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

This newsletter concerns:

1) THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER

2) THE DIVERGENT DEVELOPMENT OF TWO VILLAGES IN THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN BORDER REGION [Part 1] (by Monika Maria Varadi and Doris Wastl-Walter)

3) FINE-TUNING THE BH&R MODULE (by Frank Paukowits)

4) "MARGINAL" ENTRIES IN CIVIL MARRIAGE RECORDS

5) HISTORICAL BB NEWSLETTER ARTICLES:
    - OCCUPATIONS OR TITLES?

6) ETHNIC EVENTS

7) BURGENLAND EMIGRANT OBITUARIES (courtesy of Bob Strauch)

Once you edit the name, the "Highlight the Full Name" button lights up (turns from gray to blue) and you are directed to draw a box around the incorrect text.

Here is what it looks like after doing all this:

Now I click the "Save" button and my edit becomes the searchable entry in the index:



As you can see above, my spelling is now the clickable link, though the previous spelling is shown below it and other people can both review my edit and choose to re-edit it. Here is what you get when you click the "Edit/View History" link:



You can see that I am identified as the person providing the correction, along with the date I did it, my reason for doing it, and the optional note I added. You can also see that someone else can edit this too... but I hope not, as I know this is a valid correction.

I suggest you freely provide corrections when you have strong reason to believe your correction is valid; it will help future researchers. I also suggest you refrain from getting into a "pissin' contest" with anyone who insists their interpretation is better... having 16 edits, jumping back and forth between two interpretations, is no benefit to anyone.



Incorrect Civil Recording Districts: BB staffer Patrick Kovacs pointed out that we had an error in the listed civil recording districts for Neustift bei Güssing (Ujtelep). What we had listed was: Güssing (before 1907); Gerersdorf bei Güssing (after 1908).

What we should have had was: Güssing (before 1907); Gerersdorf bei Güssing (1907-1908); Güssing (after 1908).

In investigating this error, it also became apparent that two other villages were listed incorrectly also. Krottendorf (Békafalu) was shown as: Güssing. Instead, it should have been the same as Neustift: Güssing (before 1907); Gerersdorf bei Güssing (1907-1908); Güssing (after 1908).

Heugraben (Szénásgödör, Sirovnicza) was wrongly: Stegersbach. It should have been: Stegersbach (before 1907); Gerersdorf bei Güssing (1907-1908); Stegersbach (after 1908).

Tudersdorf (Taródcencs) and Kroatisch Tschantschendorf (Horvatcsencs) were also affected by this 2-year change in civil recording district, but we had already corrected the assignments for them.

For completeness, the Hungarian names for the affected recording districts were:
Gerersdorf bei Güssing = Németszentgrót
Stegersbach = Szentelek
Güssing = Németujvár

All of these changes have been applied to our FamilySearch FS Films pages and our Villages pages.



The Facebook Bunch (from Vanessa Sandhu):

Greetings Burgenland Bunch!

Here is a quick recap of what you might have missed if you haven’t joined us in our Facebook group! Please feel free to join us. We now have 1008 members, adding 32 this past month, and we would love to have you with us, too! We love to help!
facebook.com/groups/TheBurgenlandBunchOFFICIAL/

On June 23rd, I visited the Coplay Sängerbund to attend their Stiftungsfest. It was a wonderful event! It was well attended and the weather was perfect! I went “live” from the event, sharing some videos of the music played by the Emil Schanta Band and the Lancaster Liederkranz. Several members of our group were in attendance.


Emil Schanta Band (left) and the Lancaster Liederkranz singers (right), at the Coplay Sängerbund

We had several nice discussions this month. Members shared recipes for Sauerkraut mit einbrenne (roux). Member Nancy Gloeckler Coughlin shared photos of some beautiful old Austrian coins and some of our knowledgeable members were able to give us more information about them. Member Gary Huss shared some fantastic photos of his visit to the Bridge at Andau. Member Rudolf Wolf shared some great photos of the Museum in Gerersdorf bei Güssing. Bill Funovits shared photos from his visit to Weiden bei Rechnitz, and Fred Knarr shared some photos of his collection of vintage Burgenland postcards.

Member Ingrid Fleisher was kind enough to share photos of the Friedhof St. Martin/Raab (Rabaszentmarton). She reported that very few old gravestones were left.

Gerald Gamauf shared a link to a (German language) Burgenland history blog: https://www.brettl.at/blog/.

