war within the Austro-Hungarian Empire were the main causes of this breakup (Schieder, 1960, p. 130).

Bratislava (Pressburg) as Slovakia’s largest city and an important center for trade along the Danube was home to many German merchants and tradesmen. The Hauerland and Zips regions, in central and eastern Slovakia respectively, were both important mining centers that supported German miners and their related industries (Gardiner, 1988).

Dr. Samuel Otterstrom has a large collection of Slovak census data, which covers in great detail population changes and movements from 1880 to 1920. I am still working to match these data in a computer program that will allow me to study population changes by ethnic group and graphically portray the findings. This has been and will continue to be the most time-consuming part of my research, but it could lead to the most enlightening discoveries. Visual images of German population changes in Slovakia will clearly show magnitude and patterns in these changes. Further analysis can then lead to deeper understanding of the location and impact of Slovakia’s German minority.

This research project is a great learning experience for me. I am becoming more familiar with a country that I love and gaining an acute sense of appreciation for its history and culture. I am finding that the more I learn about a foreign culture, the more I appreciate the values and traditions of that culture. I plan on becoming a Geography teacher in secondary schools. I hope to instill appreciation and respect for cultural differences within our world community in those I will teach.

References

• Gardiner, D. (1988). German towns in Slovakia and upper Hungary. Lakewood, OH: The Family Historian.
• Jahn, E.K. (1971). Die Deutschen in der Slowakei in den Jahren 1918-1929 [The Germans in Slovakia in the years 1918-1929]. Munich, Germany: R. Oldenburg
• Schieder, T. (Ed). (1960). The expulsion of the German population from Czechoslovakia. Bonn, Germany: Federal ministry for expellees, refuges, and war victims.