Visiting Hungary during the summer of 2009, virtually every stop my
husband and I made, invariably we encountered Donauschwaben descendants; including a young woman
from Apatin who was visiting Pecs. In Pecs we stopped at an antique shop and I spotted a pair
of "Klumpen" and even tried them on (they fit). Sometime ago I learned that our Donauschwaben
ancestors were accustomed to wearing wooden shoes and I was so intrigued that I had to have a pair.
The German word "Klumpen" (translated as "clod, lump, clot") was
used for the wooden clogs that Donauschwaben wore in the wintertime. Supposedly each family had at
least two pair. They were made by a Klumpenmacher, materials from soft poplar wood using various
tools, including a Schnitzbank (a workbench used by wood carvers).
According to Konrad Gerescher of the University of Szeged the art
of making and the usage of these clogs was brought to the various Donauschwaben settlements by
colonists coming from Lothringen.
(see: www.deutschforum.szeged.hu/bab/html; scroll down to paragraph 5.9 entitled "Klumpenmacher")
These are pictures of the old wooden Klumpen I found in Pecs:
