^{The News}
Dedicated to Austrian-Hungarian Burgenland Family History

       

Among the many unexpected emails I receive each month, was a recent one from biomass.conference@etaflorence.it. It contained a call for papers to be presented at the 20th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition to be held in June 2012 in Milano, Italy. As the email says, "As a valued member of the global biomass community you are highly welcome to submit your abstract and participate in this leading biomass specialist's event in 2012."

What baffles me, is how (or why) did my email address end up on the mailing list for this conference? After all, what I know of biomass is not enough to fill a toilet. Perhaps it was my writings in the BB Newsletters about the Zeil-1 EU funds... but, if so, they must have magically anticipated what appears later in this newsletter, as I do write about a biomass project near Güssing that was funded by ERDF monies. Another possibility is they quite recently scanned the web looking for names in the "global biomass community" and discovered the draft of that article, which I had uploaded to check its formatting a week or so before their email arrived. Either way, it continues to amaze me that my email address has become so widely distributed! On the off-chance that any of you readers have an interest, I'll share their website address, http://www.conference-biomass.com/; it's the least I can do, since, as their website says, "For a sustainable energy supply, biomass is indispensable!"

       

Margaret Kaiser also pointed out the following YouTube video, found on this www.austria.info webpage. The three and a half minute, English voice-over video is a nice introduction to Burgenland, concentrating on its wine, music and Landesmuseum. (I recommend that you click the little icon in the far lower right to see the video full screen.)



       

BB Member Mary Rushing wrote to say she had received a message from her distant cousin, Imre Hurtik, of Györ, Hungary (he was born in Rajka, Hungary, which is right where Slovakia, Burgenland and Hungary come together). One of the bits of news that Imre mentioned was that he was a member of the Rotary Club in Györ, being one of the coordinators of their Rotary International Student Exchange Program. This year they have two American girls and one Brazilian boy in Györ. Next year they will bring in five exchange students who will stay with them for 10 months. Correspondingly, they sent an equal number of students to other countries.

From what I read online, these exchanges are coordinated through Rotary International, but driven by the instigation and cooperation of local Rotary Clubs in the various areas. I looked at the Rotary International site and discovered that there are four Rotary Clubs in Burgenland (Eisenstadt, Oberpullendorf, Pinkafeld/Oberwart, Bruck/ Neusiedl) plus others elsewhere in nearby Austria and in Hungary.

My understanding is that if a student in the US was interested in doing an exchange in Burgenland (or anywhere else), they would need to approach a local Rotary Club in their area. The student's family would be responsible for the costs of travel and incidentals, but host families provide the local food, housing, transportation, etc. Limited scholarship help is occasionally available through Rotary but it seldom covers anywhere near the full cost. Although there is no need for the student or his/her family to be a member of a Rotary Club, the student is expected to be high school age, accomplished academically and socially, and able to communicate via the host country's language.

For those able to do this, it could be a rewarding and educational adventure. My thanks to Mary for mentioning this program.

       

Cartoon of the month: I knew there had to be an explanation!

Joking aside, I noted that the January 2012 edition of the National Geographic magazine carried an article entitled "A Thing or Two... about Twins." Being a parent of identical twin boys, I have a special interest in the topic; however, I suspect that the topic should be of interest to us all. As the article says, "...twins offer a precious opportunity to untangle the influence of genes and the environment—of nature and nurture." Because identical twins (two babies from one egg that split) have virtually identical genetic code, the differences must be due to the environment... or must they?

The article mentions a field of study that may be a third component to what we are: epigenetics. It is the study of heritable changes in genome function that occur without a change in DNA sequence. Apparently, we also pass along epigenetic markers that determine whether a particular gene will be turned on (expressed, in the parlance) or not turned on. These markers are attached as cells react to life experiences... so it may be that some of what is us is a result of the what happened to our ancestors in Burgenland, not to who they were or how they raised their children. A strange thought, indeed!
 

