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THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS - No. 331 May 31, 2022, © 2022 by The Burgenland Bunch All rights reserved. Permission to copy excerpts granted if credit is provided. Editor: Thomas Steichen (email: tj.steichen@comcast.net) BB Home Page: the-burgenland-bunch.org BB Newsletter Archives: BB Newsletters BB Facebook Page: TheBurgenlandBunchOFFICIAL Our 26th year! The Burgenland Bunch Newsletter is issued monthly online. The BB was founded in 1997 by Gerald Berghold, who died in August 2008. |
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| Current Status Of The BB: * Members: 3130 * Surname Entries: 9114 * Query Board Entries: 5896 * Staff Members: 13 |
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This newsletter concerns: 1) THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER 2) HEIMATRECHT (HOMETOWN RIGHT) AFTER WW-II 3) HISTORICAL BB NEWSLETTER ARTICLES: - DROPPED UMLAUTS AND OTHER ORTHOGRAPHIC ODDITIES 4) ETHNIC EVENTS 5) BURGENLAND EMIGRANT OBITUARIES (courtesy of Bob Strauch) |
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1) THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER (by Tom Steichen)  This
month's random bits and pieces (Article 1) starts with three "political" bits involving
Burgenland and Austria... the first on two potentially new taxes in Burgenland, the second on SPÖ Burgenland party
leadership, and the last on the Austrian Presidential election. While I'm not real big on politics, I think all three give
insight into current-day Burgenland. We follow that with a short "closure" bit on some research I've reported on a couple of
times before. The last item is a short bit on a well-worth-watching video about some of the castles in Burgenland. Although
the bit itself is short, I've tacked on a translation of the German-language narrative from the video, so in total, not
short!Our regular tidbits include the monthly BB Facebook report, book sales, a recipe and a humor item. Article 2 comes from our Query board, a resource that is used far less now than back when it began (that is, before other resources became available). Still, interesting material appears there occasionally, including an item that I captured here about Heimatrecht (Hometown Right) After WW-II. The remaining articles are our standard sections: A Historical BB Newsletter article, Ethnic Events and Emigrant Obituaries.  Political Issues Under Discussion Within Burgenland: Two Burgenland "political"  discussions caught my attention
this past month. The first is identical to the debate I see taking place in various places in the US: should owners of
private rooms and spaces (like AirBNBs) charge "hotel" taxes just like commercial entities? The proposed law would
require commercial and private room landlords be treated equally—that is, both would have to levy local room taxes on their
guests. This is framed as a question of justice and fair competition by the proponents of the amendment to the law. The same
tourism law proposal also calls for a tourism tax on boat owners on Lake Neusiedl, which has caused displeasure among
private sailors.The other item is also a tax question—this time a "vacancy levy" on apartments. While the issue is currently only under discussion in Burgenland, Styria introduced an approximate 1,000 euro/year fee in April, Tyrol is planning to introduce a vacancy tax of around 800 euros a year for a 100-square-meter apartment, and the issue is under discussion in Salzburg. Such a vacancy levy once existed in Vienna but was annulled by the Constitutional Court in 1985. Thus the various local officials are proposing state constitutional amendments to avoid a similar fate. In Burgenland, the largest apartment landlords are the Oberwarter Siedlungsgenossenschaft (Oberwart settlement cooperative) and the Neue Eisenstädter Siedlungsgenossenschaft. These groups are interested in renting vacant apartments as quickly as possible, thus the vacancy rate for cooperative apartments is usually less than one percent at any one time across Burgenland. Their leaders believe that a vacancy levy for Burgenland is not an issue and is something more likely to affect private investors, of which there are comparatively few in Burgenland. While the reports on this topic do not explain why such a tax might be needed, I suspect it is believed to be a way to encourage apartment owners to quickly fill vacancies rather than create a false "shortage" that might allow for increasing rental/lease prices... and politicians never mind an additional revenue source! Doskozil Re-Elected As SPÖ Party Leader: Governor Hans Peter Doskozil was re-elected as SPÖ Burgenland's party leader this past month at the Burgenland SPÖ party congress, receiving 97.8 percent of the vote. Among the 308 delegates who took part in the election, only 8 delegates voted for someone else, an increase of 3 opposed compared to Doskozil's initial election as party leader in 2018 after Hans Niessl stepped down. Party leader is a separate role from Governor, though it is common that the same person holds both positions when that party heads the state government. Before the election, Doskozil took the stage, saying that his main message was that everything that is done must be for the people. "The task of social democracy is to serve the people."  He
also referred to his ongoing position on migration, saying that "structural changes" in refugee policy are needed to
relieve the burden on the border states of Austria, in particular, Burgenland.Pamela Rendi-Wagner, the federal SPÖ party leader, also spoke, setting aside the palpable friction with Doskozil by saying, "Here in Oberwart, concrete proposals are being discussed for how people can afford life better again. I am proud of Burgenland and I am proud of the Governor. We must all fight to ensure... that we again become the party with the most votes and that I can form the next federal government together with you." However, Rendi-Wagner was not invited to sit at Doskozil's table with the Burgenland government team, but was seated at the next table. And, yes, I do find some humor in the in-fighting between these SPÖ leaders! In an article titled "SPÖ: Signs of reconciliation?" that appeared a few days later on Burgenland ÖRF, the author wrote: "After there were often quite fierce, public disputes between Governor Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) and the SPÖ federal party in the past, reconciliation was relied on last weekend. Federal party leader Pamela Rendi-Wagner was warmly welcomed." 
