Go back to Villages, Page K Go to
Village Histories Index Page
Kroatisch Ehrensdorf (Hungarian: Horvát-Hásos; Croatian: Hrvatski Haa)
Ortsteil (population in 1934 was 191; now 91) of the municipality of Eberau, it is a Kroatisch-speaking, largely
Catholic, lineal village in Güssing district. The other villages of the municipality (formed in 1971) are Eberau, Gaas,
Kulm and Winten. From 1971 to 1993, Oberbildein and Unterbildein were also part of the municipality.
According to the Ortschronik, the Zrinski (Zrinyi) family had been provided with land in the Pinkatal area of
Burgenland, and the origin of the town was traced back to that time period. Peasants aligned with the Zrinski family,
who lived in the area of Kostajnica, relocated to Burgenland at that time, fleeing the Turks.
The district book on Güssing (Güssing im Wandel der Zeit, Kirsner & Peternell), states that the Croat settlement
was carved out from the medieval proper of Hásos (Ehrensdorf). The nearby domain of Eberau went to the family
Bakocz from Transylvania in 1496, who were raised into aristocracy and assumed the name Erdödy. They embraced
Protestantism. In a swap of domains in 1556, which apparently was later contested, Peter II. Erdödy transferred the
domain to Count Nikolaus Zrinyi, descendent of old Croat nobility. The Zrinyi family stayed in Eberau till 1613. The
influx of Croats in the Eberau area happened between 1545 and 1561, encouraged by both the Erdödy and Zrinyi families.
When Thomas Erdödy converted back to Catholicism, he won the legal fight for the domain in 1613. From that time onwards,
the Erdödy family was in command again. Thus it appears that the Erdödy were the overlords of Kroatisch Ehrensdorf, but
probably acted in concordance with the Batthyánys.
There were two waves of Croat immigration. The first wave happened under Franz Batthyány around 1550. The other happened
around 1650 under Adam Batthyány. Kroatisch Ehrensdorf, according to the district book, was founded during the first
wave. If so, the settlers may well have come from the area of Kopreinitz in Croatia, which apparently was the area of
origin of the Croats in the region around nearby Rechnitz. However, this is inconsistent with the Kroatisch Ehrensdorf
Ortschronik, which names the area around Kostajnica, Croatia, some 150 km further south.
First mentioned in a document in 1659 as Horvath Hassos, the early residents of Kroatisch Ehrensdorf were, for
about 100 years, a part of Ehrensdorf (Hásos), which existed from at least 1297, but the village split, Hásos
then becoming Német Hásos (Deutsch Ehrensdorf).
Until 1814, a single church, in a vineyard between Deutsch Ehrensdorf and Kroatisch Ehrensdorf, served both villages (a
field cross now stands there as a memorial). From 1814-1929, residents attended church in Sankt Kathrein
(Pósa-Szent-Katalin) in the Oberwart district. In 1928, with substantial financial help from emigrants in America, the
village built the Church of the Sacred Heart, which opened in 1929. In 1929, the American emigrants helped again,
this time to replace the church bells lost to the war.
Family History Library microfilms:
Catholic: Római Katólikus Egyház, Pósa-Szent-Katalin [Film 700714]
Civil: Monyorókerék (Vas). Anyakönyvi Hivatal [Films 2227444; 2236200-5]
Go back to Villages, Page K Go to
Village Histories Index Page