|
VISITING AUTHOR/EDITOR ARTICLE SEPTEMBER 2007 Green-White or White Green By Hans Kopp
Since the time of the Donauschwaben reached the shore of the USA a controversy
developed about the colors of the flag of the Donauschwaben; “Green-White
or White Green”, This controversy still seamed to be present at the Tag
der Donauschwaben USA-Canada in Mansfield this labor day of 2007.
However, it did not matter under what flag the groups participated their flags
and banner were beautiful. It was a great pleasure and heartwarming for the
older generation of Donauschwaben to see so many young children, teenagers
parading in their beautiful Trachten, to the grandstand where they were greeted
by Jakob Hunsinger, president of the Mansfield Liederkranz and Leo Mayer,
president of the Landesverband der Donauschwaben, USA.
Now let us take a look at the history of the flag and how the primary colors of
the flag derived to end any possible controversy which may still exist.
The colors of the Donauschwaben flag are White-Green and the order must be
followed. Its origin can be traced to the city of Weißkirchen, Banat whose
colors were also White-Green. During the turn of the 20th Century,
Weißkirchen was the center of the awakening movement of the Donauschwaben under
their leader Ludwig Kremling 1861-1930 of Weißkirchen. Ludwig Kremling became
the first president of the “Ungarländische Deutsche Volkspartei” in 1906
when it was founding. The selection of the colors should not be surprising. They were selected in honor of Weißkirchen most likely also in honor of Anton Kremling. There is the possibility that Red-White-Green of the Hungarian flag may have influenced the selection of the colors, since Hungary was the homeland of the Donauschwaben till 1918.
The symbolic representation of the colors are: “White” represents the
peaceful character, work ethics and productivity of the Donauschwaben,
“Green” represents the breadbasket they created and the land they cultivated
which became their new homeland, their paradise. Josef Volkmar Senz, the great teacher and author of the Donauschwaben finalist the colors in Salzburg, Austria in 1955, as “White-Green” in his book “Geschichte der Donauschwaben” (History of the Donauschwaben).
|
Page Author: DSNA webmaster. The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page remain the property of the author/copyright owner. Some pages will be updated on a regular schedule. Suggestions or fixes are welcome but may take weeks to months to be incorporated. Anyone may link freely to anything on this page and print any page for personal use. However, page contents, structure and format, and design elements, cannot be copied or republished without the express written permission of the page author/copyright owner. If you have any questions or suggestions, please email the DSNA webmaster at: tcthornton1@sbcglobal.net . © Copyright 2012 |