View source for Carpathian Germans

{{Short description|Group of ethnic Germans in Central and Eastern Europe}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Carpathian Germans<br/>''Karpatendeutsche'' 
| flag = Flag of Carpathian Germans.svg
| flag_caption = Flag used by Carpathian Germans' Territorial Association<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/de%7Dlm_sk.html|title=Carpathian Germans' Territorial Association from Slovakia|website=www.crwflags.com}}</ref>
| pop = 4,690 (2011 census)<ref>{{cite web|lang=sk|url=http://portal.statistics.sk/files/tab.11.pdf|title=Obyvateľstvo trvalo bývajúce v krajoch SR podľa materinského jazyka|work=portal.statistics.sk|date=2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006172351/http://portal.statistics.sk/files/tab.11.pdf |accessdate=30 January 2023|archive-date=2014-10-06 }}</ref>
| popplace = [[Bratislava]], [[Košice]], [[Spiš]], [[Hauerland]]
| rels = [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]] ''55.5%'', [[Atheism]] ''21.0%'', [[Lutheranism]] ''14.2%'', and ''9.3'' other religions
| langs = [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[German language|German]]
| related = [[Germans]]<br />[[Austrians]]<br /> [[Germans of Hungary]]<br /> [[Germans of Romania]]
}}

'''Carpathian Germans''' ({{langx|de|Karpatendeutsche or Mantaken}}, {{langx|hu|kárpátnémetek}} or ''felvidéki németek'', {{langx|sk|Karpatskí Nemci}}, {{langx|uk|Карпатські німці}}, {{langx|ro|Germani carpatini}}) are a group of [[Germans|ethnic Germans]] in [[Central and Eastern Europe]]. The term was coined by the historian [[:de:Raimund Friedrich Kaindl|Raimund Friederich Kaindl]] (1866–1930), originally generally referring to the [[German language|German-speaking]] population of the area around the [[Carpathian Mountains]]: the [[Cisleithania]]n (Austrian) crown lands of [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]] and [[Bukovina]], as well as the [[Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen|Hungarian]] half of the [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian monarchy]] (including [[Szepes County]]), and the northwestern ([[Maramureș|Maramuresch]]) region of [[Kingdom of Romania|Romania]]. Since the [[World War I|First World War]], only the Germans of Slovakia (the '''Slovak Germans''' or ''Slowakeideutsche'', including the [[Zipser Germans]]) and those of [[Carpathian Ruthenia]] in [[Ukraine]] have commonly been called ''Carpathian Germans''.

== Kingdom of Hungary ==
Germans settled in the northern territory of the medieval [[Kingdom of Hungary (1000–1526)|Kingdom of Hungary]] (then called [[Upper Hungary]], today mostly Slovakia) from the 12th to the 15th centuries (''see [[Ostsiedlung]]''), mostly after the 1241 [[Mongol invasion of Europe]]. There had probably already been some isolated settlers in the area of Pressburg (Pozsony, today's [[Bratislava]]). The Germans were usually attracted by kings seeking specialists in various trades, such as craftsmen and miners. They usually settled in older Slavic market and mining settlements. Until approximately the 15th century, the ruling classes of most cities in present-day Slovakia were almost exclusively composed of Germans.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

[[File:skkadepressburger1869.jpg|thumb|''Pressburger Zeitung'', 1869]]
[[File:skkadegrenzbote1891.jpg|thumb|''Westungarischer Grenzbote'', 1891]]
[[File:Nemci 1900.png|thumb|Carpathian Germans in 1900]]

The main settlement areas were in the vicinity of Pressburg and some language islands in Szepes County (Hungarian: ''Szepesség''; German: ''Zips''; Latin: ''Scepusium'', today [[Spiš]] region in [[Slovakia]]) and the [[Hauerland]] regions.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=Museum of Carpathian German Culture (Múzeum kultúry karpatských Nemcov) |url=http://www.kdv.sk/muzeum.html |title=Karpatskí Nemci ("Carpathian Germans") |language=sk |date=n.d. |access-date=2008-05-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080508031328/http://www.kdv.sk/muzeum.html |archive-date=2008-05-08 }}</ref> The settlers in the Szepes County were known as ''Zipser Sachsen'' ([[Zipser Germans|Zipser]] [[Saxons]], Hungarian: ''cipszerek''). Within [[Carpathian Ruthenia]], they initially settled around Taracköz (German: ''Theresiental'', today [[Teresva]] in [[Ukraine]]) and Munkács (German: ''Munkatsch'', today [[Mukachevo]] in [[Ukraine]]).

