THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 14
(issued as required by Gerald J. Berghold)
June 28, 1997
(all rights reserved)
This edition of the newsletter contains part two of John Lavendoski's recent
trip to the Burgenland, questions concering Heraldry, Nazareth, PA and the
cement works, excerpts from the 1920's Oberwart Sunday News, causes of
Burgenland depopulation and Styrian Emigration.
TRIP TO BURGENLAND (PART 2) by John Lavendoski
Day Two of my Burgenland adventure was supposed to be focused on researching
the family records of my mother's branches of the family from St. Kathrein
and Harmisch. I had previously used the LDS tapes to research back to the
year 1828. By a stroke of good luck, I discovered that before 1804, the
records of St. Kathrein and Harmisch (and a few other nearby communities) can
be found in the LDS records for Szentpeterfa, Hungary (Prostrum in German).
The Szentpeterfa records on LDS microfilm go back to 1793 and kind of "tie
the whole story back together" as far as my family goes, since another branch
of my mother's family comes almost exclusively from Szentpeterfa. Apparently,
St. Kathrein built its own church in about 1804, and the people stopped going
all the way to Szentpeterfa to record births, deaths and marriages. My entire
goal for the day was to close the gap from 1804-1828 by visiting the priest
in St. Kathrein and seeing the records first hand in the parish registers. I
had written to my cousins beforehand and asked them to pass on this request
to the local priest. When I got to my cousins house, I learned that the
priest doesn't actually live in St. Kathrein at all, rather, his house and
main church are in Deutsche Schutzen several miles down the road.
The journey was extremely interesting due to the fact that the road passed
literally within inches of the Hungarian border as it wound through the town
of Holl. I stopped to look at an old farmhouse (which was apparently used as
the border command post in years past) and to take a picture. Out of nowhere,
several Austrian policemen appeared along with some soldiers. I was advised
to "please not make any photos" and to move along...old tensions must still
remain even after the past five years... In Deutsche Shutzen, the priest
proved very gracious, but unfortunately had nothing but bad news to relate.
It seems that there was a misunderstanding between my cousins and he on which
records I wanted to see. In 1985, all his really old local records were sent
to Eisenstadt for the main church archives office. He only had records from
about 1896 onwards in his on-site Parish registers.
He apologized profusely, but basically there was nothing he could do to get
me access to the records on a Friday afternoon. He gave me the name and
address to the chief archivist and suggested I write a letter requesting
permission to see the records as part of a later visit...in other words "no
luck". This was the low point of the trip...I had traveled 3 thousand miles
and was out of luck due to a move of the records which I most needed...I
learned a valuable lesson that day: It is always better to write ahead
directly to the source and identify EXACTLY what is needed than to rely on
even the most trusted locals to make the connection...Ah well, live and
learn. To deal with the disappointment, I clearly needed to drown my sorrows
in Burgenland's gift to man:wine.
My wife and I hopped in the car and did ring around the entire "wine strasse"
with selected stops to sample small quantities (for me) and larger quantities
for my non-driving "Frau". We purchased several bottles for the trip home and
must have counted at least 100 little places to drink wine and have a little
snack. Anyone visiting should plan at least one day to do nothing but this.
That evening, we had dinner at Frau Gibiser's once again, this time enjoying
some native Panonnian fare which included her own version of Paprika
Goulash...outstanding... During dinner, we learned that the next day
(Saturday) was opening day for the "Castle of Gussing" but no one seemed to
know exactly what that meant in terms that I could understand in my broken
German. All we knew was that it involved a band, food, drink, and speeches by
local and provincial dignitaries. We resolved to attend. In addition, I
decided that I would make a quick trip into Hungary to set the stage for a
longer visit and attendance at Church on Sunday. Stay tuned for more...
