1) THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER (by Tom Steichen)
 This
month's random bits and pieces (Article 1) begins with the introduction of a new staff member:
Zac Stubits joins the website managing staff as our new Members Editor! Unfortunately, I follow that
with comments on the death of Joe Baumann, who was a force in the New York area Burgenländer world. I continue with a look
at the Hungarian currency's change in comparative value during the Orbán era. Then there is a follow-up to
last month's Historical Newsletter Article, wherein Eva Hergovich adds worthwhile detail. I reluctantly follow
that with a reminder... but one I know that most of you do not need, as your behavior shows me that. Next, I tell you about
even more record transcriptions by Patrick Kovacs. I end with the continuing story about drought and falling water
levels in Burgenland, giving summary numbers and talking about the high temperatures that have exacerbated the dryness and
their joint effect on agriculture.
Our regular tidbits include the monthly BB Facebook report, book sales, a recipe (you
should consider providing one!) and a humor item.
The remaining articles are our standard sections: A Historical BB Newsletter article, Ethnic Events
and Emigrant Obituaries (none this month).
New BB Staff Member: I'm pleased to announce that we are adding a new person to the BB Staff:
Zac Stubits, of Kutztown, PA, is joining us as our new Members Editor (replacing me). As such, the latest Members
changes and additions online are credited to him.
I asked Zac to put together a mini-bio telling us about his connection to Burgenland and the skills he brings to our
editorial group. As you will see below, he will be a valuable member of the staff, both for his skills and for his
enthusiasm for Burgenland history and genealogy. If you wish to welcome Zac to our fold, you can reach him at
zac.stubits@the-burgenland-bunch.org. Zac
writes:
 I
am Zac Stubits, a graphic designer, marketer, tinkerer, lifelong learner and an award-winning runner (I came
in second in my age bracket at a local race), and I have a great sense of humor. I currently live in Pennsylvania, right
outside of Kutztown.
I have a bachelor's degree in Communication Design from Kutztown University. For the past 10 years, I have worked
professionally as a web designer, graphic designer, product photographer and product and brand marketer. I enjoy design and
marketing so much that I co-own a marketing and design agency with my wife and I co-own a laser engraving business.
My interest in Austria stems from my Opa. Growing up, he would talk about Burgenland, specifically Harmisch, where
his parents were from, to anyone who would listen. I took German in school, mainly because of him and, when I was 17, I was
fortunate enough to visit our relatives with him and my brother. We visited Harmisch, Vienna and Salzburg. That is when my
love affair with Austria, my heritage and Burgenland truly began. During our trip, we made many stops at cemeteries where a
number of our relatives were buried. This seemed odd at the time, but it was almost a foreshadow to today, when knowledge of
my family tree is more exciting than ever.
Fast forward about a decade, my Opa has passed and the memories of my trip are no longer fresh in my mind. I have my
own family now, so naturally, I became even more interested in my family tree and my family's connection to Burgenland. I
went on a hunt to find some of the relatives we stayed with and visited on our trip. My search led me to the Burgenland
Bunch where I have now become reacquainted with some of my extended family. I appreciate the work that everyone in the
Burgenland Bunch community puts forth and I wanted to offer something back to the community too, so I contacted
Thomas to introduce myself and to give him some background on my skills and passions. This led to him offering me a position
adding to and updating the "Members'' pages. I would like to formally introduce myself to everyone and extend my
thanks to everyone who has helped build this community into what it is. Please reach out if you have any questions or
comments, I would love to meet more of you!
Zac
 Josef
Baumann Has Died: Josef (Joe) Baumann, of Flushing, NY, the long-time President of the New York branch of the
Burgenländische Gemeinschaft (BG), died in September at age 95. Joe was also a vice-president of the worldwide
BG for more than 50 years, and subsequently the Honorary President of the BG in the USA. From 1986 to 1995, he
was the President of the First Burgenländer Sick and Beneficial Society in New York.