The Carpathian Germans, like the Slovaks, were subjected to policies of [[Magyarization]] in the latter half of the 19th and the early the 20th century. Furthermore, many Carpathian Germans voluntarily magyarized their names to climb the social and economic ladder.<ref name="voluntary">{{Cite web|url=http://www.policy.hu/discus/messages/102/canek-czroma.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030520135505/http://www.policy.hu/discus/messages/102/canek-czroma.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Policy.hu|archivedate=May 20, 2003}}</ref>

On 28 October 1918, the National Council of Carpathian Germans in Késmárk (German: ''Käsmark'', today [[Kežmarok]], [[Slovakia]]) declared their loyalty to the Kingdom of Hungary, but a Slovak group declared it to be part of [[Czechoslovakia]] two days later.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

==First Czechoslovak Republic==
During the [[First Czechoslovak Republic]] (1918–1938), Carpathian Germans had a specific political party, the [[Zipser German Party]] (1920–1938), led by Andor Nitsch, who was elected from 1925 to 1935 on a common Hungarian-German list for parliamentary elections. In 1929, the more nationalist-oriented [[Carpathian German Party]] (KdP) was formed in Bratislava, which later made a common list at the 1935 parliamentary elections with the [[Sudeten German Party]]; [[Konrad Henlein]] became its leader in 1937, with [[Franz Karmasin]] as deputy. In 1935, both parties obtained a seat in both parliamentary assemblies. In 1939, the KdP was renamed the [[German Party (Slovakia)|German Party]], with [[Franz Karmasin]] as führer, who had become in October 1938 state secretary for German Affairs in the [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)]], led by Tiso.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gschweng.de/Limbach_Geschichte.htm# |title=Herta Brydon, Limbach - Geschichte und Brauchtum eines deutschsprachigen Dorfes in der Slowakei bis 1945, 1991 |access-date=2007-06-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070620040226/http://www.gschweng.de/Limbach_Geschichte.htm# |archive-date=2007-06-20 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Dr. Thomas Reimer, [http://www.carpathiangerman.com/history.htm Carpathian Germans history]</ref><ref>Ondrej Pöss, Geschichte und Kultur der Karpatendeutschen, Slowakisches Nationalmuseum&nbsp;— Museum der Kultur der Karpatendeutschen, Bratislava, Bratislava/Pressburg, 2005</ref>

The status of the Slovak Republic as a [[client state]] of [[Nazi Germany]] during [[World War II]] made life difficult for Carpathian Germans after the war. Nearly all remaining Germans had fled or were evacuated by the German authorities before the end of the war. Most Germans from Spiš were evacuated to Germany or the [[Sudetenland]] before the arrival of the [[Red Army]]. The evacuation was mostly the initiative of Adalbert Wanhoff and prepared the diocese of the German [[Evangelical Church in Germany|Evangelical Church]] between mid-November 1944 and 21 January 1945. The Germans from Bratislava were evacuated in January and February 1945 after long delays, and those of the Hauerland fled at the end of March 1945. The Red Army reached Bratislava on 4 April 1945.<gallery mode="slideshow">
File:Kežmarok a Vysoké Tatry 1.jpg|[[Kežmarok]] ({{langx|de|Käsmark}}) and [[Levoča]] ({{langx|de|Leutschau}}), the most important urban settlements of the Zipser Germans in the past.
File:Levoča as seen from Bazilika Navštívenia Panny Márie, Levoča District, Slovakia, 2016 June - 2.jpg|Kežmarok ({{langx|de|Käsmark}}) and Levoča ({{langx|de|Leutschau}}), the most important urban settlements of the Zipser Germans in the past.
</gallery>
== After World War II ==
[[File:Fremde-Heimat (Linz).jpg|thumb|Memorial dedicated to several expelled ethnic German groups from [[Central and Eastern Europe]] in [[Linz]], [[Austria]] (the third coat-of-arms in the middle being that of the Carpathian Germans).]]

