Das Bild der Deutschen bei Rumänen, Ungarn und Serben
The Germans’Image as Seen by their Romanian, Hungarian and Serbian Neighbours

Summary/Abstract: This paper describes the inter-ethnic relations between populations of different language groups in Central and Eastern Europe. The transition from the initial separation to understanding and coexistence is shown by the example of the Swabian colonists in the 18th century. Economic and social needs led to multilingualism, which is a prerequisite for productive cooperation between ethnic groups, leading to the use of terms like Landsmann (‘fellow-countryman’; ‘compatriot’) and prieten (‘friend’), by both partners. Noteworthy are the adoption of the custom of the Klack from the Romanians, the practice of „children exchange”, the dissemination of economic innovations and linguistic interferences by travelling craftsmen and through regional trade relations. The external image of the Germans seen by their Eastern European neighbours was most often a friendly image, in which positive character traits were presented objectively, and were accepted as such by the partner. This is shown by, among others, Bertalan Andrásfalvy and László Kosa in studies for the Hungarian side, and Hans Diplich (in a fully quoted essay) for the Romanian side. The virtues of the colonists (industriousness, reliability and thriftiness) dominated the image of the Germans seen by the Hungarians and Romanians in the 18th century, before the effects of nationalism created and nurtured new hostile images. This is illustrated by the positive meaning of the words borrowed from German, such as pauăr, maistur or molar in Romanian (simultaneously also paor in Serbian). It is only after the Second World War that ideologically-driven hostile images are created throughout the world, by false reports and accusations, and through often-repeated half-truths. These continue to affect the Germans even today, after sixty years of lived democracy, and should be corrected in the common house of Europe. History proves that friendly images are more durable than hostile images.

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