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Genealogy: Slovakia
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Abbreviations:
sl -slovakian
hung - hungarian
Gsp. - Gespannschaft (z^upa, Komitat), roughly a county
N, E, W, S, M - North, East, West, South, Middle
Sl - Slovakia
Table of Contents:
- Description of the Research Area
- By the 12th century, Germans settled in the area of today's Slovakia. These Germans
are collectively called Karpatendeutsche, or Carpathian Germans, because they lived in the northern
part of the great arc formed by the Carpathian mountains. They should not be confused with the
Transylvanian Saxons, who settled in the Southern part of the great Carpathian arc at roughly the
same time, and who also are, occasionally, called Carpathian Germans. The Carpathian Germans lived
mainly in three areas, around Preßburg (Bratislava), in the Hauerland in Central Slovakia, and the
Zips in the East. There were other small settlement pockets, including in the Karpatho-Ukraine. In 1938,
there were about 140,000 Carpathian Germans in Slovakia, and another 18,000 in the Karpatho-Ukraine.
After the war, they were deported with great loss of life. In 1991,the last Czechoslovak Census counted
5,900 Carpathian Germans in Slovakia, (though it is thought that about 15,000 live there), while about
3,000 live in the Karpatho-Ukraine, which is now part of the Republic of Ukraine.
When looking at old documents, books and family memories, it is important to remember that Hungarian refers to a
citizenship, not an ethnicity. All subjects of the Hungarian kingdom were Hungarians, and often patriotic at that--but
only a minority were Magyars, (ethnic Hungarians), in 1844 42.5% of the population of the Kingdom.
- Main German settlement areas (in brackets their main cities):
- Hauerland (Deutsch-Proben)
(Deutsch-Proben: Gsp. Neutra, S Sl, sl: Nemecke Pravno, ung: Nemetprona)
- Zips (Käsmark)
(Käsmark: Gsp. Szepes, Spis^, M Sl, sl: Kez^marok, ung: Késmárk)
- Preßburger Land and the Island of Schuett, a large river island SE of it (Schüttinsel ),
(Preßburg: Gsp. Preßburg, SW Sl, sl: Bratislava, ung: Pozsony)
- Karpatho-Ukraine. East of Slovakia. Four Komitats, whose main city was
Munkatsch, Hung. Munkacs, Russ. Mukac"evo .
- Political History: Borders:
The territory of today's Republic of Slovakia belonged for close to 1000 years to the old Kingdom of
Hungary, and was generally known, together with the future Karpatho-Ukraine, as "Feldivék," (Upper
Hungary). The area never formed a separate administrative unit. In 1919, Feldivek was annexed by the
newly created Czecho-Slovak Republic, and divided into a province of Slovakia and a province of
Carpatho-Ukraine. The counties (comitatus in Latin, which was the legal language of the Hungarian
Kingdom till 1844, Komitat or Gespannschaft in German documents, megye in Magyar), which either
entirely or partly became part of the Slovak province were, from West to East: Preßburg/Poszony, Neutra,
Komorn, Barsch, Neusohl, Gömör, Kleinhont, Hont, Neograd, Abauj, Torna, Liptau, Turz, Orava,
Trentschin, Zips, Scharosch and Zemplin. Several megye were split, e.g. Abauj, with the county capital
remaining in Hungary, including records archived at the county level. The Slovak areas were regrouped
into six Z"upans whose boundaries did not follow much the old megye boundaries. Also, on the Northern
border, on both sides of the Zakopane salient, Poland annexed 12 villages of the Northwest Zips, with
8.747 people, main village Jablonka, and 13 villages in the Arwa area, with 389 km2 und 16.133 people,
main village Neu-Bela, among whom were a few Germans. Here, county records remained in Slovakia
but post-1919 records belong to the respective Polish archival depositories.
