THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 17
(issued bi-weekly by by Gerald Berghold)
August 15, 1997
(all rights reserved)
This edition of the newsletter contains articles concerning Burgenland
Peasant Land Transfers following 1848, more on food, translation software,
Donau Schwabian movement, McDonald's recent Austrian faux pas, Nazareth, PA
Cement mills.
A FAMILY MYSTERY MAY BE SOLVED!
Johann Berghold (Janos-the senior) was born 2 Jun. 1830 in Poppendorf. His
son and a grandson, who was my grandfather {GJB} were all named Janos. He was
baptized 3 Jun 1830, in the RC church in Königsdorf (his mother Barbara
Gamler was Catholic, father Georg, b 25 Jul 1790, was Lutheran). Johann
married Terezia Krabath (Kroboth) 6 Mar 1848 in Martin Luther Kirche,
Eltendorf. They had seven children. Johann was a big man, over 6 feet and
very strong. A daughter's marriage record shows his occupation as a
"Kovacsmueves", which translates blacksmith. According to family legend, on
or before 24 Jul 1863, he had an argument with two soldiers (probably
Hungarian Panduren) who either tried to requisition a horse or were bothering
his wife. An argument developed. Janos over-powered them (some think he used
a gun, but as big as he was, he probably used a blacksmith's hammer) and
locked them in a shed. He went to the pastor in Eltendorf (that would have
been Pastor Franz Unger, pastor of Martin Luther Kirche from 1843 to 1866)
and told him what he had done. He probably wanted advice or help. We don't
know what the pastor told him, but he came home, locked himself in the barn
and hung himself at nunber 44 Poppendorf when police came (summoned by the
Pastor?). The Eltendorf church record shows "ongyilkossag" (suicide) as
cause of death. He was buried in Poppendorf cemetery on 25 Jul 1863. He was
33 years old. His son Johann must have continued the blacksmith business
since he too is later listed as a blacksmith. I have never seen any official
papers concerning this event, but the story was well-known in Poppendorf and
all facts uncovered in church records appear to confirm it. Albert Schuch
recently came across some information that may provide the answer as to why
this happened. The reason for the incident may be as follows and was probably
repeated in many villages throughout the Burgenland.
(from Albert Schuch)
The Güssinger Zeitung of 22 Aug 1926 reports an incident related to the
"Kommassierung" in Urbersdorf in 1861. Definition of "Kommassierung": Due to
a law of 1848, the farmers were to become landowners.
Of the estimated value of the land, they had to pay one third (to the
Grundherrschaft as the former owner). One third was to be paid for by the
government. So the Herrschaft (nobility) received two thirds of the estimated
value of the land given to the peasants. (Large estates remained in the hands
of the aristocracy!) Now this whole process of land surveying and estimating
its value was called "Kommassierung".
In many cases, the farmers were not at all happy with it or with the way it
was carried through. In Urbersdorf, the "Kommassierung" started in 1860. It
must have caused some sort of small-scale revolution, because the "Panduren"
(a name for a military unit, maybe some kind of military police) were called
in. When they arrived on 27 Aug 1861, 17 year old Julianna MARTH rang the
church bells to warn the inhabitants. The soldiers shot her.
As for Poppendorf, a map of this village's "Hatar" (= "Hotter" in German,
meaning the whole Gemeinde area) with the individual possessions was drawn in
1863. This could mean that the "Kommassierung" was finished in this year. So
I thought, maybe there is some relation (between the survey, civil unrest and
my 2g-grandfather's death).
MORE ON FOOD
This special edition subject has almost become a thread. It generated more
comment than some of our more well-researched and scholarly articles.
Following is some more interesting comment:
>> For feast days and holidays, goose was the first item of choice. Geese
were force-fed with corn to enlarge their liver <<
Many geese meet their fate on 11 Nov, which is the feast of Saint Martin,
the "Schutzpatron" of Burgenland. These miserable creatures are called
"Martinigansl".
