Germans and Tatars Between Migration, Integration and Solidarity: the Trans-Cultural Regional Awareness of the Dobrujanians
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TATARICA: CULTURE, PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION GERMANS AND TATARS BETWEEN MIGRATION, INTEGRATION AND SOLIDARITY: THE TRANS-CULTURAL REGIONAL AWARENESS OF THE DOBRUJANIANS Mieste Hotopp-Riecke, Institut for Caucasica-, Tatarica- und Turkestan-Studies (ICATAT), 11 / R. 2126, Schwiesaustr., Magdeburg, 39104, Germany. [email protected]. This article explores the image of the Tatars through the prism of representations of the Dobrujani- ans (Germany). It systematizes the material on the history of the Turkic peoples, coming to settle in this region, and reveals the features of cultural contacts between the Germans / Christians and the Turkic-speaking ethnic groups. The article also determines the nature of acculturation with regard to the population of this region. Key words: Tatars, Germans, Germany, identity, regional self-awareness. Dedicated to the memory of German neighbors was different, but also we of Agiacai Saladin1. can determine a tentative reciprocal acculturation. It finally manifests itself in a specific niche of Do- A specific regional identity of Dobrujanians bruja, common regional consciousness. This re- (German: Dobrudschaner), regardless of ethnic and gional identity was kept inside up to the beginning linguistic diversity of the local Tatar and German of the 21st century, though their makers had lived inhabitants, struck me during my dissertation stud- through the phases of forced migration and integra- ies. In my research, I dealt with the change of the tion in their new homelands. The Literatures of the image of Tatars in the collective memory of the Romania-German emigrants play a special role as Germans. While in other German-Tatar cultural a transport and translation corridor for images of contact areas, such as East Prussia, the predomi- the collective memories of the old homeland in nant tradition was xenophobe stereotypes (horse- Romania and Bulgaria. men barbarians), Dobruja in this context probably represents an exception: not only the Tatar image My research is based on expert interviews in Dobruja and in Germany, as well as on rich Roma- 1 Agiacai Saladin (1946–2010) was the President of the nian-German literature. It is a largely missing piece UDTTMR (Uniunea DEMOCRATA a Tatarilor Turco- of multinational history: a huge part of German vil- Musulmani din România). lages of Transylvania carries memories of Tatar 111 M.HOTOPP-RIECKE invasions and Turkish occupation in its written his- 13th century. Yet, at the time of the Seljuk dynasty tory, and nearly all German villages of Dobruja in 1263 around 10.000 Turkmen of Anatolia settled were formerly Tatar settlements. In Romania- under Saltık Dede in the area of Dobruja German literature of the modern era, the most [Hammer-Purgstall, 1840, p. 117] and the Ottoman vivid images of each other are found in the litera- Sultan Beyazid I colonized the area around Ba- ture of the Dobrujanians. badağ with Tatars, similar to the way his successor Muhammad I would do. Digression settlement history – Swabia, Saxony, Since 1393, Dobruja was a part of the Ottoman and Tatars Empire and the Budjak-, Nogay- and Crimean The settlement stories of the different Germans Tatars settled in it from the 16th century onwards. geographical areas of Transylvania and Dobruja The conquest of the Crimean Khanate (1783) by differ substantially in the time of immigration. The Russia caused a mass exodus of the Crimean first German settlers immigrated in 1841 to the Tatars in the direction of Dobruja and later from then-Ottoman Dobruja from the North. The history there on to Asia Minor. Around 1880, Romanians of the Dobruja migration is described in detail by only accounted for 28 percent of the total popula- Paul Traegerand Hans Petri [Traeger], [Petri, pp. tion of Dobruja, still the Tatars were the defining 7–27]. There were mostly farming families from majority: “They were the only ones who gave Do- Volhynia and the Black Sea region of the Russian bruja a certain ethnic color, so that it was simply Empire, Bessarabia and Crimea. The first German called the Dobrujian Tatary” writes Paul Traeger town was Abaza (Tatar: clear fountain) in Babadağ in his review “The Germans in Dobruja” [Traeger, region in Northern Dobruja. From that time, until 1922 (1982), p. 9]. After Tatars and Turks in Ro- the unification with Romania in 1878, Dobruja was mania were expropriated and expelled around part of the Ottoman Empire. Due to the suspension 1885, a further exodus of 80.000 Turks and Tatars of colonist privileges 1871, the second wave of happened in 1918 due to the war in Anatolia4. migration began in Russia in 1873 and lasted until In the interwar period from 1919 to 1939, the 1883. A third period of immigration began in demographics changed in favor of the Romanian 1890-18912. Most of the newcomers settled in population: Tatars and Turks had emigrated and former Tatar