The Situation of the Catholic Swabians in the Banat Region, Part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes

Abstract

The south-eastern part of Royal Hungary, the most heterogeneous and multi-ethnic region in terms of population composition, was divided into three parts following the Treaty of Trianon. The larger eastern portion of the region was annexed by Romania, the western half became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, while only a marginal area remained in Hungary, bounded to the north and west by the Tisza and Maros rivers. This remaining territory continued to exist under the name Csanád County. In this article, I examine the western part of the Banat region, which was annexed to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, with particular emphasis on the situation of the Catholic Swabians living there between the two World Wars. The Kingdom of South Slavs, with a population of nearly twelve million, had approximately 4% of German nationality in 1921. According to the 1921 census, the population of Western Banat, which became part of the South Slavic state, numbered 561,958. Within the total population in the Banat of Serbia, Germans constituted 22.5% (126,630 individuals), making them the second largest ethnic group in the region, with only the Serbs being more numerous. The vast majority of the German population in the Serbian Banat were Catholic. One-third of the Banat Germans lived in cities, while two-thirds resided in villages. It can generally be stated that, in the 19th and 20th centuries, ethnic groups in the Banat region primarily coexisted side by side, with little interaction between them. During the 19th century, the Banat region experienced significant development and industrialization. However, the vision for its future was severely shattered by its division into three parts following World War I, but the greatest tragedy for them was World War II. In the final year of the war, partisans led by Tito, who liberated the South Slavic state, accused the Swabian minority of collaborating with the German occupiers on the basis of collective guilt. Their property was confiscated, and retaliatory actions were carried out, resulting in thousands of fatalities. The majority of the civilian population was interned in camps for years, where tens of thousands of women and children lost their lives due to inhumane conditions and epidemics. The survivors were deported. In contrast to neighbouring Romania, the Swabian population of the Serbian Banat almost completely disappeared in the years following the World War, and in many settlements even their cultural heritage was destroyed, including churches. Thus, this marked the end of a two-hundred-year-old Swabian culture in this corner of South-eastern Europe, a culture that had been established through resilient and persistent efforts following the expulsion of the Ottomans.