BB News No. 166 dtd 31 Aug 2007

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 166 DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND FAMILY HISTORY (Our 12th Year- Issued monthly as email by G, J. Berghold, BB Editor August 31, 2007 (c) 2007 G. J. Berghold-all rights reserved ~WHO WILL BE THE 1500TH BB MEMBER?~ ~BB NEWSLETTER NO. 165 WAS FILTERED & NOT RECEIVED BY 252 BB AOL SUBSCRIBERS. THIS HAPPENS OFTEN & WE SUGGEST THAT MEMBERS COPY NEWSLETTERS FROM OUR HOMEPAGE~ Current Status Of The BB: Members-1482*Surname Entries- 4870*Query Board Entries-3770*Newsletters Archived-166*Number of Staff Members-15 EMAIL RECIPIENTS PLEASE READ: You are receiving this email newsletter because you are a BB member or have asked to be added to our distribution list. To subscribe or unsubscribe, use the change form available from our Homepage at http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org. You cannot send email to this newsletter. If you have problems receiving the newsletter as email, it may be read, downloaded, printed or copied from the BB Homepage. There is also an archive of previous newsletters. This first section of our 2 section newsletter concerns: 1. Research In Hungary With John Lavendoski 2. Connecticut-Burgenland Immigrant Enclave 3. Correspondence From Muehlgraben-New Britain Immigrants 1. RESEARCH IN HUNGARY WITH JOHN LAVENDOSKI (ED. Note: Most BB Burgenland research occurs in the US or Austria. Very little has taken place in Hungary due to the language barrier. There have been two exceptions. Austrian Editor Fritz Königshofer has conducted research in Budapest and John Lavendoski has worked in the village of St. Peterfa and environs. John has now done some research in Szombathely (Steinamanger) which he reports below. Szombathely is and was a district center for southern Burgenland villages ceded to Austria.) July Trip To Szentpeterfa / Prostrum-by John Lavandoski Last month, I was able to travel briefly to Southern Burgenland as part of a short business trip. The trip proved to be quite eventful, as I was able to visit the village of Szentpeterfa / Prostrum in Hungary, the VAS County Farm Life Museum, and the local civil archives in Szombathely. Here are some observations: * I flew from Atlanta direct to Vienna on Delta Airlines. It was a fabulous flight since I used airline miles to upgrade my economy ticket to Business Class. The seats actually turned into beds !!! I arrived at 9AM the next morning, refreshed and very ready for a full day. * I was able to purchase a European cell phone right at the Post Office in the Vienna airport for about $75. I was able to call anywhere in Europe and to the USA directly using a calling card bought at the same time. This made life a lot easier. * The border crossing into Hungary is now possible (and effortless) right at Szentpeterfa / Prostrum. One simply shows one's passport and you are through within minutes. * The local priest, Fr. Schneller, is retiring and a new priest is moving to the village. Fr. Schneller will continue to reside at the rectory in Szentpeterfa, however. This is good news, as he is a wonderful man who has always been very friendly toward genealogists. * My search for old headstones in the cemetery was frustrating. No old stones (100+ years) at all due to the practice of reusing the graves for modern family members / later descendants. My own Jurasits family's stone (from 1907) seems to be the oldest one left. * There is a small building boom happening in the village. Several new houses (in an Austrian style) are being built and other, older ones are being extensively remodeled to resemble houses on the Austrian side of the border. A new street / subdivision is even being started for future growth. * The Vas Farm Life museum outside of Szombathely is wonderful. Well worth the trip. Actual thatch roofed houses from at least 10 villages have been moved to this site and re-erected to create a small village. Visitors are free to wander around the village and even into the houses. This is a MUST for all southern Burgenland visitors whether of Croatian or German heritage. * The Vas Civil Archives in Szombathely are very welcoming to American visitors IF one has a local Hungarian translator (no one there speaks English). I was aided by Jutka Skrapits Garger, who was born in Szentpeterfa and now lives in Pennsylvania with her husband Frank. She happened to be in the village for a wedding, and I was lucky to have her help at the archive. * One needs to go to the Archive the day before one would like to research and apply for permission, as well as talk to a local archivist who can help assemble the needed materials. They have a very modern viewing room with many desks and there is no fee. A digital camera is permissible so copies of records can be made easily in this manner. * At the Archives, I was able to view tax and land records of Szentpeterfa going back to 1720. "Head of the house" family