„ХЕРОЈСКО ДОБА“ – КОЛОНИЗАЦИЈА У 18. ВЕКУ КАО МОТИВ У КЊИЖЕВНОМ И ЛИКОВНОМ СТВАРАЛАШТВУ ПОДУНАВСКИХ ШВАБА
“The Age of Heroes” – XVIII Century Colonisation as a Motif in the Literary and Artistic Output of the Danube Swabians

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses the historical novels Der Grosse Schwabenzug by Adam Müller Guttenbrunn (1852-1923) and Der Werschetzer Tat by Karl von Möller, as well as the monumental painting Die Еinwanderung der Schwaben in das Banat by Stefan Jäger (1877-1962). These works of art appeared in the early XX century, when the Danube Swabians went through a belated national awakening and began to organise politically. The novels, particularly Guttenbrunn’s, experienced huge popularity and several editions with large print runs, while the painting’s reproductions, both in cheap and expensive versions, arrived into many German homes and public buildings. That is how the German colonisation of Pannonia was integrated into the widespread myth of the “age of heroes” (Heldenzeitalter) – as the patriotic historians called the historical period of the Hapsburg monarchy from the late XVII to the mid-XVIII century. The role of Danube Swabian settlers was overestimated and they were represented as the vanguard of the Western civilisation and the progressive force in Southeastern Europe. That stereotype was a key influence on the formation of the particular collective identity of this branch of the German nation.

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