INTRODUCTION

Email message to selected correspondents who were genealogists researching 
the Burgenland of Austria (Hungary pre 1921):

I've just faced up to the fact that we really are a Burgenland genealogical 
group. I've therefore decided that I might as well issue an occasional 
informal newsletter as opposed to occasionally forwarding correspondence to 
others while trying to remember what I sent to whom. For each newsletter 
(issued when there is something to say) I'll pick someone from my address 
book (probably Mike Spahitz since he just happens to be first in my address 
book) and address the news to that person with cc's (carbon copies) to all 
the rest. That approach seems to work best with my AOL email system and 
doesn't load my AOL personal filing cabinet with a lot of duplication. As I 
receive email or other correspondence from any of you, I'll earmark it for 
the next newsletter if I feel it is of general interest. If you ever send me 
anything you don't want passed on, just say "don't circulate." I'd like to 
keep this simple and interesting and not get too sophisticated or involved. 
I don't want to start a home page although the thought of a "Burgenland" home 
page is intriguing. I assume you can all receive files as email attachments 
although we haven't had any requiring attachment to date. Of course you can 
always correspond directly with anyone on the list and if you don't like the 
newsletter idea, don't be afraid to say so. You won't hurt my feelings. Your 
comments would be appreciated. 
Gerald J. Berghold


THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - NO. 1
ISSUED AS REQUIRED BY Gerald J. Berghold
Jan. 11, 1997

Some comments re: two Burgenland books:

Borderland - author Burghardt (from Gerry Berghold)

"Borderland" is in English and starts with pre-History and continues to 1966. 
Nothing re: villages per se. Best general history of the Burgenland in 
English, but $121! My copy came in time for Xmas and, while it's a fine 
historical geography, I can't reccomend it due to the cost. It's a scholarly 
work, but not as detailed as I'd like and doesn't cover southern Burgenland 
as well as I'd like. I got it through Brilliant Books, 313 S. Cedar Crest 
Blvd., Allentown, PA 18103 (with help from John Lavendoski). They apparently 
ordered it from UMI, Books on Demand, A Bell & Howell Co. in Ann Arbor, Mich. 
They do xerographic reprints (bound) of books no longer in print. The 
bibliography is very worthwhile and it's the best Burgenland History I've 
seen in English, but it is expensive! I'd first look for a used copy or a 
library copy (Univ. of Wisconsin published it). One thing I've noticed is a 
comment that the Neusiedler See area was devasted during the second siege of 
Vienna (1683) and was repopulated by German-speaking colonists from 
south-west Germany. Might pay for all of us with German names to start 
combing the LDS Bavaria-Hesse-Rheinland church microfilm records. We just 
might find some of our people as a group.

More re: "Borderland" (from John Lavendoski)

Professor Andrew Burghardt (author of Borderland) is alive and well. He is a 
retired professor of Geography from McMaster University in Ontario. I spoke on 
the phone with him today and he was most cordial. Sadly, he himself has no 
access to copies of his book, but he agreed to sign mine if I send it to him 
after it arrives. Also sadly, he has little other information on the topic of 
Burgenland although he is personal friends with Dujmovits (Dr. Walter 
Dujmovits) and gave me his address so that I can write him and request other 
info. Professor Burghardt informed me that Dujmovits has a huge amount of 
material on this topic and that he is living in Stegersbach. (Also a Hofrat 
and director of the Güssing School System - GJB) 


Burgenland Flag (Fahne) (from Gerry Berghold)

Are you familiar with the Burgenland flag? It's composed of two horizontal 
stripes (red over yellow-gold), on the center of which is imposed a gold, 
black bordered shield. The shield carries a single-headed red eagle (outlined 
in black) facing left with tongue extended. 

The eagle is perched on a black precipice, wears a gold crown and has a red, 
black and white striped shield on the chest carrying six white chevrons. A 
black Maltese cross surmounts each wing tip. The Shield & Eagle is also the 
Burgenland coat of arms (Wappen).


Dictionaries & Language Aids (from G. Berghold)

Burgenland genealogy requires German, Hungarian and Latin dictionaries, 
although you might get by if you have a list of the common words encountered 
in the records you search. 

"Following the Paper Trail," Shea & Hoffman, Language & Lineage Press, 60 Old 
Northville Road, New Milford, CT 06776; has just such lists for our three 
languages and includes French, Italian, Slavic, Spanish and others. It also has 
facsimilies of records, translated. 

Some regular dictionaries I use are: 
- The New Cassell's German Dictionary, Betteridge and Cordes, Funk & Wagnalls, NY; 
- The Concise Oxford Duden German Dictionary, Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, England; 
- Hungarian-English Dictionary in two volumes (Magyar-Angol, 9th ed. Akademiai Kiado, 
  Budapest 1991 ($75 special order from Walden Books);
- Cassell's Latin-English and English-Latin Dictionary, Marchant & Charles, Funk & 
  Wagnalls, NY.

"German-English Genealogical Dictionary," Ernest Thode, Genealogical Pub. 
Co., 1001 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21202 is very good and also deals 
with German script. 
"If I Can, You Can Decipher Germanic Records," by Edna M. Bentz, 13139 Old 
West Ave., San Diego, CA 92129 is highly reccomended as it has lists of words 
in German, Script, English, Latin and Danish. It is not expensive. 

I've also picked up some small used pocket dictionaries to carry 
in my attache case when I'm out on a record search. They come in handy. 

Computer Translators:
For computer use, Globalink's "Power Translator" CD (Windows 3.1, or 95, 4MB 
RAM, 37MD HD space) in German-English is also a help in translating both ways 
while retaining file copies, but the keying and editing can be very tedious. 
I'm playing with a Visioneer PaperPort Vx scanner. I scan the document into 
the computer (OCR software), edit it and transfer the edited copy to Power 
Translator for a German or English translation. So far, it doesn't work too 
well. Requires so much editing that I'm better off doing it by hand. It will 
provide the gist of scholarly texts; however, without a lot of dictionary 
lookup.
 
END OF NEWSLETTER - EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD