I agree with you Rose it is very sad about the knowledge of our families history. My parents never used the word Donauschwaben when I lived at home that I can recall at all, but they were aware of the name. They did however refer to what they spoke as Schwowisch - which silly me did not realize it was their German dialect, but thought that meant when they spoke "Slavisch" - which they did whenever they didn't want us to know what they were saying. We actually thought the Slavisch language was my dad's first tongue, but learned towards the end that he was reverting back to his German more and more. My mother doesn't seem able to recall much Slavisch at all anymore. Eve On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 3:51 PM, Rose Vetter <rosevetter@gmail.com> wrote: > Those of us who have early memories of life in the Donauschwaben > settlements will agree that our people never called themselves > Donauschwaben. I for one don't remember ever hearing that word back home, > or even in the post-war years in Germany, for that matter. We simply > called ourselves Schwowe back home; the Serbians called us Švabe. When we > arrived in Germany we called ourselves Volksdeutsche, or ethnic Germans. > The coining of the term Donauschwaben is attributed to Robert Sieger of > Graz, Austria around 1922. But the fact that it is widely used today is > mainly due to the efforts of geographer Hermann Rüdiger. > > It's a sad fact that even today many people in Germany have not heard about > the Donauschwaben. > > Rose > > > ------------------------------- > 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 -- Syrmia Regional Coordinator http://www.dvhh.org/syrmia

I am so envious that you all have so much information about your ancestry. Sadly, I never went into great depth with my parents and relied mainly on my older sister for any information. Unfortunately, a lot of the information she provided has been incorrect which I discovered after reading documents she found. We have very few photographs and documentation as this was all lost during and after the war. My mother and father met in Linz, DP camp. My father was Hungarian and mother German. My mother could understand Hungarian but not speak it and my father could understand German but not speak it. Hence they spoke to each other in their own language and could understand each other. My two sisters were born in Linz and they all immigrated to Australia in 1949 where 4 more children were born. Sadly, we had no relatives who immigrated to Australia. It was very interesting in our household because we could all have a conversation together whilst speaking 3 languages between us. My mother would speak to my sisters in German and they would reply in German. By now my mother could speak Hungarian and spoke to my dad In both German and Hungarian and he replied in Hungarian. She spoke to the rest of us in English and we would reply in English. It was very amusing to hear my mother change languages mid sentence as she addressed each of us. When my parents would speak to their friends, my mother would speak in many more languages. I was able to tell which language she was speaking, without understanding what she was saying, and was always very proud of myself when I guessed it correctly. Mother - Gisela Hermann, born Torda, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) in 1921 Father - Karl (Karoly) Soti, born Devavanya, Hungary 1920 Gaby, Australia Sent from my iPad > On 22 Apr 2014, at 7:10 am, Eve <evebrown@gmail.com> wrote: > > I agree with you Rose it is very sad about the knowledge of our families > history. My parents never used the word Donauschwaben when I lived at home > that I can recall at all, but they were aware of the name. They did > however refer to what they spoke as Schwowisch - which silly me did not > realize it was their German dialect, but thought that meant when they spoke > "Slavisch" - which they did whenever they didn't want us to know what they > were saying. We actually thought the Slavisch language was my dad's first > tongue, but learned towards the end that he was reverting back to his > German more and more. My mother doesn't seem able to recall much Slavisch > at all anymore. > > Eve > > >> On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 3:51 PM, Rose Vetter <rosevetter@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Those of us who have early memories of life in the Donauschwaben >> settlements will agree that our people never called themselves >> Donauschwaben. I for one don't remember ever hearing that word back home, >> or even in the post-war years in Germany, for that matter. We simply >> called ourselves Schwowe back home; the Serbians called us Švabe. When we >> arrived in Germany we called ourselves Volksdeutsche, or ethnic Germans. >> The coining of the term Donauschwaben is attributed to Robert Sieger of >> Graz, Austria around 1922. But the fact that it is widely used today is >> mainly due to the efforts of geographer Hermann Rüdiger. >> >> It's a sad fact that even today many people in Germany have not heard about >> the Donauschwaben. >> >> Rose >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> 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 > > > > > -- > Syrmia Regional Coordinator > http://www.dvhh.org/syrmia > > > ------------------------------- > 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

I just wanted to say how much I have appreciated this discussion. It has been so interesting, and now I want to go back and hunt the archives. I'm not sure what search terms to use though. Anyway, I wanted to say thanks to people who have written on this thread. I'm fascinated. Susan M On Tuesday, April 22, 2014 2:27 AM, Gaby Curtis-Hayward <gabyh@adam.com.au> wrote: I am so envious that you all have so much information about your ancestry. Sadly, I never went into great depth with my parents and relied mainly on my older sister for any information.  Unfortunately, a lot of the information she provided has been incorrect which I discovered after reading documents she found. We have very few photographs and documentation as this was all lost during and after the war. My mother and father met in Linz, DP camp. My father was Hungarian and mother German. My mother could understand Hungarian but not speak it and my father could understand German but not speak it. Hence they spoke to each other in their own language and could understand each other. My two sisters were born in Linz and they all immigrated to Australia in 1949 where 4 more children were born. Sadly, we had no relatives who immigrated to Australia. It was very interesting in our household because we could all have a conversation together whilst speaking 3 languages between us. My mother would speak to my sisters in German and they would reply in German. By now my mother could speak Hungarian and spoke to my dad In both German and Hungarian and he replied in Hungarian. She spoke to the rest of us in English and we would reply in English. It was very amusing to hear my mother change languages mid sentence as she addressed each of us. When my parents would speak to their friends, my mother would speak in many more languages.  I was able to tell which language she was speaking, without understanding what she was saying, and was always very proud of myself when I guessed it correctly. Mother - Gisela Hermann,  born Torda, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) in 1921 Father - Karl (Karoly) Soti, born Devavanya, Hungary 1920 Gaby, Australia Sent from my iPad > On 22 Apr 2014, at 7:10 am, Eve <evebrown@gmail.com> wrote: > > I agree with you Rose it is very sad about the knowledge of our families > history. My parents never used the word Donauschwaben when I lived at home > that I can recall at all, but they were aware of the name.  They did > however refer to what they spoke as Schwowisch - which silly me did not > realize it was their German dialect, but thought that meant when they spoke > "Slavisch" - which they did whenever they didn't want us to know what they > were saying.  We actually thought the Slavisch language was my dad's first > tongue, but learned towards the end that he was reverting back to his > German more and more.  My mother doesn't seem able to recall much Slavisch > at all anymore. > > Eve > > >> On Mon, Apr 21, 2014 at 3:51 PM, Rose Vetter <rosevetter@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> Those of us who have early memories of life in the Donauschwaben >> settlements will agree that our people never called themselves >> Donauschwaben.  I for one don't remember ever hearing that word back home, >> or even in the post-war years in Germany, for that matter.  We simply >> called ourselves Schwowe back home; the Serbians called us Švabe.  When we >> arrived in Germany we called ourselves Volksdeutsche, or ethnic Germans. >> The coining of the term Donauschwaben is attributed to Robert Sieger of >> Graz, Austria around 1922.  But the fact that it is widely used today is >> mainly due to the efforts of geographer Hermann Rüdiger. >> >> It's a sad fact that even today many people in Germany have not heard about >> the Donauschwaben. >> >> Rose >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> 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 > > > > > -- > Syrmia Regional Coordinator > http://www.dvhh.org/syrmia > > > ------------------------------- > 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 ------------------------------- 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