QUESTION RE FLAGS & ARMS
In a message dated 97-05-31 10:58:26 EDT, you write:
<< I noticed in one of the newsletters the desciption of the the Burgenland
flag. Any idea were I can view a picture of this flag? I am a little
confused about area flags in Austria. I was told that since the family did
not have a coat of arms, they used the coat of arms of the local regent and
this could be found on a flag for that area. Is this the Burgenland flag or
are there different flags? Re your flag questions:
I'll take a picture of my Burgenland flag and scan it for you. (I'll also
make this available for download) I know of no flags for local families. It's
only in recent times that many Austrian villages have been adopting municipal
arms, although larger and free cities (like Rust and Eisenstadt) have had
arms since medieval times. Each Province also has a flag (like our state
flags) which incorporates armorial markings of some sort.
It would not be proper for locals to use any of the aristocratic arms unless
they were of direct descent. Law suits (and in earlier days, chopped heads)
would result. The Austrian (and most of Europe including the UK) heraldic
practices provide that only the eldest son (or eldest daughter when there is
no son) has the right to dynastic arms. Marriage normally allows the merger
of arms. Read about Empress Maria Theresia's elevation to the Hapsburg throne
via the "Pragmatic Sanction". The Hungarians are not as strict (the
Communists abolished all aristocratic claims but I understand they never
really died out). There, nobility conveyed to all children, not just the
eldest son. There were (and are) a lot of impoverished Hungarian aristocracy.
Most every family that could claim descent from an original Magyar family was
recognized as a member of the aristocracy. Having a similar name is not
enough; however, direct descent must be proven. There is an aristocratic
"Horvath" family for instance, but there are countless "Horvaths", like Smith
in the US. The Austrians (and Germans) practiced primogeniture, where the
eldest inherited all. The Hungarians divided everything in equal shares which
is why so many were impoverished.
An Interesting Extract
"As early as the conquest of present day Hungary (900AD), Magyar horsemen are
thought to have used tribal insignia of a totemic character. The sun, the
moon, the stars, as well as the bear and griffin became common charges in the
arms of Hungarian nobles. A blue sky with a green base or ground is often
found..... (Later during the Turkish wars, Turkish heads dripping blood were
also used). During the Turkish wars, sometimes a whole garrison of 80 to 120
soldiers were raised to nobiliary rank, being granted one coat of arms for
all to share. An extreme case is the collective grant of armorial bearings by
Prince Stephen Bocskai (Bocksy) to 9254 mercenaries, enobled in 1605. About
2000 of these families exist today....." (from "Heraldry, Customs, Rules &
Styles", von Volborth, 1983, Blandford Press). This is the same Bocksy who
burned much of southern Burgenland and destroyed all those nice pre 17th
Century genealogical records!
This is not to say that arms of a town or province may not be displayed in
the same way that a state or national flag may be flown. It is the
appropriation of arms for a family insignia without proven descent that is
frowned upon.
All Austrian aristocratic priveliges and titles were also abolished with the
advent of the Republic, but aristocracy still carries some social
distinction, particularly where hereditary property is still involved. I saw
a group of museum curators bowing and scraping to the widow of deceased
Prince Paul Esterhazy in Eisenstadt at the palace in 1993, but then she
(Trust?) still owns the palace, and Castle Forchtenstein, and who knows what
else!
You might check your local library for the "Almanac de Gotha" which shows
European arms, flags and other heraldic devices. There are many other
heraldic publications, but look at those covering Austria and Hungary.
