By Josef Schramm
Translation by Brad Schwebler
The
Slovakians were mainly settled under Joseph
II and came from the thickly settled upper
Hungarian komitats (counties) at the time,
where often in the surrounding are of the
Lutherans German mining cities they were
also often Lutheran. In a biological
respect this was very favorable, socially
less. Only 1/3 of the agricultural workers
were employed by the Slovakian owners, and
also of those “owners” almost half owned
less than 5 katastral yokes (about 3
hectares). The general judgment of the
Slovakians was: “peaceful and diligent.”
After World War II many Slovakians
conspicuously committed inhumane treatment
which was hardly in harmony with their
general character.
The Slovakian girls and women
loved garish colors in their
traditional dress. Light blue
and light red occurred most
frequently besides white. The
traditional dress of the
Slovakian girl illustrated was
made in the parent’s house. The
farmer sowed, roasted, chopped,
and weaved linen. The
farmer’s wife bleached, colored,
cut, and sewed it. The
stockings and shoes came from
the wool of some sheep, which
the people washed, spun,
colored, and knitted. – The
diligent and strong Slovakian
girls were also often active as
servants in the cities and
treasured by their Hungarian,
Serbian, or German employers.
For the male servant who married
the servant girl, the new couple
was often “equipped” for example
with kitchen furnishings,
furniture, or bedding.
The Ruthenians immigrated 1780–1790 and
1851–1855 from the Zemplin Komitat from
present day Karpato-Ukraine and settled in
the Batschka in Kerestur and Kutzre in the
Kula district. They belong to the
Greek-Catholic (United) religion. They are
gifted, frugal, and diligent. After World
War II they were cheered up when they
returned to the old homeland in the
Carpathians, yet it appeared that they have
lived so much in the lowland and together
with other people that they remain in the
land.
There were always only individual
Slovenians, at the most a couple dozen,
before 1918. After that they came in
greater numbers as officials of the post
office, in the banks, of the police, or as
specialists in the industry.
They always understood to go with the
stronger: once they were the great
Hapsburgs, once the anti-Hapsburgs, if it
was suitable they would pretend to be
turncoats and the next day be the Slavic
blood brothers of the Serbs. But the
sophisticated Slovenians were nevertheless
generally treasured in the German
communities.
The first
of these people coming from the west were in
recent times soldiers of Prince Eugene of
Savoy, who stayed after the Turkish war as
officials and craftsmen of the land. The
nationalities played no roll, but religion
probably did. So under Karl VI and Maria
Theresia only Catholic “members of the
empire” came to the Batschka. Under Joseph
II Lutherans and Calvinists were also
allowed. When the Holy Roman Empire was
dissolved in 1806, it was also with the
further settlement of the Germans. The
region of origin of the Germans was above
all the overpopulated southwestern German
regions: at first the Hapsburg lands of
Lorraine, Alsace, Vorder-Austria, then
Luxemburg, the Pfalz (Palatine), Hesse,
Baden and Württemberg lands. But in this
great work the southeast settlements were
also shared with all the other German
speaking lands.
The Viennese court chamber
decided to situate a large
German settlement on the Danube
on which to settle the populated
land. Rustic settlers, arriving
on ships found here a blossoming
city with jolly countrymen, so
the homesickness was not all
that bad. Those settlers
intended for the Banat drove
further, those who had set out
for the Batschka went here and
stayed in Apatin to adapt to the
climate. After some time they
went to the villages to which
they were assigned. – The city
hall pictured here symbolized
the prosperity of the Apatin
craftsmen and farmers. It also
shows that Apatin’s peaceful
conscience as a “city” could be
described. Other ornaments of
Apatin were: two Catholic
churches, the brewery, the
German grammar school, the
avenues and the Danube shore.
