Germans of Yugoslavia - Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

The first Germans here were Saxon miners from Translyvania and northern Hungary (modern Slovakia) in the late 13th century. They assimilated into the local Roman Catholic population, although some of their descendants (Sasinovic for example, son of Saxon) were there during the Ottoman conquest of the territory and are believed to have converted to Islam.

More recent German immigration started here following the Habsburg occupation of 1878. Some agricultural colonists came from Germany proper but most were Danube Swabians from nearby Bačka. The first settlers came from Silesia and the Rhineland, and created a settlement called Windthorst near the Croatian frontier. After the 1888 visit by Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria an offshoot colony was established and named Rudolfstal. Protestant Danube Swabians set up Franzjosefsfeld in 1886. "The government looked favourably on these farmers and gave them tax concessions; and in 1890 is passed a special law on 'agrarian colonies', offering up to twelve hectares per family, rent-free for the first three years and then on a low mortgage which would end after ten years if they took Bosnian citizenship. Altogether fifty-four such colonies were established, with a population of nearly 10,000."

Following the collapse of internal security during World War II the Nazis decided to evacuate the Volksdeutsche population from Bosnia and a treaty to this effect was signed on 30 September 1942. The Hauptamt Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle (VoMi) organised an SS commando from Belgrade under Otto Lackman and "...went from village to village, accompanied by the military. They found the communities already victims of partisan raids and even came under attack themselves. By the end of November, VoMi's commandos had evacuated some 18,000 Volksdeutsche from Bosnia."

Areas formerly settled by Germans include:

• Dubrava (Königsfeld)
• Nova Topola (Windthorst)
• Bosanski Aleksandrovac (Rudolfstal)
• Franzjosefsfeld
• Prosara (Hohenberg / Hindenburg)
• Zenica (Senitza)
• Zepce (Scheptsche)