Christoph Fertl shared an exciting new project that is in the works from Land Burgenland. The project is showcasing aerial views of Burgenland. We will post a link when the project is complete. The trailer is breathtaking!

To close, here is a beautiful song performed by MusiBanda Gramüposcha, entitled “Nach Meiner Heimat” (To My Homeland): https://youtu.be/V1M5rrhdSgo.

Have a great day! Vanessa



Update for book "The Burgenländer Emigration to America": Here is this month's update on purchases of the English issue of the 3rd edition of Dr. Walter Dujmovits' book "Die Amerika-Wanderung Der Burgenländer."

Current total sales are 1434 copies, as interested people purchased 8 more books during this past month.

As always, the book remains available for online purchase at a list price of $7.41 (which is the production charge for the book, as we purposely choose not to make a profit so we can avoid dealing with the income tax consequences and so you can obtain the book at as low a cost as possible!), plus tax & shipping. See the BB homepage for a link to the information / ordering page and for information about current discounts (there is at least one discount on price or shipping available most of the time... if not, wait a few days and there will be one!).



Burgenland Recipes: Here is another recipe from Allentown's St. Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church, provided by Louise Fielding; simple, hearty and nutritious. It's nice to see a rare vegetable recipe; most of our collection is main dishes and desserts.

TOMATE KRAUT - (Tomato Cabbage) (from St. Peter's Church)

Ingredients-cabbage:
1 large head cabbage
1 Tbsp vinegar

2 cans tomato soup
about 3 cans water

Ingredients-roux:
7 Tbsp shortening
14 Tbsp flour

Preparation-cabbage:
- Using a large soup pot, boil enough water to cover the cabbage. - Add the vinegar and cabbage, then cook for about 20 minutes, then drain.
- Add the tomato and measured water back to the drained cabbage. - Cook again for about 15 minutes or until tender, about the same amount of time it takes to make the roux base.

Preparation-roux:
- Melt the shortening and add the flour. Keep stirring until mixture gets brown, about 10-15 minutes.
- Take 1 or 2 cups of the cabbage liquid and add to saucepan; keep stirring until smooth.
- Add this roux to the cabbage; mix well.

Serving suggestion:
- Good served with ham or pork.



Note: We again have a "regular" source for Burgenland recipes.

Nonetheless, if you have a favorite family recipe, please consider sharing it with us. Our older relatives, sadly, aren't with us forever, so don't allow your favorite ethnic dish to be lost to future generations.

You can send your recipe to BB Recipes Editor, Alan Varga. Thanks!



Cartoon of the Month:

Moschendorf (Nagysároslak)

The same is true of the houses: the number of houses in Pinkamindszent diminished from 132 to 107; in Moschendorf the lowest number was 158 in 1981. Since that time, the number has increased, especially in regard to second homes and houses belonging to retired persons. The difference in the living conditions in the two villages, which can be shown by statistical data and intensive interviews, is the result of a short, but serious and far-reaching process. This we will now discuss in detail.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: GRADUAL SEPARATION OVER PERIOD OF YEARS (1900-1948)

Between Körmend and Güssing

The two villages investigated are situated in an agricultural area where, at the turn of the century, two bigger towns could be found: Körmend and Güssing. Today they have 12,165 and 3,886 inhabitants respectively, but in 1900 Körmend already had three times as many inhabitants as Güssing. In both towns there is an royal castle (belonging to the family Batthyány), but Körmend was always more important as a domain, while Güssing had a very peripheral location at the western Hungarian border.

In Körmend there were several central functions and a better infrastructure and therefore a more differentiated social structure. In the town of Körmend around 1900, 28.5% of the population made a living from agriculture, 47.5% from trade and business, and 10.2% from official and personnel services. In Güssing, 43.4% made a living from agriculture, only 30% from trade, and 14.9% from official and personnel services. The farms, shops and trading centers were in general family businesses, which means that people who wanted to get a job or to learn a trade had to go to Szombathely, Budapest, or even to the United States. The two towns could not work as a growth and development factor for the region.

The Rural Society: Small Farmsteads and Tiny Fields Characterized the Agrarian Structure

The western Hungarian villages in 1900 were, in general, farming villages, with about 80% of the population working in agriculture. The few artisans were often not indigenous because of the high mobility of this class under the monarchy. The number of artisans did not grow until the end of the Second World War, because the needs of the local rural population were already met in the region, especially in Körmend. In addition, the requirements of the local people were quite small, because they themselves produced most of what they needed (clothing, furniture, etc.). For this reason the local businesses were small, and could not provide for the needs of a whole family. The artisans also had to run a farm, and often it was the duty of the wife to do this. However, not only in the economy were the artisans closely connected with the farmers: their economic strategies corresponded to the norms and values of the agrarian society. They tried to marry into farm families; they invested their profit, not in the modernization of their businesses, but in buying farm land.

