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

I am very interested in joining the Burgenland Bunch and have visited your website quite a few times. But I am concerned about my name and email address appearing on your list of members on the internet. I think that information can easily be scanned by the automated robots in use all over the internet to pick up names and email for spamming purposes. Has this issue been discussed by your members in the past? I wondered what others think about this. I'd like to join, but I am a bit concerned about how public our information is on your (wonderful) site.

I replied (in part): The BB website walks a careful line between sharing information (which is our purpose) and defeating web-harvesting spiders. There is actually some anti-robot coding in use, so what is in the underlying page code (which is what a robot reads) is not the same as what you see (specifically, email address are not in the underlying code in the form of a standard address, so robots do not see them). We implemented that system seven years ago and complaints/concerns by members have essentially disappeared. Before that, rightly or wrongly, we did receive complaints.

Having said that, there is no way to provide shareable information that a dedicated programmer can’t figure out how to harvest… but one website is usually not worth their time and we have no indication that our system has ever been decoded. If we did feel it had been broken, we’d rewrite our code (which is easy for us) and break their harvester again… and they know we’d do that so they don’t bother; there are easier ways to get email addresses! Based on our tracking software, we know our pages are scanned by 15-20 robots every month (some are good ones, like Google, etc.; others are bad boys); as I said, there is no evidence that any of these are breaking our code.

Generally, I consider the BB website to be low risk to our members. Nonetheless, you’ll have to decide for yourself. Truthfully, if people can’t contact you, there is little reason to put your information on our site… and, in reverse, other people’s info would be of little use if you could not contact them.

Thanks for the kind words about the BB.



Another Burgenland? Are you aware that there is another region in Europe that is known as "Burgenland"? There is, and it is situated below a region known as Heideland, much like the Heideboden of Hungary abuts our northern Burgenland!

This Burgenland—unlike our Burgenland—is so-named because of the many castles in the area (one of its advertising slogans is that "a detour here is to visit the Middle Ages"); its name is not an official governmental-unit designation of any kind (although there is a Burgenland Kreis (District) in the neighboring German state). Both this Burgenland and its neighboring Heideland are found in the center of the German state of Saxony, beside Poland and above the Czech Republic, and between Leipzig and Dresden (marked 'A' in the map to the right). It generally follows the Mulde and Zschopau River valleys, with Romanesque castles perched on cliffs or on the densely wooded hillsides above the rivers.

The Heideland, is heathland, with the Dahlen and Duebener heaths being the major nature and cycling attractions.

So, if you see the names Burgenland and Heideland associated with Germany, now you know why. If interested, you can visit its (German-language) website at http://www.saechsisches-burgenland.de/.



Stinky Cheese: While attempting to look up some ethnic events, I stumbled across webpage http://www.hefticreek.com/Limburger_and_Liederkranz_s/1818.htm, found on the website of Hefti Creek Specialties. Now I ask you, who could resist this slogan:

Hefti Creek Specialties is your most direct source for stinky cheese. Just 5 minutes from the only factory in the US that makes these cheeses.

If you go there (the webpage), you will see the page unabashedly advertises Limburger and Liederkranz cheese (and if you go to their actual store, you'll likely be able to smell the factory!). Now Limburger I've heard of, but Liederkranz? never! Given the name of the cheese (and the slogan), I had to share... so below is the description published on the website (I don't know what to think of the "aged 1+ months" note... perhaps they quit aging it if it gets quickly stinky? lol).



Liederkranz Cheese (aged 1+ months) - 6 oz
Chalet Cheese - Monroe, Wisconsin

Relive the "good old days"... after a 25 year hiatus, Liederkranz is back!

Heritage

Liederkranz originated in upstate New York in the late 1800s as a replica of a traditional soft, smelly cheese from Germany that immigrants missed, and could no longer get because it would spoil during shipping. The cheese recipe left New York for Ohio in 1926 before finally finding a new home in Wisconsin, which has an enthusiastic German fan base.

Description

Slightly less pungent than Limburger, but similar. Surface ripened, made in small rectangles. Robust and buttery with pale yellow crust becoming golden brown with age. Spreadable.

Appearance

Moist, edible, golden yellow crust cradles a pale ivory interior with a honey-like consistency.