After the war, one third of the evacuated or fugitive Germans returned to Slovakia. However on 18–19 June 1945, in the [[Přerov]] incident in [[Czechoslovakia]], 71 men, 120 women and 74 children (265 Germans) who were Carpathian Germans from [[Dobšiná]] were murdered while they were passing through [[Horní Moštěnice]], near [[Přerov]] railway station. After being taken out of the train by Czechoslovak soldiers, they were marched outside the city to a hill "Švédské šance", where they were forced to dig their own graves and then were shot.<ref>[https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/europa/verbrechen-an-vertriebenen-das-massaker-in-prerau-13646843.html Verbrechen an Vertriebenen: Das Massaker von Prerau] [[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]], 18 June 2015 {{in lang|de}}</ref> The massacre did not become publicly known until the fall of the communist regime in 1989.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.praguemonitor.com/2018/02/12/big-cross-near-p%C5%99erov-commemorate-germans-killed-after-ww2|title=Big cross near Přerov to commemorate Germans killed after WW2 – Prague Monitor|website=www.praguemonitor.com|access-date=2019-12-09|archive-date=2020-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201107224015/http://www.praguemonitor.com/2018/02/12/big-cross-near-p%C5%99erov-commemorate-germans-killed-after-ww2|url-status=dead}}</ref>

On 2 August 1945, Carpathian Germans lost the rights of citizenship,<ref>[[Germans in Czechoslovakia (1918-1938)|Sudeten Germans]] in the border regions of the [[Czech lands]] and the Hungarians in the south of Slovakia also lost their citizenship.</ref> by [[Beneš decrees|Beneš decree]] no. 33, and they were interned in camps such as in Bratislava-Petržalka, [[Nováky]], and in Krickerhau [[Handlová]]. In 1946 and 1947, about 33,000 people were expelled from Slovakia under the [[Potsdam Agreement]], and around 20,000 persons were allowed or forced to remain in Slovakia because they were able, on petition, to use the "[[Slovakisation]]" process,<ref name="voluntary" /> which meant that they declared themselves as Slovaks and either changed their names to Slovak equivalents or simply Slovakized them,<ref name="voluntary" /> and others were simply forced to remain because their skills were needed. Out of approximately 128,000 Germans in Slovakia in 1938, only some 20,000 (15.6% of the prewar total) remained by 1947. The citizenship rules of the Beneš decrees were revoked in 1948 but not the expropriations.

== Today ==

[[File:skkadeplaque.jpg|thumb|right|Memorial plaque commemorating expelled Carpathian Germans, Bratislava]]
[[File:Skkadeplaque2.jpg|thumb|right|Plate in the Slovak Museum of German Culture in Bratislava]]

According to national censuses, there were 6,108 (0.11%) Germans in Slovakia in 2007, 5,405 in 2001, 5,414 in 1991 and 2,918 in 1980. A Carpathian German Homeland Association has been created to maintain traditions,<ref>[http://www.kdv.sk/ Karpatendeutscher Verein]</ref> and since 2005, there is also a museum of culture of Carpathian Germans in Bratislava.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.snm.sk/?about-the-museum-9|title=About the museum, Slovak National Museum|website=www.snm.sk}}</ref> There are two German-language media that are assisted financially by the Slovak government: ''Karpatenblatt'' (monthly) and ''IKEJA news'' (Internet). There is also minority broadcasting in German on the Slovak radio.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/minorities/3_FCNMdocs/PDF_2nd_SR_SlovakRepublic_en.pdf|title=Second report on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in the Slovak Republic|year=2005|access-date=6 August 2011|location=Bratislava}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coe.int/t/dghl/monitoring/minorities/3_FCNMdocs/PDF_3rd_SR_SlovakRepublic_en.pdf|title=Third report on the implementation of the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in the Slovak Republic|date=May 2009|access-date=6 August 2011|location=Bratislava}}</ref> After the war, their countrymen, now living in Germany and Austria, founded cultural associations as well. There is also a Carpathian German Landsmannschaft of [[North America]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.karpatendeutsche.de/|title=Die Karpatendeutschen - Willkommen|website=www.karpatendeutsche.de}}</ref>

Amongst prominent member ethnic Germans in postwar Slovakia is [[Rudolf Schuster]], the country's second president (1999–2004). Others e.g.
* [[Vladimír Weiss (disambiguation)|Vladimír Weiss]], a name shared by three generations of Slovak footballers
* [[Peter Sagan]], Slovak international champion of bicycle race,
* [[Branislav Gröhling]], Slovak minister of education
* [[Karol Šmidke]], president of the Presidium of the Slovak National Council

=== Language ===

[[File:German as Mother Tongue Lower Zips.pdf|thumb|2011 Slovak census data for number of German speakers in the Lower Zips/Dolný Spiš geographic region.]]