However, the author also quoted political consultant, Thomas Hofer, who said: "I do not believe that it is now an end to
the conflict between the SPÖ in Burgenland and that in the federal government. Because, of course, the inner-party fronts
are already too hardened for that."But back to the party congress with one final note: Former Governor Hans Niessl was honored for his services to the SPÖ, especially for the increase in employment during his time in office and for closing the education gap: "We were called the land of educational shame. Today we have the highest graduation rate in Austria." Alexander Van der Bellen Will Run Again For Austrian President: A few months back, I mentioned some rumblings that elements within the ruling SPÖ party in Burgenland felt that SPÖ Burgenland should put forth a candidate in the upcoming Federal Presidential election. Those rumblings were mostly driven by the possibility that the independent Van der Bellen might not run again and that the rival FPÖ party had already declared they would put forth a candidate in the Presidential race, although they have yet to name who that will be. Given that Van der Bellen has now declared his candidacy, both the Burgenland Greens and the SPÖ have switched their support to him. SPÖ state managing director Roland Fürst stated that an own SPÖ candidacy—as originally demanded by the SPÖ Burgenland—would no longer make sense from a strategic point of view. Likewise, the Greens welcome Van der Bellen's candidacy as he was the federal spokesman for the Greens before going independent. The other major party, the ÖVP, said it will not put forth its own candidate and is currently refraining from explicit support for any candidate. Closure... Of The Wrong Type: Back in February of this year, I updated an "Historical BB Newsletter Article" that dated from February of 2012. The purpose of the update was to see if ten years' worth of additional data and tools on the web allowed closure on a question a grandmother expressed to her family; that question being, who am I? The question arose because grandmother Aloisia Khaupt was born as an orphan in Vienna and raised in a foster home in Burgenland. A correspondent named John Holler had shared his grandmother's question with us back in 2012, a time when all we could do is tell him that he would need to research records on-site in Vienna. Ten years later, the Catholic records for Vienna are largely available online and GenTeam provides a database that indexes many of those records. You can see our 2022 update here: Newsletter328.htm#05. While we were able to find the baptism record for Aloisia, no information about her parentage was provided. We also found a baptism record for a Hedwig Khaupt, who we suspect (but cannot prove) is an older sister to Aloisia. Unfortunately, no parentage information was provided for Hedwig. Thus, this extra information did not prove helpful in answering grandmother's question. Nonetheless, grandmother's question intrigued BB member Ingrid Schuster, who lives in Austria. Ingrid has experience exploring the foundling records in the Vienna archives and set aside the information about Aloisia and Hedwig for her next visit there, which turned out to be this past month. Yes, Ingrid found the records for both Aloisia and Hedwig, and yes, she shared them with me. Unfortunately, these also are void of information about the children's parents. So, we have come to the end of possible informative records; there are no more. Who the parents were is lost in the winds of time. For John Holler, this means he will never answer grandmother's question... but at least he will know that the answer is not waiting to be found. The question is closed... and unanswerable. Still, there was some useful information in the documents that Ingrid shared. First, the foundling record for Aloisia confirms that she was placed with the family in Gerersdorf (bei Güssing) that John knew about (so no need to search for another Aloisia). It should be noted that John wrote Geresdorf, not Gerersdorf. There is a Kroatisch Geresdorf in the Oberpullendorf district of Burgenland, but a quick search of the Gerersdorf bei Güssing birth records reveals the foster parents were located in this village.  Second, the
record for Hedwig indicates that she was born 15 Jan 1887, and placed with the Anna Schrei family in Unterzeming
(Alsószölnök, Hungary) house 110 on 24 Jan 1887. Unfortunately, she dies 7 Feb 1887, age 23 days. So, she ended up being
buried only 10 miles from where Aloisia would be placed 19 months later.Lastly, there is a note on the records that 150 Gulden in fees were paid to the maternity hospital for each birth (see example to the right). This would be a huge amount for a single mother trying to survive in Vienna where high worker wages were around 1 Gulden per work day (and women typically did not have the occupational skills to earn a high wage). This suggests that the mother had far more resources available to her than normal, perhaps via the children's father(s) or her own wealthy father, especially given this fee was paid twice in less than two years.  Experience Austria: Castles
and Palaces in Burgenland: Austrian television station ORF2 recently broadcast a segment of Erlebnis Österreich
(Experience Austria) titled Burgen und Schlösser im Burgenland (Castles and Palaces of Burgenland), featuring the
Burgs (castles) at Bernstein, Stadtschlaining, Lackenbach and Potzneusiedl, and the Schlöss (palace) at Kittsee.