"Burke's Peerage" (mostly English) won't help much. There is also a book of
Vas Megye nobility available on microfilm from the LDS. (no. 0973247)
QUESTION RE NAZARETH, PA AND CEMENT WORKS (suggested by John Unger)
<< I seem to remember you researching this area of Penns. near Bethlehem and
Allentown and would appreciate any info on the town of Nazareth you might
have.My father remembers talk of the big cement factory which would spew it's
dust all over the town >>
Nazareth, PA is a Boro in eastern Northampton County, north of Bethlehem,
part of the Lehigh Valley (the valley of the Lehigh River which flows south
eastward to the Delaware at Easton, PA). It has a pop. of about 10M. It was a
favorite spot for Burgenland immigrant settlement because of the employment
offered by the cement mills. Cement was a big industry throughout the area,
starting in 1875. Nazareth lies just about at the eastern limits of the
exploitable limestone deposits. For almost 25 years, the Lehigh valley had a
virtual monopoly on the production of Portland cement (a superior cement
product). Much of the Panama Canal was built with Lehigh-Portland Cement.
Dirty exhausting work, but steady employment and immigrant men could live in
boarding houses, save money and then return to the Burgenland or send for
their families. Many did. There were many mills, Nazareth, Coplay,
Northampton, Egypt, Catasauqua etc. The 1910-20 US Census shows many Nazareth
immigrant names working the cement mills. I understand a cement museum is
being put together near Northampton. Frank Teklits, one of our members has
contacted them for the availablitity of genealogical (employment) records. So
far, no luck.
My Burgenland great aunt Fannie Muell (Mühl) Wallitsch Holzer had a tavern
at Ruch & Oak Streets in West Coplay. Burgenländers would stop in mornings
on their way to the cement mills for a shot before work and after work for a
shot and a beer to wash the dust from their throats. There were good jobs and
bad jobs. Most new immigrants got bad jobs loading cement (dusty and heavy
work) or working the furnaces (hot and heavy work). I wonder how many died of
lung disorders? Working conditions got better as the years went by and some
worked there all their lives. A sacrifice for later generations. Dujmovits'
book has a picture of six workers in 1928 and then six in 1968. Soft hats to
hard hats! I remember the clouds of cement dust. It would take the finish off
of an automobile! I applied to the Dragon mill as late as the 1950's for
summer work during Lehigh Univ. days. No luck, I ended up making railings in
an iron works in Allentown.
Dr. Walter Dujmovits in "Die Amerika Wanderung der Burgenländer" shows as
early emigrants to Nazareth, Georg Reinisch, 1893 from Moschendorf and
Florian Csekits, 1875 from Sulz. Not as important to Burgenland immigration
as Northampton, Coplay Bethlehem or Allentown, Nazareth still got its share
of emigrants. The other places of course offered a greater variety of work in
the textile and steel mills and breweries.
Nazareth, by the way was also settled by early PA-German emigrants from the
Palatinate. German was still spoken as late as the 1930's, maybe later in
some of the churches. See church records of the Lutheran Church in Hecktown.
EXCERPTS FROM "THE OBERWART SUNDAY NEWS"-Oberwarther Sonntags Zeitung, year
1925, (courtesy Albert Schuch)
Jan 18th
The brothers Franz and Stephan BAUER are employed in the cement mill 'EGYPT'
in North-America. Stephan Bauer slipped out while cleaning the
'Trockenanlage' (= drying device ?), fell into a heap of cement and died of
suffocation. He is 40 years of age, has emigrated from RAABFIDISCH
(Rabafzes, Hungary) in 1908 and worked in the cement mills ever since.
He leaves his wife and 7 children. Brothers are Frank and Alois. Their
parents still live back home in Raabfidisch.
Feb 1st
The "sterreichisch-ungarischer Veteranen-Untersttzungsverein und St.
Franciskus Untersttzungsverein" in Allentown has donated 50 Dollars for the
hospital in OBERWART.
March 8th
On June 9th Burgenländer from the Chicago area will depart from New York to
visit Burgenland. They will take the steamship "Columbus" of the
"Norddeutscher Lloyd", and plan to stay until 17th September. The trip is
organized by the "1. Eisenburger Deutsch-Ungarischer Untersttzungsverein von
Chicago".
May 5th
Anton KRPER, who has emigrated at the age of 15 to Chicago, is currently
visiting his home village DEUTSCH SCHÜTZEN.
