^{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 2] (by Monika Maria Varadi and Doris Wastl-Walter)

3) TRIP REPORT: MARIA WEINBERG, JULY 2019 (by Anita O'Brien)

4) "MARGINAL" ENTRIES IN CIVIL DEATH RECORDS

5) HISTORICAL BB NEWSLETTER ARTICLES:
  - Changes To A Major Burgenland Immigrant Enclave: Allentown, PA

6) ETHNIC EVENTS

7) BURGENLAND EMIGRANT OBITUARIES (courtesy of Bob Strauch)

In spite of the fact that we can already see in all these events and evolutions the processes of later on, we can say that the local society of both villages in the fifties was characterized by the same traditional agrarian structure and a general poverty. The basically diverging development only started in the sixties.

MODERNIZATION AND RESIGNATION (1960-1980)

From the sixties on, in Moschendorf as well as in Pinkamindszent, there began to be a restructuring of the traditional agrarian society, with a large migration and an increasing number of commuters and, for these reasons, a change in the socioeconomic bases of the households. Education and professional training became more and more important.

But the modernization proceeded in differing political and economical frameworks; therefore, there were great differences in the quality and the intensity.

Two basic aspects will be examined in the following: the question of ownership, and the structures of political power. In both cases, it is the question of autonomy and the possibility of self-determination: for individuals, families and for communities. Freedom and the right to choose for every individual and for the local societies has been very different in the two systems.

Socio-Economic Changes and Rural Exodus

During the sixties and seventies, Moschendorf, as well as the whole of Burgenland, profited from the general economic development and, therefore, the migration could be kept to a lower level than in Pinkamindszent (see Table 1). Another reason is that the abandonment of agriculture took place in Moschendorf as well as in the Hungarian neighborhood, but not as radically as in the latter.

In Austria the changes in the agrarian structure under a constant legal framework (concerning ownership) often meant looking for another job while keeping the farm as an additional source of income (sometimes they sell the fields and only keep the vineyards). Sometimes it also means the feminization of agriculture (the wife runs the farmstead and the husband works as a commuter in Vienna). In Hungary, the sudden collectivization of the agrarian production led to a total loss of autonomy for businesses and to dramatic changes for individuals. In Moschendorf, the socioeconomic changes were accompanied by a technical modernization (of the private farms) and an intensification of the production. The heritage system was also changed: instead of giving to each of the children (now less numerous) a share of the farmstead, only one child got the farm and the others often got a better education. But, although up until the last few years, there were many investments in the agrarian production. It is probable that, with the succession of the next generation, several farms will be given up.

In Pinkamindszent, the second wave of collectivization in 1959/1960 took away the farmers' survival base. Although the farmers had brought their substance and their specific knowledge into the agricultural production cooperative, they saw the future of their children as outside agriculture, and hence, outside the locality. Even when they could make a bit of profit from small private business, they were not allowed to invest this money in the modernization of the private farm under the legal and economic conditions of real socialism. They invested all their spare money in private consumption, in professional education, and in the basic economics of their children outside the village. In 1990, there were in Pinkamindszent about 15 families who had a little private farmstead (as compared to 132 in 1949), but among these families only 4 or 5 were people of the young generation. Those people wanted to stay in the village, but even the other families saw this as a personal failure. This attitude shows the change of values and the acceptance of socialist norms (discrimination against private agriculture), even by former farmers. Social ascent was no longer possible by increasing the property, but only by education and migration. Very few people started to live as commuters to Körmend because they did not have the infrastructure or individual means of transportation that people in Burgenland had.

The dramatic increase of migration in the seventies was also accelerated by the reform in community structure (concerning Pinkamindszent also in 1969). In 1970, Pinkamindszent had lost its autonomy and, hence, its relative economic and political independence.

Reform in Community Structure and Autonomy

In several European countries, people tried to solve the problem of small and inefficiently working communities by amalgamating them. Also in Burgenland and in Western Hungary such small communities existed, and so, in 1969, Pinkamindszent was amalgamated along with other villages with Vasalja; Moschendorf was amalgamated with Strem. But the loss of independence did not have the same severe consequences for Moschendorf as for Pinkamindszent. One reason may be the general economic development in Austria and Burgenland and Moschendorf's involvement in it; another reason may be that the Austrian regional policy tried to support and strengthen the periphery and the border regions. In addition, since the mayor of Moschendorf afterwards became the mayor of the greater municipality of Strem as well, he could support his village too. He has been the mayor for 30 years (1961-1991), and during this period a lot of public investments would be made in Moschendorf. In 1990 they also renovated the church with money collected in the village (1.1 million Austrian Schillings [AS]), which means that every household gave about 8,000 AS. We can suppose that they have a strong solidarity and local bonds. This local identity is strengthened by a community newspaper, edited by the local government, which informs the people each month about local news. But this newspaper not only contains information; it also supports local unity and fellow feeling.