The isolation of the German from countries in which German has been standardised ([[Germany]], [[Austria]], and to some extent, [[Switzerland]]) has caused many obscure German dialects to continue to exist in Slovakia, but many are in danger of extinction.

In the Upper and Lower [[Zips (region)|Zips regions]] (and later in Romania), the [[Zipser Germans]] spoke [[Zipser German|Zipserisch]]<!--The German name is used only to avoid "Zipser Germans spoke Zipser German"-->. A community of speakers remains in [[Hopgarten]] and speaks a distinctive dialect, ''Outzäpsersch'' (German: Altzipserisch, literally "Old Zipserish"). In Dobsina, they spoke what they called ''Dobschauisch'' or ''Topschauisch''. In Metzenseifen (Medzev), they spoke Mantak, but only a few dozen people speak it today. The German schools were closed after World War II in all former German-speaking towns, and children were forced to learn Slovak. German was not to be used in the workplace or even publicly on the street.{{Citation needed|date=July 2019}}

== Historical demographics ==

The German minority in Slovakia has more or less always constantly been decreasing since the late 19th century onwards, according to the official Slovak national censuses. After 1947, their numbers gradually shrank even more in the wake of the expulsion of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

{{Historical populations
|type =
|footnote = Sources: Slovak national censuses and Encyklopédia Slovenska
|1880 | 228,799
|1910 | 198,385
|1921 | 139,900
|1930 | 148,214
|1938 | 128,000
|1947 | 24,000
|1961 | 6,266
|1980 | 4,093
|1991 | 5,414
|2001 | 5,405
|2011 | 4,690
}}

== Outside Slovakia ==

The Carpathian and other [[Germans of Romania|German groups in Romania]] are currently represented by the [[Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania]] (DFDR/FDGR). Carpathian/Zipser Germans are mostly to be found in [[Maramureș|Maramuresch]] (across the [[Rodna Mountains]] and within [[Maramureș County]] more specifically), [[Bukovina]], and elsewhere sparsely throughout [[Transylvania]]. In general, in Maramureș, the Zipsers were colonised in mining areas.

[[File:Viseu de Sus.jpg|thumb|left|[[Vișeu de Sus]] ({{langx|de|Oberwischau}}), [[Maramureș]], [[Romania]]]]

The same applies for Bukovina, where Zipsers were also miners and lumberjacks. For example, in southern Bukovina (i.e. present-day [[Suceava County]] in northeastern Romania), several former Zipser German rural settlements include [[Iacobeni, Suceava|Iacobeni]] ({{langx|de|Jakobeny}}), [[Cârlibaba]] ({{langx|de|Mariensee/Ludwigsdorf}}), and [[Fundu Moldovei]] ({{langx|de|Louisenthal}}).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bukovinasociety.org/bsa-file_villages-e/bsa-file_villages_list-e/bsa-file_villages_luisental-e/|title=Louisenthal|author=Oskar Hadbawnik|work=Bukovina Society|date=25 June 2006|access-date=29 September 2022}}</ref>

The Carpathian/Zipser Germans' settlements are located towards the Carpathian Mountains, westward in Bukovina and Suceava County. There were mostly mining communities. Today, sparse German communities still live in Bukovina/Suceava County, both Zipsers and [[Bukovina Germans]], but their numbers are drastically dwindling.{{cn|date=August 2025}}

In Maramureș, [[Vișeu de Sus]] ({{langx|de|Oberwischau}}) is still home to a small community of Zipser Germans (according to the [[2011 Romanian census]]) who are also politically represented in the town's council by one councillor stemming from the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (DFDR/FDGR).{{cn|date=August 2025}}

== See also ==

* [[Zipser Willkür]]
* [[Pavshyno]] (Pausching)
* [[Gottscheers]]
* [[Sudeten Germans]]
* [[Oberlander Jews]]
* [[Upper Hungary]]
* [[Volksdeutsche]]
* [[Walddeutsche]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{German diaspora}}
{{Ethnic groups in Slovakia}}
{{Ethnic minorities in Czechoslovakia}}

[[Category:Hungarian-German people]]
[[Category:Carpathian German people|*]]
[[Category:German diaspora by country]]
[[Category:Social history of Slovakia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Czechoslovakia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Slovakia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Romania]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Hungary]]