Born in 1928 in Poppendorf (Jennersdorf district), he worked in the municipal office in Heiligenkreuz until he decided to
emigrate in 1955. Burgenland was still under Russian occupation and many young adults from Poppendorf had already chosen to
leave. The story goes that, on the day of his departure, Joe placed some ground from his parents' garden into a match box so
some native soil could go with him to America.
 In
New York in his first year, he took whatever employment he could find until he settled in at a travel agency. He later
started his own agency in Manhattan and, working with the BG, was responsible for organizing trips home for thousands
of Burgenländers in America. He personally accompanied the first BG group flight from New York to Vienna and, over
the years, returned to Burgenland with his wife, Marion (neé Janischer), more than 60 times.
Joe never forgot his homeland. Many times he attended the BG Picnic in Moschendorf and his pride in his homeland
carried over to his daughter Maria and granddaughter Ariana Drauch, who both were crowned Miss Burgenland New York.
Maria married Peter Drauch, an emigrant from Zahling, who later also became the President of the First Burgenländer Sick
and Beneficial Society in New York.
Joe's funeral was September 22nd.
The Cost of Autocracy: Back in April, Victor Orbán's Fidesz party dominated the Hungarian parliamentary
election, making him a now four-time prime minister. Orbán first took power in Hungary on 29 May 2010, and though his
approval has steadily declined, the party's continuing changes to the Hungarian constitution have kept him in power.Orbán
made news over the past year for his tacit (and sometimes explicit) support of Russia in its war against Ukraine, as he has
continued to buy gas under Russia's terms and refused to let arms traverse Hungarian territory to Ukraine. He also made news
for rejecting the EU's terms on how EU money was to be monitored and spent, resulting in the EU denying some €6 Billion
in continuing Covid-related funding.
This lack of continuing EU funding, plus the large expenditures he made to help "buy" the election— he
had the government pay a “thirteenth-month” pension to seniors, exempted people under 25 years of age from income tax, and
froze fuel and food prices, despite their increasing cost—has led to inflation and the devaluing of the Hungarian currency,
the Forint. This devaluing has Hungarian workers asking that they be paid in Euros (which is now illegal under
Hungarian law) or that their wages be indexed against the Euro.
So, how steep has the decline of the Forint been? I looked up currency comparisons of the Dollar versus
Euro versus Forint for both May 2010 (when Orbán took power) and 6 Sep 2022 (the day I'm writing this). I
included the Dollar versus Euro comparison because the Russia/Ukraine war has adversely affected all of Europe
(and, to be honest, all of the world, though the effects are greater in Europe). Here are the numbers:
2010: $ 1 = € 0.75 = 195 Forint (= 260 Forint per €)
2022: $ 1 = € 1.01 = 407 Forint (= 403 Forint per €)
Thus, the Euro is now worth 74% of its 2010 value versus the Dollar.
In comparison, the Forint is now worth only 48% of its 2010 value versus the Dollar and 65% of its 2010 value
versus the Euro. Clearly, the Forint has suffered much more.
[Mid-month addition: The EU Executive just recommended suspending an additional €7.5 Billion in
funding to Hungary due to Orbán's continued corrupt enrichment of his cronies with EU funds. As a result, the Forint
is continuing its fall.]
Is a currency that has lost in excess of a third to half its value, the cost of autocracy? You decide.
Re: Historical BB Newsletter Articles, Burgenländers in Canada: Last month I re-published an article I wrote
for a newsletter from 10 years ago. This was part of the ongoing "Historical BB Newsletter Articles" section and my
original article was titled "Burgenländers in Canada." While I wrote some original text for it, much of it was
paraphrased from an article called "Austrians to Canada," written by Michaela C. Schober that, 10 years ago, was
online at
http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca/Encyclopedia/A-Z/a26/1.
At that time, the parent site, http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca, was a
digitization project, led by Lynn Copeland of Simon Fraser University, that addressed the emigrant groups who went to
Canada. However, if you click the article link above, it will only go to the parent site. It appears the Encyclopedia
and all its entries are no longer available. It also appears that the whole site is now an online magazine/newsletter.