>> It's feathers would later stuff home-made pillows. <<
Have you ever heard of the "Federnschleissen"? This is a kind of a village
ritual. A group of women meet on winter evenings to prepare the feathers for
further use (for pillows). The cover of the "Tondokumente" CD (a CD of
Burgenland folk music) carries a picture of this 'event'. Today, fewer farmers
own fewer geese, so the "Federnschleissen" is getting less and less
common. (A. Schuch)
>> The one about the ethnic food was outstanding, as it brought back many
memories. <<
Yes we had the "ein-brandt" soup, "stetz" and many others. Thought I'd add
two other goodies that I didn't read about in the letter. My Mom would make
"Lindsen Groepfen" (Linzer Torte?) which were delicious, & generally made on
special occasions. They were a 2"x3" cookie made with many layers of very
thin dough, and always had a sprinkling of white powdered sugar on top. I
remember them being there at all weddings, anniverseries, etc. Another goodie
was the "Dubosh - Torte", which was a multi-layer cake. Regular cake
diameter, but quite high depending on the number of layers. (Frank Teklits)
LANGUAGE TRANSLATOR ITEM (Anna Kresh)
TRANSLATE THIS!
>> At next week's Internet World here in Chicagoland, attendees are expecting
to see cool Internet applications, far and wide. One such cool
product--called TFS Translator from TenFour and Globalink Inc.--allows
multilingual translation for outgoing e-mail. Tres formidable, thus spake The
UberCrust. TFS Translator can handle French, German, Spanish, Portuguese,
Italian and English translations. Say you want to send an email in English to
someone in Germany who doesn't speak the Queen's E (ach du lieber!). You'd
send a command to the TFS Translator via the e-mail address field as E-G: (E
for English and G for German) followed by the recipient's Internet address.
The recipient will then receive the translated message in the e-mail body and
the original message, in its original language, as an attached text file. And
guess what? The darn thing works. The companies told Your Watery Wayfarer
that TFS Translator will be "available in third quarter 1997." "As both large
and small organizations expand on a global level, reliable message
translation is a vital tool," said John Hetzer, national sales manager for
TenFour US. "TFS Translator breaks down the language barriers and allows
businesses to communicate without limitations." <<
Pricing will depend on the languages you require.
DONAU SCHWABIANS IN THE BURGENLAND
If you think your people may have been part of the Danube Schwabian (DS)
migration, you will be interested in this article extracted by Albert Schuch.
Most DS migrated to the Banat of Yugoslavia, but some could have ended up in
the Burgenland as explained below.
Summary of an article by Fritz POSCH: "Schwabenzüge in die Steiermark", in:
"Zeitschrift des historischen Vereins für Steiermark", 1952, p.98-112
In 1706 Count Franz Karl KOTTULINSKY married Baroness Maria Antonia ROTTAL
and thus acquired the Styrian domains NEUDAU and UNTERMAYERHOFEN, both
situated at the Hungarian border (10 kms northwest of Stegersbach). Most
villages of these two domains were looted and torched by the "Kuruzzen" in
1704, 1707 and 1708. The loss of population was not that heavy, for most
people were able to hide in the woods. Since this was the time of the first
large-scale German colonisation of Hungary (usually areas to the east and
south-east of Burgenland), Count Kottulinsky made - probably by chance -
contact with a group of emigrants, mostly "Schwaben" from the Bodensee-area, in
early Sep 1712. He met them in Vienna on their way to Hungary. (They were
traveling on the river Danube.)
It can be assumed that they had already signed contracts with a domain owner
in Hungary. Nonetheless, Count K. managed to persuade 12 families (63 persons)
to settle in his Styrian domains. On foot they marched from Vienna (11 Sep)
to Neudau (16 Sep). They all came from the Bodensee-area, and they carried
documents and passports showing that they were heading for Hungary. These
documents were made out between 13 Jul and 12 Aug. Martin SCHERER, from St.
Peter in the Schwarzwald, described his journey: He had marched 20 miles to
the city of ULM, where they had boarded the ships that carried them 180 miles
down the river Danube, for which they were charged 5 Gulden and 4 Kreuzer per
person.
