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Bindorffer Györgyi

DOUBLE IDENTITY: BEING GERMAN AND HUNGARIAN AT THE SAME TIME
(New Community 1997. 23(3):399–411.)

Introduction

In 1993 I carried out a study on the construction and representation of ethnic and national identity and their inter-relations in some villages of German inhabitants in Hungary. The purpose was to understand the concept of ethnicity, assimilation and national identity in relation to the everyday-life of the villagers. The hypothesis was that German minority groups in Hungary have double identity construction which is open in both ethnic and national directions but which is also overshadowed by assimilation. The argument is that the representation of both identities is situational.

To be able to test the hypothesis and to understand the process of the identity construction combining both ethnic and national identity, and the role of the assimilation in this process, special attention was given to certain questions, such as how ethnic identity, as the subjective feeling of belonging to a special self-perceived group of people who share in a common stock of ethnic knowledge still, works as frame of identity, what kind of relevance it has today in the life of the German minority groups and in the life of the individuals considering themselves of German origin, where are the boundaries of ethnic identity are, whether the mother tongue and traditional customs still count as boundary markers serving as means of remembering and symbolically representing the past, whether they help or not to maintain the concept of continuity, to awake the feeling of an ultimate loyalty toward the group of origin and to contribute to strengthening the cohesion of the group; what the signs of assimilation are; what are the characteristics of the Hungarian national identity, to what extent is it adapted and how are the boundaries of the German ethnic identity cross-cut by the Hungarian one? What kind of role has 'Hungarianness' in the life of this minority, what they think of to be their homeland, to which nation they belong?

Before analysing the research results on ethnic identity, assimilation and national identity a short historical overview is appropriate in order to understand some basic characteristics of this minority.

Ethnonym And Mother Tongue In Historical Retrospection

For the purpose of administration all groups of settlers who came to Hungary from German speaking territories in different times are called Germans. As a consequence of immigration from different parts of the Habsburg Empire, however, the German minority does not form a homogeneous ethnic community with a common language, history and culture. There are also differences in their self-designation. Those peasants who settled in Hungary after the Turkish occupation in the eighteenth century call themselves 'Swabians'. This name is not used, however, for those who arrived in Hungary earlier or later. Neither is this term used for the German craftsmen or the bourgeoisie migrating in the nineteenth century from Austria.

The first settlers in the eighteenth century actually came from Swabian provinces but after having left some groups on Hungarian territory they moved on towards Russia. The following settlers who came from all over Germany (as a consequence of two further organised waves of settlement to recruit peasants for agricultural work in Hungary after the Turkish occupation) have been called 'Swabians' by the Hungarian natives. That way the ethnonym or 'ethnic title' of this minority group was given by outsiders. These settlers, however, have not felt any negative connotations of this labelling, so they have accepted and internalised it. Descendants of the peasants of the eighteenth century insist on calling themselves Swabian also. S the terms 'German' and 'Swabian' can be considered synonyms, although officially this minority is called Hungarian Germans. In spite of this a distinction was made in the self-designation of the villagers, who call themselves Swabians.

When considering language, German and Swabian have distinct meanings. German, the literary and standard language has never been spoken as the mother tongue among the Swabians. Swabian includes all the local dialects spoken as mother tongue by the descendants of the eighteenth century settlers. These dialects have been developed in Hungary separately from each other. The unification of the different dialects stopped on regional level. That way there are smaller regions speaking the same version, but the development of a common, country-wide 'Swabian' language has failed; so the dialects are not tied by a unifying spoken language (Seewann 1992). Similarly in relation to the designation of origin, in the administration German is given as generic term for the mother tongue of this minority, but the villagers held their local Swabian dialects as their mother tongue.

As a consequence of their scattered settlements over half of the territory of Hungary and lack of common language, these groups have never undergone a country-wide social or political unification. The question arises here: what can this minority group be called? They are certainly a linguistic minority but are they also an ethnic group? While in terms of cultural characteristics they are not totally homogenous, the local groups have for example their own habits and traditions, religion and language, there are very important similarities uniting the Swabians living in Hungary into one ethnic group. Their self-definition ('we are Swabians'), reference to common place of origin, ('we came all from Germany'), conception of distinctiveness from members of the host society, positive autostereotypes, different way of life ('we work a lot', 'we are assiduous', 'we spare money', etc.), some cultural heritage ('all Swabians have brass-bands and sramli music, and dance polka, and waltz') are of ethnic character. They share some patterns of normative behaviour, and form a part of a larger population, interacting with people from other collectivities within the framework a social system (Cohen 1974) and they feel they belong to other Swabians living in Hungary. Using the definitions of Barth (1969) the Swabians are to a certain extent still biologically self-perpetuating, share fundamental cultural values, make up (first of all a local) field of communication and interaction and have a membership which identify itself and is identified by others as constituting a category distinguishable from other categories.