Anyway, my republication prompted Eva Hergovich, the longtime board member and former president of the
Burgenländer Club Toronto (also a representative of the Burgenländische Gemeinschaft in Canada) to write to me to
comment on the article and to provide additional information. I found her comments well worth sharing and received her
permission to do so. So what follow are her comments.
Eva writes:
I just read this month’s Historical BB Newsletter Article, Burgenländers in Canada. It is well researched and I
congratulate the author, Michaela Schober, as well as Lynn Copeland, for all their work in this field.
May I please add a few comments to said publication:
To start off, I always enjoy reading new (as well as time-honoured) information about Austria, the country of my birth; and
also about the country that I now call home, which is Canada. Both are equally close to my heart.
The excerpts from Ms. Schober’s writing are in bold italic below; whereas my comments are in regular text:
a) “Traditionally, Austrian Canadians have not been active in Canadian politics in Canada and are therefore
underrepresented in public life.”
This is true; though two prominent members of Austrian descent that I can think of were politically active in Canada:
Otto Emil Lang, son of Austrian immigrants (parents: Otto Lang and Maria Wurm), a Rhodes scholar and federal
minister (Liberal Party) with numerous portfolios. At one time, he was a Prof. of Law at the University of
Saskatchewan, and is highly respected across the country.
Frank Stronach immigrated to Canada from Styria, Austria, in 1954. He founded Magna International, a
multimillion dollar automotive business, and is, arguably, the most successful Austrian business man in Canada. He was
active in politics with the Liberal Party of Canada, and in his later years, he also entered politics in Austria but
was not as successful. Frank’s daughter, Belinda Stronach, is a former member of Parliament for the Progressive
Conservative Party of Canada.
b) Economic Life: “Many of them prospered as stonemasons, tailors, paper-hangers, and mechanics.”
A famous Austrian tailor (that I knew personally) was Karl Gyaki from Oberwart, Burgenland. He immigrated to Canada
in 1951 and did work as a tailor at one time. That being said, Mr. Gyaki was the founder of Gyaki Agencies, a wine
importing business. Karl was the first entrepreneur who imported Austrian wines into Canada, and was a prominent
philanthropist. He especially fostered Hungarian culture, as he was part of one of the language minority groups in
Burgenland. It should be noted that there are four: German, Croatian, Hungarian and Roma.
Graf Auto Centre, founded by Burgenländers Adolf and Rudi Graf, in Toronto (1976). This very successful auto
mechanic and body shop is now operated by Rudy and Herbert Graf. Coincidentally, Rudy Graf is the current president
of the Burgenländer Club Toronto.
In the restaurant business were a number of successful Austrian restaurant owners. There are two that I can think of right
off the bat, as I happen to know them personally: Hans Klebesits and Franz Hochholdinger.
Hans Klebesits was the owner of the Austrian restaurant The Old Country Inn (in Unionville, Ontario), which
was a very successful enterprise that he sold quite recently. He also imported Austrian wines.
Franz Hochholdinger is the owner and operator of The Apricot Tree Café (in Mississauga, Ontario), which is a
thriving restaurant where Austrian dishes and desserts are offered.
Please note that there are many more successful Canadian businesses run by Burgenländers. A more extensive list would,
however, require more research.
c) Culture: “The Burgenländer Club Toronto annually holds an evening of traditional dancing dedicated to St. Martin,
the patron saint of Burgenland.”
Correct; this is the Martinsfest or “Martini Dance”, as we call it.
The annual “Anna Picnic”, however, has a steadfast ‘fanbase’ of around 400 people each year. This picnic is held at
the Evening Bell Park in Tottenham, Ontario. A “Kirtag” derives from “Kirchtag,” which means “church
day.” It takes place in July, in honour of St. Anna. St. Anna is the patron saint of many churches in Burgenland. The "Kirtag"
is an ancient church festivity in the villages that always involves good food, a dance and sharing the festivity with
friends and family, both within the village as well as visitors from afar. In some villages within Burgenland, this
tradition has almost disappeared. In others, however, it has been revitalized in various ways. Even the Monday after the "Kirtag" offers
entertainment, fun, and laughter. For example, in Oslip (which is a bilingual village), the Monday after the "Kirtag"
is called "Štrapova."