names are listed along with some details of the property. * Upon leaving the country, I had a big problem with the wine I purchased, as it is no longer allowed as a carry-on unless purchased at the airport duty-free area and placed in security bags by airport employees. I had to pack my wine into my checked baggage. It luckily arrived safely. * Even the wine I bought in duty-free caused me a later problem in the US when I transferred planes in Atlanta. The TSA does not recognize the European safety bags, so I was forced to re-pack all this wine into my checked baggage at the Atlanta airport. Again, I was lucky that it all arrived safely due to my "hard sided" luggage. In short, my trip was a wonderful experience, although it was far too brief. After a stay of only a few days, I had barely begun to settle into the more relaxed pace of village life before it was time to return to the hustle and bustle of the USA. My advice is that first time visitors should plan at least a week-long visit to their ancestral villages to allow for multiple local side trips and a chance to fall into the rhythm of village life. 2. CONNECTICUT-BURGENLAND IMMIGRANT ENCLAVE ED. Note: The main US Burgenland immigrant enclaves of the later period are New York City, northern New Jersey, the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh area, Cleveland and Chicago. Earlier immigration included parts of the Dakotas and Minnesota. Recently we were asked to review the Connecticut area. Donna Dunkl Kemp wrote: I recently visited with my cousins in Jennersdorf. I also visited the incredible immigration museum in Gussing. My primary question concerns why there is not a section about immigration to Connecticut. My grandfather, Josef Dunkl, immigrated to America about 1912. His village was Jennersdorf, Austria. My grandmother came from Kuzma ( now Slovenia). I do not know the year. My grandparents married in America and settled in New Britain, Connecticut. There is a large Austrian population there. Could you help? Reply-Here is the link to the club in New Britain, CT www.austriandonauclub.com/history.htm Mary Ann Dilcher Norris writes: My mother's family came from Mulgraben (Dobra, Hungary) and settled in New Britain. Their names were Gustav and Mary Rapposch and they lived on Arch Street. There were many other Burgenland emigrants in their neighborhood and they all attended the St. Johns German Lutheran Church at 295 Arch Street, New Britain. The church is still located there, but is listed as St. Johns EV Lutheran Church. Old family birth, marriage & death records are in this church. I believe that my grandmother is buried there. My grandfather was a machinist and worked in a lock factory. Other names remembered by my soon to be 93 year old aunt, Mary Rapposch, are Ruck (owned a shoe store), Knaus (owned a dry goods store), Kinse (owned a farm), Glasser, Schultz (former v.p. of the Travellers Insurance Company, and Pankanin. There was a social club called the Saengerbund where members could rent the facilities for receptions, etc. I see that there is the Austrian Club Donau, located at 545 Arch Street, this is the social club my aunt speaks of as "Saengerbund." There is a great web page with all kinds of information including the first Burgenland immigrant to New Britain: http://www.austriandonauclub.com/history.htm My aunt and her sister returned to Austria, but could never locate the town of their parents' birth. My brother, Hank Dilcher, researched the Rapposch family and located relatives there before his death in 2000. I would love to hear from any descendants of the Knaus family of New Britain. (see address on member's page) BB Members residing in Conn. (from BB "where We Are" web page). Frank Billowitz; Norwalk, CT Mark Bischof , Danbury, CT Theresa (Unger) Blank; New Fairfield, CT Sondra Lintelmann Dellaripa; Old Saybrook, CT William D. Dittman; Stonington, CT Barbara Howard; Norwalk, CT Edward Ifkovits; New Fairfield, CT Rudolph J. Klampfer; New Britain, CT Frank F. Klepeis; Newington, CT Karla (Mandl) Moore; East Hartford, CT Rita J. Mulvihill; Southbury, CT Joseph O'Neil; Westport, CT Robert F. Poglitsch; Kensington CT Richard Potetz; West Granby, CT Dennis Schweitzer; Berlin, CT Margret Sullo; New Britian, CT Evelyn Seegraves writes: In the last issue, you requested info concerning the New Britain immigrants from Burgenland. A number of them from the Grieselstein/Jennersdorf area settled in New Britain, specifically the section between Arch St. and Glen St. One of the streets was Rockwell Ave., but early in the 1900's, it was known as Kensington St. My grandfather (Augustin Mandl) immigrated in 1905, but I know there were many more who came before he did! Early on, he lived on Kensington St. and there were a number of families or singles living in the same building--it was a medium sized apartment building--all from Burgenland. By the way, the Austrian Club is still in existence. The Church