The Zipser Germans, Zipser Saxons, or, simply, just Zipsers (German: Zipser or Zipser Deutsche, Romanian: Țipțeri, Hungarian: Cipszer, Cipszerek, or Szepességi szászok, Slovak: Spišskí Nemci) are a German-speaking (more specifically Zipser German-speaking as native dialect) sub-ethnic group in Central-Eastern Europe, part of the German diaspora, 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 (German: Sudetendeutsche), 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 (German: Metzenseifen).
The Zipser Germans were previously native to the Szepes County (German: Zips; Slovak: Spiš, Hungarian: Szepes) 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.
