My parents also never spoke about being Shwovish to anyone outside the family; but a large part of that was being ashamed of being imprisoned in Gakowa (my mother and I) or being sent to slave labor in the Donetsk(my father). For those of us interned, it was a very painful and shameful part of our life and we never wanted to talk about it, and hid it whenever we could, in whatever way we could. The second generation seems to think that this experience is something we wanted to discuss, but I assure we did not and it is even harder to get started with strangers. Best regards, Joe From: Diane Halas Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 9:53 AM To: 'John Schambre', 'Eileen Simcox' Cc: dvhh I once asked my grandma why she had said the family was German. She said. "My dear, we were all 'Germans' then." I asked her what she considered herself and she said, "Austro-Hungarian". I told my fifth grade teacher who in turn told me there was no such place as Austria-Hungary. Everyone in Grandma's nuclear family spoke more than one language. She identified their primary language as "low German" and her family was from Alsace-Lorraine and her grandmother was pure French. The family had emigrated to the Banat before there was a "Germany". There you have it. I never even learned about Schwabish until I subscribed to this site. Diane Diane Halas 239-592-9969 in the subject and the body of the message
I'm sorry I missed most of this thread. I've been down with something. I will read back, as this is interesting to me. My grandfather identified the family as Hungarian nationality and German race on his papers coming in. My family said they were German, and they'd kind of correct that to "actually Austrian". In the 1980s, they mostly went to Germany as far as I can tell. I regret losing track of anyone, and I am grateful to have been found by one person through this list. He is in Austria. But my grandfather said he kept the Hungarian spelling of the last name and he identified as Hungarian to some extent because of discrimination in the USA, even back in the 20s. He was wary that he might have trouble getting a job as a German person. He was not anti-Hungarian in any way but he was adamant that he was really German. My grandfather was fluent in Hungarian, and I never understood why. They didn't tell me much of anything, and I didn't ask questions because I had no questions to ask really. I did think it odd that my family were Germans yet not from Germany. I just thought the sun rose and set in my grandfather's eyes, and that he could do anything. Wow, he could even find water underground with a stick! I recall once he traveled about an hour's drive often to help translate for a Hungarian family who had immigrated to Florida. He appreciated the chance to keep up with his Hungarian speaking ability, and they felt like he was someone from home. I guess he felt they were from home too. Susan M. On Saturday, May 3, 2014 12:57 PM, Joseph Psotka <psotka@msn.com> wrote: My parents also never spoke about being Shwovish to anyone outside the family; but a large part of that was being ashamed of being imprisoned in Gakowa (my mother and I) or being sent to slave labor in the Donetsk(my father). For those of us interned, it was a very painful and shameful part of our life and we never wanted to talk about it, and hid it whenever we could, in whatever way we could. The second generation seems to think that this experience is something we wanted to discuss, but I assure we did not and it is even harder to get started with strangers. Best regards, Joe From: Diane Halas Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 9:53 AM To: 'John Schambre', 'Eileen Simcox' Cc: dvhh I once asked my grandma why she had said the family was German. She said. "My dear, we were all 'Germans' then." I asked her what she considered herself and she said, "Austro-Hungarian". I told my fifth grade teacher who in turn told me there was no such place as Austria-Hungary. Everyone in Grandma's nuclear family spoke more than one language. She identified their primary language as "low German" and her family was from Alsace-Lorraine and her grandmother was pure French. The family had emigrated to the Banat before there was a "Germany". There you have it. I never even learned about Schwabish until I subscribed to this site. Diane Diane Halas 239-592-9969 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