Most of these people left soon for Hungary, but some did stay, including the
Martin SCHERER mentioned above. He traveled to his home village in Dec 1712
and successfully persuaded others to come to Neudau too. By the end of April
1713, a group of emigrants left for Neudau, which they reached on 22 May.
In June 1713, Martin Scherer left for his homeland for the second time. He
left the Schwarzwald with new emigrants. They traveled via PASSAU (9 Aug),
GMUNDEN (14 Aug), BAD ISCHL (15 Aug), AUSSEE (16 Aug), ROTTENMANN (20 Aug),
LEOBEN (22 Aug), WEIZBERG (26 Aug). On Aug 29 the 10 families (59 persons)
arrived in NEUDAU.
The emigrants are described as decent and honest people who left their homes
because of high taxes and inflation (caused by war), also because of
overpopulation. In 1713, at least 24 families arrived in Neudau. But they did
not find the "promised land" and so, by the spring of 1714, some of them had
already left again. Finally, only 12 families stayed. The settlers remained
in touch with their homeland (visits, letters).
In 1717, a group of the "Schwaben" left, all the remaining did so overnight in
1723. It is supposed that they went to Hungary, were they were expecting
better conditions.
A settlement of some of these "Schwaben" in southern Burgenland must be
considered possible for geographical reasons (though I think it is more
likely they went further to the (south) east).
I add all the family names mentioned. Details (age, origin) can be provided
from the article:
Nagel, Gerer, Helbok, Schoblach, Grabher, Sandholzer, Rusch, Lorinser, Erner,
Krotz, Brechter, Fallenthor, Messmer, Mercklin, Reichart, Stiering, Schwarz,
Scherer, Heutz, Leibinger, Paumann, Lutzenberger, Fuchs; Dilger (Dillinger),
Hug, Pfaff, Hübding, Andres, Holtzmann, Scherzinger, Saumb, Teusch, Rohrer,
Werthmüller, Lükhert, Kuenle, Waldvogel, Löffler, Dolt, Pfändler, Schwerer;
Drescher, Riether, Fehrnbach, Relly (Rely, Reily), Schuller, Werthmüller,
Scherzinger, Andres.
MORE ON NAZARETH, PA & THE CEMENT MILLS
Just a note to tell members I recently visited Nazareth, Pa. with my father
and mother to see if we could find any information about the cement factories
which employed so many Austrian immigrants in the early 1900's. We followed
the street signs to the Nazareth Visitor Center, which was a private dwelling
owned and now donated by the Martin family (still making acoustical guitars)
in Nazareth. They have a small booklet you can buy about the history of the
cement factories and the workers in early Nazareth. There is still an old
abandoned cement factory within 5 minutes of Main St., which can give you a
good idea of the conditions under which immigrants worked.
There is now one large cement company in Nazareth with a few locations
throughout town. Still seems to be the primary employer for Nazareth. They have
an operating factory and truck-loading depot next to the abandoned site we
were looking at.mWithin 5 minutes, we were all covered with a fine dust from
the trucks being loaded and my car had a cement overcoat.
Sure made me think about your last comment about lung diseases suffered by
workers! My father even remembers his dad telling him that during the summer
months the cement on their clothes would harden with their sweat and would
actually crack their clothes. No wonder so many workers, such as my grandfather,
went back home to Burgenland after WW-I when travel was possible again. OSHA
obviously has missed this town in its effort to make the workplace safe. Many
of the town's shops still have German and Austrian surnames and might be
worth a trip if you are in the area. One word of caution: Bring your
dust mask! Sincerely, John J. Unger
END OF NEWSLETTER-EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD
THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 17A
(issued as required by Gerald Berghold)
August 15, 1997
(all rights reserved)
AUSTRIA - A TRIP REPORT TO THE HOME OF MY UNGER ANCESTORS
(part #2 - in Vienna, Austria)
ELDERHOSTEL PROGRAM - EUROPEAN HISTORY (by Robert F. Unger)
Part 1 of this report addressed Elderhostel programs in general terms. Part
2 focuses on Austrian history. This report is written as a daily log,
highlighting lecture information and special events.
