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