June 28th
New York: Killed during a fight with an Italian workmate was Franz PEHR, aged
25, from DEUTSCH SCHTZEN.
Milwaukee: A. WILLISCHITZ from KLEINZICKEN is a subscriber of the Oberwarter
Zeitung.
July 7th
Georg KERN, aged 43, has died in LYNDORA (PA). He was treasurer of the
"Deutscher Untersttzungsverein" in Lyndora, PA. He was born in STEGERSBACH,
emigrated in 1908 and has lived in Lyndora ever since.
Aug 2nd
On June 28th Chicago emigrants from HANNERSDORF held a beautiful "Gartenfest"
(garden party ?) in Turners Park in River Grove; almost 2000 $ were taken in.
(Reported by the newspaper "Heimatsbote. Organ fr die Interessen des
deutsch-schwbischen Volkes in Nordamerika"
Aug 23rd
Julius GROSS, aged 45, emigrated from DEUTSCH SCHTZEN in 1914, has died of
suffocation in PITTSBURGH. He had entered a house in which insects had been
poisoned just before. His wife, son, parents and one brother live in
Burgenland, his daughter and one brother live in America.
Aug 30th
One S. ALTMANN has written a book called History of Migration' for the Royal
Mail Steam Packet Comp.
STYRIAN PROTESTANT EMIGRATION TO SOUTHERN BURGENLAND 1590-1630 (courtesy Albert Schuch)
Balthasar Batthyány (he reigned as the Grundherrschaften of Güssing,
Schlaining-Rechnitz 1543-1590) became a Protestant. He began to remove the
Catholic priests in 1570. A Protestant too was Balthasars son, Franz II
Batthyány, whereas his grandson Adam returned to the Catholic church around
1630.
The Protestant preachers were then forced to leave his estates. Following the
"Religionsedikt" of 1589, issued by Archduke Ferdinand, Protestants had to
also leave the Province of Styria (i.e., not all of them: the Protestant
noblemen were allowed to stay until 1628). The Batthyány estates were at that
time a "safe haven" for them under Balthasar and Franz II Batthyány. Father
Gratian Leser writes (in Güssinger Zeitung, June 8th 1924): "FranzII
Batthyány allowed the Styrian Protestant emigrants to settle in his villages
KALTENBRUNN, RUDERSDORF, DOBERSDORF, ELTENDORF, as well as in some other
villages (he doesn't mention the names of these other villages!).(Ed.
note-probably included Poppendorf, Königsdorf, Heiligenkreuz, Zahling, and
Kukmirn since these villages are close to the others and even today have
sizable Lutheran populations). So immigration of Styrian Protestants to
southern Burgenland will date between 1590 and 1630.
CAUSE OF POPULATION DECREASES IN THE BURGENLAND (by Albert Schuch)
Major setbacks in population may have been through war in
1604, 1620, 1664, 1683: In 1604 Bocskai (Steven Bocskai, brother-in-law of
Christofer {Kristof}, Prince of Transylvania, 1576-81) - sidekick of Gregor
Nemethi with about 1500 Hungarian and several thousand Turkish soldiers
devastated the Batthyány estates. (Among other places, they burned Güssing to
the ground). In 1620 a 3000-men army of Gabriel Bethlen (Prince of
Transylania 1613-16290 - supporters led by Georg Haller and Peter Fekete
invaded the Eisenburg County (mid & southern Burgenland). Franz Batthyány
chose to support Bethlen too, but nonetheless his villages were also looted.
In the course of the Turkish wars in 1664 and 1683 (and following) the
villages suffered again. - The effect of the 1644-46 plague on the Herrschaft
Güssing was increased by poor harvests in following years.
END OF NEWSLETTER-EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD
THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 14A
(issued as required by Gerald J. Berghold)
July 5, 1997
(all rights reserved)
SPECIAL EDITION CONCERNING BURGENLAND FOOD
This special edition of the newsletter contains an article concerning
examples of the food available to Burgenlanders around the turn of the
century, with some personal reminiscences from the kitchens of my immigrant
grandparents.