Research Methods

The basic approach was to concentrate on the collection of detailed life and family histories focusing on the specific features of identity formation. Seventy-six in-depth interviews were held in five Swabian villages around Budapest: in Dunabogdány, Zebegény, Nagymaros, Kismaros and Csolnok. The basis of choice was the same local dialect (a special mixture of Rhenish Frank and Danubian Bavarian developed in Hungary) spoken only in these villages. Interviewees were selected from different generations, social and educational strata. For analyses, three generational categories were made: first generation: from age of approximately 60 to 80; second generation: between 40–60; and third generation, approximately 20–40 years of age. If it was possible within a family, interviews were conducted of all generations to follow up the development and changes of attitudes as well as behavioural patterns playing a role in the formation of the identities.

One of the ethnic identity factors which will be analysed in the present article is the role of the mother tongue. Assimilation tendencies will be summarised in line with the definition offered by Park and Burgess' as follows:

assimilation is a process of interpenetration and fusion in which persons and groups acquire the memories, sentiments and attitudes of other persons or groups, and, by sharing their experience and history, are incorporated with them in a common cultural life (1921: 735);

as well as according to Gordon's (1964) even stages of assimilation.

According to Aronson

cultural, structural, marital, identificational, attitude receptional, behaviour re-ceptional assimilation can take place between any two groups of societal scale, ... and are differentiate of ethnic groups (1976: 11).

The further addition was made of assimilation “which is based on the premise that there is a dissensus on major total-system values in the 'ethnic' situation" (Aronson, 1976: 12). Assimilation can take place on individual level as well. At the societal or group level, the 'ethnic community' as a whole refers to the 'immortality' of the group which has 'its own life, and laws, and other characteristics' (Simmel 1950: 26) and does not want to disappear. The individual in this frame of conception is considered as member of the ethnic group who compares himself with others in and outside of the group, who compares him- or herself with others in and outside of the group, adapts to the assimilation challenges and creates different dimensions for comparison with the majority (Tajfel 1974a and b). As Simmel suggests this separates

the qualities and behaviours by which he 'forms' the 'mass' and which he contributes to the collective spirit, on the one hand; and, on the other, different qualities which constitute his private property, as it were, and which lift him out of everything he may have in common with others (1950: 28).

As to national identity Csepeli's concept of national themes and stock of knowledge will be followed (Csepeli 1992). They are as follows: name as a distinguishing category; belief in nation, in its uniqueness and in its mission; knowledge on geography, demography, anthropology, psychology, politics, society, economy, culture, history, key figures in history and culture; values; stereotypes; attributions; homeland. Because of limited space, however, only questions of history and homeland will be analysed here.

The mother tongue and its consequences
Swabian or Hungarian?

Swabian inhabitants of these villages clearly stated that one of the symbols of their ethnic community was speaking Swabian. Apart from this fact the role and the significance of the Swabian mother tongue as boundary marker, and as one of the factors of their ethnic identity, varied from generation to generation. The overall tendency was one of decreasing importance across the generations. The structure of relations between generations could be well characterised by the separate maintenance and usage of Swabian and Hungarian.