attended by many Burgenlanders was St. Peter's Church located on Franklin Square. There was also a place called Scheutzen Park where Austrians would spend time and have gatherings. BB President Tom Steichen writes: We can possibly cite the Austrian Donau Club of New Britain at http://www.austriandonauclub.com/frameset_home.htm. They have a history page on their site that might provide some background info (the president, Robert Wolf Jr. rwolf9851at earthlink.net, is a BB member who could give permission to quote some of their material). It answers some of the questions Gerry poses; also BB Newsletter 106 has an article by Wolf that answers some: NEW BRITAIN, CT - BURGENLAND ENCLAVE (From: Robert Wolf, Jr.) Reprinted from BB Archives-Newsletter no. 106. New member Robert Wolf, with ties to southern Burgenland, is president of the local New Britain Austrian club. He writes: "By using the net I have come across your site and noticed you were doing research or looking for information regarding Muhlgraben. Others were looking for the town of Minihof-Liebau. We have relatives in these villages with the names of Wolf and Uitz. I am also president of the Austrian Sick Benefit Society or Donau Club located in New Britain Connecticut There are many Austrians who immigrated here to work in the factories from 1900 to about 1960. While we as a club are lacking records from long ago, we still have some old timers that have knowledge of immigrants who came here to live. If I can be of any help to you in this regard, please contact me. I have also been to the towns of Muhlgraben and Minihof-Liebau many times. Best wishes.Yes, please enter my name and our club in your organization records. " "As regards the interesting fact of there being Lutheran congregations in a predominately Catholic region is certainly an interesting circumstance. My grandmother was Catholic and my grandfather was Lutheran and I, as a young person, always found this to be incongruous in a country that was 98% (ED. 84%) Catholic. I will tell you what I was told in my visits to relatives in Muhlgraben. The Turks as you probably know, ravaged the area around the 1680's.The people were killed off or fled and the countryside was laid waste. After the defeat of the Turks outside the gates of Vienna in 1683 and their subsequent retreat and further defeats they were pushed out of Austria proper including the Burgenland area.To repopulate the area, after its devastation, the nobles ruling the area appealed to the rulers of Saxony for subjects to repopulate the area and replenish the land. The Saxons at that time and even today are still Protestants. The area I am writing about is basically the Minihof-Liebau to Neuhaus area. I cannot speak for other areas of Burgenland. In Neuhaus are two churches right next to each other. One is Catholic and the other is Lutheran. So while I am certainly no historian, a relative of mine had done some research some years ago and told me this version of events. Apparently it had nothing to do with the Reformation. To this day in New Britain, there are two churches where the Burgenlanders who immigrated here attend. One is St. Peter's, a Catholic church, the other is St. John's, a Lutheran church. Some of the names of the Burgenlanders who came here are Ruck, Weber, Mautner, Poglitsch, Kogelman, Kern, Maitz, Knaus, Jud, and Pfister. Again, if I can be of further help please let me know. I also have a few books in German regarding the history of the area above." 3. CORRESPONDENCE FROM MUEHLGRABEN-NEW BRITAIN IMMIGRANTS Correspondent writes: Hello, My Name is Martin Wolf, I live in Mühlgraben and I bring you some Information. Last weekend we had a festival in our Village - 620 Years Mühlgraben and we were granted a coat of arms - it was great. The Graphic bellow shows the coat of arms granted to Mühlgraben (BB news can't portray graphics but see website below.) Now is also a historical chronicle available. More Information about the chronicle you will get here www.muehlgraben.at. So when you need more information about Mühlgraben or maybe relatives contact me by mail. My Ancestors were also many times in New Britain (Arch Street and Kensington Street). They went to New Britain with People called Knausz, Prem, Berghold, Holzmann, Jud, Weber, Poglitsch, Prath, Uitz, ...The names are very common in our Village and in New Britain. My g-grandfather Johann Wolf (in 1889, was 32 years old), the Brother of my Great-grandfather Gustav Wolf (in 1901, was 15 years old),my g-g-grandfather Johann Wolf (in 1905, was 38 years old), my G-grandfather Johann Wolf (in 1907, 19 was years old) and more ...The Sister of my Grandfather, Theresia Wolf was born in New Britain. The Brother of my G-grandfather Charles (maybe Karl or Carl) Wolf stayed in New Britain and never went back to Austria. When Theresia Wolf died, we lost contact with him. So for help to find relatives in New Britain I'm very pleased.Best greetings! Martin Wolf Newsletter continues at No. 166A.