In 1919, Slovakia and the Karpatho-Ukraine had been promised autonomy, but the Czech government
granted self-government only after the September 1938 Munich Agreement. On March 14, 1939, the Slovak
Provincial Parliament declared independence.The Slovak Republic lost territory. Poland annexed, in the
same area as 1919, another 7 villages with 21 km2 and 9900 people, including a few Germans. This
territory, as well as that lost in 1919, was returned to Slovakia on November 21, 1939. The boundary with
Hungary also changed. In November 1938, Hungary received the mainly Magyar territory along the Danube,
and part of the Karpatho-Ukraine, with 12.051 km2 and 1,06 million people, followed in March 1939 by
the absorption of the remainder of the Karpatho-Ukraine and another 491 km2 in Eastern Slovakia.
Germany received 43 km2 with 16,000 people, (Engerau, and the small city of Theben/Devin). From
49,021 km2 in 1930 with 3.3 Million people, the Slovak territory shrunk to 38,055 km2 with 2.6
Million people.
After the end of World War II, Slovakia, in the boundaries of 1938, was made again part of Czecho-
Slovakia, while the Karpatho-Ukraine was annexed by the Soviet Union. Since 1991, it is part of the
Republic of Ukraine. The CSR dissolved in Spring 1993 into the Czech Republic and the Republic of
Slovakia. The Germans from the Karpatho-Ukraine are Carpathian Germans, but the impact of the
present political borders on research warrants a separate webpage for the
Karpatho-Ukraine.
[To the beginning of the document]
These societies are small non-profit societies with tight budgets and staffed largely with volunteers.
Always include return postage. Postage is much higher in Europe than here (an airmail letter
from Germany to the US costs DM 3, or $2), and, if the question is likely to be time-consuming, an
appropriate donation. Please note that personal checks are nearly useless. Any money order bought at
your supermarket will do, though not postal money orders, which are valid only in the U.S.
- Genealogical Societies
- Arbeitsgemeinschaft ostdeutscher Familienforscher e.V. (AGoFF)
Fuhrweg 29; D-53229 Bonn
Germany
AGoFF)
Research area: pre-1919 Hungary (incl. Slowakei):
Director: Anton von Könczöl, Schwarzwaldstr. 34a,
D-79276 Reute (Breisgau). Germany
AGOFF will provide general information, including which archives to seek out, but will not do individual
genealogical research.The information is free for members. Non-members are charged a
moderate fee, depending on the amount of time spent on their inquiry. AGOFF publishes genealogical
material and an informative newsletter.
- Slovak Genealogical-Heraldic Society at the Matica Slovenska. A recent (1991) society that also includes non-Slavic people within
Slovakia. Concerning Carpathian Germans, it cooperates with Dr. Poess, the director of the Carpathian German Museum in Pressburg
(Bratislava). Check their Website
- [ Siehe auch: List of all
genealogical societies in Germany ]
- Other societies
Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft in Deutschland,
Haus der Heimat, Schloss-strasse 92/II, 70176 Stuttgart.
Sells Heimatbuecher, that is local histories of specific German cities and villages. So far all are
in German, with some Slovak translations being planned. The KDL also gives information about
contemporary Carpathian Germans and may help locate archives. For a reasonable fee, they will
translate from Slovak and Hungarian to German, incl. legally certified translations.Their annual
Karpatenjahrbuch has many historical articles and pictures. Their monthly Karpatenpost
has an obituary, birth and marriage index, 1950-1970, which ought to help locate relatives.
Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft in Oesterreich
Quellenstrasse 95/2, 1100 Wien
Same as above, but more focused on Carpathian Germans from
the Pressburg area. Publishes the Heimatblatt, 6 times a year.
Their Website is in progress
Karpatendeutscher Verein BR>
Lichardova 20, SK-04000 Kos"ice, Republic of Slovakia
Publishes the monthly Karpatenblatt. The KDV can help find inexpensive researchers able to
read German/Hungarian/Slovak, who will work in local archives.
Karpatenblatt. Namestie Sv. Egidia 50/55, SK-058-01 Poprad, Republic of Slovakia BR>
The KDV's informative monthly, in German. A bargain at $28 (airmail), for those interrested in
knowing how survivors fare, cultural activities etc.
