About Hungarian Highlands

Hungarian Highlands also known as Südwestliches Ungarisches Mittelgebirge (Southwest Hungarian low mountain range) is in present-day Hungary and includes Veszprém County.  Borders north to the Danube river, east at the turn of the Danube river near Budapest, south at Lake Balaton and west at the Raab (Raba) river. Settlement centers were Buchenwald (Bakony Mountains), Schildgebirge, Ofner Bergland with Budapest.

"'Among the Germans in southeastern Europe, it is the 1.5 million Danube Swabians, or Donauschwaben, who make up the largest group. These settlers came initially from lands bordering on the west, later from southern German regions on either side of the Rhein. They settled in the Hungarian basin and regions that later became Romania and Yugoslavia. After Hungary had been freed of the Turkish rule, these Germans followed the clarion call of the kaiser to resettle lands left barren and abandoned by the invaders.  A law to this effect was decreed in 1689, but the larger immigrations of German farmers and peasants did not really begin until after 1723. The areas settled by the "Schwaben," as all who came were called regardless of their actual origin (from the Rhein-Palatinate, Hessen, etc.), were dispersed throughout the Hungarian plains. Focal points were the lands around Budapest -- the southwest Hungarian Highlands where, in 1941, 11,000 residents claimed German as their ethnic origin and 22,300 German as their mother tongue; the Schwaebische Tuerkei, or Swabian Turkey, south of Lake Balaton, Slavonia between the Sava and Drava Rivers; and to the west of this province, Syrmia." [Source: The German Expellees: Victims in War and Peace By Alfred-Maurice De Zayas, trans John A Koehler, Cassandra Loeser, Jul 20, 1993.]

Ungarisches Mittelgebirge is situated northwest of the other Danube Swabian settlement areas.

Wörterbuch der donauschwäbischen Landwirtschaft By Hans Gehl

Offener Bergland refers to the major Swabian villages that form a ring around Budapest, hence its name.  Offen is the German name for Buda which is a Bulgarian word for oven and guess what Offen means in German?  The Buchenwald is the German word to describe the Bakony Forest region which is a large sprawling region north of Lake Balaton including several counties.

Veszprem County - indicating the provincial divide, towns, cities and capitals located within the county.
This map shows some of the major cities in the Veszprem region.

When the Turkish wars ended in the late 17th century, this part of Hungary was largely depopulated. At the initiative of noble and spiritual landlords, a large-scale colonization started immediately, which was interrupted by the Kuruc uprising 1703-1711. By the middle of the century, most of the German settlements had sprung up or largely depopulated villages had been filled with Germans.

Ungarisches Mittelgebirge Villages - Residence of German peasants variously known as the Bakony Germans, the Veszprémer Ungarn Deutschen (Hungarian Germans), and the Danube Swabians of Veszprém County. See Village Index

Map showing the Bakony Mountains within the Hungarian Middle Mountains.
Reproduced with permission of the author from the book "Donauschwäbische Lebensformen an der Mittleren Donau," Hans Gehl,
Marburg 2003. © Institut für donauschwäbische Geschichte und Landeskunde, Tübingen 1996 © N.G. Elwert Verlag Marburg.

Reproduced with permission of the author from the book "Donauschwäbische Lebensformen an der Mittleren Donau," Hans Gehl,
Marburg 2003. © Institut für donauschwäbische Geschichte und Landeskunde, Tübingen 1996 © N.G. Elwert Verlag Marburg.

For information about a specific village, see our Village Index. Hungarian Highlands Coordinator: Specializing in Veszprem Cty & the Bakony Mountains Ernest Chrisbacher   John Busch, Specializing in Schildgebirge We miss you John!  R.I.P.

Coordinator Needed for: Ofner Bergland with Budapest Volunteer! Last updated: 01 Feb 2020