Ed. (Gerry Berghold) Note: Following the reforms engendered by the Revolution of 1848, Austrian and Hungarian school teachers had the daunting job of providing a basic education which would eventually bring a mostly uneducated peasantry into the modern era. Today's excellent Burgenland school system is indicative of their success. The opportunity to achieve an education through the doctoral degree with government support, available in Austria today, is not matched by many countries. It would have been unthinkable in our ancestors' time. Post 1848 school teachers had their work cut out for them. Large classes and poor facilities were just two of their problems. Not only did they personally have to cope with German, Latin and Hungarian (Croatian in some cases), they had insure that their students knew enough German and Hungarian to cope with normal bilingual relationships. In addition, students who had the opportunity and ability to advance to positions within the government, had to be fluent in Hungarian and often Latin as well. We have already printed one article in which my 2g-grandfather, Mihaly Mühl, teacher in Urbersdorf coerced the authorities to rebuild his school. Fritz Königshofer has now found further examples of the educational struggle.

Fritz writes:

Education, since 1849, is under the care of a minister of public worship and instruction. As compared with other German states, the education of Austria presents some peculiarities. There is a greater prevalence of establishments where the pupils both live and receive instruction; also of schools for special callings, Instruction, again, whether high or low, is mostly gratuitous, or of trifling cost, being provided from general or local public funds. The government has made liberal allowance for elementary education.

Another peculiarity is the sway of the clergy, both in schools and universities. The primary schools are, to a very large extent, in their hands. The number of elementary schools has increased greatly in recent times. The law enforces compulsory attendance at the "Volks-schulen," or national schools, of all children between certain ages (generally 6 and 14); and parents are liable to be punished for neglecting to send them.

Hungary is still backward in elementary education.

The subjects taught in the elementary schools of Austria are religion, reading, writing, language, arithmetic, elementary geometry, natural history, and physics, geography, history, drawing, singing, and gymnastics.

The expense of maintaining the elementary schools is defrayed in different ways in different parts of the empire, but ultimately falls on the communes or the land. The state supports the elementary schools only in a few special cases. In Austria in 1894 the attendance of the elementary schools was 8,813,000, and the number of teachers was 68,038; in Hungary (1896), 2,540,183 pupils in attendance, 28,731 teachers.

The Gymnasia and Realschulen, with courses extending over 8 and 7 years respectively, prepare students for the universities and the technical high schools. They were generally maintained by the state, by separate provinces, or by the larger communes. In the whole empire in 1894, there were 331 Gymnasia, having 6,302 teachers and 98,193 pupils; 110 Realschulen having 2,245 teachers and 32,426 pupils.

There are 11 universities in the empire: Vienna, Gratz, Innsbruck, Budapest, Prague (two universities, one German and one Bohemian - the latter founded in 1880), Cracow, Klausenburg, Lemburg, Czernowitz (founded 1875), and Agram. The largest of these universities are those of Vienna, Prague, and Budapest. The University of Vienna in 1804 had 407 members in its faculties and 5308 students; the University of Prague, 316 professors, etc., and 3754 students; the University of Budapest, 257 professors, etc., and 1008 students. Three other universities, namely those at Gratz, Cracow and Lemberg had each more than 1000 students in 1803.

Besides the universities there were in Austria 45 theological colleges, of which 41 were Roman Catholic; in Hungary 55 theological colleges, of which 30 were Catholic.

The number of students in medicine is greatly in excess of the number registered under any other university faculty. This is especially true of Vienna, which is generally considered to have the best facilities for medical study of any university in the world.

There are also a large number of establishments where the pupils are received young, and educated and trained for special professions, for the army and navy, for the counting-house, for the mine and the farm, as accoucheurs, etc. There are, besides, a large number of Institutes for the promotion of science and art.

The fruits of this extensive educational system are not what might be expected, in consequence of the priestly and monarchical restrictions which hedge it round. The chief libraries are the Imperial and university libraries of Vienna. There were (1805) in the whole monarchy 3181 periodical prints.