Carpathian Germans in USA and Kanada
John E. Scholtz, Secretary
14100 Worthington Road, Philadelphia, PA 19116
Organizes annual meeting.
[To the top of the Webpage]
- Church Records
- Civil Records
- Other documents
- Real estate records (Grundbuecher)
- Military Records, incl. marriages etc. of military personnel, see
Archive
[To the top of the Webpage]
- Gazetteers
Other useful books in English are (and there are very few in English)s:
- Genealogical Guide to German Ancestors from East Germany and Eastern Europe, 4th ed. 1994, AGOFF (Arbeitsgemeinschaft
Ostdeutscher Familienforscher), Neustadt/Aisch (Germany): Verlag Degener & Co.
- Chalupecky, Dr. Ivan. Führer durch die Archive der Slowakischen Republik.
Stuttgart: KDL 1998. A 59 page booklet that is a MUST for anyone working
with archives in Slovakia. Dr. Chalupecky works as archivist and historian
in Slovakia. $5 from KDL. ISBN 80-88704-15-4.
- Gardiner, Dr. Duncan. German Towns in Slovakia and Upper Hungary.
3rd ed. 1993. $17.50, from the author, at 12961 Lake Avenue, Lakewood, OH 44107.
Dr. Gardiner is a genealogist for Central Europe at the FEEES.
- Lasslob, Isidor : Deutsche Ortsnamen in der Slowakei.
Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft, Stuttgart, 1975. 6 DM.
Lists all town-names in German, Slovak and Hungarian.
- Mayerhofer, H.: Österreichisch-ungarisches Ortslexikon
Gazetteer for the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Incl. the judicial district the locality belonged to, as well
as all local religious denominations, and the parish/other administrative subdivision they belonged
to. Wien 1896. Invaluable if you can get it by Interlibrary Loan.
- Majtan M.: Názvy Obcí na Slovensku za ostatnych dvesto rokkov
(=Township Names in Slovakia in the past 200 years)
Vydavatelstvo slovenskej akademie vied (=publ. by the Slovak Academy of Sciences), Bratislava 1974.
New edition 1998, Veda Publishers, Bratislava.
- Pfohl, Prof. Ernst : Ortslexikon Sudetenland,
Helmut Preussler Verlag, Nürnberg; 1987. Reprint of 3rd edition 1931, 680 pages.
ISBN 3-925362-47-9. Available from publisher, DM 59,50.
Covers Czechoslovakia in the borders of 1938, incl. Karpatho-Ukraine. For every locality, the Gazetteer
lists its various names, population, topography, industrial and commercial data, monuments, etc., but
NOT the parishes to which it belonged!
Note: Few libraries in the United States have a Carpathian German collection. Usually, if at all, it is an odd book
here and there. But the University of Cincinatti has a decent number of books. Check their
catalogue at Langsam Library. When searching any cataloue,
remember that the changing fortunes of the area produced a salad of keywords, e.g. Germans--Carpathian
Mountains, Germans--Hungary, Germans--Czechoslovakia, Germans--Slovakia.
- For Historical Maps, see Austria-Pages
[To Top of the Webpage]
- Bibliography
- History Books
English-language literature about Slovakia is scant, and rather lopsided. There are no histories of the
Carpathian Germans, and very few about modern Slovakia that are not written from a nationalist Czech
perspective that tries to justify the 1945 deportation of the local German and Hungarian minorities.There is
an Overview by Dr. Thomas Reimer in English. See
also the list of German history books in
German, or the following.
- Alfred M. de Zayas: Nemesis at Potsdam. The Anglo-Americans and the Expulsion of the
Germans.
Background, Execution, Consequences.
(Routledge & Kegan Paul 1977) ISBN 07100 0458 3
- Alfred M. de Zayas. A Terrible Revenge: The Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans,
1944-1950.
