Double identity: Being German and Hungarian at the same time

Abstract

In the wake of the Turkish occupation of Hungary in the eighteenth century, peasants were recruited from various parts of the Habsburg Empire to develop agriculture in Hungary. Settlements were scattered throughout much of the country. Officially referred to as “Hungarian Germans” the descendants of these settlers identify as Swabian and hold Swabian to be their mother tongue. This is not, in fact, one common language but includes a number of quite different dialects. The absence of a shared language and the scattered settlements have meant that these groups have never undergone a country‐wide social or political unification. Despite extensive intermarriage with Hungarians and a perception of Hungary as being their homeland, these groups continue to identify themselves as Swabian and thus provide an interesting case study for the exploration of ethnicity and assimilation. The fieldwork on which this article is based was carried out among three generations of Swabians in five villages near Budapest. The relevance of ethnic and national identity was explored at both the individual and the collective level. The fieldwork explored boundary markers, cultural representations and identity interplay. Swabian traditions and culture were found to have been maintained overwhelmingly in those spheres of life where they did not conflict with assimilated Hungarian values. Endogamy has, for example, disappeared. The social representation of ethnicity is moreover found to be situational, with Swabian culture increasingly only being overtly displayed within the confines of Swabian villages. The article concludes that while a process of assimilation is clearly taking place, ethnic identity has not altogether disappeared and ethnic and national sentiment can co‐exist, as can tradition and modernity.