The first generation considered Swabian as mother tongue which connected them to the past, to their youth, to the family, relatives and old friends in the village. At home they spoke only Swabian with their partner, children and relatives. Swabian was the language of intimacy. As a consequence of having lived in Hungary for almost 300 years and having come into first-hand contact with natives, even the parents of the eldest generation were bilingual, although they spoke Swabian better and more fluently than Hungarian. Members of the eldest generation used both languages in their communications and, depending on the situation, they used Swabian alternatively with Hungarian. Old Swabians distinguished between the use of Swabian or Hungarian languages and there was a clear-cut distinction in their function and prestige. A situation resembling diglossia has developed among these people. In this 'special kind' of diglossia two distinct languages played the roles of the two or more variations of the same language within the speech community (cf. Ferguson 1959). Change of languages in speech adopted in presence of foreigners, as a defensive mechanism having survived the years of repression and resettlement to Germany following the Second World War, but code switching was used in those speech events and acts, too, when they could not express themselves on their mother tongue. None of the Swabian dialects were renewed through contact with literary German, so they lack words and phrases for different phenomena. Thus they were compelled very often to switch codes, but this was the situation also if they wanted to communicate with their grandchildren. If they wanted to pray, they could do it only in German or Hungarian. In most of the cases Hungarian was preferred. In spite of bilingualism and admitting that they speak Hungarian equally well, no one said that his or her mother tongue was Hungarian or he or she would prefer Hungarian. If they think, they do it Swabian. It was generally held that Swabian dialect is the last thing to unite them. So there was a clear-cut difference in function and prestige of the two languages as to space and situation. Beside Swabian origin the Swabian the mother tongue played an important role in the formation of the ethnic identity of the first generation. Bilingualism, however, as a consequence of acculturation, the first stage of Gordon's assimilation process (1964), made it possible for this generation to join the memories, sentiments and attitudes of the Hungarian majority and opened a way toward assimilation.

Members of the second generation knew both languages equally well. Education has meant that Hungarian was an integral part of their life, and importance of and feelings towards the mother tongue depended on the extent to which an individual, with a recognised Swabian origin and heritage regarded him- or herself as a member of the ethnic group or not. Two groups could be discerned. For those who said: 'Yes, I am of Swabian origin and I am Swabian not Hungarian' the Swabian mother tongue was important and tried to speak it as often as possible. Swabian certainly remained the language of the family, especially in relation to the parents. The presence of the third generation – their children – frequently compelled this generation to switch code. They preferred praying in German, though most of them did not speak it. To the question, 'in what language do you think', they did admit to frequently thinking in Hungarian. For these people Swabian had greater prestige, but as a consequence of specialised functions attributed to the two languages and the wider scope of territory where Hungarian was spoken, they used Hungarian more.

There were those, who declared: 'Though I am of Swabian origin, I am Hungarian' and these individuals were not ready to use a language other than Hungarian. In spite of the fact that they learnt Swabian at home from their parents, in these cases they considered Hungarian to be their mother tongue. Hungarian had greater prestige than Swabian. This fact indicates a strong desire to be assimilated and shows a national identity that is stronger than any ethnic one. This interplay of identities presents a good example of the 'constructed Hungarian' ethnicity.

There was, however, a third group of people in the second generation who insisted on their Swabian origin, counted themselves as members of the ethnic group, but did not claim Swabian as their mother tongue. They might say: 'I am Swabian of origin, but my mother tongue is Hungarian' and explain it with the fact that they learnt more Hungarian than Swabian and speak it better. Whether they spoke Swabian or not was immaterial, because they considered themselves part of the Swabian community in terms of origin.

It is apparent that there is a correlation between the subjective feeling of belonging to an ethnic group and having a Swabian ethnic identity, but this did not depend on language. Admitting to having Hungarian as one's mother tongue and instinctive language of thought did not weaken the ethnic affiliation. In terms of Gordon's first stage, however, change of language does not reveal a tendency towards assimilation and pre-disposition towards Hungarian national identity.

These features of the double-bind identity were similarly present among the members of the third generation. They clearly understood Swabian and could speak it, but in practice preferred not to use it. If their grandparents or parents spoke Swabian to them, they answered in Hungarian. They did not deny their Swabian origin or their belonging to the Swabian community in the village, but nonetheless considered themselves Hungarian and claimed Hungarian to be their mother tongue. Swabian language had no prestige and they perceived of it as being of no use as a dead language with a very limited vocabulary. Hymes states that “to participate in a speech community is not quite the same as to be a member of it" (1974: 50), and this would appear to be true of this generation. Since the traditional Swabian mother tongue was missing as an indicator of ethnic identity, this was manifested in the third generation only through a few traditional customs. They preferred, for example, the traditional Swabian wedding with brass-band music and dances.

