Transylvanian Landler
The Landler or Transylvanian Landler were Protestants, who were deported from Austria to Transylvania near Hermannstadt from 1734 to 1756 under Emperor Charles VI and Empress Maria Theresa.
Since Transylvania had been depopulated by the Turkish wars and the plague, the 634 expelled Upper Austrians were given vacant farms to work. Some of the Landler who were deported from Carinthia in 1755 joined the Hutterites in Transylvania.
In 1770, under Empress Maria Theresa, around 3,000 more Upper Austrians found a home in the same territory with what were essentially worse conditions attached.
The Landler's German dialect is still maintained and is spoken by both those who moved to Germany, as well as the few Landler left behind in their former villages of Neppendorf, Großau, and Großpold.
Like the other German-speaking ethnic groups in Romania, the Landler are represented politically by the Democratic Forum of Germans in Romania.