Texture

Soft and creamy

Flavor

Robust and buttery flavor; milder than Limburger.

Goes Well With

Pairs particularly well with dark bread and dark beer and is enjoyed as an appetizer, on salads or sandwiches, or with fruits.



Hefti Creek Specialties can be found in Monticello, WI, some 25 miles southwest of Madison. And the cheese is currently on sale for $7.49 ($2 off).



The Smithsonian Folklife Festival (Second Notice): The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, is underway, being held Wed-Sun, June 26-30 and July 3-7. If you could not make it to the first week's activities, you may wish to stop by during the second week, as the Festival has special interest to Burgenländers this year.

One of the featured programs is Hungarian Heritage: Roots to Revival, a program that "highlights the vitality of Hungary’s cultural heritage in music, costume, crafts, games, food, wine, and dance—including the 'dance hall movement,' the grassroots revival of village dance traditions in urban settings." More info about this program is at http://www.festival.si.edu/mobile/2013/Hungarian_Heritage/.

The Festival is held outdoors on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., between the Smithsonian museums. There is no admission charge. Given this is in DC in high summer, visitors should dress for hot and humid weather. Visitors are also advised to use Metrorail (use the Smithsonian station Mall exit or the nearby Federal Triangle and National Archives stations).

Other featured programs are 'One World, Many Voices: Endangered Languages and Cultural Heritage' and 'The Will to Adorn: African American Diversity, Style, and Identity.'

For more information, see: http://www.festival.si.edu/mobile/index.aspx. A Festival site map can be found at: http://www.festival.si.edu/mobile/map.aspx.



The "Other" Lakes of the Seewinkel: On April 13, the Austrian Times published a short article entitled "Forgotten Lakes Return to North Burgenland."

Due to the heavy precipitation of last winter, coupled with spring rains, the Seewinkel region in Burgenland has standing water in many meadows and fields. The article calls this a "spectacle of nature" and a "flashback to a long forgotten time."

However, this flooding should not be a great surprise; after all, these meadows and fields were created on the dry beds of lakes drained many years ago. Nonetheless, it is a situation that, according to Thomas Zechmeister, head of the biological station in Illmitz, "only occurs every few decades or centuries." How long will the water remain? He says that "will depend on the upcoming weeks and months: if the regular rainfalls stop occurring, the important bird habitats will soon vanish." But for now... well, there are more lakes in the Seewinkel!



An "American Immigrant": Hannes Graf recently sent a message that included a photo, entitled "Grösster Baum" (clicking the thumbnail clip to the right will open to the full picture), that he recently took. His message read:

Hello all, I found an "American immigrant" in Burgenland, which lives in the middle of nowhere in a forest beside Oberpetersdorf.

While it was obvious to me that this was indeed, by far, the Grösster (largest) tree in this forest, it wasn't clear why Hannes called it an American immigrant, so I inquired. Hannes replied by sending two more pictures and an explanation. He said:

It's a 50m redwood tree (Sequoiadendron giganteum) in the middle of European mixed (very rare, especially in Burgenland; I know that one, in-between 2 other, but not so tall).

A little reading in Wikipedia quickly informed me that the only natural stands of Giant Sequoia (Redwood) are in California, so that explains Hannes' American immigrant notation... but what was a 50m tree doing in Burgenland?

Further reading said that Sequoia require particular conditions to reseed themselves; in particular, a low-intensity burn off of ground cover to release the seeds from the cone, give actual, moist soil for them to embed in, and to allow enough sunlight for the seedlings to thrive. These are not seeds that can be carried by birds or animals and replanted a long way from the mother tree. So again, why is there one so large (and apparently two smaller ones) in Burgenland?

A 50m Sequoia is big... normally they grow to 50 to 85m tall, with the very fastest growing taking a full 150 years to reach 50 meters! So this is an old tree too (well, young in Sequoia years, given some are over 3500 years old, but old in people years). Thus this tree likely took root sometime before 1860, which was well before my Burgenland ancestors emigrated!

Still further reading in Wikipedia reveals that man is responsible for spreading Sequoia trees to Europe. Such trees were planted across Europe after William Lobb, acting for the Veitch Nursery at Budlake near Exeter, England, sent a large shipment of seed that was collected in 1853 in the Calaveras Grove of California (the place where most well-known pictures of Giant Redwood were taken). Seed from this batch was widely distributed throughout Europe and is the likely source for the tree Hannes found. With luck, this tree will still be standing when our 13,000th generation of grandchildren are born... quite a thought, eh?



Burgenland Recipes: We continue with recipes reprinted by permission of the Austrian Donau Club in Connecticut. Our thanks to Dennis Kern, President of the club, and to Anna Pac, who provided this recipe!



CHICKEN PAPRIKA  (from Anna Pac)
(Paprika Huhn)

2 young chickens (2½ lb. each)   1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 lb. butter                   1 large onion, diced
2 tsp. paprika                   1/2 Tbsp. flour
2 c. stock or bouillon           1 Tbsp. heavy cream
1 c. sour cream                  2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill

Rinse chicken; pat dry. Cut in serving pieces; season with salt. Place in covered bowl in refrigerator for 30 minutes. Heat butter in deep pot or Dutch oven until brown. Add onion and cook until transparent; stir in paprika. Add chicken. Cook slowly until pieces are golden. Cover and cook 30 minutes longer or until tender. Sprinkle with flour. Add stock or bouillon and heavy cream; stir. Cover and let boil 15 minutes. Remove chicken to warmed serving dish. Stir sour cream into pan stock until smooth. Pour over chicken. Sprinkle with dill. Serves 6. Goes great with mashed potatoes or nockerl/spatezle (=egg noodles).



Quote of the Month: The latest literary quote that rang my genealogical bell comes from "North River," a novel by Pete Hamill (Little, Brown & Co., 2007). In it, Izzy the Atheist, a friend of Doc Delaney, consoles Doc on the finally-confirmed death of his wife, who had disappeared nearly a year before:

"Ah, well," he said. "You and me, Doc, we come from a long line of dead people."

For me, with all my ancestors now departed, there was an added poignancy to the quote (even though it is a bit of a non sequitur as used above).

Perhaps you too find these occasional genealogically-related gems in your reading. If so, I invite you to share them with me—and I will share further with the BB readership, crediting you, of course. Perhaps your favorite quote will touch the soul of another member or two.

"Although it is customary for some historians to assume that human beings have performed their actions on a featureless landscape, these actions have always had, in reality, a geographic component. ... It is the object of this study to anchor the major movements of over two thousand years of human activity firmly in the terrain upon which they occurred. This is, therefore, a historical geography or, perhaps, a geographical history."

Burghardt's major premise is that the geography of the land shaped the development and politics of Burgenland and the surrounding region; he does a good job of supporting that view.

Burghardt, himself, was born in 1924 in New York City and was raised there. He served with the US Army in the Philippines in WW-II. He attended Harvard University (AB 1949) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison (BS 1951 and PhD 1958). Prior to beginning his doctoral studies, he worked as a cartographer for four years. His doctoral thesis was "The Political Geography of Burgenland," 1958, which was partially based on 7 months of field research carried out in Vienna, Eisenstadt and in the wider Burgenland in 1956-7, and was supported by a National Academy of Science (NAS) / National Research Council (NRC) grant. His dissertation also became NAS Publication 587. (This book is also deserving of a full report ...and I may do so some day!) Burghardt also managed to marry Miss Mary Farrell in 1956 and sired five children in the following years, leading to thirteen grandchildren.

Dr. Burghardt began his career as a teacher in 1957 at Stanford University before moving to McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) in 1961, where he remained until his retirement in 1989. His continued interest in Burgenland prompted a deeper investigation, supplemented by additional trips to Austria and Hungary. These efforts were supported by a US Fulbright Scholar grant and led directly to the writing of Borderland. Over the years, Dr. Burghardt has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Minnesota, Victoria, Guelph, and the Free University of Berlin. He specialized in Political and Historical Geography, with a focus on old roads and the beginnings of towns. Now retired some 20+ years, he is approaching his 89th birthday.

The text of the book is broken into three sections, starting with the earlier, more general discussion of the Carpathian Basin.