Comparing the first with subsequent generations reveals a decreasing tendency to use Swabian as mother tongue. At the same time the key factor demarcating ethnic identity did not depend – except the first and approximately one third of the second generation – on knowledge or use of Swabian as mother tongue. Ethnic affiliation was determined instead by self-definition as being Swabian origin, by declaration of belonging to the Swabian community or by mere cultural representations. In the villages under investigation mother tongue could not be said an explicit marker of ethnic identity. The strong correlation of language with ethnic knowledge and ethnic identity seem to have disappeared. Boundary construction by language became rather theoretical and a trait of the past.

All the three generations had to accommodate to their broader environment and distinct norms, requirements of other groups. Mihok (1990) points out that the cause of language assimilation is a consequence of changes in the socio-economic surroundings and of modernisation: to be able to take part in the economic, political and cultural life of Hungary, to be able to survive as citizens, linguistic assimilation was a necessary and compelling requirement. In addition to this mobilisation, urbanisation and consequently more frequent interactions with others, the movement between different speech communities, education, media, the diminishing role of family socialisation, and the different occupational situation of younger generations all have contributed to the assimilation of language.

Loosing the traditional mother tongue reveals the direction of ethnic assimilation but this is only an initial step, and by no means the final stage of assimilation. In this intermediate stage ethnic sentiments as well as assimilation tendencies are simultaneously at present in the lives of individuals and of ethnic communities.

German or Hungarian?

In relation to the question of language it is necessary to comment on the situation of the interviewed Swabian villagers to the standard and literary German. The proportion of the interviewees who did not speak standard German was 71 per cent, while 29 per cent learnt it at school mostly after the World War II. It was primarily members of the third generation spoke German. The only contacts the vast majority or Swabians had with literary German before the war were the Bible and prayer books which were written in German (since a literary Swabian has not been developed). There was thus no scope for literary German do develop as a substitute language. German is outside of the scope of diglossia. In every-day life the interviewees will if necessary interrupt the Swabian they are speaking and continue in Hungarian and not in German. As is evident below, this absence of literary German was a contributory factor of development of Hungarian national identity and recognition Hungary as homeland.

Remaking ethnic identity and/or assimilation
Ethnic or cultural identity?

Members of the first generation were the last whose ethnic socialisation was continuous. As a consequence of the repression after the Second World War, the continuity of handing down the mother tongue, habits, norms and community rites was interrupted. In spite of the fact that they taught their children to speak Swabian, parents were not successful as transmitters of an encompassing culture. While it would be true to say that ethnic affiliations and group cohesion actually became stronger during the years of repression, modernisation and assimilationists aspirations have meant, that ethnic tendencies have increasingly become limited to the sphere of cultural traditions, i.e. marriage, burial, music and dance. Since language lost its role as collective element of ethnic identity and as clear-cut boundary marker, Swabians in the above struggle for survival as ethnic and cultural groups through maintenance and manifestation of some of their cultural traditions. Ethnic identity is represented by traditional cultural habits and customs rather than by language. They are not only boundary markers of the Swabian community but by virtue of their maintenance they represent very important symbols of ethnic identity for each generation. For about half of the second generation and for members of the third, cultural customs are the one indication of belonging to the group of origin and displaying a loyalty toward this group. The Swabian weddings and funerals with brass-band music, the festivals honouring the patron saints of their churches, the Swabian balls, the sramli music played on accordions, the brass-bands at any religious ceremony including Christmas and on national days, the old folk dances and some New Year's rites are the only surviving remnants of their cultural heritage.

The few cultural traditions which have survived help remembrance and symbolical representation of the past and even in those cases where Swabian villagers had ceased to count themselves part of the ethnic community, and regarded themselves Hungarian, they could not entirely absolve themselves of the perception of the common origin and of their deep-rooted traditional values. Even these assimilated individuals held Swabian weddings and one of them said he could amuse himself only at Swabian musical occasions and dances. This phenomenon seems to be a justification for the conception of ethnic identity as accorded at birth (Horowitz 1975) and characterised by primordial attachments (Geertz 1963).

In spite of the fact that group festivals with music and dances help strengthen the cohesion of the groups in question, they could not maintain and support the concept of continuity. One of the causes is that most of the traditional norms have been lost and those which were remembered, were no longer practiced. Nowadays only those traditions are alive and represented which have successfully been interwoven into the lives of the younger, second and third generations who had to be a large extend inter-married with Hungarians.

As individuals, members of this minority indicated that they cannot mark their Swabianness outside the village, where nobody would be interested in their origin. The feeling of belonging to an ethnic minority ended at the periphery of their village and representation of ethnic identity was possible only within its confines.

