Bukovina Germans

Bukovina Germans
German: Bukowinadeutsche or
Buchelanddeutsche
Top: Flag of the Bukovina Germans, with the historical coat of arms of Bukovina depicted in the center.[a] Bottom: The coat of arms of the Bukovina Germans[b]
Total population
717[1] (2011)
Regions with significant populations
Bukovina
(more specifically in present-day Suceava County, northeastern Romania)
Diaspora in
  • Canada
  • United States
  • Germany
  • Austria
Languages
German (Standard German)
(with a series of German dialects as well)
Religion
Primarily Roman Catholic but also Evangelical Lutheran
Related ethnic groups
Germans, Germans of Romania, Carpathian Germans, and Austrians
Lived in Bukovina between the late 18th century and mid 20th century (and, in very smaller numbers, to the present day as well)

The Bukovina Germans (German: Bukowinadeutsche or Buchenlanddeutsche, Romanian: Germani bucovineni or nemți bucovineni), also known and referred to as Buchenland Germans,[2] or Bukovinian Germans,[3] are a German ethnic group which settled in Bukovina, a historical region situated at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe, during the modern period.[4] They are part of the larger group of Romanian Germans (German: Rumäniendeutsche, Romanian: Germanii din România) since the early 20th century, when they were initially living in the Kingdom of Romania (Romanian: Regatul României, German: Königreich Rumänien).

Their main demographic presence lasted from the last quarter of the 18th century, when Bukovina was annexed by the Habsburg Empire, until 1940, when nearly all Bukovina Germans (or approximately 100,000 people)[5] were forcefully resettled into either Nazi Germany or Nazi-occupied regions in Central-Eastern Europe as a part of the Heim ins Reich national socialist population transfer policy.[6][7]

Nowadays, most of the Bukovina Germans still left in Bukovina live in the bigger urban settlements of Suceava (German: Suczawa) and Rădăuți (German: Radautz) in Suceava County (German: Kreis Suczawa) as well as sparsely throughout other rural settlements in the center and southwest of the county. Otherwise, a significant Bukovina German diaspora can be found in Germany and Austria as well as in North America (more specifically in the United States and Canada) and South America (for example, in Argentina). In addition, the smaller community of Zipser Germans (German: Zipser Deutsche) still living in Suceava County, southern Bukovina, Romania, can be perceived as part of the Bukovina German community as well, in the greater sense that is.


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  1. ^ "Rezultatele recensământului populației în 2011" (in Romanian). Retrieved 17 February 2023.
  2. ^ Bukowina-Institut an der Universität Augsburg. "Bukovina Germans: Inventions, Experiences and Narratives of an (imagined) Community". Copernico – History and Cultural Heritage in Eastern Europe. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  3. ^ Paul Robert Magocsi (2018). "32. Germans in Central Europe, ca. 1900". Historical Atlas of Central Europe. University of Toronto Press: 104–106. doi:10.3138/9781487530068-037. ISBN 978-1-4875-3006-8. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
  4. ^ Victor Rouă (27 January 2019). "A Brief History Of Bukovina, Romania During The Middle Ages". The Dockyards. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  5. ^ Jachomowski, Dirk (1984). Die Umsiedlung der Bessarabien-, Bukowina- und Dobrudschadeutschen (in German). R. Oldenbourg. pp. 88–95. ISBN 978-3-486-52471-0.
  6. ^ Allen E. Konrad (March 2012). "Southern Bukovina German Villages – 1940" (PDF). DAI Microfilm T-81; Roll 317; Group 1035; Item VOMI 933; Frames 2448462-2448468. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
  7. ^ Țurcaș, Ioan; Lucian, Macarie. "German Language and Culture in Southern Bukovina. The Disappearance of a Cultural Enclave" (PDF). UAIC PhD Thesis Database. Retrieved 16 December 2021.