Thank You Michael, As a German American born here in the United States in 1944 we did not study much of European History in school . My parents came here in the 1930's from Gertinosch, Romania (Banat) and had limited education and did not speak a lot about their history during my growing up since it was during WW11 and being German was not popular when they worked at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. Only now, that I am retired am I looking into my ancestry and thanks to a great bunch of people (DS) and the internet have I been able to trace my mother's family back to 1525 in Allace Lorraine, now Saarland, Deutschland. Please keep up the great replies. I am getting a new education in European history. Thanks and Have a Great Day!! Frank A. Jakob, President/Broker/Auctioneer Cape Hatteras Realty & Construction Corp P.O. Box 249 Salvo, NC 27972 Office:252-987-2799 Cell: 252-305-1184 Fax: 252-987-2012 Web: www.capehatterasrealty.com E-mail: capehatreal@yahoo.com -----Original Message----- From: donauschwaben-villages-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:donauschwaben-villages-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Michael Rauschenberger Sent: Saturday, July 10, 2010 5:15 AM To: 'SusanM'; 'Anne Dreer' Cc: DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [DVHH] Ethnicity Hi Everyone, As for Germany, and how it's history has changed it into what it is today, Wikipedia has a fair lesson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany As a European it's strange to read how so many of you originating from Europe have scant knowledge of what Europe is and was. The countries you see today were not all there just 100 years ago Learning European geography today is not very helpful in understanding what Europe was like in 1740 to 1850 Czechoslovakia only ever existed from 1918 (1921 actually, the Trianon Agreement) and then split in 2 after 1990, Germany up to the Unification in 1871 mostly consisted of what is today Poland, Belaruss and the 3 Baltic states (they've only had about 100 years of sovereignty since Denmark owned most of it in 1215), Austria is only half of what it was, as is Hungary. Poland to which many Schwaben also moved is under half its glorious size - the rest was annexed in 1939 and never returned. One thing which to me was funny, was to read about "Frankreich" - a word I thought everyone of German descent would understand, as well as Deutschland, Österreich and Schwartzwald. Also you may like to know that Elsass and Alsace is the same, as is Lothringen and Lorraine. I for one have just had a fun experience with "where are you from AND where are you from". My gggggg-grandad said to the archdiocese in Kalocsa that he came from Németh-Bolly and Raczpeter. How come 2 towns? Found out N-Bolly is where he was born, and Raczpeter is where he last lived. So where are you from can take on many shapes No offence was meant in the above, it's just interesting - that which is obvious to one may be completely unknown to others. /Michael - my 2cents worth -----Original Message----- From: donauschwaben-villages-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:donauschwaben-villages-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of SusanM Sent: 10. juli 2010 5:27 To: Anne Dreer Cc: DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [DVHH] Ethnicity Actually Anne, that clears up quite a bit for me. I knew that during the 15th and 16th centuries there was no Germany, but literally that's all I knew. I still don't understand the difference between the Austrian Empire other...empires? There was an elected emperor at one time, and I am also ignorant about that.   I have a lot of reading to do, and it seems like the farther I get, the more I find lacking in what I know.   Susan M --- On Fri, 7/9/10, Anne Dreer <dreera@sympatico.ca> wrote: From: Anne Dreer <dreera@sympatico.ca> Subject: [DVHH] Ethnicity To: Donauschwaben-villages@rootsweb.com Date: Friday, July 9, 2010, 12:54 PM There was no GERMANY in the 1600's and 1700's. There were however German speaking kingdoms, principalities, dukedoms, principalities  and areas rule by  noble families. Present day Germany consisted of states that were individually governed and always spoke German. There was Baden, Wuerttemberg (=formerly the kingdom of Schwaben), Bavaria, Franconia (Franken) Hessen, the Rheinland, Westfalen, Preussen(Prussia),  Mecklenburg, Sachsen, Schleswig and Holstein. Thuringen. There could have been a few more. Elsass and Lothringen, which now belongs to France, also had a large number of German speaking residents with German names.The people who spoke German were considered of the  Germanic race, as are some other northern European nations, including the English. Anne D. -------------------------- Weistum . record of rights handed down in a parish . ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------- Weistum . record of rights handed down in a parish . ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -------------------------- Weistum . record of rights handed down in a parish . ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message