Features of assimilation

In spite of the fact that members of the first generation stressed their Swabianness on the basis of origin, language, common historical background, and certain habits and traditions, they held themselves Hungarian citizens, whose life does not differ greatly from that of other Hungarians. As indicated, they had the same houses, furniture, clothing, read the same newspapers and watched the same television programmes. If it were be possible to divide assimilation into the spheres of sentiments and artefacts, it might be possible to draw the distinction between the interviewees being Swabians in terms of their sentiments, but being totally Hungarian in terms of artefacts.

Representatives of the second generation, who had higher level of education and social status then their peasant-parents, said that inside the village they were Swabians but outside they were totally assimilated Hungarians, and in that contexts no-one was interested in their origin, mother tongue, or in the nationality of their husband or wife. Approximately half of these individuals had intermarried. Even the German family names did not evoke ethnic connotations outside village. Having a traditional German family name is only an important factor in relation to ethnic loyalty at home. Other than participating in the cultural representations of their traditions (they held Swabian weddings, went to Swabian balls, and similar.) and working as diligently as possible, most of their life did not differ from that of the Hungarians.

This particular duality which could already been observed in the first and second generations was, however, more striking among the members of the third one. Members of this age-group were aware of the principal ethnic boundaries and the time-honoured ethnic norms but did not take them into consideration. With them, the boundaries between 'we' and the 'others' were finally dissolved. One example is that they do not only marry Catholic Swabians as their grandparents did. They take the stand that marriage should be based on love and not on the continuity of the Swabian community. At the same time desire could be observed among them as to represent Swabianness. They took efforts to maintain certain cultural traditions, married in accordance with Swabian customs. Some formed for example brass-bands to play the music of their forefathers. For members of this age group practically nothing remained except music as a means of to experiencing 'Swabianness'.

Returning now to Gordon's seven stages of assimilation it can be said that in spite of the fact that every generation to some extent has changed its behavioural and cultural patterns, the acculturation process has not yet been completed at either an individual or an ethnic group level. Differences are evident, however, within each generation. At an individual level acculturation is almost universally at an advanced stage, while on group level ethnic characteristics are more strongly maintained and manifested.

Structural and marital assimilation are evident only at an individual level. Members of the second and the third generations have already entered in the societal network and institutions of the Hungarian society and many have intermarried. In terms of identificational assimilation this minority group displays a propensity to develop a special 'sense of peoplehood' on the basis of the Hungarian society. This is in spite of the fact that the Hungarian hosts were traditionally exclusionary in their attitude to minorities. Those whom I have interviewed related that over and above representation of ethnic identity they have accepted the memories, sentiments and attitudes of the Hungarian majority. They shared the experiences and history of the Hungarian people. In addition to keeping some of their cultural traditions alive at an individual level they were incorporated into a shared cultural life with Hungarian people, spoke the same language, went to the same school, worked at the same workplace, went out to the same pub and learnt the same German lessons. The present situations can in fact be characterised as an example of bi-culturalism and double-binding identity.

Attitude and behaviour receptional assimilation relates to both individual and group levels. It is true that nowadays there are no special ethnic prejudices against this minority as there are against other ethnic, religious or sub-cultural groups. This is not to say that the Hungarians do not have the best jobs or that the Swabians are perceived as influencing the Hungarian population in a German direction. There is no discriminatory behaviour against Swabian people either from a political or from a societal point of view.

In terms of civic assimilation, the absence of value conflicts can be witnessed at an individual level. There are a considerable number of spheres of life where there were and are no more value conflicts between the members of the host Hungarian society and the Swabian minority. For example there is no difference in judgement passed on the Hungarian government or the results of the Hungarian football or opinions of other ethnic minorities of the country.

Power conflicts are, rather, a group level phenomena, and it would not be true to say that all power conflicts have already been abolished. A member of an ethnic minority may be a member of parliament, but there is no right or scope for representing his or her ethnic community there. In order to achieve community rights at a political level minorities in Hungary may need to develop interest groups. The first signs of such a potential development are the regional ethnic municipalities.