The website of the Burgenländer Club Toronto is: www.burgenlanderclub.com
d) Under “Further Reading”:
There is additional literature in regards to Austrian Immigration to Canada, available in North America (as published
books):
A History Of The Austrian Migration To Canada, edited by Frederick C. Engelmann, Manfred Prokop and Franz A.J. Szabo.
Austrian Immigration To Canada Selected Essays, edited by Franz A.J. Szabo.
A Biographical Dictionary Of Austrians In Canada, compiled by Manfred Prokop.
I am certain that there are many more, but I personally own these books as I acquired them when they were first published.
In regards to research specifically about the “Immigration of Burgenländers”, Prof. Dr. Walter Dujmovits remains the
leading authority.
Eva Hergovich B.A. M.Ed.
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
A Gentle Reminder: Since you are reading this, I presume you are a member of the Burgenland
Bunch, the Burgenland Bunch Facebook page or the greater community of people interested in the genealogy and/or
history and culture of Burgenland. My reminder to you is that the complete staff of the Burgenland Bunch and
the administrative staff of the BB Facebook page are volunteers who operate these entities in their spare
time, with many having full-time jobs and all having full lives and responsibilities outside of these entities. We operate
these entities because we wish to give back to the greater community, we wish to learn from members of these entities, and
because someone needs to keep these entities functioning. Our rewards for doing so are a sense of accomplishing something
worthwhile and the occasional thanks from members of our community.
As a further reminder, although we are affiliated, the BB Facebook page operates independently of the
Burgenland Bunch. I am President of the BB but I am not an administrator of the Facebook page and I
have no control over how it is operated. Do I have influence? Sure, but only a little. And I would never presume to tell the
them how they should operate! The same holds true in the opposite direction: the Facebook page administrators can
influence the BB but would not presume to tell us how to operate.
It is true that a number of (but not all of) the Facebook page administrators are also staff members of the BB.
This helps us share ideas, promote each other, and avoid being redundant. Nonetheless, the dual-staffers put on different
hats as they move between the entities. It also means they are volunteering time for two different organizations, thus
cutting even deeper into the time available for their private lives, real jobs and real responsibilities.
So why am I telling you all this? This past month, I received an email from a BB Facebook page member (and BB
member) complaining to me about their perceived treatment by an administrator of the Facebook page, one who is also a
BB staffer. While I do not mind people treating me as an intermediary to the Facebook staff, the best course
is to directly contact that or another Facebook administrator (it's their world, not mine!). Going through me means
I'm talking to a BB staff member about things I have no control over and that have little or nothing to
do with their role as said BB staff member. In that situation, we both feel awkward. My staff member feels like a kid where
someone has tattled to "mom" (me starring in the role of "mom") and me wondering what I'm expected to do about an issue that
is not directly BB-related.
In this particular case, the Facebook member was frustrated that their post had not been immediately approved, and
that frustration was exacerbated because the administrator accused in the complaint had apparently approved a
similar post of their own. It is worth mentioning that there are multiple administrators that approve posts for the page
and that all posts (except posts by administrators) require administrator approval before becoming visible to the
membership.
Such pending posts are put into a queue and an administrator must access that queue to see if anything is there and then to
decide if a pending post is appropriate for the group. Inappropriate posts are those that attack another member, have
content that has nothing to do with the purpose of the page or whose intent is to advertise a commercial service or product.
This is how the page has always operated. In this case, the member's post was eventually deemed appropriate and was
approved.
So why didn't the administrator approve the member's post when their own post was approved? Well, the administrator post
did not require approval so the queue was never checked. Instead, the administrator posted directly from their
phone and went about their life. There was absolutely no intent to slight the member or to preferentially approve their own,
similar post.
Not understanding this, the Facebook member complained to me, implying unfair treatment, questioning how the
administrator had filled their day-and-a-half since the member queued their post, and saying such unresponsive behavior was
damaging to the BB.