On the other side of the Iron Curtain, the amalgamation led only to decline, without further investments. During the last decades, Pinkamindszent got no public investments because neither the central state invested there nor could the local population finance communal infrastructure by their own means (the last great community effort was the building of a cultural center in 1960, but such strategies do not work any more). In the early seventies it was decided that there would be no primary school in Pinkamindszent and that children should go to Vasalja, the municipal center. This decision was based on the declining number of pupils: from 76 in 1963, to 25 in 1973, to 1 in 1990. This meant another step backward in the autonomy of the community. In 1986, the local pastor died, and so even the religious believers lost their local authority.

Table. 4. Development and Decline of the Social and Technical Infrastructure Since 1960.

The differences in the public investments and the prosperity of the communities have repercussions in the private sector, particularly in the development of private housing, (See Figures 4 and 5).


Figure 4. The Functional and Constructional Changes in the Structure of Pinkamindszent


Figure 5. The Functional and Constructional Changes in the Structure of Moschendorf

Originally both villages had been ribbon-built villages along a main road with typical western Pannonian Streckhofe (stretched-out farmsteads) which had been modernized and transformed in the sixties in Burgenland. In Pinkamindszent there was not such a rigorous transformation of the settlement, since interest in migration and private capital were lacking.

While in Pinkamindszent today 21% of the houses are empty, in Moschendorf only 6% are empty and most of these are newly-built homes which, for personal reasons, are not yet in use. In Pinkamindszent, the empty houses are mostly old and neglected. There are only three houses which have been restored in the original style, and they are second homes. The necessary money came from outside, which also means that outsiders see the value of the traditional architecture, and want to maintain it.

In Moschendorf, the modernization of 30% of the houses took place continuously. There are only a few second homes but, in general, they are owned by people from outside, not as in Pinkamindszent, where a second home often is an inherited house now owned by a person who has emigrated. People from outside the forbidden border area were not allowed to buy land or houses there.

In both villages, about 20% of the houses are still old (Moschendorf: 19.4%, Pinkamindszent: 23%). These are, for the most part, dwellings of old people who do not want to change or modernize their homes (also they are often not able to do so).

The greatest difference between the two villages is the number of rebuilt or recently-built houses. In Pinkamindszent, 43% of the houses are rebuilt, mostly by young people who did not emigrate and who invested their money in their homes during the sixties. Only 9% are newly-built houses. Usually these are houses from the sixties: today elderly persons live in them.

The Difference in the Quality of Life: Living Standards and Social Networks

The consequences of the differing political and social framework in the two systems can be shown in the different standards of living, the social relations and the individual possibilities for personal advancement.

The Quality of Housing, Mobility and Consumer Habits

In Moschendorf, about 205 of the houses are modernized and rebuilt, 30% are new. The traditional form of the ribbon-built village has been altered and amplified. The fact that about 80% of the buildings kept in repair, rebuilt or newly-built, shows a permanent investment, which needs, besides the capital (and the legal framework and support), local bonds also and an optimistic view of the future. In Moschendorf, most of the apartments have more than 100 square meters [1076 sq ft], 17.4% have more than 180 [1937.5 sq ft]. This size can also be expressed with reference to the number of rooms. While in Pinkamindszent most of the apartments have two rooms, in Moschendorf 60.8% have four or more rooms due to of the high number of households of more than one generation and to the high rate of new buildings.

In Pinkamindszent nearly all apartments are, at the most, about 100 square meters; most of them have between 60 and 80 square meters [646-861 sq ft], which means two rooms. Among the 107 flats of Pinkamindszent, 21 have one room, 67 two rooms and only 19 three or more rooms. Also, the new buildings and rebuilt houses are the same size (two rooms) as the traditional farmsteads. This dramatic decline in the standard of living and in the buildings is all the more striking because Pinkamindszent, at the turn of the century, had buildings of a much more modern style, and built with better materials than in other nearly villages such as Moschendorf.