National identity and the quest for the homeland?
Citizenship and nationality for Swabians

In spite of the indications of assimilation the question often arises of whether a member of an ethnic group can have a Hungarian national identity? Nationalities other than Hungarian are not regarded as belonging to the Hungarian nation. On the basis of the ideology of 'language-nations', the minority ethnic groups, including Swabian population, are called national minorities or nationalities and would belong for example to the German, Slovak, Romanian groups. As nationalities the ethnic minorities have been wedged into the body of the nation. Nationality does not imply citizenship in the East-European terminology but rather refers to someone's origin.

Questions on this to each of the interviewed generations solicited a series of decided 'no's. The interviewees were not familiar with theories of formation of nations as parts of a constructed reality (Smith 1986) or as 'imagined communities' (Anderson 1993). They knew only that they were born in Hungary, lived here and did not want to leave. They declared themselves to be Swabians by origin, to belong to an ethnic minority but at the same time they claimed to be Hungarian citizens. They announced that they lived in Hungary and that they did not feel they would belong to any other nation. Homeland, nation, citizenship came together in their perception, which was determined by the place of birth and present life and not by origin and use of the ancient mother tongue. They have never spoken literary German as their mother tongue – some learned it in school as any other Hungarian student would – and that they can express themselves in Hungarian better than in German. Last but not least, they did not know how to relate to the German national culture or history. They knew the kings, politicians, and events of the Hungarian history better than those of the German history. The 300 year old shared history with the Hungarian people connects them to the Hungarian nation. All historical, religious, geographical dimensions bind these people to their chosen country.

Created history

Smith (1986) and Csepeli (1992) point out that principle underlying the sense of history is the time sequence of different events from the beginning through to the present. Marking the beginning the national existence in time is the key-question in this context. The time of migration is followed by the golden age which are stored in the collective memory of the community.

The communities under research, however, had no nostalgia towards an earlier golden age, 'which has [been] irretrievably lost' (Smith 1986: 175). Their ethnicity lacked the common place of origin and the concept of the historical continuity. The great majority knew only the approximate territory from where his or her ancestors had come to Hungary but they had no vision of the past which preceded that immigration. The historical point of beginning dates back only to the time of the settlement in Hungary. Since they had no prior remembered history, they created one. With the acceptance of the cult of Saint Stephen, the first Hungarian king and honouring the Hungarian crown they symbolically extended the time period.

The need to have a past and the need for a national existence over and above ethnicity, led to the first moves in the direction of accepting these historical memories, figures to be revered and symbols of the majority. Being Catholics, it was easy to accept and to honour St. Stephen, the first king of Hungary. Swabian also honour the Sacred Crown of St. Stephen as the symbol of the Hungarian state. There is a monument in Dunabogdány commemorating all the heroes of the village who died in various battles and wars for the Hungarian freedom. This moment is decorated with the copy of the Sacred Crown. There are also Swabian adherents of the cult of the Blessed Virgin, who is known to Hungarian believers as 'Patrona Hungariae'. The concept of a common history or origin was missing from Swabian ethnic identity, and religion has served to provide one, which, shared with the majority, has became a basis for national feelings.

The Swabians have not separated their history in Hungary from that of the majority. They profess always to have shared common historical fate with the Hungarian people, to have experienced like misfortunes. Their views on the historical events of Hungary conform closely to those of the Hungarians. As to historical figures, Swabians knew those of the Hungarian history better than any other. They knew little about German history, with knowledge limited to what has been learnt at school. Kossuth, for example, was much more known and honoured than was Bismarck.

Where is the homeland?

The issue of a homeland brought identical responses from all the three generations. Swabian people have no image of Germany as their homeland and unanimously consider Hungary as their 'Vaterland' (fatherland). Country and homeland are perceived as a unit and homeland's boundaries coincide with those of the Hungarian state. The past and the history of their groups have manifested themselves within this frame. All themes relating to nation had relevance only from 'Hungarian' point of view. An identification with Germany as a homeland by means a German mother tongue or German national culture was a quite alien theme for the respondents and was entirely absent from their identity. Given that both written German and German national culture developed after these groups had already left the territory of their previous homeland, these very important factors could not have been internalised. The sense of nation and homeland is separate from German as mother tongue and national culture. They have no sense of any specific 'ethnic-homeland', which could have been marked by the place of birth of their ancestors. Such ancestors as are remembered were born and are buried in Hungary. The respondents never wished to leave and the resettlement back to Germany after the Second World War affected them tragically. They could not understand why they were forced to leave their homeland. They argued that they has always been faithful citizens of Hungary, had shared its failures and taken part in the historical fate of the country. There are quite a lot of old Swabians who have returned from Germany to, if possible, buy back their original houses, because they want to die and to be buried in their native village. The Swabians are conscious also of the contribution they have made to Hungary with their diligent work and more modern agriculture. The Swabian feel that 'it is their country too'. This sentiment is perceived all the more strongly because they, as they put it themselves, has always been much more involved with Hungarian people than they had been with members of other Swabian speaking groups in the country or with Germany itself.