This first section is titled by the name the Romans gave to their part of the basin (the part southwest of the Danube river): Pannonia. Burghardt argues that the flat, dry, treeless nature of the plains and steppe that make up the floor of the elliptical basin formed by the Alps, Carpathians and the Balkan highlands is the key feature explaining the development and politics of Burgenland and the larger Basin. Simply put, the basin provided poor defensive features and little water for settled people, thus it was constantly subjected to intermittent raids by horseback-riding, nomadic tribes. The only reasonable line of defense was the Danube River, which was more formidable back then due to the wide swamps that bordered the river (now drained, of course). Thus the Romans placed their "limes" [from Latin, meaning "a fortified boundary or border"] at the river, leaving the open steppe to the north and east of the river to the marauders.

The Roman hold on Pannonia remained reasonably stable for many centuries, though raiders persistently kept challenging them. It would take until 433 before the Chinese Huns, lead by Attila and his brother Blenda (later killed by Attila to consolidate power), forced the Romans to surrender Pannonia. However, with Attila's death in 453, German tribes (Rugi, Ostrogoths, Sciri, Heruls and Gepids) soon took over the basin and the Huns quickly disappeared into the mists of time. The German Lombards, in 488, were the next to rule but held control for only 80 years before departing for Italy. This opened the way in 567 for the Avars, a Turkish/Mongolian mix, to dominate Pannonia. They would hold control until Charlemagne and the Franks defeated them around 800. These Frankish "Carolingians" would control Pannonia for 100 years, though also not without challenges and loss of territory.

Throughout the Avar period, the Slavs moved into the area from the north, working their way south, but never as a challenge to Avar rule. The Bulgars, however, worked up from the southeast during the middle of the Carolingian century, forcing the Franks to retreat toward the Danube and surrender land. By 900, the Magyar raiders began their sweep into the basin and consolidated their hold on the full Carpathian basin during the 10th century, forever bringing an end to the concept of a "Pannonian" frontier at the Danube. The Danube now became merely an internal waterway rather than an international divide.

Burghardt obviously provides much more detail than I give in the above three paragraphs but that is the essence of the first section.

He now moves to his second section: Dunántúl, the Hungarian name for the most of the lands once known as Pannonia. This covers the 1000 years that the Hungarians held the lands now known as Burgenland, beginning with the Magyar defeat by Otto I the Great, King of the Germans, in the 955 Battle of Lechfeld (near Augsburg, Germany), which ended the Magyar forays into Western Europe. Thereafter, the Magyars were content to stay in the Carpathian basin and begin their transformation from a loose confederation of tribes to an organized state. St. Stephen, and his official recognition by the Church and the western European states, was key in this transformation.

As for Burgenland, Burghardt claims that it was a gyepü, [a military glacis / empty zone] in the 1000-1100 period, as it was part of the defensive border between Western Europe and Hungary. Burghardt argues that the area was purposely kept unpopulated and unproductive as part of the defensive strategy of the Magyars, the reason being that armies lived off the land and a desolate strip of 30 miles was enough to make transit difficult. The only people allowed to live in this strip were military observation and defensive forces. However, apparently the Magyars felt secure enough in the 1100’s to start repopulating the land. Although Burghardt does not say where these initial settlers came from, it seems reasonable to assume they would be people the Magyar leadership trusted, therefore Magyar rather than German settlers. However, we know there was a sizable German contingent in the Burgenland/West Hungary area by the time of the first Ottoman/Turkish invasion of 1526. Thus, for those of us of ethnic-German Burgenland stock, we must assume that the earliest our ancestors arrived was later in the 1100-1526 time period.

Elsewhere in this second section, Burghardt speaks of the logic behind the establishment of the "1000-Year Border" (still the line separating Burgenland from Styria and Lower Austria), the establishment of the country of "Austria" and also the development of Vienna, the five centuries of Hungarian "greatness" before the Ottoman invasions, and then the Turkish-occupation years.

Of critical importance to the eventual creation of Burgenland is his final topic of this section: the switch from a political/historical definition of nationalism to a linguistics-based nationalism (a change affecting all of Europe). This "linguistic nationalism," of course, was the driving factor behind the eventual transfer of Burgenland to Austria.

Again, Burghardt provides much interesting detail on all of these topics.

