German Language, Literature and Journalism in Slovakia

From the downfall of the Moravian Empire until the end of the First World War and the consecutive dissolution of the Habsburg Dual Monarchy, the territory of present-day Slovakia was under Hungarian rule. Around the year 1,000, King Stefan I. already brought German settlers to what would later be called Upper Hungary for the purpose of reclamation and the allotment of natural resources. In the following centuries, there were various migrational movements in several waves. This led to the development of German-speaking settlements in the West (Pressburg/Bratislava), Central Slovakia (the so-called Hauerland), and in the East (Zips/Spiš), which were, however, characterized by different dialects. Until the 20th century, the German language played an important role in politics, administration, religion, culture, craft, trade, literature, and journalism. Its influence varied within temporal, social, and spatial dimensions and was subject to frequent transformation due to the given multiethnic contexts.

The compilation of the dossier at hand was supported by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. It is overseen by the Digitales Forum Mittel- und Osteuropa e.V./Digital Forum Central and Eastern Europe, Munich (DiFMOE). On the one hand, its aim is to provide an overview of the topic of "German Language, Literature and Journalism in Slovakia". On the other hand, it wants to inform about the respective bodies and collections of source material in Slovakia itself and in its neighboring countries as well as in Germany, and Austria. Special attention is given to digital collections of the public domain on the internet, including those that go beyond the context of German-language writing, including pictorial documents.

Deutsche Sprache, Literatur und Publizistik in der Slowakei: Gebetsbüchlein aus dem 15. Jahrhundert; Reprovorlage Jörg Meier | Der Slowakei-Bestand des Digitalen Forums Mittel- und Osteuropa: Dreisprachige Ansichtskarte „Kassa – Košice – Kaschau“, nach 1918. Vorlage: Ostslowakisches Museum, Kaschau/Košice