Concerning equipment, there is a similar difference between the two villages: In Pinkamindszent, 53.2% of the houses have a full bath; only 9.4% have central heating too. In Moschendorf, 98.5% have a full bath; 76.8% have central heating as well. Also, considering domestic appliances and entertainment electronics, we can see the same gap. In Moschendorf, most of the families have several household appliances (refrigerator, washing machine, vacuum cleaner, electric range, mixer), sometimes several appliances of the same type (e.g. freezers); in Pinkamindszent, nearly all have only freezers to conserve their agricultural products. While nearly all Hungarian households have TV, just as in Moschendorf, in Moschendorf they have also video and HiFi, which cannot be found in Pinkamindszent. In Moschendorf, 96% of the households have a telephone; in Pinkamindszent only three households have phones and they only work via operator. That meant, as well, that the locality could not participate in the military investment, so there were no advantages for the civil infrastructure.

Concerning personal mobility and individual transportation, the situation is worse in Hungary: 56% of the households in Pinkamindszent have no car, as compared to 13% in Moschendorf (mostly old people). But 22% of the households in Moschendorf have two or three cars; no household in Hungary has more than one. So Pinkamindszent is much more dependent on public transportation (3 or 4 times daily a bus to Körmend), and neighbors and relatives are much more important. This cannot be explained simply by a greater economic prosperity; it also implies different household structure.

In the two villages we find today a completely different demographic structure. In Moschendorf we have a quite normal structure for western Europe, but in Pinkamindszent the demographic erosion of the last decades brought about significant rise in the ratio of old people to the total population (see figure 6).


Figure 6. Age Structure Differences in Population of Moschendorf & Pinkamindszent in 1900 & 1980.

In Pinkamindszent in 1990, only 22% of the households had more than two persons; in Moschendorf, 65%. The typical household of Pinkamindszent has two persons (53%); 19% have one person. In Moschendorf there are fewer than 10% singles; only 26% of the households have two persons. These households with one or two persons generally consist of elderly people, which is the typical situation for Pinkamindszent. In Moschendorf, one third of the households consist of more than one generation who make a contribution to the household economy.

The different consumer habits can be explained by this difference of wealth, the socioeconomic development and the rise of the ratio of old people in proportion to the total population.

In Moschendorf, 20.3% of the population goes out to eat in a restaurant weekly and 24.6% monthly. In Pinkamindszent, 71.9% of the families never go out to eat. The same can be said of traveling: In Moschendorf, nearly all families reported one or more longer journeys during the last few years and, also for farm families, a trip to a foreign country or to another federal state for a vacation is a quite usual consumer habit. Traveling does not mean, as it does in Pinkamindszent, simply visiting relatives; it means holidays, often organized by a travel agency, and bus trips or city tours in Europe or abroad (we heard about Sweden, France, Switzerland, Greece, Israel, Turkey, USA, Tunisia, Canada). In Pinkamindszent, only two-thirds of the persons interviewed spoke about a longer journey in the last few years; 13 of them had been to a foreign country. Those had made religious pilgrimages, organized by the church (to Mariazell, Austria; to Lourdes, France) or visits to see relatives. Travels in Hungary are planned in order to visit the children in the towns (Szombathely, Budapest), longer trips are for shopping (in Vienna). Moschendorfers visit the neighboring region for shopping, eating in restaurants, visits to the doctor or the hairdresser; Hungarians go for religious pilgrimages or church feasts.

Integration and Decay of the Local Communities

Corresponding to the difference in the standard of living in the public and private life of the two communities, and corresponding to the different demographic structures, we also find two different levels of social life in the two villages.