Brief recap: In part 1 I stated that this trip was motivated by my desire to
go beyond the normal genealogical efforts of merely gathering names, dates,
and places. My objective was to learn about my ancestor's life style by
studying the history of Austria and also to sample the physical, emotional,
and social activities of Austria of today. It wanted to "walk in their
shoes and experience life during their time period." The first week of the
Elderhostel program in Vienna helped greatly in achieving that objective.
After a 15 hour flight from San Diego to Vienna, via Atlanta, we were greeted
by our Elderhostel program coordinator, who was born in the USA and was in
Vienna as a music major studying at the University of Vienna on a Fullbright
scholarship.
Each day was filled with many events and students were encouraged to
participate fully, but were not compelled to do so. Our schedule Monday
through Friday with English fluent lecturers and guides included breakfast,
first morning lecture, coffee break, second morning lecture, lunch, field
trip, dinner and an evening event.
Monday's Lecture entitled - "The Decline of the Hapsburg Empire" was given by
a Viennese 50 year old historian and philosopher. His was an excellent
lecture, essentially an overview of Austrian history, from the stone age to
the present. His twenty-seven page handout entitled "Not All About Austria"
served as reference material for both his lecture and for subsequent lectures
during the week. I had an opportunity to ask specific questions about
Rudersdorf - where my ancestors had lived.
Rudersdorf is an Austrian village located East of Graz and South of Vienna. I
was told that German speaking people in Rudersdorf were considered upper
class in that predominately Hungarian area. In response to my questions
about military records for that area for the 1860 time period, I was told to
look for Hungarian records.
Because I had expressed an interest in linking Austrian history with the
activities of my ancestors, I was given a comprehensive treatise on Austrian
history entitled "More Than 1,000 Years, Austria, A Historical Cultural
Comparison" in which significant events were outlined. The historical
approach was unique. It used a format whereby general trends/politics of the
world/Europe were compared with those of Austria during specific time
periods. In addition, for each time period significant events by major topic
such as: science and theology, economics, social events, and culture were
outlined.
As an aside on the 1,000 years of Austrian history, the following was
extracted from the Austrian National Tourist Office web page
http://www.austria-info.at/1000/mill_e.html. "In 1996, Austria is
celebrating its 1,000th anniversary or "millennium", reason enough to stage a
number of major exhibitions. The year 996 was a milestone in the history of
our country. On 1 November 996, Emperor Otto III, left some estates around
the settlement of Niuvanhova to the bishop of Freising as a gift. The land in
the bishop's possession was popularly known as "Ostarrichi". "Ostarrichi" is
the designation used in the deed of donation. Niuvanhova later became
Neuhofen, and Ostarrichi became starrichi. This deed is the first
documentary reference to the name of Ostarrichi, or Austria." (I took some
license here in shortening a quote)
Monday afternoon's field trip was a walking tour of central Vienna . In early
times, this area (district #1), was inside a fortress wall surrounding the
city. For centuries this wall and a wide expanse of open fields outside
acted as a protective buffer between the city and the suburbs. On December
20, 1857, Emperor Franz Josef issued a decree announcing the most ambitious
piece of urban development Vienna had ever seen. The fortress walls were
torn down and in their place was constructed a beautiful, tree-lined
boulevard, the Ringstrae. Along the Ringstrae is an imposing collection of
buildings, reflecting Vienna's special status as the political, economic, and
cultural heart of what was the Austro-Hungarian Empire.We were told how to
use Vienna's public transportation system and given a guide map of Vienna
and were very comfortable moving about on our own during our "free" periods.
We found the subway very clean without graffiti or trash, and safe, fast
transportation.We saw many of the interesting landmarks in central Vienna
including the Imperial Palace, the Ringstrae, the Opera, Museums,
Parliament, Town Hall, University, St. Stephan's Cathedral, etc. We had
planned to go into St. Stephan's but unfortunately it was closed because a
rehearsal was in progress for a concert that evening. When we returned to our
room, we happily discovered that the concert was being televised. That
evening we heard an interesting talk about the exciting but short life of
Schubert (1797-1828) and his music.
