Stefan Jäger
Encyclopedia
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
known for his depiction of and deep identification with the Danube Swabian community to which he belonged.
There are some grounds for categorising him as a Hungaria
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
n painter - since in the first half of his life he lived in what was part of Hungary, and some of his early career was spent in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
under the influence of Hungarian painters; a Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n painter - since in the second half of his life his home region was part of Romania, and his contribution to Romanian culture was recognised by the government through awards in his lifetime and the maintenance of his home as museum up to the present; and a German
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
painter - since, though he never lived in Germany, his identity as an ethnic German played a central part in his life and his artistic work.
Biography
Stefan Jäger, son of the barber Franz Jäger and his wife Magdalena Jäger (née Schuller), was born at 1877 in Tschene/TorontálTorontál
Torontál was the name of administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary. Its territory is presently in northern Serbia , western Romania and southern Hungary...
. At the age of 12 he attended the "Privatschule Franz Wieszners", a German-speaking school in Temeswar (today Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
), and at 16 the high school in Szeged
Szeged
' is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county town of Csongrád county. The University of Szeged is one of the most distinguished universities in Hungary....
, where his tendency to painting was recognized. At 18 he took up a four years' art study in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
.
After study trips in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Jäger in 1910 established himself in Hatzfeld (today Jimbolia
Jimbolia
Jimbolia is a town in Timiş county, Romania. In 2004, it had a population of 11,605.-History:The earliest record of a community in this location is a place identified as Chumbul in a papal tax record in 1333. This place came under Turkish administration in 1552. As a result of the Treaty of...
), where he spent the rest of his life. Though he had been active as a painter before the turn of the century, the first official exhibition of his paintings opened only in 1930.
As noted, the themes of many of his paintings were drawn from the history and daily life of his community, the Danube Swabians. Among the most well known of his works are
- The settlement of Germans in the Banat, approx. 1905, 300 cm broad
- The immigration of Germans to Hungary , 1906–1910, 145 x 510 cm
The 1930s and 1940s were a major crisis point for this community, as for the other East European ethnic Germans. During the Second World War, they were perceived as - and some of them were - collaborators with Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
's occupation. Specifically, many Danube Swabians were drafted to the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
- officially as volunteers, though it was claimed that they had in fact little choice in the matter.
As a result, they were after 1945 the target of harsh reprisals and especially mass expulsions from countries such as Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
where many of these families had lived for centuries. The ones in Romania, such as Jäger, were spared wholesale expulsion; nevertheless, they faced considerable harassment and many were dispersed within Romania, or left its territory at their own initiative (see also the Expulsion of Germans from Romania after World War II).
The later work of Jäger - already 62 years old when the war broke out - reflected these vicissitudes, for example the painting of Danube Swabians being led away by Soviet forces.
In 1957, under the Communist regime, he was on the occasion of his 80th birthday granted the Romanian Labour Medal Class II. He died in 1962.
His house at Jimbolia/Hatzfeld is now a museum, displaying not only his paintings but also traditional clothes and cultural artifacts of the Danube Swabian community.