The 150,000 pioneers that settled during the 150 year long period in Hungary had now reached 1,500,000.  Until 1850 the German settlers were comprised of 85% to 90% farmers.  By the beginning of the 20th Century the German population in Hungary had shifted and was now comprised of 50% to 60% farmers and farm workers, 20% to 25% craftsman and merchants, 20% laborers and 3% intellectuals and professionals.  In the 1870’s they introduced the revolutionary wheeled plow, which not only ripped the ground open but also planed it the same time.  They welcomed advancements in technology, which made their work not only easier but also more efficient.  After six years of research by two German experts in 1907, who determined and stated, the wheat grown in the Batschka produces the best flour in the world, especial for Weißbrot (wheat bread) and strudel dough.  Before WWI the German population in Hungary represented 5.5% of the total population in Hungary, which produced 18.5% of the wheat on 11.4% farmland in that country.  They also produced pork, beef, wine, silk, tobacco, corn, oats and the “Gidran” a breed of horses suitable for work and pleasure riding.

      After WWI, Hungary was drastically reduced in size.  In 1920 there were approximately 551,000 Germans, we like to refer to them from here on as Danube Swabians, living in Hungary, which represented 6.9% of the Hungarian population.  Of these 56.6% occupied themselves in farming, 27.9% in the industry, 3.7% in commerce and 2.7% in the educational and professional field.  From the statistics we can clearly recognize the importance of the Danube Swabian farmers.  The skilled trade industry employed Danube Swabians (mostly self-employed) and was comprised of 16,690 carpenters, 15,493 masons and bricklayers, 12,462 blacksmiths and 8,711 shoemakers.  In 1942 Hungary produced 185,000,000-liter milk of which Danube Swabian farmers were responsible for 73,000,000 liter and 60% of the butter export from Hungary.  In 1938, the Danube Swabians produced 65% of all agricultural products produced in Hungary.  The production of linen and wool flourished in the Swabian Turkey.  In the areas around Bácsalmás, Pecs and Tokaj, the Danube Swabian winegrowers enjoyed world famous reputations.

     No less than 226,597 persons made their home in the Romanian region of the Banat.  Of these persons 25.2% were of German descent.  Seventy-nine percent of the Danube Swabian population lived in rural areas and 20.7 % in the cities.  They planted 52% of the farmland with grains (41.8% of the grain was wheat), 37.5% vegetable, 4.5% for feed and 6% other crops. In 1938 and 1939 the Danube Swabians owned 82% of the pork belly industry and 29% of the Romanian pork belly export.  By 1940 the contributions by the Danube Swabian to the Romanian export reached a high of 51%.  The mining in the mountains of the Banat contributed also greatly to the welfare of Romania.

     The Danube Swabian population in Yugoslavia prior to World War II consisted of more than 500,000 people.  In the Yugoslavian Banat it amounted to 23.6% of the population.  They owned 22% of the usable farmland producing 30% of the farm products.  They represented 42% of the skilled trade’s people out of 58% in the Yugoslavian industry.   The most profitable crop for the farmers in the Batschka was the hemp and it should be to no ones surprise that they planted 25% of their fields with the “White Gold of the Batschka.”  In the Batschka, the Danube Swabians contributed the largest share of hemp to the Yugoslavian export.  They owned and operated 73 hemp factories that produced 2,000 metric tons of hemp per month.  They owned 95% of the combing factories.  Only Russia and Italy rivaled the hemp they produced.  However, in the qualities of tensile strength and water resistance the hemp from the Batschka was superior.  The Batschka was also home of the “Hemp Trade Center of Europe” and was located in Odzaci (Hodschag) and Novi Sad (Neusatz). They were also involved in the fishing, the tobacco and the silk cocoon industry. The vegetable and fruit growing, as well as live stock raising were profitable for the Danube Swabians, even though most of it was produced for self-use.

For Joseph II touring his country was important to become familiar with the needs of his subjects. His findings triggered his economic and agricultural reform which also affected the German settlers in Hungary.  While touring Hungary, Joseph II saw a farmer plowing a field and stopped to if he could plow a few furrows.

This painting by Stefan Jäger clearly illustrates what our ancestor found and was they faced tilling the soil and create a paradise never realized by any other culture in this region before and perhaps never after.

The development of the iron plow led to the Severin Zugmayer plow which featured a knives cutting into the soil, the plow shear and a fold over attachment.  With this plow the farmer was not only able to plow the field but roll over the soil the same time.  In the earlier years of the 19th Century it was the invention making the work of the farmer a lot easier. From here the development went to the double shear plow doing twice the work in half the time.

A Familiar landscape in Hungary.

Farmer using a double shear plow in Gakowa.

Loading manor to take to the field was quite a chore prior to fertilizer in Filipowa.

Horse and oxen as well as cows bore the working load to take manor to the fields in Sathmar.