He now narrows his focus in the third section: Burgenland. Burghardt starts with the details of the transfer from Hungary to Austria, discussing the political motivations of all the countries involved in the process, then detailing the establishment of the eastern border, both how it was established and the political, social and economic effects of the chosen boundary line. We have talked about these issues before... but Burghardt does it with a depth and sensitivity that make the topics well worth reviewing again.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this section is covered next, when Burghardt discusses the development of a "provincial consciousness and loyalty," that is, the idea of a local distinctiveness strong enough to become a "provincial identity," a concept which he carries through the remaining topics in the section. How to join (both physically and emotionally) the disparate parts of Burgenland—north, south and middle—to each other and to Austria, each of which was previously oriented toward a different Hungarian city, and to which the connection was now severed. He devotes a full chapter to the question of "viability" (lebensfähig in German, a word which dominated Burgenland's first decade, usually with a question mark after it.) Could Burgenland support and manage itself and could it develop governmental and economic infrastructure? And what of its ties across the new border? Would Hungary allow the transfer to Austria to stand and what of the Burgenland minorities—the Croats, Hungarians, and Gypsies, would they support a Hungarian pull-back?

His last topic is "The Burgenland Idea"—the creation of a provincial identity strong enough to overcome, on a local basis, the "linguistic nationalism" that drove its very creation. He argues that the Burgenland idea had proven strong enough to overcome the viability questions, the dissolution of Burgenland during WW-II and the effects of Communist suppression after the war. Our personal experience, based on the additional 60 years that have passed since the publication of Burghardt's book, says he was right.

Without a doubt, I agree with Gerry Berghold's 1997 assessment of the book: it is the "best general history of the Burgenland in English." If you have an opportunity to read it, you should.
 

Built in 1849, it was once the largest wind-driven grinding mill in Austria, standing some 15 meters high and capable of grinding up to 300 kg of coarse meal per hour under optimal conditions. It had two grinders, driven by the then canvas-covered sail vanes. It remained in operation until about 1926 and was fully restored in the 1975-1980 period. A tour of the mill includes information about its operation and history.

While I did not find anything about other old Burgenland windmills, I came across this curious picture:

      

No, they did not install modern wind turbines next to the old Podersdorf windmill... this is just a well-crafted photo-montage that superimposes the Podersdorf mill on an image of the Kittsee Windpark. A count, based on a Google Maps image, shows there are 18 wind turbines installed southwest of Kittsee, with another 10 just across the state line in southern Niederösterreich.

However, Kittsee is just one small part of what has been happening in Burgenland concerning wind power. In 1997, the first wind farm in Burgenland was established in Zurndorf. It would not be until some years after the adoption of the 1998 Austrian Electricity Industry and Organization Act (EIWOG), an act which created a purchase obligation by the national electrical grid, with fixed feed-in rates for eco-electricity plants, that a wind turbine building boom began in Burgenland. 2003 saw construction of wind farms in Neusiedl am See, Weiden, Gols and Pama; additional wind farms in Neudorf, Kittsee, Parndorf, Deutschkreutz and Potzneusiedl came online in 2004 and 2005. A historic day was August 27, 2005, the first day where more electricity was produced by wind power in northern Burgenland than was consumed by the whole of Burgenland. As the goal was 100% renewable, wind-driven electricity, the wind energy expansion program in Burgenland was declared provisionally complete in September, 2005.

And the declaration came just in time... because the 2006 Eco-Electricity Act limited development of additional wind farms; it would not be until 2009 that yet another Eco-Electricity Act again allowed development of further locations.

Since Burgenland's economy, and resulting energy needs, continued to rise, by 2009 it was again importing electrical power. 2010 was a year for planning and environmental impact assessments but, in 2011, construction began for wind farms in Potzneusiedl and northern Halbturn. Those were followed by construction starts in 2012 for additional wind farms in Nickelsdorf, Albrechtsfeld, southern Halbturn and Andau. When these projects are complete this year, there will be some 286 wind turbines in northern Burgenland, capable of delivering, in total, nearly 500 MW of electrical energy, enough again to supply all of Burgenland's current electrical energy needs and more, making it both electrical-energy independent and the first large-scale eco-electric supplier to the European grid.



Fifteen years ago, residents of Burgenland would have laughed if you told them their region would one day be exporting energy. Today, it is the first Energieautarkie, the German term for an energy independent region. Nonetheless, it still strives to increase self-sufficiency in renewable resources for heat and fuel... but electricity? Proudly self-sufficient, and rightfully so!