Banat Highland Germans

Banat Highland Germans
German: Banater Berglanddeutsche
	The coat of arms of the Banat Highland Germans (as part of the Banat Swabians and Danube Swabians in general)
Regions with significant populations
	Banat (south-western Romania), more specifically Caraș-Severin County
Languages
	German ; (with the Banat Swabian dialect, a local type of the Swabian dialect)
Religion
	Primarily Roman Catholicism
Related ethnic groups
	Germans (most notably Swabians and Danube Swabians respectively)
	Native to south-western present-day Romania

The Banat Highland Germans or Banat Mountainous Germans (German: Banater Berglanddeutsche, Romanian: Germanii din Banatul montan) are an ethnic German sub-group which is part of the Banat Swabians (and the broader Danube Swabian group) who have been living in the mountainous part of the Banat (German: Banater Bergland or Montanbanat),^[1] corresponding to Caraș-Severin County situated in present-day south-western Romania (and to a smaller extent Serbia as well).^[2]

Within the larger community of Banat Highland Germans, there have also been Zipser Germans (German: Zipser Sachsen), an ethnic German minority group which mostly settled in Maramureș and southern Bucovina from Zips, present-day Slovakia. The Banat Highland Germans are part of the Romanian Germans.

Background

The Banat Highland Germans are a mixture of various German-speaking settlers from Salzkammergut (contemporary Austria), South Tyrol (contemporary northern Italy), Bohemian Forest (contemporary Czech Republic), and Bavarian Forest (including the historical region of Swabia).^[3]^[4]^[5] There were also Zipser colonists in the mountainous Banat. Consequently, they speak a certain series of different German dialects than the Banat Swabians in the lowlands of Banat, hence the differentiation in their name based on altitude or elevation.

History

The Banat Highland Germans constituted themselves as an ethnic German sub-group in the present-day mountainous region of Banat during the modern period, in the time of Austria-Hungary.

Political representation

Like all other German minority groups in Romania, the Banat Highland Germans are represented by the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania (FDGR/DFDR), more specifically by the local branch in the mountainous Banat known in German as Demokratisches Forum der Banater Berglanddeutsche.^[6]

References

^ "montanbanat.de" (in German). Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^ "Sprachinseln in Europa - Banater Berglanddeutsche". Leemeta (in German). 2 June 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^ "Banater Bergland". Deutsches Kulturforum östliches Europa (in German). Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^ Dr. Horst Schmidt. "Das Banater Bergland". Heimatverband von der Banater Berglanddeutsche (in German). Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^ "Banater Berglanddeutsche" (in German). 1 March 2021. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^ "Official website of the Banat Highland Germans" (in German). Retrieved 30 January 2023.