Satu Mare Swabians
The Satu Mare Swabians or Sathmar Swabians (German: Sathmarer Schwaben) are a German ethnic group in the Satu Mare (German: Sathmar) region of Romania. Romanian Germans, they are one of the various Danube Swabian (German: Donau Schwaben) subgroups that are actually Swabian in heritage, and their dialect, Sathmar Swabian, is similar to the other varieties of the Swabian German dialect.
German: Sathmarer Schwaben | |
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The coat of arms of the Sathmar Swabians | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
Counties
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| Languages | |
| German (with the Sathmar Swabian dialect) | |
| Religion | |
| Primarily Roman Catholicism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Germans (most notably Swabians and Danube Swabians respectively) | |
Native to north-western and northern Transylvania |
Most were originally farmers in Upper Swabia who migrated to Partium (at the time Hungary, now Romania) in the 18th century, as part of a widespread eastward movement of German workers and settlers. Their principal settlements were Satu Mare, Carei, Petrești, and Foieni (German: Fienen) and they also settled in Urziceni (German: Schinal), Căpleni (German: Kaplau), Tiream (German: Terem), Beltiug (German: Bildegg), Ciumești (German: Schamagosch), and Ardud (German: Erdeed).
After World War II, many evacuated, migrated, or were expelled to what became West Germany. Those who remain in Romania, along with other German-speaking groups in this country, are politically represented by the FDGR/DFDR (Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania); in Germany, the Landsmannschaft der Sathmarer Schwaben in Deutschland (Territorial Association of Sathmar Swabians in Germany) represents and assists them. Nowadays, many are more or less magyarized and have become Hungarians.