Alot of people want to know why so many went to the Banat from Germany. I have done massive
amounts of research including studying history, but more importantly, I wanted to get right down to finding out why my family
left Deutmecke to go to Hatzfeld. After interviewing and communicating with Deutmecke farmers and relatives and
Hatzfeld family members who are still alive and know the family lore, I found it was the same reason the thousands of other
Germans went. Not only was the opportunity exciting, the offer to homested, get free land and re-populate the Banat
after the Austrian-Ottoman wars had de-populated it, but conditions for farmers and villagers in the Sauerland region of Germany
were very poor during the 1700's. For one thing people who lived along the Rhine were "war weary" after decades of war,
destruction and taxation (The thirty year war actually lasted longer than thirty years). The other thing was the tax
system was stacked against the farmers. Taxes were much higher on the farmers than on the rich or even the people who
lived in the city, so farmers barely got by and were always in debt. The church was in league with the government and
the local preists kept a book on each farm. This was called the "Hofbuch" and it kept all the financial records and
recorded births, deaths, baptisms, etc. I have a copy on computer disk of the "Hofbuch" from the Kraushaar farm in Deutmecke
from the 1700's, although it is written in a pigion Latin and German combination. It really wasn't until almost
the 1820's that the farmers really became free and owned their own land.
*Note: I have attatched a document at the bottom of this page with specific information to the debt
of the Kraushaar farm, which could have been the final push for Johann and Anna Kraushaar to go to the Banat.
So the promise of homesteding with free land they could call their own in the Banat was very inviting.
Now here is a portion of a book on the subject of Deutmecke farmers leaving to the Banat:
An excerpt
from Fremde in Westfalen. Westfalen in der Fremde. Zur Geschichte der Ein - und
Auswanderung von 1200 bis 1950. (The History of Immigration In and Out of Westphalia 1200-1959) By Gilbert Strotdrees:
Five
cows, 15 sheep, 1 pig and 1 goat Anton Poggel calls his own. He lives in Kückelheim in 1760 as a small farmer. With those
few animals he does not belong to the poorest people in the village, but life is still hard.. Then he and the other poor farmers
heard rumors about Queen Maria Theresia in Austria, that she would await them with open arms in her country.
So many
families make the long trip to the Banat. They have been promised land for free, help for building their houses and so on.
The Pastor
of Eslohe noted on 30 April 1765 that Anton Poggel married Maria Margarete Bloyink. Only three days later he noted that they
have gone to Hungary. The sister of Poggel goes with them. Between 1764 and 1772 1800 people from the Sauerland region left
for the Banat.
(Now the
author explains what the Banat looked like)
Jacob
Struck from Mecklinghausen was a soldier in the army of the Austrians, He settled already shortly after1718 , when Prinz Eugen fought the Turks (Ottoman Empire) in Vienna. The Austrian government said:
Only when there are people, the taxes will come from this land , which was nearly abandoned after the war between the
Turks and the Austrians. Spanish, Serbian farmers, Hungarians and people from Romania are also coming to
the region to farm and homestead.Starting in the 1720 s most of the Germans left from southwest Germany. ( So they were
called Banater Schwaben. From 1722 to 1726 twenty families from Drolshagen and Wenden are the first from
the Sauerland region to go.From 1752 to 1753 around 100 families follow them.The peak was reached in 1764
to1772. By that time 382 families From the Sauerland went to Hungary. It might have been even 450. Most of them came
from the villages around Olpe and Drolshagen and the region Attendorn, Eslohe, and
Schmallenberg.Very well paid agents from Austria came through the villages to try to bait and entice people
to the Banat in Hungary.But also the colonists themselves are advertising for Hungary. Some came back to the Sauerland
to sell their land and so on. When they went back to the Banat, they would take
relatives, friends and neighbors with them. The local government in the Sauerland calls them seducers, as they do not
want people to leave the Sauerland.. In 1766 in the churches the priests read the order from the government, that 25
percent of the capital and equity of those who leave will be confiscated. by the government. The agents of Queen Maria Theresia
of Austria are even supposed to be killed.when they come to entice people to the Banat.
The government fears, that there are not enough workers left on the farms anymore. But as there is no work, no
money, no future, the people do not care. The Kaiserin wakes too many hopes for these poor people of the farmer under class
but can not deliver on the promises.
(Now
the author gives the example of a poor farmer)
Heinrich
Tilmann (called Zenger) left with his family from the village Kückelheim (10 kilometer from Deutmecke.) He was the owner
of 1 goat, 10 sheep and 3 cows. The 20-year-old Anton Wagner, who was the son of a tailor, went with him.
( Now he
speaks about the reasons and why people left the Sauerland.)
Those, who
did not have any property left, because they wanted to become free. The owners of farms left, because they were indebted.
That was not the fault of the farmers, but the Kurkölnische government. The aristocracy does not have to pay any taxes and
the citizens in the cities only pay 19 percent tax. 81 percent of all the tax
income is from the farmers. So they don’t have any reserves. Many farms
were ruined or deep in debt and that was the main reason for leaving.
(Now the
example of Poggel, how they managed to get to Banat.)
On 2 May
they leave the village. With 12 families they are making a trek. They are going in the direction of Fulda and from there to
Bamberg then via Nürnberg to Regensburg. A ship then brings them via the Donau (Danube) to Vienna. This first
part of the journey takes them 1 month.
On
29 May they have to register in Vienna. Every family gets 6 gulden. After a short rest, they take the ship again and reach
at the end of June Tschanad..
*Note
- If you want further reading about Deutmecke area farming, families and the tax system in the Sauerland from that period,
go back to the Genealogy page and click on "Korte and Kraushaar - Printed Version"