Folks, it is fine to question (nicely) why something happened or not on the Facebook page. However, it is totally
inappropriate to expect that approval of your post comes before the lives, families and responsibilities of these
volunteer administrators. They will get to you when they can.
The same holds true for the BB. We are all volunteers and do what we do as just one more thing in our busy
personal lives. I know that there are (rare) occasions when someone makes a request to us and we fail to respond. As 99.9%
of you clearly know, kindness and understanding will go a lot further toward solving the problem than personal attacks.
Still More Record Transcriptions: We continue to receive newly transcribed records from Patrick Kovacs, this
month's being Marriage Records from the Civil Recording District at Kukmirn for the years 1895 through 1920.
Kukmirn (Kukmér) was also the official Civil recording location for the following villages during this time:
- Eisenhüttl (Németcsencs),
- Limbach (Hárspatak),
- Neusiedl bei Güssing (Felsoujlak),
- Rohr (Nád) [1907-1908 only].
The Civil database consists of 649 marriage records from 1895 to 1920.
These join Lutheran data transcribed by Patrick that consist of 8,733 birth records and 1,849 marriage records from 1828 to
1895.
You can access all of these records here:
KukmirnRecords.htm.
Burgenland's Summer 2022... Too Hot, Too Dry: I've been telling you about the heat and dryness in Burgenland
this summer, but now Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie
und Geodynamik, ZAMG) has put forth some official words about this, declaring that this summer "was the fourth
warmest in the 255-year history of measurements." They note that at the Eisenstadt weather measuring station, "36 hot
days were counted this year, which are days with temperatures above 30 degrees (86°F)."
They went on to say that the summer of 2022 was about 1.7 degrees (3°F) warmer than the current long-term average. And, if
you compare this to the 1961-1990 period, which is believed to be little affected by climate change, then "...it was even
almost three and a half degrees (8°F) too warm," according to Alexander Orlik from ZAMG.
 From
an economic/agricultural point of view, the big problem was the drought, which affected all of Austria, but in the district
of Oberwart "it rained 90 percent less than the ten-year average." Still, the driest place in Austria this summer was
the Seewinkel (generally a much drier area than the rest of Burgenland). According to Alexander Orlik: "If you
look at all the stations in Austria, Podersdorf was the absolutely driest station. It rained only 140 liters per square
meter (5.51 inches) in the entire summer. That's about a deficit of 40 percent (3.67 inches, implying the normal
total is 9.19 inches)."
For agriculture in Burgenland, the drought has already caused nine million euros in damage.
 The
Facebook Bunch (from Vanessa Sandhu):
Greetings, Burgenland Bunch!
September has just flown by! The cooler weather and Oktoberfest celebrations have inspired quite a few of us to start
researching, cooking, and baking again. We had a very productive month in our group. We welcomed 28 new members! Please join
us if you haven’t done so yet!
facebook.com/groups/TheBurgenlandBunchOFFICIAL
BB staff member Patrick Kovacs shared his transcriptions of Kukmirn civil marriages 1895-1920. The file
includes Eisenhüttl, Limbach, Neusiedl bei Güssing, and Rohr im Burgenland (1907-1908).
Patrick also shared some great photos of his meeting with a group of visitors from Chicago. Their families hailed
from Litzelsdorf and Olbendorf. They visited the former homes of their grandparents, shared some delicious food and
Uhudler, and got some great photos at Güssing Castle.
Member Audrey Leiner shared a link to a website which contains Austrian war memorials which many
members found helpful:
www.denkmalprojekt.org
Member Franz Stangl shared some great photos and videos from a festival held at St. Emmerich’s
Church in Inzenhof.
We also had a collection of still photos and videos shared from the Oktoberfest held at the
Coplay Sängerbund.
