The German Question, Part Eleven

The Germans, along with Swedes and Danes, also advanced into the eastern Baltic areas for trade and to Christianize the various peoples there, who were to become the modern Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians.* Gradually Germans began to settle in these areas, especially due to trade. In one area the Germans became a significant majority of the population, although I’m sure they absorbed the local, non-German population over time. This was an area centered around a German-built castle called “Memel,” and the region did indeed become part of Germany.** Further east and northeast, in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, German communities developed, but in these areas, the Germans never became anything like a majority of the population, although they tended to have high social status due to commercial interests and even military positions, essentially ruling these areas and developing large estates there. Later, when these “Baltic States” became part of the Tsarist Russian Empire, a number of these Baltic Germans, as they came to be called, joined in the Russian government or military.

Further to the south in Bohemia, in what is now the Czech Republic, Germans were invited by Bohemian kings to settle in places largely devoid of population due to the Mongol invasion. These Germans tended to settle in the northern, western and southern fringes of Bohemia, where in many places, areas became pretty much exclusively German, but many areas became very mixed, being shared between Czechs and Germans. This general area later came to be known, even in English, as the Sudetenland; so called because of the Sudeten Mountains there. Some Germans also migrated into interior Bohemia, areas that were predominantly Czech, where they established German communities, or where they were eventually assimilated into the majority Czech population.

Transylvania had been conquered by the Hungarians, but the Hungarian king invited Germans to settle in parts of the territory to help defend it against intruders. Most of these Germans were Saxons, and they came to be called “Transylvanian Saxons,” although over time, other non-Saxon Germans came to the region. The Germans were also seemingly welcomed by the Hungarian king because of their expertise in business and mining, and they held an elevated status in Transylvania, even later, when much of the region became part of Rumania.**** (A “Word History” is below the notes)

*The Estonians are closely related to the Finns, both linguistically and ethnically, and they speak a Uralic language. The Lithuanians and Latvians are closely related, and speak Indo European languages; that is, they speak  languages related to English, but further down the family tree, as these are classified as Baltic languages, or also called Balto-Slavic by some.

** Memel was located on what later became the German-Lithuanian border.

*** Parts of the Sudeten Mountains are actually in Poland and Germany. The word is pronounced as if "sue-DAY-ten."

**** The world has been full of political “hot spots” over the centuries, including in our present time, and Transylvania has been one of those areas. The territory’s “rightful ownership” has been at the center of a bitter dispute between the Hungarians and the Rumanians. The question centers around the very origins of the modern Rumanians, but that’s another subject. The overall dispute has been so bitter, that during World War Two, Hungary and Rumania, both allied to Hitler’s Germany, sent substantial military forces to fight against the Soviet Union, but the Germans had to keep these forces separated from one another, lest they attack each other rather than the Soviets. Further, the Germans accused both nations of keeping too many troops on the Hungarian-Rumanian border opposing each other, rather than sending the units to Russia.

WORD HISTORY:
Holt-While this is now an antiquated word in English, it is part of a number of place names, especially in England, and also is a family name, so I included it. It goes back to Indo European "khald," seemingly with a connection to "wood/timber/trees," from the base "kel," which had the notion of "cut" (you "cut" down trees for wood/lumber). The Old Germanic offshoot was "khulto," (with the "h" sound being more prominent) which in turn gave Old English "holt," which meant "woods, cluster of trees, grove." The spelling has remained consistent in English through the centuries. Forms in the other Germanic languages are: Dutch and West Frisian "hout" (where the "L" sound died out, meaning 'wood, timber'), German Holz (wood, timber), Low German "holt" (wood, timber), Danish, Norwegian and Icelandic "holt" (hilltop grove) and Swedish "holt/hult" (from what I understand, now only dialect, with the spelling variations, for "grove, woods"). Interestingly, the name "Holland" likely derives from "holt" and "land," thus meaning a "woodland."