settlements, since they were partially Romania's territory had almost doubled. After the empty, because of wars and plague in the first dec- flight, expulsion, resettlement in the Second World ades of the 19th century. The seemingly few start- War, and the mass emigration by 1990, only a few ups were New Vineyards (“Neue Weingärten”), dozen people out of 60.000 Germans remained in Large Pallas (“Groß Pallas”) and Jakobsonthal. Romanian Dobruja, and today, around 23,000 All other villages, where Germans settled com- Tatars still live in Dobruja. pactly, have retained their Tatar name (here as in Romanian orthography): Alibeyköy (Mr. Ali vil- The image of the other lage), Ali Anife3, Babadag (father mountain), The cultural contacts between Ger- Caramurat (black Murat), Ciucurova (Çukurova = man/Christians and Turkic/mostly Muslims – eth- deep plane), Colelia (Köleliye = slave market), nic groups from the early modern period left sig- Karali (those marked in black), Murfatlar (“the nificant traces in the German oral tradition in the generous”), Ortachioi (Ortakoy = middle village), area of today's Romania. We can find Romania- Sarighiol (Sarıgöl = yellow lake), Sofular ( “the German legend collections of the 20th century in pious”), Techirghiol (Tekirgöl = mullet lake), etc. today’s Romania. Also, in East Prussia and Silesia, The territory of today's Romania has been home to Turkic peoples since the 6th century CE 4 At the beginning of the First World War in 1914 Carol onwards. Under the Bolgar Tsar Khaka, the settle- I wanted to take sides in favor of the Central Powers, ment of Petshenek or Cumans was founded in the which was not tenable in domestic politics. Under his nephew and successor Ferdinand I (1914–1927) Roma- nia joined the Entente in the summer of 1916. At first, 2 In 1847, the first priest for the Dobrudja Catholics, the the Romanians conquered parts of Transylvania, but lost Benedictine Raymund Netzhammer , was appointed by the Walachia (Ţara Românească) in December 1916 by the Bishop of Nikopoli. Among the immigrants were the counter offensive of the German, Austrian and Bul- 35–36% Catholics, the majority consisted of Lutherans garian troops, so Ferdinand I and the government had to of different communities. flee to Moldova. After the First World War in 1918, the 3 Later renamed in Calfa, today in Bulgaria (South- majority of Romanian territories of Russia and Austria- Dobruja). Hungary joined Romania. 112 TATARICA: CULTURE, PERSONALITY AND EDUCATION there exist dozens of “Tatar” traditions dating from [Stephani, 1982, p. 112] and Tatars are also all re- 1241 to 12425 [Strakosch-Grassmann, 2004 membered and played a role in tales and legends of (1893), p. 36] to 1656. Others admit no explicit the Transylvanians, but in some cases they are temporal mapping. supplemented by descriptions of love-relations be- Experiences of violence, multi-ethnicity and tween Tatars and Germans. These experiences of interreligiousness are characteristic features of violence with the foreign riders from the eastern these myths and legends. Claus Stephani mentions steppes are recounted in legends like “When the in his books “Zipsian Folk Tales…” [Stephani, Tatars Came”10 [Stephani, 1982, pp. 208–209], 1981] and “Oaks along the Way” [Stephani, 1982] “Tartar Invasions” [Müller, 1857, pp. 253–254], 20 or 26 references in which the Tatars occur. “Tatarshtshina” [Stephani, 1983, pp. 47–48, Combat operations and settlement activities of Stephani, 1981, p. 52.], “A Girl and a Tatar Lad” various ethnic groups, especially from Turkic for- [Stephani, 1983, p. 24], “A Saxon Woman and a mer states such as the Huns6 [Müller, 1857, p.189], Tatar”11 [Stephani, 1982, p. 135] and many others. Avars, Kıpčaks7 [Stephani, 1981, p. 34], Bolgars, Cumans8 [Müller 1857, p. 203], Pečenek9 Modern times: Acculturation In the past, Transylvanian legends about the Tatar incursions were passed from generation to 5 generation, thus preserving the pejorative image of From February 1241 onwards, the march of four (ac- horsemen hordes in the collective memory of the cording to other sources five) dzhengiside forces against Transylvania and Hungary began. These armies were Germans of Romania. A far more positive image of Tatars exists in the Dobrudscha German litera- the object of the subjugation of Hungary, and were th commanded by the military leaders Kadan, Buri, ture, where the documents of the late 19 century Baghatur, and Bochetor. depict a multicultural world that today is no longer 6 The Huns of course are only conditionally / partly existing.“In the formerly Turkish village, Germans classified as a Turkic-speaking federation, but they do lived now peacefully apart from other peoples: represent the beginning of an east-west migration of Turks and Tatars, Romanians, Greeks, Jews, Ar- steppe cultures lasting for many centuries. See, for in- menians, etc.” [Cited by: Hotopp-Riecke, stance, Müller, 1857, the legend “Attila's Death”: “King 2011(2017), p. 265]. Similar statements can be fre- Attila came from Asia or from Sicily, among other quently found.