BANAT

The old ("undivided") Banat comprises areas of present-day western Romania, north-eastern Serbia, and southern Hungary, with a total area of 11,013 square miles. It was an Ottoman province from 1552 to 1718, when it became part of Habsburg Austria. Planned colonization by the Habsburg emperors brought large numbers of German settlers from the western regions of the Empire to the Banat. By 1910 there were 388,000 ethnic Germans (locally called Swabians, later Danube Swabians) in the undivided Banat. By the Treaty of Trianon (1920) about two-thirds of the Banat became Romanian; almost a third became Serbian/Yugoslavian; only a small area around Szeget remained within Hungary. 
 

Batschka Coordinator:
Dennis J. Bauer

BATSCHKA

The Batschka (German), Backa: (Serbo-Croatian), Bácska (Hungarian) is now divided between Hungary and Yugoslavia in the western part of Vojvodina in Serbia, boundaries being: north of Császártöltés, Hungary, East of the Theiß rivers, south and west of the Danube River and centers to Novi-Sad, Zombor.  Between the rivers Danube and Theiß with the cities Abthausen / Apatin, Neusatz / Novi Sad, and Ulmenau / Batsch-Brestowatz.

HUNGARIAN HIGHLANDS [Südwestliches Ungarisches Mittelgebirge]

Hungarian Highlands
Coordinator:
Lilien Vogl

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.

SATHMAR

Sathmar Coordinator:
Coraggio, Sarah

The Sathmar (Satu Mare-R, Szatmar-H) is a region in northwest Romania that was formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The area borders Hungary and Ukraine.

The majority of the Sathmarer Schwaben (Şvabii Sătmăreni-R, Szatmári Svábi-H, Sathmar Swabian-E), originated in the former Kingdom of Württemberg, mainly from Upper Swabia (Oberschwaben-G), the territory between Lake Constance and the Danube River. The settlement areas are near the Hungarian Somes River and Tisza River.  

SLAVONIA

Slavonia Coordinator:
Volunteer

Slavonia (Croatian: Slavonija; German: Slawonien) is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia.  It is a fertile agricultural and forested lowland bordered by the Drava river in the north, the Sava river in the south, the Illova river in the west and the Danube river in the east, with Syrmia.

Swabian Turkey [Schwäbische Türkei] 

The designation Swabian Turkey refers to three bordering counties of southwest Hungary south of Lake Balaton with the Danube River forming their eastern boundary.  They are the counties of Baranya, Somogy and Tolna.  The term itself is an attempt at describing the fact that this area contained the largest concentration of Danube Swabians in what would remain of Hungary after the First World War, numbering over 200,000.

SYRMIA [Srem]

Syrmia Coordinator:
Eve Brown

Syrmien [German], Syrmia / Sirmium [Latin], Szerémség / Szerém [Hungarian], and Srijem [Croatian]; The Romans gave the region the name Syrmia (Srem).  Syrmien is in former Yugoslavia, currently Serbia, between the Sava (Save) & Danube (Donau) Rivers, about 80 km long & 50 km wide.  Most of Syrmia is located in the Srem & South Bačka districts of Serbia's Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. A small part of the region around Novi Beograd, Zemun, & Surčin is a part of Central Serbia. The westernmost part lies in eastern Croatia, in the Vukovar-Srijem county. 

BULGARIA

Batschka Coordinators:
Rose Vetter |Anton Leipig

Bulgaria, a country little-known and mysterious to many, is situated in the heart of the Balkan Peninsula, bordered by Romania to the north, Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, and the Black Sea to the east.  Its diverse landscape is dominated by the vast, fertile Danube basin in the north, as well as rocky high plateaus and lushly treed mountains in the central and southwest regions.

The four towns where Danube Swabians from Austria-Hungary resettled:
Bardarski Geran | Gostilya | Assenovo | Endsche/Zarev Brod