The video is here:
https://tv.orf.at/program/orf2/erlebnisoe856.html and is 24 minutes long.
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2) HEIMATRECHT (HOMETOWN RIGHT) AFTER WW-II Editor: There is a Burgenland Query Board on the web, located here: ancestry.com/boards/localities.ceeurope.austria.Prov.burgenland. As you can see, that board is part of Ancestry.com, though that was not always true. At its beginning, it was a Rootsweb board. Rootsweb, a volunteer run and funded organization from the early days of genealogy on the internet, overextended itself by offering too many services, eventually having neither the server power nor the staff needed to support all of its services nor the money necessary to correct deficiencies. By 2008, they were in serious trouble, forced into the choice of either shutting down or finding an angel to reinvigorate and support their efforts via hardware, staff and financing. Ancestry.com kindly stepped in, supporting the original "Rootsweb" structure under that website name for a number of years before migrating the boards to its own ancestry.com website. We also used the Rootsweb mailer software to distribute our newsletter and, later, our newsletter notice. However, that software became so unreliable by 2010 that we moved to an alternative mailer provider, which we still use. Eventually, Ancestry shut down most of Rootsweb, with the boards being one of the few things that survived. As for this Burgenland query board, it was founded by a BB staffer and was administered on Rootsweb, and continued to be administered on Ancestry, by various BB staffers over the years, even to this day. Thus I still report the number of its "query board entries" each month in our newsletter header (see above). Getting that number forces me to look at the board each month, which is a good thing, as I occasionally provide help to people who post there-on and, as happened this past month, I occasionally find an interesting tidbit that deserves wider sharing in our newsletter. Thus this article is based on a board post and a subsequent reply. I believe it presents a little-known bureaucratic reality that affected our Burgenland relatives who remained there during and after WW-II. While I have edited out some material unnecessary to the main story line, what remains is only slightly edited (for clarity). Have a look:  Peter Wollinski writes: It will be appreciated if the attached certificate issued by the Bocksdorf Burgermeister, could be interpreted. Researching my mother’s life, Maria Janisch, I am somewhat confused with respect to the Viennese address—Wien, XVII Rosenweg Nr. 5—and date within this certificate. As you would be aware, during the Allied occupation of Austria (1945 to 1955), adults were required to hold an identity card. My mother’s identity card was issued in Vienna in May 1946 and contains only the following addresses: Krausegasse 10/6, Simmering, in the 11th district – May 1946 Keinergasse 18/10, Landstrasse, in the 3rd district – August 1946 Kahlenbergerstrasse 66, Döbling, in the 19th district – November 1947 There is no mention of the address Wien, XVII Rosenweg Nr. 5 on her identity card, nor of any other addresses that she may have lived at. In July 1950, Maria was issued an Austrian passport with her home address being Kahlenbergerstrasse, 53, Döbling, Wien. My mother advised me that she worked in Vienna for both the British and American senior army officers and their families after WW-II. In fact, she had worked for an American officer from at least 1947 (per her 19th district address above) until he returned back to America in 1950. This has been confirmed by the American family. The American family also advised that they had originally lived in Rosenweg in 1946 but had to relocate (don’t know when) due to espionage activity against them. They also told me that my mother had commenced employment with them at this address. However, as noted above, it was not recorded within her identity card. Why I do not know! Hence my confusion as to why the certificate issued in Bocksdorf in August 1949, shows the Rosenweg Vienna address. Perhaps this certificate was required for the issue of her passport in 1950 and Bocksdorf village only had the address of the American’s when she first went to work for them. Please note that Maria was fluent in English, as she had worked in London from 1936 to 1943 before being interned and then forcefully repatriated back to Austria in 1944. Upon her return from England, she lived in her home village of Bocksdorf. Hence the reason why she was able to gain employment with the Allies. Any thoughts about the certificate attached will be appreciated. Peter  Marcel Verolme replies: Peter, when Austria officially "joined" Nazi Germany on 