FOOD IN PRE-EMIGRATION BURGENLAND
In an older issue of the Burgenländische Gemeinschaft newsletter, in a
column called "So war es damals..." (the way it was), Dr. Walter Dujmovits
shared some scenes from his childhood. He describes his father, sitting at
the head of the kitchen table, cutting a cross in a loaf of bread (a very old
peasant form of saying grace) before presenting slices to each member of the
family. First to the mother, then any other adults, then the children, oldest
first and youngest last. (The youngest also had the privilege of scraping the
bowl of the main dish). This was followed by serving portions of the main
dish, in roughly the same order. This made me think of meals with my
immigrant grandparents, who followed the same procedure. A baker named
Oberecker (a Burgenlander) in Allentown, PA, delivered unsliced rye bread and
Kaiser rolls, still warm from the oven, to their house on Jordan Street in
the north end of town. It was post WW-II, before sliced bread (yech!) was
delivered by the Freihoffer Bakery delivery van. My grandfather Alois Sorger
from Rosenberg (Güssing) always sliced the bread by holding the loaf in his
left hand and cutting toward his chest. The loaf was left on the table on a
bread board with the knife. Years later, under my mother's prodding, bread
was sliced before we sat at table and put in a bread basket with a napkin,
thus ending the ceremony. "Pop" would laugh with pleasure whenever he handed
me a piece of bread, maybe because the staff of life was available in
abundance in America or maybe just because he enjoyed feeding his grandson!
Food in the Burgenland of the turn of the century was very similar to that
eaten in rural America. There just wasn't that much of it, particularly meat.
Smoked or preserved meat ran out by Easter.
A bad harvest could be a time of famine and there was little cash to buy what
little food was available. Two bad harvests in a row could mean starvation.
At the turn of the century, a few dollars inclosed in a letter from an
emigrant relative was cause for rejoicing and could make a substantial
difference in diet.
The many memorials to immigrant relatives which we find today throughout the
Burgenland attest to the fact that this generosity was not uncommon.
Immigrants in the US knew from experience that their relatives could be in
serious need of help. During good times, many meals might include the
following:
Bread, butter and milk or wine were breakfast items. Coffee (introduced when
huge stocks of coffee beans were left behind by the Turks when they fled
following the first siege of Vienna) was a luxury, but was always a breakfast
item when the family could afford it. Tea (with Rum or Schnapps) was for sick
or old people. With breakfast, the men of the house would have a small glass
of "Schnapps" or white fruit brandy made from apples or cherries ("Kirsch"),
the plum brandy "Slivovitz", or Hungarian "Barack Palinka" made from
apricots. Many farmers distilled this themselves and sold some along with
their wine to raise cash. Butter was not used at other meals, particularly
when other fats or dairy products were present. Butter and eggs were "trading"
items to be sold for necessities that couldn't be made or raised at home.
Uncooked smoked bacon, cured with a coating of paprika, was cut into
small cubes and eaten with breakfast bread or carried to the fields or job
with bread and a small jug of wine and water for a mid-morning break.
Cheese, or cold cured or smoked sausage of many varieties if available, was
also a breakfast or break item.