As a consequence of the egalitarian heritage system (Segalen, 1984), in which the inheritance as a whole, and every part thereof it is divided equally among the heirs, and because birth control was unknown or unacceptable as a legal strategy, the farmsteads were very small. The average size in Moschendorf was 6.3 joch (except for the large estates of the family Batthyány), and in Pinkamindszent, 7.4 joch. Agriculture served mainly for self-support, demonstrable in the mixed farming. Farms produced hardly anything for market; if they did, it was usually only milk.

To avoid further splitting of the property and to enlarge it, if possible, in both local societies several strategies were applied: the most important of them was marriage. In our investigation, we found in both villages a very strong endogamy. There were also, because of the different languages, two separate circles. Among more than 80% of our interviewees, both grandparents came from the same village. Among the young people as well, this trend is unbroken: in more than 60% of the cases, the marriage partner is from the same village. In nearly every family there were children who were not marriageable because of the endogamy, or who were not allowed to marry, in order to avoid splitting the property any more. As families had no birth control, the average number of children was very high, even if only half of the children born could survive to adulthood. Women also had to bear children as long as they were capable of childbearing, because as long as small children lived in the house, the inheritance was not to be divided among the heirs.

In each village, among the 10 to 15 families who had a larger farmstead (15 to 20 joch with 20 to 25 cattle), there was also used another strategy, which cannot be shown by the official statistics: in spite of the legal division of the inherited property, the heirs ran the farm together. This kind of farm management was brought about by small advances in modernization (especially machines and equipment) together with the splitting system, but it also prevented further development, because all adults were involved in this kind of organization.

In general there were small farms only. In Moschendorf the situation was even worse than in the neighboring village, because out of 271 rural workers, only 101 owned their own; 74 of these properties were under 10 joch. In Pinkamindszent it was nearly the same; among 310 rural workers, 154 owned their own fields; 105 of these owned a very small farmstead.

Table 2. The Structure of the Farmers in Moschendorf and Pinkamindszent 1900 and 1950.

In spite of all strategies, in these families especially, agriculture could not supply the needs of the continuously growing population. Since the seventies of the last century emigration already seemed the only suitable solution for young people of this western Hungarian region. Between 1890 and 1914, about 33,000 persons left this region, usually to go to the industrial regions of North America: to Chicago, Pennsylvania and New York. From 1918 to 1938, about 25,000 persons from Burgenland (the new name for the then Austrian part of western Hungary) went overseas to many countries, including Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Bolivia. The peak emigration year was 1923, with 6,683 emigrants (see Dujmovits, 1975). During the Hungarian era of the monarchy, the number of emigrants to America is estimated for the time from 1867 to 1918, at about 2 million, among them 1.5 million to the United States. 75% of these emigrants were farmers, half of them day laborers. Only 33% were Hungarians, which means there was a high percentage from the minorities, especially from the non-industrialized periphery (see Romsics, 1985).

Moschendorf and the neighboring Deutsch Schützen were the communities with the highest number of emigrants at that time. In nearly every family one or more members emigrated, mostly to the United States, sometimes also to Canada or Argentina.

[A typical example is a family, in which, of the 12 children born, 6 died in childhood, and 5 emigrated (4 sons to Buenos Aires, New York, Florida and Budapest, respectively, 1 daughter to New York). Only the youngest daughter stayed at home, and inherited the small farm.]

For the rural society, this safety valve of emigration signified that pressure in favor of fundamental agrarian reform was not too great. Therefore, no real change can be shown: the system of the ownership of possessions and of farm management were handed down. As a result, emigration as a personal solution continued until the sixties. There are families where members of three generations emigrated. Many of them went to America with the idea of coming back when they had saved enough money. Although many of them had married there a partner from their home village, only 11 families came back. The family members in the States played an important role in the lives of those who remained at home. They helped by sending parcels of needed supplies, and introduced modern products in these villages (for example, slips!). Even a long time after the Second World War, American parcels with food (chocolate) and clothing were an important help for those people. "Formerly we did not have anything, we were poor people. My father had an aunt in the USA, and she sent us clothes. I went to my first communion in an American dress, to my confirmation in an American dress, and I also married in an American coat. After the War, thousands and thousands of parcels came from our American relatives and helped us." (Woman in Moschendorf).