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 166A DEDICATED TO AUSTRIAN-HUNGARIAN BURGENLAND FAMILY HISTORY (Our 12th Year- Issued monthly as email by Gerald Berghold) August 31, 2007 (c) 2007 G. J. Berghold-all rights reserved) ~AL MEIXNER MUSIC WEBSITE IMPROVED-MAJOR SOURCE OF BURGENLAND MUSIC~ "Music is the Heartbeat of Culture" -www.almeixner.com The second section of this 2 section newsletter includes: 1. Occupation Term "Curialista" Is Official Note 2. Graphic Of Imperial Austrian Eagle 3. Historical Burgenland Immigrant Obit Of Robert Unger 4. Letter From Burgenlandische Gemeinschaft To Bob Strauch 5. Lehigh Valley Burgenland Immigrant Obits 6. Berholtz Vs Berghold-A Name Study 7. Burgenland Wines Make Big Time 1. OCCUPATION TERM "CURIALISTA" IS OFFICIAL NOTE In previous newsletter, Marsha Jenakovich writes "I am stumped by occupation word--"curialista." Most online translators are too literal to give a real sense of this occupation. I believe it might be a public official of some sort, but whether in the secular government or church hierarchy is unclear. Can anyone shed some light on what this might have meant in mid-1800s Burgenland records? Klaus Gerger responds: In a marriage record this is most likely the permission to marry when bride and groom are related (eg. 1st grade cousins). Martha replies: "There are two entries--one baptism record noting father's occupation, and the other a marriage record that notes "familie curialista." They are from a very small village (Lackendorf, in the parish of Unterfrauenhaid). I'll send you a copy of the page when I'm able to get access to the film again. 2. GRAPHIC OF IMPERIAL AUSTRIAN EAGLE Correspondent asks Anna Kresh: Would you be so kind as to send me an AI or EPS art file of the Imperial Austrian Double Headed Eagle with Crowns. I am trying to have one carved in wood, but the image I down-loaded is loosing the detail. James F. Mitchell Klaus Gerger replies: Hello Mr. Mitchell, I found a copy of fair quality at http://peter-diem.at/History/15OE_4C.jpg Hannes Graf reokies: Hello all, I have one with 5500 x 7000 (2,5 MB) http://www.scholemandfriends.com/DA-5500x7000.jpg and a smaller version with 3000 x 4000 (1,2 MB): http://www.scholemandfriends.com/DA-3000x4000.jpg Anna Kresh replies:: Dear Mr. Mitchell, What a wonderful task you are undertaking! I wish we could see the final results. I am sorry, but I do not have a high-quality image of the Austrian Double-Headed Eagle. The best I can do is to scan it at a high resolution and send to you as .TIF, .BMP, or .JPG image file email attachment -- as it appears on the cover of our last Austrian Ball program. I assume this is the image to which you refer. I am copying the chairman of our Austrian Ball on this reply in the event that he may have a better image that he could send to you. Anna Tanczos Kresh , Webmaster, Austrian American Cultural Society (Internet Editor-Burgenland Bunch) Anna later writes: It looks like you should now have enough image detail to proceed, thanks to our BB and AACS friends. The .jpg images by Hannes are indeed very large and detailed, so give them time to load. Note that they are so large that, depending on your monitor size, you will have to maximize your screen and use the slider bars to bring the image into view. This should give you much of the added detail you desire. To edit you can use Microsoft Paint (click Image > Stretch and Skew > enter the desired percentage in the horizontal and vertical fields, then Save the modified image). Thanks to all who responded to Mr. Mitchell's request. You are all genealogical treasures. 3. HISTORICAL BURGENLAND IMMIGRANT OBIT OF ROBERT UNGER (extract from Chicago Tribune, courtesy Margaret Kaiser) Margaret Kaiser writes: I found 3 obits, and copied them for the Burgenlanders Honored & Remembered Site. As I was reading the third (Robert Unger) obit, I thought this obit is so interesting on so many levels that it might be included in the BB newsletter in its entirety under the "Historical Burgenland News Reports" series. (ED. Note: Robert Unger was a Burgenland immigrant leader in Chicago during the 1920's. He wrote a book of his life in the Burgenland that was translated and published by his son. A few years ago, Bob Unger (our BB west coast editor-no relation) arranged to have this book republished and offered to BB members. We sold many copies.) (Partial obit follows:) Robert Unger, Grocer and Community Leader Chicago Tribune January 8, 1985, p. 7 ROBERT UNGER, 87, a longtime leader in Chicago's Austrian community, operated a grocery and meat market in the Fuller Park area, on the South Side, for 32 years and was president of the businessmen's sector of the West Kenwood Improvement Association. In the late 1930s, he helped fend off an attempted Nazi and German-American Bund infiltration of the Austrian lodges in Chicago. Mr. Unger, whose father was a