13 March 1938, all Austrian citizens automatically became German citizens. After the war, Austria once again became an independent republic. Legislation was passed directing that anybody who had held Austrian citizenship on 13 March 1938 and had not since voluntarily obtained citizenship of another country, would have their Austrian citizenship reinstated. One way to prove that you had previously held Austrian citizenship was to get a certificate from the town where you had "Heimatrecht" back on 13 March 1938. Getting this certificate from your hometown was likely the most common way to prove your Austrian citizenship in order to obtain a passport. "Heimatrecht" (hometown right) was a legal concept in Austria first introduced in 1859 and abandoned in 1939. The town where you had "Heimatrecht" was responsible for your support in case you ended up poor and in need, no matter where you resided at the time you needed help. This was a way to protect primarily large cities that saw a large influx of people from rural areas, many of whom struggled to make ends meet. Legitimate children would get "Heimatrecht" in the town where their father had this right, while illegitimate children received "Heimatrecht" from the town responsible for their mother. One condition for obtaining "Heimatrecht" was having Austrian citizenship. Note that your "Heimatrecht" could change to a different town once you had lived there for 10 years and met certain conditions, like demonstrated that you were able to support yourself. The above intro is the context for your document. The mayor of Bocksdorf in the "politische Bezirk" (= political/administrative district) of Güssing in the State of Burgenland issued a "Bescheinigung" (certification) on 2 Aug 1949 that Maria Janitsch, born Bocksdorf 21 Nov 1914, "ledig" (unmarried), Köchin (female form of Koch = cook), living at Wien, XVII Rosenweg Nr. 5, had held "Heimatrecht" on 13 Mar 1938 in this town. As far as the timing mismatch between the address given in this 1949 document and the address-history known to you, it is very well possible that she presented some 1946 document with the Rosenweg address to the town of Bocksdorf in 1949. I'm not sure if people had to show up in person or if all this was handled through the mail, possibly using copies of certified documents. So it's certainly conceivable that Rosenweg was indeed not her current address at the time she applied for and received the "Heimatrecht" certificate. Another option, but admittedly less likely: maybe it took several years between applying for this certificate and it being issued. So maybe she applied in 1946 while living at Rosenweg only to get the certificate 3 years later. I'm speculating here and 3 years would be a very long time, but in the post-war disarray it may not be entirely outside the realm of possibilities. Regards, Marcel Editor: While I won't get into the unanswered questions that linger, I will note that this is the first time I became aware that our Burgenländers had to reassert their Austrian citizenship after WW-II via a certification from their hometown. Nonetheless, I would not be surprised to learn that some of you have similar documents among your records. If so, you now know what this Bescheinigung was all about. |
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3) HISTORICAL BB NEWSLETTER ARTICLES Editor: This is part of our series designed to recycle interesting articles from the BB Newsletters of 10 years ago. In our May 2012 Newsletter, there is an article that talks about umlauts and accent marks... or, if you want to get fancy, orthography. Learning the orthographic issues involved is key to understanding the many potential name variations of your Burgenland ancestors, thus I offer again this article: THE BURGENLAND BUNCH NEWS No. 221 May 31, 2012 DROPPED UMLAUTS AND OTHER ORTHOGRAPHIC ODDITIES We recently received a couple of New Member forms that listed surnames that our European-based staff immediately recognized as modifications of the original West Hungarian surnames. (Many of us long-time staff also recognized the modifications but we did so based on experience rather than upbringing.) The surnames in question were GOLTL (a family surname of Susan Crayne Price) and TSCHOGL (a family surname of Donald Tschogl). In both Burgenland past and present, these names have an umlauted O: Ö, so these researchers must keep this in mind as they look at European records. But is it quite that simple? Of course not, or I would not be writing this article. To get technical for a minute, orthography, per Wikiweb,
(Actually, things like hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation are also considered part of
orthography... but they are not relevant to the current discussion.)
