Before becoming “Brazilian Germans”: Sociogeographical mapping of “Danube Germans” in Vojvodina

Abstract

The settlement of Germans on the territory of today's Vojvodina began in the early 18th century, when after several wars the border between the Habsburg and Ottoman empires was established. The presence of so-called “Danube Swabians” was evident until the end of the World War II, i.e. the end of the Nazi occupation, when most of them were expelled by the new socialist government in Yugoslavia and deprived of their civil rights and property. After the expulsion, they found refuge in different parts of the world. For some of them, Brazil was the final destination like for many other peoples of German origin, e. g. Hunsrik-speaking “Deitschbrasiliooner”. Yet, socially and historically the situation was substantially different. This poster focuses on a little-known segment of the "Donauschwowe" from former Yugoslavia, who in 1951 formed a new community of 500 families that eventually emigrated to Entre Rios, Gemeinde Guarapuava in Paraná (Brazil). What began as an agrarian society "Agrária" seems to have evolved into a vibrant cultural and linguistic community that has preserved many Danube-Swabian traditions and the language to this day. While the community members’ preservation efforts are well documented (e.g. YouTube videos, homeland museum within the cultural foundation), there has been little relevant research on the linguistic issues raised by this bilingual situation, including the historical dimension of language contact (it can be assumed that Serbo-Croatian played the most important role here, although not exclusively). Our aim is to start filling this gap by providing a cartographic and historical-contextual framework for further research on the virtually extinct communities of Yugoslav "Danube Swabians" in the post-World War II period, with special attention to the above-mentioned minority in Brazil. In accordance with our interdisciplinary background, our poster offers 1) introductory historical and demographic facts about the Danube Swabians who emigrated to Guarapuava (Brazil), presented with several maps, and formulate 2) open questions about the corresponding socio-demographic, ethnographic and linguistic changes, which we intend to address in our further research. We will draw on census data, existing historical maps, online spoken and multimedia sources, and literature on Danube-Swabian dialects and German language minorities in Latin America.