The coexistence of different ethnic groups always leads to a constant cultural exchange alongside the preservation of national identity. This is the theme of this book: the historical life world of the Danube Swabians, Transylvanian Saxons, and their neighbors in Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Romania. The traditional and contemporary behaviors of the various ethnicities, their culture, values, norms, and conflicts operate within a structural system that has been historically, economically, and socially determined, and which has never solely affected one group in isolation. This has not always been presented objectively from a scientific perspective, and thus the book critiques the use of the term "language island," which has become characteristic of a largely distorting view of interethnic relationships.