The Zipser Germans, Zipser Saxons, or, simply, just Zipsers (, , , ) are a German-speaking (more specifically Zipser German-speaking as native dialect) sub-ethnic group in Central-Eastern Europe and national minority in both Slovakia and Romania (there are also Zipser German settlements in the Zakarpattia Oblast, in the historical region of Carpathian Ruthenia, present-day western Ukraine). Along with the Sudeten Germans (), the Zipser Germans were one of the two most important ethnic German groups in the former Czechoslovakia. An occasional variation of their name as 'Tzipsers' can also be found in academic articles. Former Slovak President Rudolf Schuster is partly Zipser German and grew up in Medzev ().
The Zipser Germans were previously native to the Szepes County (; , ) of Upper Hungary—today mostly north-eastern Slovakia—as that region was settled by colonists from present-day central Germany (and other parts of contemporary Germany) during the High Middle Ages, more specifically beginning in the mid 12th century, as part of the Ostsiedlung. Beginning in at least the 18th century, many members of this German ethnic sub-group migrated to southern Bukovina, Maramureș, Transylvania, and in the mountainous Banat (all of the aforementioned regions situated in contemporary Romania). Most of the Zipser German community in Romania lives in Maramureș County and across the Rodna Mountains respectively.
Occasionally, Zipser Germans are also referred to as Zipser Saxons (, ), a name stemming from their geographic origin of initial settlement during medieval times corresponding to the present-day Spiš () region situated in north-eastern Slovakia. The county () where they settled in the beginning is known in Hungarian as 'Szepes'. Alongside the Transylvanian Saxons in Transylvania, contemporary central Romania, and the Baltic Germans from Estonia and Latvia, the Zipser Germans are one of the three oldest German-speaking and ethnic German groups in Central and Eastern Europe, having continuously been living there since the High Middle Ages onwards.
The Zipser Germans can also be equated with the Germans of Slovakia () and are part of the broader group of Carpathian Germans (), having chiefly been referred to as such along with the Germans of Carpathian Ruthenia since the end of World War II onwards. They are also part of the Germans of Romania. The small community of Zipsers still living in Suceava County, southern Bukovina, Romania, can be perceived as part of the Bukovina German community as well, in the greater sense that is.
Medieval history
German settlers were invited to settle in the Spiš region across the High Tatras, present-day Slovakia, then Szepes County () of Upper Hungary in the Kingdom of Hungary, beginning in the mid 12th century by former King of Hungary Géza II of Hungary. These settlers' occupations ranged from miners and traders to builders. The last wave of German colonists arrived during the 15th century, towards the end of the Middle Ages (or the Late Middle Ages).
As in the cases of other historical regions from Central and Eastern Europe, this migration of German settlers at the invitation of local kings (known as Ostsiedlung in German historiography) from several Central-Eastern European countries had the main goal to enrich the local medieval communities with more trade and urbanization as well as to fortify them in the wake of the Mongol invasion (as did the Transylvanian Saxons in Transylvania, another former region of the Kingdom of Hungary during the Middle Ages).
In the particular case of present-day Slovakia, these German settlers stemmed from lower Rhine river valley (including present-day Luxembourg), Flanders, Saxony, and Silesia (in present-day south-eastern Poland). They governed themselves under the Zipser Willkür, a particular medieval German law (more specifically German town law) which they developed there under a certain degree of local autonomy provided by the Hungarian monarch. Zipser Willkür is the oldest form of German law from Slovakia.