In Pinkamindszent, only 31 persons emigrated, mostly before the First World War. Six men went several times to the States, but finally came back and stayed at home. In general, they went to America for economic reasons; in only two cases we heard that they went because they were afraid of the military service. The aim was to get money to create a secure livelihood in the local society. Most of these who emigrated came from the very small farms and they wanted to earn enough to ensure having farmland enough to provide for their needs. It is typical for Pinkamindszent, as a part of the majority and leading nation, that in general people migrated to Budapest or other urban centers.

Concerning the socioeconomic structure, both villages were characterized by a traditional agrarian society until the beginning of the sixties. They had in common not only the problem of the splitting of the properties, but also the fact that the social structure did not show a real differentiation. There were no important social differences; life in the local societies was molded by hard work, frugality, moderation and religious devotion, and the members of the local society were judged by this.

Also the means of communication and the social life in both villages were similar. In the center was the fire brigade building where balls were held especially at carnival time. To these balls, the inhabitants of the neighboring villages were also invited. In addition, for men in Moschendorf, the wine cellars were places for social life on Sundays; in Pinkamindszent men met together in the inns and workshops of the artisans. Children and young people usually met at events organized by the teacher, cantor or pastor. Married women saw each other when going to church, or at the milk collection center.

This picture of a traditional agrarian society generally holds true until the sixties, although historical events brought about the first ruptures earlier.

The National Border is Established (1921)

The present-day border between Austria and Hungary was established in 1921. Up to that time, the two villages had lived side by side and together. Now they became border villages, which changed their situation fundamentally, while not really causing it to deteriorate. The division of the area by an international border did not bring with it either basic social upsets nor shocks on an individual level, because the physical division followed in general the language border. Pinkamindszent lost the German-speaking villages of the community but it remained the community center. Moschendorf lost the important traffic connections and had to build up its own structure. Two-thirds of the community border was also international border, which clearly shows the out-of-the-way-location. In Moschendorf, the official language was also changed; school lessons were now in German and Hungarian, as officialese disappeared. This was the reason why, as time passed, knowledge and use of the other languages were gradually lost.

Border Crossing Relations and Trade

After the border was established, Körmend remained the economic and cultural center of the region up to the time of the Second World War; for example, Austrian families continued to send their children for higher education to Hungary (Körmend, Köszeg). In Burgenland such a well-functioning system of urban centers could be set up only little by little, and so the micro-region of Körmend was not immediately destroyed. On the contrary, new economic relations were established, and many families profited from them, especially from smuggling: people from Moschendorf bought sugar or other staples in Pinkamindszent. For other things, like clothes, Körmend was still the shopping place; but now it was reachable only by crossing the international border. But there was also big-business smuggling; for example, cattle were brought into Austria to be sold there. People from Pinkamindszent went across the border to work illegally in Austria. Those who had fields on the other side of the border could go there with a border pass, and also social contacts lasted for a long time. Guests from Austria also came to the Mardi Gras balls in Pinkamindszent and, when Hungarians wanted to make a religious pilgrimage, they were invited to Moschendorf. Thus, a lot of intercultural and neighborly contacts existed until the end of the Second World War, when all that ended. The border had been permeable; traditional social and business relations could be maintained, even if they were sometimes illegal. The decisive rupture came only after the end of the war.



We will continue next month with:

THE PARTING OF THE WAYS (1945-1960)...

# 1) 22 szám.

This is the sequential record number of the marriage within the year, so the entry we are speaking of was the 22nd marriage entry in 1902. These marginal entries are numbered  just like "regular" marriage entries and are part of the common sequential numbering system.

# 2) Kelt: Német Szent Gróthon 1902 /:ezerkilenczszáz kettő:/ évi november hó 10 /:tizedik:/ napján.

This is where the local registrar identifies his location and the date of entry into his records... it is not the date or place of the marriage... in fact, it is likely a place well distant and a date well after the actual marriage place and date, as it takes some time for information to be provided to him.


[= Dated: in Német Szent Grót
on the 10 /:tenth:/ day of the month of November in the year 1902 /:nineteen hundred two:/.]

Please note that the registrar wrote his location as Német Szent Gróthon but we translated it as in Német Szent Grót. That is because the Hungarian language uses "endings" to modify meaning... that is, that -on ending says in the place it is attached to. You'll need to remove those when you list the place name. The "h" in Gróthon is merely part of an alternate spelling for Grót.