Tuesday's Lecture was entitled - "Austria Between the Wars", deemed to be
"the darkest period of Austrian history." It was stated that starting with
the introduction of nationalism, around the time of the French Revolution,
fourteen different ethnic groups within the Austria-Hungarian Empire caused
constant problems. During World War I there was a clear distinction between
German and Austrian soldiers. The German soldiers learned to fight, but the
German speaking Austrian soldiers learned to live. One is hard pressed to
find many great Austrian military heros. The Germans were considered
fighters, and the Austrians were lovers! At the close of World War I, there
was mediation regarding the Western territory of Hungary and the Eastern
territory of Austria. Ultimately the Allies came up with a compromise that
more or less solved the problem to their satisfaction, but actually
dissatisfied both Austria and Hungary - parts of Western Hungary then became
a new Austrian province, Burgenland. On the 12th of November 1918, Austria
was proclaimed a Republic which started to collapse in February 1934 when a
search for weapons in Socialist party offices led to a three-day civil war,
with fighting taking place in the cities of Graz, Linz, and Vienna - police
and the military fought against workers. The end of the first Austrian
Republic came on March 11, 1934 when the Nazis took control.
Tuesday's Field trip was a visit to Schloss Schönbrunn A ten minute
afternoon walk took us from our hotel to Schönbrunn, summer palace of the
Habsburgs. We were accompanied by a professional Schönbrunn guide, fluent in
English. It is said that Schönbrunn got its name when Emperor Matthias
discovered a beautiful spring on the property, i.e. Schön = beautiful, brunn
= spring, and Schloss = castle. So, seek the `fount of beauty' today, and
you'll come upon Schönbrunn Palace. The property passed into the hands of
the Habsburgs in 1569 and was expanded into a hunting lodge. Then in 1637
the palace was built. In 1683 the Turks razed it, together with many
buildings in Vienna's suburbs.
In 1695, Emperor Leopold I started reconstruction which was ultimately
completed in 1700. In 1744, Empress Maria Theresia, the took a liking to
Schönbrunn and was responsible for alteration and expansion to the grandeur
it has today. It is amazing that she had the energy to oversee the
renovation since from the age of nineteen until she was thirty-eight, Maria
Theresia was continually pregnant, having sixteen children. Among her
daughters were the famed Marie Antoinette and the second wife of Napoleon,
Marie Louise, who bore him his only son.
Schönbrunn has 2,000 rooms. It was designed so that most of the royal living
quarters are on the outside perimeter of the building, which allowed the
interior to have corridors for use by the 1,000 required servants. They could
attend to their duties without disturbing the family or their guests. Most
of the rooms have ceramic stoves, which were fueled from the corridors. Only
40 rooms are featured during guided tours. One of the most impressive rooms
is "The Great Gallery" which has fixtures for 4,000 candles. We were told
that Emperor Franz Joseph, Maria Theresia's husband, forbade the candles to
be changed more than once during an evening. When the required sixty
servants put in the second set after the first burned down, guests knew they
would have to leave when the second set expired. This beautiful room is
known as the centerpiece of the palace.
During the tour, our guide would often comment on the paintings in the
different rooms. In one of the rooms it took nine master painters five years
to complete one of the murals. This comment was of great interest to me,
since the marriage records of one of my Austrian ancestors had his
occupation listed as a "master painter." In another room the guide remarked
that all the lacquer paneling in the room was given its lacquer finish on a
ship at sea to avoid any problem with dust as the lacquer dried. There was
much damage during WWII which has since been repaired.
The Schönbrunn grounds are open to the public at no charge - a fee is charged
for the tour of the palace rooms. Schönbrunn's exterior is painted a mustard
(imperial) yellow, since it was a favorite color of Emperor Franz I. It is
widely used throughout Austria for many state and official buildings. The
upper floors of Schönbrunn are rented to Austrian civil servants. What a
perk! Tuesday's evening field trip was a bus trip to a Heurigen, a "new wine"
tavern. We enjoyed a night out with the locals. Farmers with vineyards are
permitted to sell their own wine at their own establishments. At this
gathering Elderhostel arranged for a number of school teachers to join us.