Conclusions

In conclusion Swabian ethnic identity can be said to have been cross-cut by Hungarian national sentiment. The identity role selected in response to any given situation or social context was dependent upon the particular situation. Representation of one or the other identity was situational and at particular times and places different identities became primary and predominant. At a group level, Swabian maintained cultural traditions and engaged in representations of ethnic identity within group ceremonies and festivals. At an individual level the Swabian people have internalised those Hungarian identity-factors which made possible upward social mobility, and which made their every-day life easier and more comfortable. If Gellner is right in that 'two men are of the same nation if and only if they share the same culture, where culture in turn means a system of ideas and signs and associations and ways of behaving and communicating', and 'nations are the artefacts of men's convictions and loyalties and solidarities', (1983: 7) and we take into consideration the special historical development of nations in Eastern Europe, assimilation tendencies and practices are necessary to create a national identity among those who share a minority status. Swabians are in an advanced stage of sharing the same culture and they have proved many times that they are loyal and display solidarity towards Hungary.

Individually the Swabian people are on route to assimilation in almost all spheres of life. Assimilation of language and culture depends on necessity and the demand for its use in the social interaction. Positive experiences in these fields also awake positive feelings toward 'Hungarianness', and this has important consequences for the development of national identity, as well as for the dissolution of ethnic identity.

In the native village the communities tried to maintain the traditions of the ancestors and tried to build them into the more and more assimilated every day way of life. Those ethnic values i. e. endogamy, which were inconsistent with assimilated ones, disappeared.

Ethnic Swabians live in a special double-binding identity. This identity construction includes elements of both of the ethnic and of the national identity. The Swabian people accepted and adapted all the values of the Hungarian national ideology and elements of identification which were absent and experienced as missing from their every-day ethnic life. They have the same view of history they share with the Hungarian majority. They fought together in 1848 against the Habsburgs, took part in the First World War as members of the Hungarian Army. The only point where their views differ is in relation to the question of their re-settlement to Germany after the Second World War. They perceive that experience as one of being driven out of their homeland.

They have not accepted, however, all the elements of the so called Hungarian national culture, a tradition constructed artificially at the end of the eighteenth century from the regional elements of Hungarian peasants' heritage. Swabians always had their military style brass-bands or 'sramli' music accompanying their folk dances (polka, waltz, hupfedli), songs and customs which formed an intrinsic part of their lives. There has been no need for adaptation of Hungarian folk songs and dances or Gypsy music. The so called 'Hungarian dress', the famous national costume of the nineteenth century was, however, very popular and was worn at vintage festivals.

This identity construction is open into both directions and forms a unique equilibrium between the national identity of the majority and the ethnic identity of the minority. The boundary between the two identities fluctuates between the presence and absence of different phenomena, and depends on which elements of the Hungarian national identity could be adapted and embedded into their traditions and customs as well as is subject to situative differences.

The development of this particular construction reveals a number of tendencies. It displays a strong desire to maintain ethnicity and at the same time it shows a marked tendency towards adaptation tendencies to Hungarianness. Assimilation bridges the gap between ethnicity and national feelings, and helps to create an individual's national identity. It does not mean giving up ethnic identity, notwithstanding the fact that modernity and tradition have become terms of contrast in today's world or rapid industrial and social change. It has been proven, that though assimilation does not mean giving up ethnic identity, it does modify its social representation. However this research proved that this terms do not exclude each other.

Clear evidence is now available that members of the Swabian minority are not foreigners wedged into the body of the nation, but are equal members of the Hungarian nation.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Dr. György Csepeli, professor and chairman of the Department of Social Psychology of Institute of Sociology, at the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest for his extensive and useful help in carrying out my research and for his incisive remarks and suggestions in writing this article. My gratitude also goes to Professor Péter Somlai, of the Department of History and Sociology at the Eötvös Loránd University for his constant encouragement and pertinent comments.

References

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