This depends overall on the possibilities for the development of local autonomy, or on further-developed or suddenly-cut local traditions and on the existence of a social climate free from repressions. In Moschendorf, the social life of the local society did not suffer any restriction because of the amalgamation. There are eight social associations; among them, three have existed since 1971, and nearly all families and second-home owners belong to at least one of these. Besides the traditional rural associations (fire-brigades and the men's glee club) and the organizations of the political parties (e.g. for women and for elderly persons) we can also find a tennis club, an association for wine-grape growers, and a cultural club as organizers of the local museum of wines. Even if wine growing lost its economic importance (60 families have vineyards), the wine cellars would still be a center for social life (where now women are also admitted!). With the foundation of the museum of wines and the culture club (1982), in which nearly all families participate (220 members), by means of regular events they succeeded in giving new life to old traditions and in strengthening the cohesiveness and the identity of the local society. In these groups, as well as in another association, the seniors club, life revolves around the mayor. The clique around the mayor in the senior club where, in general, the old farmers meet, still has a great influence on public opinion in the locality: e.g. concerning the opening of a local border station. As there have arisen local counter-elitist groups who articulate their opinions very emphatically, we can see that there are young people interested in local politics. Their involvement also shows that values are changing today in Moschendorf: with the acceptance of an urban lifestyle and corresponding activities (like playing tennis in a special club) now comes the acceptance of "green" values. Often such "green" or postmodern ideas are in conflict with the older values commonly held or with progress, and even though the opening of the international border was not an actual problem in October, 1990, people protested against the traffic which would come with a new border station. For young people and second-home owners, the tranquility, the pure air, and the healthy environment are resources which must not be compromised.

This dispute in the local society shows that there are several well-articulated groups (elites), who can support their point of view in an open discussion. In general, we may emphasize that, in such an wealthy and politically-free framework, even the periphery can become a value for itself.

On the other side of the border, we see a totally different picture: owing to the loss of institutions (primary school, parish, municipality, center of the agricultural production cooperative, police station, railway station, etc.) there also was a brain drain, a loss of local intelligence. Through the demographic and social erosion, caused by migration, all the people with initiative and all the involved people were lost. The structure of the local society is nearly dissolved.

Just as Moschendorf is characterized by a diversity of communication and integration, so in Pinkamindszent we can speak about a deformed social structure. In this society there was no possibility for free development of objectives and articulation of political interest, no possibility to renew the social potential. Until 1989, a small group of former members of the agricultural production cooperative met nearly every day, but they had no legal power, and no potential to influence local development. Social contacts in the village were reduced to neighbors helping each others; new social structures had not been developed and the existing possibilities for communication were continuously reduced by death and migration.

Social interaction, even in neighbors helping each others, is mostly among relatives; public life gets poorer and poorer. About 28% say that they have contacts mainly with relatives. In Moschendorf, only 7.2% said this, while 49.3% mainly had contacts with neighbors and friends. In Pinkamindszent, contacts with neighbors was said to be 15.6%, with friends, 9.4%. In social life, contacts with the (migrated) children are dominant. "We always wait for the children." They wait for them in several senses: not only with food in the freezer, filled with products from the garden and with home-produced meals, but also the whole village waits for those who have been successful in town; those persons of the community who got an academic education or who had powerful positions "in town" had always been the hope of the local society. In fact, those who had a job in the national bank played an important role in the hopes of the people of Pinkamindszent.

Since the local society of Pinkamindszent has until now needed the financial and social power of the migrated to survive, one cannot believe that in the future they will be able to stop the socioeconomic and demographic erosion by themselves. The reserves of this society are exhausted. Also for the political articulation they need help today: in the new, democratically-elected community council there is no person born in Pinkamindszent. It seems that the local society of Pinkamindszent has no possibility of profiting from the political changes on its own.

NEW PERSPECTIVES?

The point of view regarding the political evolution, and the expectations regarding the future of their own local area are totally different in the two villages: while in Moschendorf only a small group hopes for an economic profit and some others are afraid of the loss of their seclusion, in Pinkamindszent the opening of the border has become the great hope. Both villages are confronted with a radical change. In Moschendorf this leads to a re-evaluation of the geographical location in the periphery and opens up the possibility of a democratic discussion and development of objectives. In Pinkamindszent, they have to find ways to take advantage of their opportunities (with the money they now get from the state as a small but independent community, they want to build a water supply and a sewage treatment plant). But as the means of the people themselves are very restricted, and there are only very few young people with initiative, they will still need help from outside, from the state and the migrated children. They hope that some of these will come back, renovate their houses and push for a little economic development. Even a little economic upswing could stop the demographic erosion and give new hope. But in spite of the political democratization and liberalization, and the recent community autonomy, the quality of life and the individual opportunities to succeed will still be different in the two villages for a long time. It will take decades for the ruptures of this century to be smoothed out.