tailor and grocer, was born Jan. 12, 1897, in the Burgenland town of Kohfidisch. He was in the Austrian-Hungarian army in World War I, on the Russian and Italian fronts. After the war, he moved to Vienna, where he worked as a clerk in a delicatessen. While there, he became a leader in the movement to transfer Burgenland (then known as German West Hungary) from Hungary to Austria. His father, Johann, working in the province for this cause, was twice jailed when the Hungarian authorities attempted to crush the movement. Mr. Unger saw the movement attain its goal in 1921 as a result of the Treaty of St. Germain. He then emigrated to United States, arriving and settling in the Fuller Park community of Chicago in April, 1922. In 1980, in a privately published memoir, he wrote about his first night in Chicago: "It was 'Neuland,' a new ground for me, one to which I had transplanted myself and one in which I had to root myself, so as not to be swept away by the winds of life into a vast emptiness, such as had been the fate of thousands and thousands of frustrated persons in the course of time." He held a number of jobs, primarily in road construction, in the 1920s and 1930s until he and his wife, Mary, saved enough in 1932 to buy a meat market and grocery at 4425 S. Princeton Ave. In 1939, they moved the store across the alley to 4424 S. Wells St. In the late 1920s, he had become president of the Burgenlander Lodge, a mutual health and life insurance program as well as social group. The Ungers retained the store until 1964. After the death of his wife in 1967, Mr. Unger moved to Arlington Heights, where he lived until 1970. He moved to the Woodlawn section of the Bronx in New York, where he married Gisela Noemyer, a widow, who had been his childhood sweetheart in Burgenland and whom he had not seen in over 50 years. She died in 1975 and he returned to the Chicago area the next year, moving to Downers Grove. 4. LETTER FROM BURGENLANDISCHE GEMEINSCHAFT TO BOB STRAUCH Editors Note: Our Lehigh Valley Editor Bob Strauch served as master of ceremonies at receptions held for the visit of the Burgenland delegation last April. Many others were involved but Bob's hand could be found in most everything. Dr. Walter Dujmovits, BG President, was moved to send the following (literal and partial translation): Dear Bobby! First I would like to welcome you to our circle as a new honor member of the Burgenländ community. You really earned this honor a long time ago. We experienced it again, when we were with you in April. Bobby, you are a great Bursch (a notable young man), you were involved (in everything) hand and foot. Your arrangements for the 90-Year anniversary reception were excellent. The members of the delegation felt that it could have gone on all night (a few hours more.) For the BG and for our future this experience was most important. Except for Vice-Governor Steindl, the members of the delegation did not know you but they thoroughly enjoyed the experience and meeting you. The bridging to the Burgenland Bunch is also very important and it is very much because of you that it will succeed. I am sorry that I did not know that your parents were nearby, I would very gladly have spoken with them. Hopefully I will have another opportunity. Dear Bobby, the executive committee of the BG and I personally thank you for everything. Machts gute and remain successful. With very cordial greetings I remain Your Walter Dujmovits (President Burgenlandische Gemeinschaft) 5. LEHIGH VALLEY OBITS Lena Iwantsch, 92, of Whitehall, formerly of North Catasauqua and Allentown, passed away on Monday, June 4, 2007 in the home of her daughter Marlene Schadler. She was the wife of the late Julius Iwantsch. Born in Rosendorf, Burgenland, Austria, she was a daughter of the late Anton and Bertha (Stokl) Supper. Ferdinand J. "Fred" Györy, 79, of Whitehall, formerly of Allentown, passed away Sunday, August 12, 2007, in Whitehall Manor. Born in Rábafüzes (Raabfidisch), Vas megye, Hungary, he was a son of the late John Sr. and Julia (Toro) Györy. He was a member of the Austrian-Hungarian Veterans' Society, Allentown; the Coplay Sängerbund, and the Hianz'nchor Austrian Singers. Frank J. Hacker, 85, a lifelong resident of Coplay died Tuesday, August 21, 2007. Born August 23, 1921 in Gerersdorf bei Güssing, Burgenland, Austria to the late Florian and Julianna (Breitfeller) Hacker, he was married to Kathryn (Azar) Hacker. 6. BERHOLTZ VS BERGHOLD-A NAME STUDY Correspondent writes: Thank you for this great site. I looked up my name" Berholtz" which is a derivation of the Geman/Polish "Berholz" or "Bercholz" or "Bercholc", I found out form your site it means "Mountain woods" and I am proud to tell my children that. If you find anyone else with that name, please let me know. I hear there is a small suburb outside of Potsdam with that name/ Thanks.