Swabians are often ridiculed as a land of simpletons with a strange dialect, stinginess, and prudish personalities. This 1,500 year old civilization resides in southwest Germany. My great-great-great grandparents were Swabians, born in the mountains around the Danube River. Lucky for the Weber’s, we are joined by some famous sons and daughters of Swabia.
In my first and only speech in German to the Heidelberger Druckmaschinen Management, I drew a big laugh by saying, “Bitte entschuldigen Sie meine Akzent. Meine Vorfahren waren aus Schwaben.” Translated: “Please excuse my accent. My ancestors were from Swabia.” Ever since the Brothers Grimm wrote, The Seven Swabians, about idiotic brothers wandering to their doom, Swabia remains a punch line for many German jokes.
In 496 AD Swabia was established a duchy under the Frankish Empire. Charlemagne became the first famous person to hail from the area, and the duchy was powerful during the Holy Roman Empire. Unfortunately, the Reformation era of the 1500’s brought war and turmoil that changed governments. Swabia lost its power as lands were split between Protestants and Catholics.
Being a Swabian might prove embarrassing, if it were not for some of its famous descendants:
- Robert Bosch – inventor and industrialist
- Gottlieb Daimler - co-designer of the Mercedes-Benz and co-founder of Daimler
- Rudolph Diesel – inventor of the famous engine
- Albert Einstein – Nobel physicist
- Johann Georg Faust – devilish tales
- George Wilhelm Hegel – philosopher
- Ernst Heinkel – aircraft designer
- Carl Laemmle – founder of Universal Studios
- Leopold Mozart – father of the maestro
- Erwin Rommel – famous WWII general
- Sophie Scholl – led White Rose resistance to Nazi’s
- Claus von Stauffenberg – Tom Cruise played the hero that nearly assassinated Hitler
- Margarete Steiff – famous toymaker
Yes, the German dialect is strange. The jokes continue. Given all of the above that overcame the ridicule, I am proud to paraphrase John F. Kennedy, “Ich bin ein Swabian.”
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Written by Mark F. Weber
I am an international business professor in Pittsford, NY who managed a business unit for a German company. My passion is family and friends, plus roaming the countryside on my road bicycle.