REFERENCES

DUJMOVITS, W.
— 1975. Die Amerikawanderung der Burgenländer. Stegerbach.
— 1990. "Südburgenland - Peripherie ohne Grenzen". In: Alfons, H. (Hrsg.). Regionalentwicklung und Kooperation im Grenzgebiet Österreich/Ungarn (Int. Seminar Stadtschlaining). Schriftenreihe Nr. 59, p. 14-30, Bundesanstalt für Agrarwirtschaft, Wien.

KOVACS, K.
— 1987. Integráció vagy széttoredezés? Társadalomszerkezeti változások egy dunántúli aprofalu, Magyarlukafa példájá. (Integration or Disintegration. Sociostructural Changes on the Example of a Small Transdanubian Village) - mta rkk Kutatási Eredményei 5., Pecs.
— 1990. Urbanizáció alulnizétbol (Az utóbbi évtizedek társadalomszerkezeti változásal az aprófalvas régióban) (Urbanization the Ground up - the Sociostructural Changes of the Latter Decades in a Region of Small Villages). In: Ter - Idö - Tárdasadalom. Huszonegy tanulmány Enyedi Gyorgynek. mta rkk. Pecs.

ROMSICS, I.
— 1985. A parasztság és a forradalmak kora. In: Valóság 3, Budapest.

SEGALEN, M.
— 1984. "Sein Teil haben", Geschwisterbeziehungen in einem egalitären Vererbungssystem. In: Medick, H. Sabean, D. (1984): Emotionen und materielle Interessen. Sozialanthropologische und historische Beiträge zur Familienforschung. Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Institutes für Geschichte, 1975, Göttingen. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.

WASTL-WALTER, Doris., Monika VARADI and K. KOCSIS.
— 1993. "Leben im Dorf an der Grenze". In: M. Seger, P. Beluszky (Hg.) Bruchlinie Eiserner Vorhang, Böhlau, Wien.



Editor: It seems evident to me that Pinkamindszent's location within the Communist 10-km restricted zone beside the Iron Curtain is a critical factor driving its decline in the 1948 to 1989 period. People and commerce interested in Moschendorf retained free movement to and from its location (at least in one direction); the same cannot be said for Pinkamindszent. Perhaps a fairer comparison (of the "Soviet-Model" effects) might have been Moschendorf with a village in Hungary located just outside the restricted zone, where individuals and commerce had free interaction with the rest of Hungary. With Pinkamindszent, we see the effects of both the Soviet economic and social policies plus the limitations imposed by the restricted zone.

Unlike the marginal marriage records, there is no keyword in the marginal death records to help you find the deceased... no Mint holttest: [= as corpse:] to help you out (OK,  sorry; that was a bad joke).

Instead you will need to search for the name of person of interest... but that name should appear in the same relative position in the entry, so let's see where that is....

Even though that text looks daunting, there are "standard" elements in these entries, usually (but not always) set off as separate paragraphs. As I did for the marriage marginal entry, I'll show the transcription and translation of the text in the table below. I'll also number, in the leftmost column, the parts of the entry so I can point you to the right section during my discussion. Then I'll talk about each part in succession.

So, we see that the name of the deceased leads off the fourth section of the entry (numbered 4a above, as that section/paragraph typically has two parts, and I've numbered the second part as 4b). We also see that the name is written in the surname-first Hungarian fashion: Winkler János.

For all the names in these entries, the given name part will be shown in its Hungarian forms, so if you don't already know what the Hungarians would have called your ancestor, you should look it up before beginning a search (my favorite website for this being www.behindthename.com). In this case, János is Hungarian for John (in English), Johann (in German) and Joannes (in Latin), and we'd write his name as John Winkler.

Now let's look at the parts of the entry:

# 1) 112 szám.

This is the sequential record number of the death within the year, so the entry we are speaking of was the 112th death entry in 1905 Rábaszentmárton death book. These marginal entries are numbered just like "regular" death entries and are part of the common annual sequential numbering system.

# 2) Kelt: Rábaszentmárton-ban 1905 /ezerkilencszáz ötödik/ évi junius 24 /huszonnegyedik/ napján. (see image below)

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 death... in fact, it is likely a place well distant and a date well after the actual death place and date, as it takes some time for information to be forwarded to him.




Please note that the registrar kindly wrote his location as Rábaszentmárton-ban and we translated it as in Rábaszentmárton. The Hungarian language uses "endings" to modify meaning... that is, that -ban ending says in (or at) the place it is attached to. Most of the time the writer will not put in an actual hyphen... you'll just have to recognize it as an "ending/modifier" and remove it when you list the place name.