The mid day meal was normally the largest
meal of the day and often involved a clear soup (Tage Suppe), made from
boiled beef, sometimes chicken stock. It included an addition or "Einladen"
of noodles (home made), buckwheat "sterz" or dumplings (potato, bread,
barley, semolina, liver or many other varieties) or rice or whatever was
available. My grandfather never asked what kind of soup he was getting, he
always wanted to know what the "Einladen" was. A soup could also be made from
flour browned in fat ("Einbrenn") if meat wasn't available. "Einbrenn" was
also used to season vegetables. The meat from which the soup was made was
eaten as a second course with boiled potatoes or homemade noodles or in
season vegetables. "Böhnen" (bean) Suppe and "Gulyas" Suppe, a very thin
paprika flavored goulash soup were often made, as well as creamed pumpkin
soup. Knowing the value of greens, everything from wild greens like dandelion
to garden salad or onions, sweet peppers, cabbage or other vegetables were
used as salad. Cucumbers with sour cream were popular. Oil pressed from
pumpkin seeds (Kernöl) or sunflowers, and vinegar made from wine or cider
was used as a salad dressing. Wild mushrooms, nuts (almonds, walnuts, hazel
nuts) and berries were picked to supplement food stocks.
When greens were out of season, cold sauerkraut or cold boiled dried white
beans with onions dressed with vinegar and oil served as a salad. Wine with
water (wine was often mixed with water to taste) or apple or pear cider
accompanied most meals. Wine was considered a basic food item. This was an
old custom dating to medieval times when those employed by the nobility would
receive a daily ration of bread ("Zipolte") and wine. Vineyards were
introduced as early as Roman times and wine was drunk in all stages of its
development, from the first press of the grapes ("Most") to just before it
became vinegar. Considering that water sources were often polluted, mixing
wine with water was probably a life saving habit. In Eltendorf and
Königsdorf, a stream which still runs through the center of the village was
the source of potable water. It was also used for washing, sewage (local
ordinances specified only at night) and watering stock. Local church death
registers are full of typhoid, dysentery and other causes of death due to bad
water.
Supper was frequently a one dish meal and could include such things as
"Sterz" made from cornmeal, boiled in salt and water, then cooked in lard
(better than it sounds) or buckwheat flour and water (sometimes mixed with
blood from butchering or eggs) which was poured in a greased pan and baked.
Potato dumplings containing plums or apricots were boiled in water, then
fried with bread crumbs and sprinkled with sugar (Twestchen Knödel). A fine
dessert. Homemade noodles made from eggs, flour and water (with sometimes the
addition of mashed potatoes to stretch the flour) were eaten mixed with many
things like cottage cheese (Topfen), ground nuts (Nussen) and sugar, ground
poppy seeds (Mohn), fried cabbage, pork crackling (Grammel - the crisp bits
remaining from rendering lard) or bread crumbs. Goulash (made much thicker
than the Suppe) was very popular and made in countless ways, all of which
used lots of onions and sweet paprika and would even be eaten for breakfast.
If times were good, Goulash was always available. Peppers filled with rice
and meat in an Einbrenn tomato sauce were popular. A dish of barley and
beans (sometimes ham) cooked together was called "Richert" and was popular
and filling. For feast days and holidays, goose was the first item of choice.
Geese were force-fed with corn to enlarge their liver (pate de foi gras). I
remember my grandmother holding a live goose, wrapped in a towel, in her lap
while she fed the goose all it could hold. I never ate goose liver! The goose
was kept in a cage in the covered alley way between her house and the
neighbors and would vent its displeasure by hissing at me if I came near.
It's feathers would later stuff home made pillows.
Fish (generally pond raised carp, or lake pike or smoked, dried or pickled
fish) were available and eaten on Fridays and fast days. Local marshland near
Güssing was drained by creating a fish pond "Teich". Tons of fish have been
harvested from this pond. Neusiedler See was also fished.
Fruit (apples, apricots, pears, plums, cherries) in season was eaten with
bread or made into "Strudels", a many layered phyllo dough ("Retes")
stretched paper thin, brushed with melted fat and covered with sliced fruit,
sugar, spices and bread crumbs, then rolled into a pan sized "blanket roll",
brushed with butter or fat and baked. Apple and cherry were favorites.
