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The German diaspora consists of German people and their descendants who live outside of Germany. The term is used in particular to refer to the aspects of migration of German speakers from Central Europe to different countries around the world. This definition describes the "German" term as a sociolinguistic group as opposed to the national one since the emigrant groups came from different regions with diverse cultural practices and different varieties of German. For instance, the Alsatians and Hessians were often simply called "Germans" once they set foot in their new homelands.
The Russian Mennonites are a group of Mennonites who are the descendants of Dutch and North German Anabaptists who settled in the Vistula delta in West Prussia for about 250 years and established colonies in the Russian Empire beginning in 1789. Since the late 19th century, many of them have emigrated to countries which are located throughout the Western Hemisphere. The rest of them were forcibly relocated, so very few of their descendants currently live in the locations of the original colonies. Russian Mennonites are traditionally multilingual but Plautdietsch is their first language as well as their lingua franca. In 2014, there were several hundred thousand Russian Mennonites: about 200,000 live in Germany, 74,122 live in Mexico, 150,000 in Bolivia, 40,000 live in Paraguay, 10,000 live in Belize, tens of thousands of them live in Canada and the US, and a few thousand live in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.
This article details the geographical distribution of speakers of the German language, regardless of the legislative status within the countries where it is spoken. In addition to the German-speaking area in Europe, German-speaking minorities are present in many countries and on all six inhabited continents.
The history of the Jews in Latin America began with conversos who joined the Spanish and Portuguese expeditions to the continents. The Alhambra Decree of 1492 led to the mass conversion of Spain's Jews to Catholicism and the expulsion of those who refused to do so. However, the vast majority of conversos never made it to the New World and remained in Spain slowly assimilating to the dominant Catholic culture. This was due to the requirement by Spain's Blood Statutes to provide written documentation of Old Christian lineage to travel to the New World. However, the first Jews came with the first expedition of Christopher Columbus, including Rodrigo de Triana and Luis De Torres.
The German minority in Paraguay came into existence with immigration during the industrial age. The "Nueva Germania" colony was founded in Paraguay in 1888; though regarded as a failure, it still exists despite being abandoned by many of its founders in the 1890s. Paraguay was a popular place for German leaders accused of war crimes to retreat after the second World War. There are large communities of German descendants living in the department of Guairá, in a town called, the department of Itapúa, mainly in the Departmental Capital, Encarnación and the German towns of Obligado, Bella Vista and Hohenau. Some recent Brazilian immigrants to Paraguay also have German ancestry (Brasiguayos). Notable Paraguayans of German descent include the former president of Paraguay Alfredo Stroessner.
German Mexicans are Mexican citizens of German origin. Most documented ethnic Germans arrived in Mexico during the mid-to-late 19th century and were spurred by government policies of Porfirio Díaz. Many of them took advantage of the liberal policies in Mexico at the time and went into merchant, industrial, and educational ventures. However, others arrived without any or much capital as employees or farmers. Most settled in Mexico City and the surrounding states of Puebla and Veracruz as well as the northern states of Sonora, Sinaloa, Jalisco, and Chihuahua. Later settlers headed south towards the Yucatán Peninsula. Significant numbers of German immigrants also arrived during and after both World Wars. The historic strength of German-Mexican relations has contributed to Mexico having the fourth largest German population in all Latin America behind Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
German Argentines are Argentines of German ancestry as well as German citizens living in Argentina. They are descendants of Germans who immigrated to Argentina from Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Some German Argentines originally settled in Brazil, then later immigrated to Argentina. Although Germany as a political entity was founded in 1871, the German language and culture have traditionally been more important than the country of origin, as the basis of the ethnic and national consciousness of Germans. Today, German Argentines make up the fifth-largest ethnic group in Argentina, with over two million citizens of Volga German descent alone.
German Chileans are Chileans descended from German immigrants, about 70,000 of whom arrived in Chile between 1846 and 1914. Most of these were from Bavaria, Baden and the Rhineland, and also from Bohemia in present-day Czech Republic, which were traditionally Catholic. A smaller number of Lutherans immigrated to Chile following the failed revolutions of 1848.