“The Encyclopedia of Social Reform” (1897, WDP Bliss, editor) indicates that Hungary spent the equivalent of $0.42 per year per capita for elementary education in 1890 (and that 12.6% of the population was enrolled in elementary schools that year) while Austria spent ($0.22, Federal only) and had 13.1% enrolled. Combined, they had 5.3 million elementary students in 1890… the text quoted above shows 8.8 million students in 1894, so there must have been a push for greater compliance in the 1890s (or more children of the appropriate age).

This second source also says “According to official statistics, 86 percent of the children of school age were attending school in Austria in 1891.”

Despite these numbers, it is estimated that 28% of Hungarian emigrants arriving at Ellis Island in 1891 were illiterate… so maybe this also argues for a campaign of greater compliance in the Empire in the 1890s. (The first source, see quoted passage above, did say “The number of elementary schools has increased greatly in recent times.”)
 

Priority Axis	EU Contribution	National Contribution	Total Contribution
Competitiveness and innovative regional economy structures	60 519 600	20 173 200	80 692 800
Infrastructure and sustainable regional development	59 506 287	19 835 429	79 341 716
Technical assistance	5 001 077	1 667 026	6 668 103
Total	125 026 964	41 675 655	166 702 619

Here, you can see that, like the ESF funding, 75% of the total ERDF funding comes from the EU, with Austria providing the remainder. The funds are nearly equally split between the first two priorities (48.5% vs. 47.5%) with the remaining 4% going to the third priority. Given that Burgenland has ~285,000 residents, the total ERDF funding translate to an investment of ~€585 (~$805) per person.

[Note: Impressive as that is, if the US were to fund a similar program here, investing the same per person, it would total $252 billion, or $36 billion per year. Interesting, though, according to a 2001 US GAO (General Accounting Office) report, "The federal government has spent an average of about $59 billion annually since the 1980s on the nation’s civilian infrastructure" (see http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01986t.pdf); a separate 2011 Federal spending estimate for infrastructure was $73 billion. Since these US Federal programs usually require a matching State contribution of 20% (see same report), this totals some $74 billion per year (pre-2001) and $91 billion in 2011.

However, total infrastructure spending in the US is dominated by State and Local funding, not Federal funding, with only about 25% of the total being provided by the Federal government (see same report and numerous others, for example: Infrastructure 2011). Thus, true governmental infrastructure spending amounts to ~$236 billion per year (pre-2001) or ~$292 billion in 2011. These numbers dwarf the EU spending per year in Burgenland.

But, the comparison in the above paragraph does not take into account the independent infrastructure spending in Burgenland by the Austrian, Burgenland and local governments, so the comparative numbers of the first paragraph may be more appropriate. Even so, that first comparison suggests the US Federal government's infrastructure investment is double to triple that of the EU.]

       

Example Projects from the Previous ERDF Cycle

To give some idea of how ERDF funds were spent by Burgenland in the previous funding cycle, I'll comment on three projects.

Renewable energies by scrap timber gasification: This project took place in Güssing from 1995 to 1999, being funded by €1.3 million from the ERDF program, as well as other sources. It would have been funded under Priority axis 2, Infrastructure and Sustainable Regional Development.

Based on Viennese scientist Hermann Hofbauer's research for making synthetic fuel from wood, which showed that, by injecting steam rather than air into a gasification chamber, biomass could be turned into gas with very little tar, the mayor of Güssing and an electrical engineer, also from Güssing, decided to ask Vienna's Technical University to build a pilot project.

The pair embarked on a massive fund-building crusade, getting grants and approvals from the EU, the Austrian government and the regional government. "The result was a plant with two connected fluidised bed chambers, one for the gasification itself, the other for combustion. The breakthrough technology uses steam to separate carbon and hydrogen from scrap timber. The molecules are then recombined to make a form of natural gas."

Some of this gas is burned in the combustion chamber to provide heat for the gasification. The rest of the gas is cooled—the heat going into the Güssing district heating system—and cleaned. It can then be used in various ways. At present, it is being burned in a gas engine that powers an electrical generator, with the waste heat from that also going into the district heating system. However, the gas can also be used for the production of synthetic diesel oil or sold as synthetic natural gas, should those uses prove move valuable.