----Randy Berholtz Reply-I've spent a lot of time researching the origin of my name. The first approach was to do what you've done which is to make a literal translation. I came up with Mountain (hill)-but I found "hold" was an adjective meaning pleasant so I assumed Berghold was defined as "pleasant hill or mountain." Not too satisfied with that, I then thought of "holtz" or wood as you have done. "D'" & "T" are often interchanged in Germanic phonetic spellings. I soon found that all "wood" (holt or holtz) references (often Scandinavian names) similar to Berghold were not connected, nor were "Birch" as in Birchtold or birch woods. As I ventured deep into Burgenland (western Hungary -eastern Austria since 1921)-and Styrian (Austrian province next to Burgenland) genealogy, I found many Bergholds. I also found that "hold" was an early Germanic term for "piece of ground" or land holding. A "hold" was defined by the Austrian crown as a piece of land capable of sustaining a family-about 17 acres plus some wood land, common pasture, reed patches and riparian rights. Later I found that eastern Styrian farmers who worked in vineyards were referred to as Bergholde in the early Germanic-Styrian dialect. Many migrated next door to Hungary following the Counter Reformation in the late 1600's-early 1700's. The light went on and it was obvious that at least in Austria-Hungary, Berghold means "someone associated with a mountain vineyard." Searching the church records of the areas mentioned soon found my family of Bergholds and I was able to link them to about 1650 to their origin in Styria. Bergs were too steep to plow so they were planted in vineyards or orchards. The vineyard connection followed. As a matter of fact, I also found that many of my ancestors were vineyard workers or owners. Spelling similarities are not by themselves a good indication of genealogical association. The shifts in language and spelling can be misleading. Geographic area must also be considered since pronunciation (often leading to different phonetic spellings) will cause differences as one moves throughout the 400+ dialects found in the Germanic areas. I believe you are probably correct in your translation but I'd be happier to see Bergholt or Bergholtz-the elimination of that "g" bothers me. Even a "k" would help, but given the geographic area in which you are finding your name-it's very possible the "G" has been dropped. I'm not that familiar with spelling shifts between German and Polish. One way to zero in is to find the geographic areas, where your name is still prevalent-the online phone books are good for this. If you can then find the village(s) of origin, the church records are the best bet for proof. Unfortunately the Burgenland is too far east for your purpose so our records can't help you much but I'm glad they've provided some help. I wouldn't stop until I found that village of origin. Also try the Ellis Island records-they may just point you to a village. 7. BURGENLAND WINES MAKE BIG TIME (from Frank Paukowits) I recently had dinner for a special occasion at Del Friscos, which is one of the top steak houses in New York City. When they passed around the dessert wine list, I happened to notice there was a collection of wines listed from Burgenland. They were all from the Kracher Winery, which I later found out is in Illmitz. I spoke to the wine steward and she said these wines were very popular and were of the highest quality and comparable to some of the French wines, which historically have been considered the best in the world Unfortunately, I didn't have any. The wine was only sold by the bottle, and at $100 a clip it was a little beyond my budget. Illmitz, where the Winery is located, is in the "Seewinkel" section of Burgenland, which means corner of the lake. It is on the eastern side of Neusiedl See., where the weather is ideal for growing grapes. The summers are hot and dry and the winters are cold, but the nearby water serves to moderate extremes. According to the Kracher website, the winery is a family-owned business, which was started by Alois Kracher, who is now 73 years old. His son Luis, who is a trained chemist, and his grandson Gerhard have major roles in the daily activities of the business. Their wines are distributed worldwide, and the distributor in the States is Vin Divino Ltd. in Chicago. Hurrah for the Kracher family and their accomplishments and for the recognition they bring to Burgenland.........the land of our ancestors. END OF NEWSLETTER The Burgenland Bunch homepage (website) can be found at: http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org/ We can also be reached from the Burgenländische Gemeinschaft web site. Use our website to access our lists and web pages. Burgenland Bunch Newsletter (c) 1997 archived courtesy of RootsWeb.com, Inc. P.O. Box 6798, Frazier Park, CA 93222-6798. Newsletter published monthly by G. J. Berghold, Winchester, VA. Newsletter and List Rights Reserved. Permission to Copy Granted; You Must Provide Credit and Mention Source.