The rest of that line is a date, and even though this date is not terribly relevant, I'll explain dates here. The date in question is November 10, 1902. Both 10 and 1902 should be self-evident in the text... the stuff between indicators /: and  :/ that directly follow these numbers is those numbers spelled out. Given that, you can ignore any text set off this way! Words évi, hó and napján mean year, month and day. That leaves the month itself, which often will be lower case, but should be identifiable, even in its Hungarian form.

# 3) A simmeringi plébániai hivatal által 1901 évi február hó 28-án kiállított hivatalos házassági levél alapján bejegyeztetik a következő házasság.

This is information about where the data came from: the church or civil marriage location and the date the marriage certificate was issued... it is not the date of the marriage but likely will be the place.

The keyword to look for here is plébániai (meaning parish) and the name of that parish will appear right before that key word. In this case, the place name is shown as simmeringi. Yes, it is lower case, and the i on the end of it is not part of the place name, which is Simmering (a suburb of Vienna). Both the lower case and the added i are due to how Simmering is used in the sentence (you don't need to know why it is written this way in Hungarian, you just need to know the place name will appear in this manner and in this position). Also, note that our keyword was split between lines... it happens! ...so keep that in mind when searching for things.



Again a date appears, but it is not the most important one, so we'll move on... but you can practice reading it if you want... I'll wait!

# 4) Mint vőlegény: Pelczmann Károly németszentgróthi születésű római katholikus vallású 34 éves nőtlen segéd munkás.

As mentioned earlier, this part starts with a key search phrase, Mint vőlegény (= as groom), so you should know what this section is about:

Pelczmann Károly = Károly (Karl) Pelczmann (the groom)
németszentgróthi születésű = born in Németszentgrót
római katholikus vallású = Roman Catholic religion
34 éves = 34 years old
nőtlen = single (never married) male
segéd munkás = an occupation (in this case, an unskilled worker)



# 5) Mint menyasszony. Gammer született Billovits Mária - bányai születésű - római katholikus vallású 32 éves hajadon segéd munkás nő.

Again, this section starts with a key search phrase, Mint menyasszony (= as bride), so you should know basically what it is about. I'll let you work it out based on the groom's translation above, with the exception of telling you that hajadon is the female equivalent of nőtlen and that nő means woman.



# 6) Pelczmann György éjjeli őr és Billovits Ádám napszámos tanúk előtt a simmeringi plébániai templomban 1901 /:ezerkilenczszáz egy:/ évi január ho 7 /:hetedik:/ napján házasságott kötöttek.

There are three elements here that you should pick out. The names are the witnesses, György (George) Pelczmann and Adam Billovits... do you see them?:



The second element is the place of the wedding... find keyword plébániai and work out the place name before it... you should get Simmering again (don't let yourself be thrown by the gaps in the keyword nor the fact that the place name is split between two lines):



The third element is the date of the wedding. Like before, pull out the numbers (ignoring their spelled-out forms) and grab the month from what is left... you should come up with January 7, 1901 (nearly two years before the marriage was entered into the home records!):



At this point, you should have all the critical information from the record... but I'll finish it out anyway, though I won't bother with images:

# 7) Lezárás előtt a bejegyzésben levő és a menyasszonyra vonatkozó hajadon szó özvegyre igazítattik ki.

Here is where the registrar will add any "odd" information... so there will be no fixed form here. You can try to work it out via GoogleTranslate or you can send me a note and I'll translate or get one of my experts to help me. In this case, the registrar is correcting his own error (he wrote above that the bride was never married when she obviously was a widow.)

# 8) Zámbory Győző s.k. anyakönyvvezető. Az első példánnyal való megegyezés hiteléül.

This is where the registrar swears it is a true copy of the original marriage certificate.

# 9) Német Szent Gróth 1902 évi november hó 10 napján. [Zámbory] anyakönyvvezető

And here is where he signs off for the completed record (just as he does for a "regular" marriage record).



So, there you have it. Elements 4, 5 and 6 are the parts that contain the critical information. Even without understanding Hungarian, you should now be able to extract the critical data from these sections. If you think you are missing something, drop us a note and we'll try to help.

Given all the above, you also have adequate information to track down the original marriage entry in the Simmering church book, found here: http://data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/wien/11-altsimmering/02-19/?pg=9.

In subsequent newsletters, I'll work through a "marginal" birth and a "marginal" death record.
 

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