Now at full capacity, when all the gas is burned for electricity, the plant produces 14,000 megawatt-hours of power a year. The cost is around 0.15€ per kWh, which is much less than the price, ~0.25€, being paid for other sources of electricity in the area. It is estimated that this pilot plant, together with another wood-fired heating system with a capacity of 42 MW, means that €18 million stays in the Güssing district each year that otherwise would have gone elsewhere. In total, it represents a massive return on investment and makes Güssing more self-sufficient for electricity and heat.

The availability of cheap heat (about 30% cheaper) and electricity has also led to over 1,000 new jobs being created in and around the town, including 100 in a new office building on an industrial estate which houses the European Centre for Renewable Energy. This employs 12 people itself and the other people renting space in the building are mostly from companies or consultancies in the renewable energy industry. One of the centre's activities is arranging visits for the increasing number of visitors who come to see what Güssing has done, an activity which itself creates employment in hotels and restaurants.

       

Synthetic galantamine production: This project took place in Neufeld an der Leitha from 2000 to 2006, being funded by €2.8 million from the ERDF program, as well as other sources. It would have been funded under Priority axis 1, Competitiveness and Innovative Regional Economy Structures.

Galantamine is a chemical compound which is used to treat memory loss and slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. This is especially important given that roughly two-thirds of all people over 90 suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.

Galantamine was originally extracted from the bulbs and flowers of Galanthus Caucasicus, more commonly known as the spring flower Snowdrop, as well as related flowers. In the 1950s, one kilogram of galantamine cost up to $30,000 to produce given that a ton of Snowdrops yielded just 8 grams of galantamine. The research into the industrial  chemical synthesis of galantamine carried out by SanoChemia Pharmazeutika AG made it possible to produce the substance in volume at a much more reasonable cost, leading to worldwide patents in 1996 and 2000.

While Snowdrop flowers are likely to be the last thing visitors to Sanochemia will spot, the site in Neufeld an der Leitha accommodates the entire gamut of research, production, technology and logistics required for the industrial production of galantamine. The site produces a white power, which is then processed into pills and sold worldwide under the name Reminyl by Johnson & Johnson and Shire Pharmaceuticals.

Anton Dallos, Chief Technical Officer of SanoChemia, reported that "about 5 tons of galantamine were chemically generated, enabling the production of effective and affordable Alzheimer drugs” by the Neufeld facility in 2005.

The industrial synthesis of galantamine has created around 100 jobs at Sanochemia in Neufeld, with two thirds of these positions, mostly in the fields of chemistry, process engineering, pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering, being held by Burgenland residents.

Their innovation and research potential is helping to guarantee Sanochemia’s place in the pharmaceuticals market. Since 1996, when the company was awarded its first patent on the industrial synthesis of galantamine, its reputation as a major research-oriented player has continued to grow. Synthesis now accounts for over 60% of the company’s turnover.

       

Technologie Zentrum Eisenstadt (TZE): This project, as my title suggests, took place in Eisenstadt, being funded by €7.2 million from the ERDF program, as well as €25 million from other sources. It would have been funded under Priority axis 1, Competitiveness and Innovative Regional Economy Structures.

The Technologie Zentrum Eisenstadt, which opened in 1997, is home to multinational firms, SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) and young start-ups specializing in information technology.



It consists of a series of ultramodern buildings and rooms, with all the digital and IT facilities needed for advanced communication technology activities. There are also various collective facilities, such as a videoconferencing room.

Since the establishment of the Technology Center, the economy of the Eisenstadt basin has grown on average by 3.6% per annum and created an additional 5,200 jobs. At the regional level, TZE has unquestionably made Burgenland more competitive while offering numerous training and long-term employment opportunities.

The TZE's success also led to the creation of five other Burgenland technology centers (in Neusiedl am See, Neutal, Pinkafeld, Güssing and Jennersdorf) that are based on the same model but specialize in other sectors.