Immigration from Germany to Eastern Europe (Ostsiedlung)
It is important to note that the information contained here only provides a very brief synopsis of a long period of eastward German migrations. This period ran from roughly the early 1300s to the early 1870s. During these years the populations of Germans in Eastern Europe reached more than 18 million people scatted in German communities roughly bounded by the Oder-Neisse River (West) to the Ural Mountains (in the East) and from the Baltic Sea (in the North) to Turkey (in the South).
Religion of Germans from the East, according to Gerhard Reichling[1]
| Description | Prewar German population | Protestant | Roman Catholic | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Former eastern territories of Germany | 9,575,000 | 6,411,000 | 2,862,000 | 302,000 |
| Danzig | 380,000 | 215,000 | 147,000 | 18,000 |
| Poland | 1,200,000 | 736,000 | 457,000 | 7,000 |
| Czechoslovakia | 3,544,000 | 166,000 | 3,231,000 | 147,000 |
| Baltic States | 250,000 | 239,000 | 8,000 | 3,000 |
| USSR | 1,400,000 | 1,119,000 | 254,000 | 27,000 |
| Hungary | 600,000 | 94,000 | 492,000 | 14,000 |
| Romania | 782,000 | 437,000 | 330,000 | 15,000 |
| Yugoslavia | 536,000 | 108,000 | 415,000 | 13,000 |
| Total | 18,267,000 | 9,525,000 | 8,196,000 | 546,000 |
Reichling defines “others” as follows: “The term ‘other’ includes other creeds (Jewish communities and groups, other peoples and world religions, freethinkers and enlightenment associations) and those without a creed or no report of religious belief”.[2]
To quote from Wikipedia: [edits and modifications made by ManyRoads]
The following areas saw German settlement during the Ostsiedlung:
- within current Germany: Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Holstein
- the former eastern territories of Germany: Pomerania, East Brandenburg, East [and West] Prussia, Silesia
- Sudetenland (Sudeten Germans)
- Transylvania as well as significant parts of Moldavia (especially Bukovina) and Wallachia (Transylvanian Saxons)
- Carpathian Mountains (Carpathian Germans)
- Memelland, Estonia and Latvia (Baltic Germans)
- Poland (see History of Poland during the Piast dynasty)
[By the middle ages] German Ostsiedlung (literally Settling eastwards), [… now] known as the German eastward expansion or East colonization refer[ed] to the expansion of German culture, language, states, and settlements to vast regions of Northeastern, Central and Eastern Europe, previously inhabited […during the pre-middle ages by] the Great Migrations [of] Balts, Romanians, Hungarians and, [… in] the 6th century, the Slavs.[3] The affected territory stretched roughly from modern Estonia in the North to modern Slovenia in the South.
- Bulgaria (see Germans in Bulgaria)
- Slovenia (see Gottscheers)
- and Others
Population growth during the High Middle Ages stimulated the movement of peoples from the Rhenish, Flemish, and Saxon territories of the Holy Roman Empire eastwards into the less-populated Baltic region and Poland. These movements were supported by the German nobility, the Slavic kings and dukes, and the medieval Church. The majority of this settlement was peaceful, although it sometimes took place at the expense of Slavs and pagan Balts (see Northern Crusades). Ostsiedlung accelerated along the Baltic with the advent of the Teutonic Order.[2] Likewise, in Styria and Carinthia, German communities took form in areas inhabited by Slovenes.
The following table offers a quick summarization of the regional immigration (settlement) within the regions of the former Soviet Union:
Researched and compiled by Professor Brent Mai, Purdue University (1998)
| Emigration Period |
Countries of Origin | Areas of Settlement |
|---|---|---|
| 1763-68 | Hesse, Rhineland, the Palatinate, Saxony, Wurttemberg, Switzerland |
Volga area (Evangelical & Catholic) |
| 1765 | Sulzfeld,,Wurttemberg | Riebensdorf (Evangelical) |
| 1766 | Hesse, Wurtemberg, Brandenburg |
near Petersburg |
| 1766 | Hesse | Belowesh (Evangelical & Cathholic) |
| 1780 | Prussia, Wurttemberg, Bavaria, | Josephstal, Fischendorf, Jamburg near Dnieper |
| 1782 | Sweden | Alt Schwendorf (Evangelical) |
| 1786 | Prussia | Alt-Danzig |
| 1789-90 | Danzig, West Prussia | Chortiza (Mennonites) |
| 1804-06 | ||
| . a. | Alsace, the Palatinate, Baden | Tranzfeld, Mariental, Josefstal by Odessa |
| . b. | Wurttemberg, Alsace, the Palatinate, Baden, Hungary |
Grosliebenthal, Alexanderhilf, Neuberg, Peterstal by Odessa (Evangelical) |
| . c. | Danzig, West Prussia | Halbstadt, Molotschna (Mennonites) |
| . d. | Wurttemberg, Baden, Hesse | Prischib, Molotschna (Evangelical & Catholic) |
| . e. | Wurttemberg, Switzerland | Crimea: Neusatz, Zurichtal (Evangelical & Catholic) |
| 1808-10 | ||
| . a. | Wurttemberg, Alsace, the Palatin- ate, Baden, Hungary |
Bergdorf, Gluckstal, Kassel, Neudorf, Area of Odessa (Evangelical) |
| . b. | Alsace, Baden, Poland | Baden, Elsass, Kandel, Selz, Mannheim, Strassburg (Catholic) |
| . c. | Alsace, Baden, the Palatinate, Wurttemberg |
Beresan and Odessa areas (Evangelical & Catholic |
| 1812-27 | Wurttemberg, Baden, Hesse | Prischib, Molotschna (Evangelical) |
| 1814-16 & 21-34 |
Wurttemberg, Prussia, Poland, Bavaria | Bessarabia, Colonies near Odessa |
| 1817-18 | Wurttemberg | South Causcasus (Evangelical) |
| 1822-31 | Wurttemberg | Swabian colonies near Berdjansk (Evangelical) |
| 1823-42 | Danzig, West Prussia, Rhine-Hesse, Baden | Grunhau area (Planer colonies)(Evangelical & Catholic) |
| 1853 | Danzig, West Prussia | Samara (Mennonites) |
| and | ||
| 1859-1862 | Last emigration from Germany |
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