This made for a delightful evening, drinking wine, and talking about current
events of the area.
Wednesday's Lecture - "National Socialism, World War II and the Holocaust,"
The roots of "party program" movements started with the National Socialist
Worker's Party, which was founded in 1905 in Bohemia during the disputes
between German and Czech workers and spread to Austria and Bavaria.
Ultimately these party movements included the nationalist, the
internationalist, and the anti-semitic. These parties grew with the economic
crisis which followed World War I. Hitler added his Nazi movement and wrote
his book "Mein Kampf", essentially a personal program based on his ideas of a
pure, Aryan, Nordic, German race which he felt was threatened by the Jews and
what he considered Jewish ideas, i.e., Internationalism, Liberalism, Marxism
and Capitalism. Propaganda was effectively used to gain the support.
In 1938, following the "Anschluss", the Nazis built a concentration camp in
Austria called Mauthausen. Many of its first prisoners were Austrians, whose
political views differed from those of Hitler. These Austrians even differed
among themselves; however, during their internment, they were forced to
cooperate and depend on each other for survival. As a consequence they vowed
that if they ever survived, they would work together for the common good of a
better Austria. Subsequently many of these prisoners became the political
leaders of a new Austria.
Throughout this period, there was primarily only one dominant party in power.
Everyone had a specific place and was forced to stay in that place. The role
of women was to bear children - those who had many children were rewarded.
Under Hitler, children, starting at age three, were forced into structured
party movements and there were no alternatives. Those involved soon learned
to obey without asking any questions. At the outset Hitler gained the
support of the church, primarily because he imposed a church tax. That
church tax, initiated by Hitler, is still practiced and enforced today. Thus
the church received funds directly from the government for their operations,
based upon official church registrations. It was stated that even today,
many Austrians are resentful of the church for initially supporting Hitler
and not reacting when Hitler persecuted the Jews. It was reported that
currently about 90% of the people of Austria espouse Catholicism, but few
really practice the faith. Support for this claim is based on birthrate
statistics which show that the average family size in Austria today is 1.4
children. Also, abortion is widely practiced.
Wednesday Afternoon Field Trip - Museum of Fine Art, a self guided tour: In
preparation for this field trip we were given a tour brochure, specifically
designed for Elderhostel.
The Museum of Fine Arts is located in the Imperial Palace which is easily
accessible by the subway system. The museum contains a number of
collections. Egyptian, Near Eastern, Greek and Roman Antiquities, the
Collection of Sculpture and Decorative Arts, the Picture Gallery, the Coin
Cabinet and in the Imperial Palace (Hofburg) the collection of Ancient
Musical instruments, Arms and Armor, the Ephesos Museum and the Treasury.
Wednesday Afternoon On Our Own: During this free period my wife and I
searched for the hotel/restaurant where my Grandfather Unger received his
apprenticeship training in 1886-1888. We found it outside the 1st district,
near the Ringstrae as well as his nearby Lutheran Church.
Wednesday Evening - Shopping On Our Own: Our coordinator had told us about a
shopping center located within a short walk of our hotel. She said to go
there if you wanted to experience local shopping. We were told the prices
were about one third of the price charged at tourist areas. Most all the
shops were closed' however. (In Vienna, as well as most of Austria, most
stores open early in the morning, close for about two hours during mid day,
and then close for the evening about 6 p.m.). Although the shops were
closed, the shopping center was still crowded. Many people were doing what
appears to be an Austrian custom, strolling while eating ice cream cones.
While walking through the shopping center, we decided to get some Austrian
money at one of the available ATMs. My wife and I noticed a small boy
standing near by, probably no more than eight years old. We thought that he
was curious to see a tourist using an ATM machine. - locals can always spot a
tourist. After we completed our transaction, and stepped aside, the boy
walked up to the ATM, quickly keyed in his request, and out came his money -
probably his Austrian student's allowance (more about the Austrian student's
allowances later).
Window shopping that evening proved to be a "dry run" so that my wife could
do some serious shopping when the stores were open. (to be continued)
END OF NEWSLETTER-EDITED & DISTRIBUTED BY GERALD J. BERGHOLD