Newsletter
Dedicated to Austrian-Hungarian Burgenland Family History

THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 182
December 22, 2008, (c) 2008 by The Burgenland Bunch
All rights reserved. Permission to copy excerpts granted if credit is provided.

Our 13th Year
Editor: Johannes Graf, Copy Editor: Maureen Tighe-Brown
The Burgenland Bunch Newsletter (founded by Gerry Berghold, who retired in
Summer, 2008, and died in August, 2008), is issued monthly as email and available online at
http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org.

~~ Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year ~~

~~ Fröhliche Weihnachten und ein glückseliges neues Jahr ~~

~~ Kellemes karácsonyt és boldog újévet ~~

~~ Srican bozic i blazeno novo ljeto ~~
 

Current Status Of The BB:
* Members: 1679 * Surname Entries: 5456 * Query Board Entries: 4001
* Newsletters Archived: 180 * Number of Staff Members: 14

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This special-edition holiday newsletter contains Burgenland and Burgenland Bunch pictures (as opposed to the usual newsletter articles).

After a month, this special edition will remain online at:
http://www.the-burgenland-bunch.org/Newsletter/HolidayNL08.htm
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Holiday Greetings to the BB Staff & Membership
- BB President, Tom Steichen

Holiday Greetings to each and all!


Two thousand and eight was an eventful year for the Burgenland Bunch. First and foremost, we lost Gerry Berghold in August. Gerry was the founder and the heart and soul of the BB, taking it from a handful of members in 1997 to a group of over 1500 during the course of a dozen years. Gerry rightfully claimed that the BB website had become the largest English-based repository of knowledge about the history and genealogy of the Burgenland. We must thank Gerry and the BB staffs, both current and past, as well as you the membership, for making this possible. Over this past year, an additional ~140 members joined, bringing current membership to over 1,660. Likewise, we list an additional ~350 surnames, bringing that total to well over 5,400.

The BB website has grown in other ways. A consolidated effort is underway to provide additional village histories. Staff member Margaret Kaiser has spearheaded that effort. (I must confess that I, in my role as Villages Editor, have been on the pointy end of that spear, as I am responsible for adding all the information she has provided!) Much of the historical information we present covers the pre-1900 period. These histories impart the "flavor" of the place and time when most of our emigrant ancestors lived there; we hope you find them interesting.

Without a doubt, the most significant addition to the BB website in 2008 is the October merger with the Burgenländers Honored and Remembered (BH&R) website. Frank Paukowits (a BB staff member) and his group document US burial locations and tombstone information for over 3,000 Burgenland immigrants. Their latest effort centers on the Upper Midwest (Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa and Wisconsin), with listings already exceeding the century mark. The BH&R efforts manifestly complement the BB efforts... we now take our emigrant ancestors from cradle to grave!

A continuing effort is the BB Newsletter. Staff members Hannes Graf and Maureen Tighe-Brown, as new Editor and Copy Editor respectively, are endeavoring to maintain its traditions while developing their own style. Gerry Berghold was a prolific and knowledgeable writer, which makes their task all the more formidable, but their first few issues indicate that our newsletter is in good hands. Thanks, Hannes and Maureen!

I send my personal thanks to the BB team of 15 staff members and editors. Your voluntary efforts were essential to the development of the current BB knowledge base; likewise, you will be key to future enhancements.

May all have a joyous holiday season and a productive 2009!

Tom Steichen



Molly and Gerry Berghold
2001 at Güssing Rosenberg
We loss Molly in May and Gerry in August 2008


Kenny Paukowits
Grandson of BB Staff Member Frank Paukowits
Born November 27, 2008
The Youngest Known Burgenland Descendent Sends
Christmas Greetings to all BB Members

Kletzenbrot


2 cups dried pears, diced
2-3 cups raisins
1 cup dried figs, diced
1/2 cup orange zest (zested and chopped fine)
2 lemons zested
On knifepoint of each: anise, coriander
1/4 cup or one airline size bottle of Brandy
5 eggs separated (whip whites and yolks separately with a fork)
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
Mix, the fruit, alcohol and spices.
Mix the egg yolks with sugar and mix into the fruits above.
Add the egg whites which have been mixed with a fork
Add flour
Pour into two greased medium sized bread pans.
Bake 40-60 min, 350 degrees. (center is done when toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs)
This is a very heavily fruited bread and yummy.


My friend from Austria sent me her recipe for Kletzenbrot a traditional Christmas pear bread from Burgenland. I have converted the measurements from theirs to ours and I have made it many times. It is delicious.


Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Chuck and Joelle Knopf


St. Nikolaus postcard
St. Nicholas Day scene by Bohemian artist Josef Lada
From the collection of BB Staff Member Bob Strauch.


Saint Nikolaus Cathedral Vienna
Built 1893 - 1899, renovated 2003 - 2008
finished at 22 of December 2008


Hannes Graf
as St. Nikolaus at 6 of December 2008 in Oberschützen


Wurzinger family Tadten 1919

Uncle Michael, uncle Josef, Grandpa Josef, aunt Maria, Grandma Maria (Lehner) & Mother Anna Wurzinger
of Hannes Graf


Forchtenstein castle
district of Mattersburg
 

The ancestors of 325+ Americans
Elisabeth Schreyer (Lehner) and brother Paul Lehner
emigrated both with families 1904 from Tadten to South Bend, Indiana.


Christmas greetings
from BB-member Mary Elizabeth Pennington Rushing


2007 Christmas card

from Hannes Graf & Elfie Resch
Trolleys at Oberschützen


Christmas postcard
Winter village scene by Bohemian artist Josef Lada
From the collection of BB Staff Member Bob Strauch.


Chicago Burgenland Men's Choir

I believe my grandfather, Joseph Mittermann, is first row bottom left. My uncles John and Frank Mittermann might also be in the photo but I don't have old pictures to confirm this. I'm hoping some might be able to attach names to faces from the past.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of the BB members!
Mike Mittermann


Synagogue Kobersdorf
Pre-1938, 3,800 Jewish citizens lived in the Burgenland.
See EXILED-Recollections of Jews from Burgenland for their story.
Concept by BB Staff Member Maureen Tighe-Brown.


Neujahrskarte
From the collection of BB Staff Member Bob Strauch


Schreyer family meeting
Around 1950 at the Sancome Avenue in South Bend, Indiana.
Elisabeth and Marton Schreyer emigrated from Tadten to South Bend in 1904.
The photo was shot by the following lady:

   

BB-member Joanne Hayden
At a excursion with husband Mike, Hannes Graf and Elfie Resch to the
 Weingut-Wurzinger
in Tadten


Vintage Photo of Sternsinger (Star Singers)
Epiphany tradition where children dressed as The Three Kings
serenade house to house collecting donations for charity.
From the collection of BB Staff Member Bob Strauch.


END OF NEWSLETTER


NOTICE (Terms and Conditions): The Burgenland Bunch (BB) was formed and exists to assist Burgenland descendants in their research into their heritage and, toward that end, reserves the right to use any communication you have with us (email, letter, phone conversation, etc.) as part of our information exchange and educational research efforts.
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Burgenland Bunch Newsletter (c) 2008 by The Burgenland Bunch
All rights reserved. Permission to copy excerpts granted if credit is provided.