Resources in Swabian Turkey

Researching in the Swabian Turkey is often confusing, as the church books were kept at different localities from time to time. Most of those settlements were of Lutheran or Reformed faith, whose churches and pastors were persecuted prior to the Edict of Toleration in 1784.
The information below should help the researcher to find out where the church books were kept for individual localities at various times in the County of Somogy.  ~Henry Fischer

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The Swabian Turkey region is the largest German-speaking enclave in what is now Hungary. After the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the Battle of Mohács in 1687, the Habsburg Monarchy forced the Ottoman Turks from most of the Kingdom of Hungary. Because much of the Pannonian Plain had been depopulated through warfare, the Austrian Habsburgs began to resettle the land with various colonists, including Croats, Slovaks, Serbs and Germans.

Swabian Turkey [Schwäbische Türkei]

• The Settlement of Swabian Turkey
• The Early Colonization of Swabian Turkey
  In the “Travel Regulations” the following stipulation was made: “the previously mentioned Swabians along with their wives and children…are not allowed to step on dry land on their entire journey or try to remain somewhere after passing by the Royal residential city of Vienna but travel on directly to Hungary.
• The Settlement Policies at the Time of the Great Swabian Migration
  At this point in time, the first and earliest phase of the Danube Swabian colonization effort was overwhelmingly focussed on the private estates and domains of the nobles in Hungary and had a rather random and sporadic character.
• The Early History & Development of the Lutheran Congregations & Church District of Swabian Turkey, 18th Century
• The Destruction of German Lutheranism In Swabian Turkey (Tolna, Baranya & Somogy Counties)
• Correspondence With Pastor Ronald Lommel (Lutheran Parish, Nieder-Gemünden, Hesse)

Last updated: 09/10/2026