New York: St Martin's Press 1994. ISBN 0-312-12159-8 (pbk). 180 pages.
In these two works, the American international lawyer and senior advisor at the U.N. Human Rights
Commission in Geneva, analyses the brutal ethnic cleansing of 15 million German civilians
from their Eastern homelands, including Czechoslovakia.
- Yeshayahu Jelinek. The Lust for Power: Nationalism, Slovakia, and the Communists, 1918-1948.
New York: Columbia University Press 1983.
A political history of modern Slovakia.
Occasionally mentions Carpathian Germans.
- Stanislav Kirschbaum. A History of Slovakia:The Struggle for Survival.
New York: St Martin's Press 1995.
Same as above, but from a different perspective.
- Genealogical Literature.
Holmesa book store with many books on
Slovakia/Upper Hungary
- Adressbooks
- Registers of local families (Ortsfamilienbücher) see
Ortsfamilienbücher, Liste
- Local histories and archival collections, see
Local histories list
[To the Top of the Webpage]
- Archives
- Slovak State Archives/Central Administration
in Preßburg:
Archivni sprava Bratislava, Krizkova 7, SK-81104 Bratislava
Its County and Regional archives have material about the German settlement areas:
Statny okresni archiv in Z^iar nad Hronom (to which the former Schemnitz belongs now)
Statny okresni archiv in Kremnica (=Kremnitz)
Statny oblastni archiv in Levoc^a (=Leutschau)
Permission to do research, incl. the making of copies, must be obtained from the
Central Administration in Bratislava./Pressburg
It is advisable to give a price limit in DM/US$ when ordering.
- Kriegsarchiv Wien
(Personel records, incl. on marriages etc., of people who served
in the armed forces of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy).
- Libraries
- LDS FHC's
(Genealogical branch of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons), see our
LDS Homepage and
FHC Adresses in German-speaking
Central Europe
and (USA)
[To the top of the Webpage]
- Historical Regions
- Hauerland
- Zips (sl: Spis^)
- Preßburger Land
- Schuett Island (Ger: Schüttinsel; sl: Z^itný
ostrov)
- Earlier States:
Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy
[To the top of the Webpage]
- Publishers
- Professional researchers
- Folklore and Customs
- Historical Societies
Karpatendeutsches Kulturwerk Slowakei
Stadtbibliothek-Archiv Sammlungen; Suedlicher Herrenhof 1; 76133 Karlsruhe; Germany
Has exposition of Carpathian German folklore, archives etc. Exposition is in Schloss Karlsburg,
Pfinztalstrasse, D-76227 Karlsruhe.
Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft in Oesterreich
Quellenstrasse 95; 1100 Wien; Austria. Publishes bi-monthly Heimatblatt. Like Karpatenpost,
but centered more on news concerning people from Pressburg (today Bratislava).
Heimatmuseum der Stadtgemeinde Hainburg--Karpatendeutsche Heimatstube
Wienertor, A-2140 Hainburg/Donau. Tel: 02165/62111. Open from Mai to October.
See: Hainburg, klick K in the index.
Slovak National Museum-- Carpathian German Department
Muzeum kultury karpatskych Nemcov; Dr. Ondrej Poess, Director
Zizkova 14; SK-81436 Bratislava; Republic of Slovakia
Excellent exhibition of Carpathian German culture. Worth seeing if in Pressburg (Bratislava).
It is located since Summer 1997 in a pretty renovated old building under the old castle, right
next to the Archaeological Museum, in one of the few buildings left of the old Zuckermandler
Street.Tel: (421) 7-5315570, FAX 7-5315557. (421) is the international telephone code for Slovakia.
Webpage (in Slovak only right now): Muzea.
- Emigration
- Occupations
- Etymology
[To the Top of the Webpage]
[To the Top of the Webpage]
Last update: 1-July-2000 (tr)
Please forward any comments and additions to this WWW-Page to
Dr. phil. Thomas Reimer,
ycrtmr@cs.com or to
WebMaster
