Abstract
The origins of ethnic Germans in Hungary can be traced back to the 1700’s, when the Ottomans were driven from Hungarian land and the Habsburg Empire promoted German migration to the unoccupied area. Known as the “Great Swabian Migration”, these Germans set up various villages around the present day capital, Budapest. When the Treaty of Trianon reestablished European borders after World War I, the Germans suddenly found they were enclosed within the borders of a foreign country. This paper traces the history of ethnic Germans to Hungary and continues this history through the personal stories of two ethnic German families beginning in the 1930’s. Unaware of the political events shaping their lives, these families dealt with devastation, death and imprisonment during World War Two, oppression during Soviet occupation, and finally expulsion from a land they had worked and lived on for over two hundred years.
Recommended Citation
Hunt, Sierra
(2012)
"A Story of Ethnic Germans in Hungary: From their Origins to their Expulsion,"
Proceedings of GREAT Day: Vol. 2011, Article 8.
Available at:
https://knightscholar.geneseo.edu/proceedings-of-great-day/vol2011/iss1/8