Member Adam Jakab shared a link to the Hungarian 1828 tax census. The site is only available in
Hungarian, but it is fairly easy to navigate. The records are indexed and searchable by their Hungarian village names.
adatbazisokonline.mnl.gov.hu/adatbazis/az-1828-evi-orszagos-osszeiras
On a sad note, we regret to inform you of the passing of Joe Baumann. Joe was remembered by many as
being an integral part of bridging the gap between Burgenland and her American emigrants. He came to New York City from
Poppendorf in 1955. He operated a travel agency in Manhattan which chartered flights back to Burgenland. Many members
traveled on Joe’s flights and made lots of wonderful memories as a result. Joe was 95 years old. May he rest in peace!
CONNECTIONS:
Member Prima Marina writes: “Hello, I'm from Vienna, my grand-grandparents left Litzelsdorf in 1910 for
Buffalo (Michael Fenz and Maria Csar, their son was born in Buffalo 1911). They returned back to Burgenland in
1921/22. They also had relatives in Buffalo and surroundings with the following names: Seper, Csar, Fenz. They were
friends with several people from Stinatz in Buffalo too. If someone on here has any of these surnames and/or has relatives
from Buffalo get in touch as I'm trying to find out more about them and their life. Thank you!”
Member Mike Speers writes: “Hello to The BB; new member here, Mike Speers. But, I've joined on behalf of my
wife. It is her family: Horvath, Gaal, Ekker, Shulek, Drobits and others that I've been working on as her genealogist.
President Tom from Greencastle, PA, and I have been doing some searching together and he has been a great help. My wife,
Rosemary Horvath, has maternal family mostly from Oberwart. The best we can do on her Horvath side is Nestelbach
bei Graz. We live in northeast Ohio, as her family came to Cleveland in the early 1900's. Some stayed, some went back. If
any of this sounds familiar and you can help, please do. I'm hoping that The BB can get us past some of the
Austrian-Hungarian brick walls.”
If anyone would like to share any information with Prima Marina or Mike, please let me know! I’d be happy to pass it along!
You can contact me at HooftyRN@msn.com.
Until next month, stay safe and healthy!
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 1688 copies, as interested people purchased 10 more books during this past month.
As always, the book is available for online purchase at a list price of $8.12
(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!).
The book is an excellent read for the Burgenländers in your family.
Burgenland Recipes: This recipe appeared recently in the Burgenland ORF online
pages, making it a modern addition to the Burgenland cookbook. As you will see, it is not the usual Hungarian paprika that
adds spice to this dish!
 Baked
Squash
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
1 tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper, chili flakes
1/2 tsp "Ras el Hanout" Moroccan spices by Sonnentor*
two eggs
5-6 ounces grated Parmesan or feta cheese
Preparation:
Cut the squash into slices 3/8-1/2 inch thick and season, to taste, with salt, pepper and chili flakes. Place parchment
paper on a baking sheet and spread olive oil on it. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Dab the squash slices with paper towels,
spread them on the baking paper and put the sheet in the oven. Bake the squash slices for about 20 minutes, turning once. Be
careful, the squash slices will crisp on the underside first.
Meanwhile, beat eggs, add Moroccan spices and stir in cheese. When the squash slices start to brown, spread the egg mixture
over them with a spoon, put them back in the oven and finish baking until the mixture is firm and golden.
* To make your own Ras el Hanout spices:
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground coriander seeds
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
In a small bowl whisk together all ingredients until combined well. Spice blend keeps in an airtight container at cool room
temperature 1 month. Makes about 3 tablespoons.
 Note:
Our recipes sortable list has links directly to the recipes or food-related articles published
in our past newsletters. You can access the list by clicking our recipe box (to the right). Thanks to the contributions of
our members over the years, we have quite a collection of Burgenland recipes, some with several variations.
However, whenever we use up our unpublished recipes, this recipe section will become dormant. So, if you have a favorite
family recipe, please consider sharing it with us. We will be happy to publish it. 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!
Humor Of The Month:
|
A recent rewrite of an law
by the Austrian Parliament could have been a disaster for genealogical research. The draft law, to be put in effect on April
1, 2013, is known as the Personenstandsgesetz für Österreich (Personal Status Law of Austria) and is an update of a
similar 1983 law. Unfortunately, the rewrite dropped a paragraph of vital importance to genealogical research.
News