As in the marriage record, the rest of that line is a date, and is not terribly relevant, but I'll re-explain dates here anyway. The date in question is June 24, 1905. Both 24 and 1905 are self-evident in the text... and the stuff between the / indicators (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 (although word hó does not appear in this entry). That leaves just the month itself, in lower case but identifiable even in its Hungarian form, junius = June.

# 3) A bécsi nussdorfi szent-Thomásról nevezett római katolikus plébaniai hivatal által kiállitott anyakónyvi kivonal alapján a következő halálesel bejegyeztetik.
= The following death is registered on the basis of the excerpt from the Roman Catholic parish office of Saint-Thomas of Vienna, Nussdorf.

This is information about where the data came from: the church or civil location that originally recorded the death. If you wish to see the original death record, it is in these records you must search. For this example, a digital copy of the original record is here:
data.matricula-online.eu/en/oesterreich/wien/19-nussdorf/03-09/?pg=165.



As I said for marginal marriage records, the keyword to look for is plébániai (meaning in parish) and the name of that parish will appear before that key word. In this case, the keyword is split across two lines and they tell is it is a Roman Catholic parish "named St. Thomás" (szent-Thomas-ról) found "in Nussdorf" (nussdorfi) "in Vienna" (Bécsi).

# 4a) Winkler János római katolikus, bécsi lakós, bécsi születésű, farkasdifalvai illetőségű, 2 /két/ hónapos.

Section 4 is information about the deceased, with the a part about the person and the b part about the person's death. As mentioned above, the name found here is your key search item, and it will start off this section:



So what keywords in this section do you need to know? The first is lak (house), though it appears above as lakós. Along with bécsi (in Vienna), it translates more directly to inhabitant in/of Vienna, though we used form Viennese resident in our translation. Regardless, any form of lak will mean living in / resident of the place listed before that word.

The next keyword is születés (birth), appearing as születésű (born). As it follows bécsi again, János Winkler was born in Vienna.

The last keyword is illetőségű (belonging to / right of citizenship). In this case, it follows farkasdifalvai (= in Farkasdifalva), meaning János Winkler belonged to / had citizenship rights in Farkasdifalva (Neumarkt an der Raab). It is this fact that caused the record extract to be sent to Rábaszentmárton (St. Martin an der Raab) for recording.

Another word you may wish to note, hónapos, is derived from hó (month), and has meaning months old.

So now you know the places where János Winkler was born, was living at death, and had citizenship rights, plus his age at death.

# 4b) Bécsben XIX kerület Greinergasse 46 szám, alatt 1904 /ezer kilenczszáz negyedik/ évi szeptember 29 /huszonkilenczedik/ napján gyomor és bélhurutban meghalt.

This is the details on place, date and cause of death (meghalt). I've already explained dates, so I hope you can pull death date 29 September 1904 from this text.

The death place is the first part of this text:



By now, I hope you recognize Bécs as the Hungarian name for Vienna, and that suffix ben is just another was to say in.

As you may know, Vienna was divided up into many districts, with Nussdorf (the parish location for this death) being in the 19th district. We last talked about those Viennese districts in a 2011 article found here: Newsletter209.htm#10. That article also has a map to show you the general location of each district as well as text that lists all the villages in each district. In our text above, XIX kerület translates to 19th District, so kerület is a word you should put in your kit.

That text is followed by the street address, Greinergasse number 46. Generally, German street names have suffixes -strasse (street/road) or -gasse (lane). You may also find these suffixes abbreviated or using the eszett (double-s) character, ß: -straße / -gaße. Word szám just means (house) number.

The last bit of information in this section, cause of death, may or may not appear, and is difficult to translate even if there. In this example, gyomor és bélhurutban = of stomach and intestinal catarrh. While this is interesting information to know, it is not essential.



At this point, you should have all the important information that a marginal death entry contains. Sections # 5) and # 6) are just the sign-offs of the two registrars, the one who sent the extract and the one who received and entered its data locally, saying that their entries are a true copy of what they copied from. I'll refer you back to the transcription / translation table above for those details.

Sections 3, 4a and 4b are the parts that contain the critical information, and, even without understanding Hungarian, I hope you are now able to extract that critical data from these sections. If you think you are missing something, drop us a note and we'll try to help.

In a subsequent newsletter, I'll work through a "marginal" birth record.
 

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