Strudels were also made with a filling of cream, cottage cheese or cabbage or
potatoes or chopped liver or turnips or anything else that was available. The
non-fruit strudels frequently were served with soup. Sweet raised (yeast)
Strudels with a filling of walnuts or poppy seeds (Mohn) and raisins and
sugar were also made (try making it in your bread machine; add grated lemon
rind, Rum and cardamon for added flavor, and roll and fill the dough after
the first machine rising, rolling the finished strudel like a jelly roll
before baking). Thin egg and flour pancakes (crepes) called "Palatschinken"
spread with jam, rolled up and sprinkled with sugar were a dessert. When in
Austria, that's how I end every meal! I'd do it here if my wife and doctor
would let me!
Sour cream was used in many ways, added to stews, soups or vegetable dishes.
Naturally nothing was ever wasted, and recipes were frequently adjusted to
include what was available.
Baking was frequently done in outside ovens or ovens which were a part of a
fireplace or tile stove, fueled with wood. Wood was scarce and expensive, so
baking days were designated to get the maximum use of a hot oven. The "right"
to gather fallen branches in a private wood lot owned by others could be
purchased and was jealously guarded. My grandmother Mühl's uncle was one of
the gamekeepers for a Draskovitch estate. One of his perquisites were all the
tree limbs that fell in a certain section of one of the Draskovitch woods. He
shared these gleanings with his widowed sister prior to her emigration. Robot
service (prior to 1848) could also provide peasants with the "right" to glean
the nobles' fields and woods, but strict penalties applied to those who stole
grain or removed limbs or trees. Small twigs were tied in bunches with string
or straw and stacked next to the house or out building. A bunch was fed into
the fire whole to take the place of a log.
Bread most often contained rye flour. A general mix was half rye, half wheat,
but one rye to three wheat made a finer loaf. (I bake this in my bread
machine today with caraway and fennel seeds). Caraway ("Kümmel") seed was
(and is) a popular addition to rye bread as it provides flavor and combats
the flatulence caused by rye flour. Moldy rye could and did cause
hallucinations. Some of the strange things that have occured in Europe, such
as witch hunts and the "great cat massacre" have recently been attributed to
such hallucinations. On occasion, extremely wet weather would mold the grain,
which would still be used, causing the problem.
A type of biscuit made from flour, potatoes and lard (sometimes pork
crackling - Grammel), called "Pogasa" or "Pogatscherl" in Hungarian, would
keep for days and could be carried to the fields or on journeys. These are
still very popular among the descendants of the immigrants of the Lehigh
Valley of Pennsylvania. It's interesting that the name of these biscuits has
been corrupted in countless ways. I've heard dozens, everything from
"Bogotchel" to "Gramelgasa" to Potato Biscuits! I recently was served one in
an ethnic retaurant in Coplay, PA. It cost $1.25 per portion and was made
with shortening instead of lard, but still tasty. They were also frequently
eaten with wine.
Donuts, "Fastnachts or "Krapfen", filled with jelly or unfilled, sprinkled
with sugar were very popular holiday items, especially before the start of
Lent. "Kipfels", a crescent shaped cookie (celebrating victory over the
Turks, hence the crescent shape) or pastry made from sweetened raised or
cottage cheese dough and filled with ground nuts and sugar or prune butter
(Lekvar) or preserves were another holiday treat. Oranges were only seen at
Christmas. Imported food was for the nobility or those who were wealthy.
Marzipan, candy made from sugar and ground almonds, colored and made in the
shape of nuts, fruits and flowers were a Christmas treat as were gold and
silver painted walnuts. Salt, tobacco and candles were a government monopoly.
Contracts (a franchise) were sold to merchants allowing them exclusive rights
to deal in these goods. High prices resulted. Lamp oil was also expensive. In
the same way, the price the small holder received for farm products was
regulated by tariffs. He got it going and coming! This just scratches the
surface of ethnic Burgenland food. If interested further, Austrian or
Hungarian cookbooks will approximate some of this "peasant" or "kitchen"
food. Burgenlanders, like the Viennese, borrowed the best of German, Hungarian
and Croatian cuisine along with some ideas from the Turks. Local Burgenland
cookbooks, in German and using metric measurements are available.
