Ungarndeutsche | |
---|---|
Total population | |
131,951 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Pest County | 24,994 |
Baranya County | 22,150 |
Budapest | 18,278 |
Tolna County | 10,195 |
Bács-Kiskun County | 9,528 |
Komárom-Esztergom County | 9,168 |
Veszprém County | 8,473 |
Fejér County | 5,419 |
Győr-Moson-Sopron County | 5,145 |
Somogy County | 3,039 |
Languages | |
Hungarian, German | |
Religion | |
Roman Catholic majority, Protestant minority | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Danube Swabians, Germans, Swabians |
German Hungarians (German: Ungarndeutsche, Hungarian: Magyarországi németek) are the German-speaking minority of Hungary sometimes called the Danube Swabians (German: Donauschwaben), (Hungarian: Dunai svábok) in Germany, many of whom call themselves "Shwoveh". There are 131,951 Germanic speakers in Hungary (according to the 2011 census). Danube Swabian is a collective term for a number of German ethnic groups who lived in the former Kingdom of Hungary (today's Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, and several former Yugoslav republics). Hungarian Germans refers to the descendants of Germans who immigrated to the Carpathian Basin and surrounding regions, and who are now minorities in those areas. Many Hungarian Germans were expelled from the region between 1946 and 1948, and many now live in Germany or Austria, but also in Australia, Brazil, the United States and Canada. However, many are still dispersed within the country of Hungary.
The immigration of Germanic-speaking peoples into Hungary began in approximately 1000, when knights who came in the company of Giselle of Bavaria, the German-born queen of the first King of Hungary, Stephen I, entered the country.
Three waves of Germanic migration can be distinguished in Hungary before the 20th century. The first two waves of settlers arrived in the Kingdom of Hungary in the Middle Ages (11th and 13th centuries) and formed the core of the citizens of the few towns in Upper Hungary and in Southern Transylvania (Transylvanian Saxons, "Siebenbürger Sachsen").