Ein Zerrbild von den "Banater Schwaben". Kritische Betrachtungen eines Zeitzeugen und Historikers

This article deals with the controversial issue of the role the German minority in Vojvodina played during the time of German occupation in Yugoslavia beginning in 1941. The author opposes with historian Thomas Casagrande's assessment of this role expressed in both his book "Die Volksdeutsche SS-Division 'Prinz Eugen' - Die Banater Schwaben und die nationalsozialistischen Kriegsverbrechen" ("The 'Volksdeutsche' SS-division 'Prince Eugen' - The Banat Swabians and the National Socialist war crimes"), published in 2003, and a paper on the "disappearance of the German-speaking minority" in Yugoslavia, presented in March 2012 at an international historical conference in Bad Radkersburg (Steiermark, Austria). The author consciously presents the perspective not only of a historian, but also of a contemporary witness and comes to the conclusion that Casagrande's assessments are "unjust", "one-sided" and "far from reality".[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]