If you scan the existing Burgenland phone book, you will find many of these variations. Exactly when a particular family
changed the spelling can be a very important clue as to whether a family with a similar spelling is part of your family. |
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4) ETHNIC EVENTS LEHIGH VALLEY, PA Sunday, June 5: Maria & John at the Coplay Sängerbund. Info: www.coplaysaengerbund.com Friday-Saturday, June 10-11: Sommerfest at the Lancaster Liederkranz. Info: www.lancasterliederkranz.com Friday, June 10: Kermit Ohlinger at the Reading Liederkranz. Info: www.readingliederkranz.com Sunday, June 12: Emil Schanta at the Coplay Sängerbund. Info: www.coplaysaengerbund.com Friday, June 17: Josef Kroboth at the Evergreen Heimatbund in Fleetwood. Info: www.evergreenclub.org Saturday, June 18: NOSB Sängerfest Choral Concert at Centerville Middle School. Info: www.lancasterliederkranz.com Sunday, June 19: Dave Betz at the Coplay Sängerbund. Info: www.coplaysaengerbund.com Friday, June 24: Wurstfest at the Reading Liederkranz. Music by Doppelgänger. Info: www.readingliederkranz.com Sunday, June 26: 105th Stiftungsfest of the Coplay Sängerbund. Music by the Josef Kroboth Orchestra and German singing groups. Info: www.coplaysaengerbund.com NEW BRITAIN, CT Friday-Sunday, 1-8 pm: Biergarten is open. Austrian Donau Club, 545 Arch Street. ST. LOUIS, MO (none) UPPER MIDWEST (none) |
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5) BURGENLAND EMIGRANT OBITUARIES Stella Crandall (née Hoffmann)  Stella (Gisela) Crandall, age 94, of
Saratoga Springs, New York, passed away on Friday, May 6, 2022 at the Washington Center For Rehabilitation and Nursing.Born on June 15, 1927 in Punitz, Austria, she was a daughter of the late Johann and Theresia (Jautz) Hoffmann. Stella was self-employed in cleaning for many years. She enjoyed jigsaw puzzles, reading magazines and her daily walks. Her greatest joy was the holiday seasons which she cherished time with her family and friends. Stella is survived by her daughter, Lucille Kilbara (Roger Reynolds); son, John Crandall; many nieces, nephews and friends who will miss her dearly. She is preceded in death by her husband, and three sisters, Frieda, Sophia and Anna. Family and friends may call from 11 am to 12:30 pm on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 at Compassionate Funeral Care, 402 Maple Ave. (Rte 9 and/or Marion Ave.), Saratoga Springs, NY. A graveside service will be held at 1 pm at Maplewood Cemetery, Saratoga Springs, NY following the calling hours at the funeral home. Due to the ongoing public health concerns of COVID-19 social distancing as well as wearing of a face mask is recommended. For online condolences, visit www.compassionatefuneralcare.com https://www.lastingmemories.com/stella-crandall Published by The Saratogian from May 6 to May 8, 2022 Mary Schweitzer (née Kerekes) Mary Schweitzer, 92, of Bethlehem,
Pennsylvania, passed away on Sunday, May 8, 2022. She was the wife of the late Frank Schweitzer. Born on December 13, 1929 in Szakonyfalu (Sakalovci/Eckersdorf), Hungary, she was the daughter of the late Bertalan and Caroline (Csuk) Kerekes. Mary was a member of St. Anne's Catholic Church and a former member of St. Joseph's Slovenian Roman Catholic Church where she was a member of the Woman's Guild. She worked as a seamstress for 30 years in local sewing machine factories. Mary enjoyed gardening and baking but above all loved her family, especially her grandchildren. She will be lovingly remembered by her son, Louis Schweitzer and his wife, Natalie; sisters, Caroline Madson and Margit Kerekes; grandchildren, Sara Stametz (Christopher Miller), Jenna Schweitzer (Joshua Rosa) and Jake Schweitzer and his wife, Hilary; great-grandchildren, Addison and Cole and 3 nieces. Mary was preceded in death by her daughter, Mary Schweitzer Haldaman. A viewing will be held on Saturday, May 14, 2022 from 9-10:30 a.m. at Connell Funeral Home, 245 E. Broad St. Bethlehem, PA 18018. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. at St. Anne's Church, 450 E. Washington Ave. Bethlehem, PA 18017. Burial will be held at Holy Saviour Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Anne's Church. Condolences may be offered online at www.connellfuneral.com Published by Morning Call on May 11, 2022 |
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| END OF NEWSLETTER (Even good things must end!) |
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Burgenland Bunch Newsletter, copyright © 2022 by The Burgenland Bunch |
News
The
narration is in German but captions are available (if you turn them on). And, if you have a smart enough page translator,
say Microsoft Translator in Microsoft Edge, it will translate the captions on the fly, making it easy to
follow along (though some of the translated spoken segments are odd given they do not have the context from the rest of the
sentence).
The
Facebook Bunch (from Vanessa Sandhu):
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."
Kürbis