German Peruvians are Peruvian citizens of full or partial German ancestry. In general, the term is also applied to descendants of other German-speaking immigrants, such as Austrians or the Swiss, or to someone who has immigrated to Peru from German-speaking countries.
The Mennonites in Bolivia are among the most traditional and conservative of all Mennonite denominations in South America. They are mostly Russian Mennonites of Frisian, Flemish, and Prussian descent. As of 2013, there were about 70,000 Mennonites living in Bolivia; that population has grown to around 150,000 as of 2023.
Mennonites in Paraguay are either Plautdietsch-speakers of mostly Flemish, Frisian and Prussian ancestry or, like the majority of Paraguayans, of mixed or Amerindian ancestry. Ethnic Mennonites contribute heavily to the agricultural and dairy output of Paraguay.
The history of the Jews in Bolivia goes back to the colonial period of Bolivia in the 16th century. In the 19th century, Jewish merchants came to Bolivia, most of them taking local women as wives and founding families that merged into the mainstream Catholic society. This was often the case in the eastern regions of Santa Cruz, Tarija, Beni and Pando, where these merchants came either from Brazil or Argentina.
The German community in Uruguay numbers ca. 10,000 German expatriates and 40,000 people of German descent. Most of them live in the Montevideo area, although there are German minorities in Paysandú, Río Negro, San José and Canelones.
White Bolivians or European Bolivians are Bolivian people whose ancestry lies within the continent of Europe, most notably Spain and Germany, and to a lesser extent, Italy and Croatia.
The history of the Jews in Paraguay has been characterised by migration of Jewish people, mainly from European countries, to the South American nation, and has resulted in the Jewish Paraguayan community numbering 1,000 today.
German Colombians are Colombian citizens of German ancestry. They may be descendants of Germans who immigrated to Colombia from Germany or elsewhere in Europe. Most German Colombians live in the departments of Andean Region and Caribbean Region. Germans have been immigrating to Colombia since at least 16th century. During World War II, thousands of Germans fled to Colombia.
Anabaptists and Jews have had interactions for several centuries, since the origins of Anabaptism in the Radical Reformation in early modern Europe. Due to the insularity of many Anabaptist and Jewish communities, Anabaptist–Jewish relations have historically been limited but there are notable examples of interactions between Anabaptists and Jews. Due to some similarities in dress, culture, and language, Amish and Mennonite communities in particular have often been compared and contrasted to Haredi and Hasidic Jewish communities.
Werdersch is a subdialect of Low Prussian, which itself is a subdialect of Low German. This dialect is spoken in Poland and was spoken in the former province of West Prussia. Werdersch is closely related to Nehrungisch and Plautdietsch.
White Paraguayans or European Paraguayans are Paraguayan people whose ancestry lies within the continent of Europe, most notably Spain, Italy and Germany, and to a lesser extent, Ukraine and Poland.
Dutch Mexicans are Mexican citizens of Dutch descent.
References
- ↑ Adalberto Kopp (2015). Las colonias menonitas en Bolivia. Fundación Tierra. p. 57. ISBN 978-99974-821-6-7.
- ↑ Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, & Charles D. Fennig (2019). "Plautdietsch". Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Archived from the original on 2019-04-02. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - 1 2 "Los alemanes hicieron industria de la grande". La Razón . June 29, 2009. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011.
- ↑ "El Refugio en Latinoamerica". Holocaust Encyclopedia. U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum . Retrieved 22 May 2015.
- ↑ Oblitas, Mónica (February 2, 2007). "Stege: 100 años, un buen comienzo". Los Tiempos . Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
- ↑ http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Bolivia&oldid=103617 Bender, Harold S., Martin W. Friesen, Menno Ediger, Isbrand Hiebert and Gerald Mumaw. "Bolivia." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. June 2013. Web. 11 Feb 2014.
- ↑ "Lisa wiltse – the mennonites of manitoba, bolivia". 26 August 2010.
- ↑ "Deutscher Bundestag 4. Wahlperiode Drucksache IV/3672" ( Archived 2016-03-12 at the Wayback Machine ). Bundestag (West Germany). 23 June 1965. Retrieved on 12 March 2016. p. 18-19/51.
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