The problem with cookbooks, however, is that they tend to romanticize and
embellish the Burgenland peasant gustatory experience. For instance they
invariably call for butter or shortening or some imported spice or ingredient
which was unavailable or prohibitively expensive and who today would suggest
the use of lard? The BG newsletter contains a good recipe column in English.
They sell the cookbook from which these recipes are taken. You probably
remember your own favorite ethnic dishes and probably still cook variations
of them. Some of the plain kitchen food is dying out, as the Burgenland
lifestyle becomes more like ours, as are the cooks who know how to prepare
it.
More and more world-class food is appearing in Burgenland restaurants and
homes, but a Gasthaus will often offer some ethnic food on the pension menu
or as a "regional specialty", particularly strudels. A first class hotel we
enjoyed in Baden (Austria) one day had plum dumplings on the pension menu. I
hadn't purchased a room with pension meals and I had to get very aggressive
to be served a portion! We also had a great potato strudel with Grammel and
sauerkraut in a Gasthaus in Graz, as well as a fine creamed pumpkin soup.
The small holder's life was constantly involved with food. The planting,
raising and harvesting of it, the feeding, care and butchering of animals,
laboring in the vineyards, carrying wheat and rye to the miller, turning
cabbage into sauerkraut, grapes to wine, meat to sausage and fruit to cider,
preserves and schnapps. In addition they had the most difficult task of
deciding how much to sell (the Burgenland was always Vienna's garden) for
much needed cash for taxes, clothing and necessities and how much to keep. A
bad decision could be disastrous. Hard to visualize in our day of salaries
and supermarket abundance. This involvement with food was a tradition that
emigrants to America found hard to break. It wasn't until they became old and
feeble that my grandparents gave up this personal involvement with food in
favor of the supermarket. I still remember their grape arbor, the "back
yard" kitchen garden, the wine barrels and "Schnapps" still in the cellar,
sauerkraut crocks and all kinds of canning and live fowl. This didn't stop
them from daily trips to the butcher, patronizing the local produce hucksters
or visiting the farmers' market, most of which would have been impossible in
the Burgenland.
I'll close with an old Burgenland prayer of Grace found in the Mühlgrabner
cookbook (with apologies for the literal translation):
Tischgebet
(prayer at mealtime)
Jedes Tierlein hat sein fressen,
(Every small animal has its feed)
jedes Blumlein trinkt von dir-
(every small flower drinks from you)
hast auch meiner nicht vergessen,
(you also have remembered my need)
lieber Gott, ich danke Dir!
(dear God, I thank you)
This article was slanted toward small-holder families. It does not cover what
would have been the diet norm for wealthier families. This can be found in
publications like Gourmet's Old Vienna Cookbook. It would be interesting to
compare the two extremes. If someone has memories on which to base such an
article, I'd be most happy to publish it.
Sources: The personal kitchen cook books of the Burgenland emigrant Sorger
family. Various issues of the Burgenländische Gemeinschaft newsletter;
Mühlgrabner Koch und Backrezepte, 1996, Gröbnerdruck, Oberwart. Grossman's
Guide to Wines, Spirits and Beers, 1974, Scribners & Sons, NY; Gourmet's Old
Vienna Cookbook, L. L. Christensen, 1959, Gourmet Books, Inc.; The Cuisine of
Hungary, Lang, 1971, Bonanza Books; All Along the Danube, Polvay,
1979,Prentice Hall; The Paprikas Weiss Hungarian Cookbook, Weiss & Buchan,
1983, Crown Publishers; The Cooking of Vienna's Empire, Wechsberg, 1968,
Time-Life Books; The Habsburg Monarchy as a Customs Union, Komlos, 1983,
Princeton Univ. Press.
END OF NEWSLETTER-EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD