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

2023 BB Notes: Despite saying above that I'm not going to do a year-end summary newsletter, I am going to acknowledge a few things from the year.

The first thing is to acknowledge the growth of the BB over the year. We started 2023 with 3,155 members and are leaving the year with 3,206, a growth of 51. A warm welcome to all you new members (as well as a hello to the many that have been with us longer). I hope you all find membership in the BB to be useful and educational!

Along with our direct BB membership, I also want to report on the growth of our affiliated Facebook page. It started the year with 1,966 members and now reports 2,118, a growth of 152. The Facebook page has very much become our "immediate help" tool, often answering member questions within a few minutes. As such, I suggest you join both groups.

For the BB itself, we did not gain nor lose staff members this year. The current crew of "managing" staff on our site has been stable and the site itself has been functioning well. Our "contributing" editors have also remained the same, though much of that contribution is more often now on our Facebook page as opposed to email-based help or newsletter articles.

Having said that, I need to publicly thank the BB staff (as well as the BB Facebook administrators), as they are the ones that make all this possible. I personally appreciate them and I'm sure you do too. Thanks all!

We continue to sell the English edition of Walter Dujmovits' book, "The Burgenländer Emigration to America." As you may know, the BB performed the translation and published the book in 2013 and it has been for sale (at production cost) on Lulu, a print-on-demand service, since January 2014. Current total sales are 1,757, an increase of 52 books over the year.

As for BH&R, the team added 992 honorees, raising the total to 28,003.

Another count I want to mention is that of Burgenland Emigrant Obituaries. 2023 saw  25 obits published in the newsletter, a count that had been declining as the last great wave of Burgenland emigrants aged out (from annual counts in the 50's) but notably higher than last year's 17.

The last 2023 thing I want to talk about is genealogical records. We all know that FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com continue to add genealogical records of all sorts, and I'll say no more about them, instead I'll focus on the records we offer on the BB website. Church records are notoriously hard to transcribe, so having more-knowledgeable BB members perform the transcriptions tends to lead to more accurate work (something we all appreciate). 2023 provided transcription of only a single vital records collection (there were 10 in 2022, plus one house number translation list). The new collection this year is:

- Tadten Catholic parish: Kyle Sattler provided a transcription of all 2,198 birth records, 488 marriage records, and 1,780 death records for the period 1726 to 1789.

Check, Update E-mail Address: This is a now-regular feature of my year-end BB newsletter: an annual request that you review your e-mail address on our pages and, if it is no longer correct, that you send in a correction using the BB's Change Form found here: the-burgenland-bunch.org/change.

Your e-mail address is the only way other BB members (even BB staff) can contact you; if it is invalid, you may as well not bother to list your family data with us. The Change Form also allows you to update your other information... but the starting point is a valid e-mail address, so please check it!

How do you check it: Go to our Members Pages at the-burgenland-bunch.org/Members, select the correct section of the alphabet, find your entry in the alphabetical listing, then click your name; that should open a blank e-mail with your e-mail address on the "To:" line. If the listed address is obsolete/wrong, copy it then go to our Change Form and paste that wrong address into the 3rd box on the form (we want the wrong address so we know we are fixing the right problem!). Then fill out at least boxes 1, 2 and 4, answer the "human-verification" question at the bottom of the form, then click the "send" button. We'll take care of the rest!



A Confusing Marker (Revisited): Two newsletters back, I commented on a marker embedded in the paving of Fő tér (Main Square) in Sopron, Hungary. The square is adjacent to the route of the Roman Amber Road, and the marker concerned distances along that road. The key point of my comment was my belief that the distances (in Roman miles and modern kilometers) from Sopron to Aquileia, Italy, inscribed in the marker were wrong, while those to Rome were reasonable. Aquileia was included because it was the main destination (primary processing point) for the raw amber transported along the road.

A number of readers wrote to agree with my contention, which made me feel good, and no one wrote to tell me I was wrong, which made me feel even better! The most recent such message was from BB VP Klaus Gerger, and he wrote:

Hi Tom,

I do not know if you are aware that the only Roman map (though a medieval copy) surviving to today is kept in Vienna's state library, the Tabula Peutingeriana. At the end of the article [Ed: click link to read it] the entire map is shown (and you can zoom in). But even better, you can plan routes based on this map, just like with Google. Here is from Sopron to Rome: https://omnesviae.org/#!iter_TPPlace1560_TPPlace1203.

And I agree that the inscription is wrong and, as you stated, should list 480 km instead of miles. But when such an error is noticed on a completed monument, it's most likely too expensive to correct. And most people will not notice anyway ;-(

Best regards from cold Vienna,
Klaus

I was aware of the Tabula Peutingeriana and I knew where it was located, but I had not discovered omnesviae.org (the other link Klaus provided). The story about the Tabula is quite interesting, and I recommend clicking the link to the Wikipedia page under its name in Klaus' message.

The name for the other link, omnesviae.org, is also interesting, evidently being derived from the Latin phrase, Omnes viae Romam ducunt (= All roads lead to Rome). So an organization that has mapped out all roads on the Tabula (and has translated the place names thereon into their modern equivalences) has a quite appropriate name!

As Klaus indicated, this link provides a map featuring all the points (stations) between Sopron (Scarbantia, to the Romans) and Rome that appear on the Tabula, and that route includes Aquileia. I have marked the route on a clip (below) from the Tabula and indicated where our three points of interest appear (my marking is the yellow line that roughly follows the appropriate Roman roads):

At first glance, this map looks very strange, with Scarbantia near the top center, Aquileia on the left and Rome in the lower right. However, if you read the Wikipedia entry, you will know that the Tabula is a parchment scroll of 11 panels that together are over 22 feet long and each not quite 14 inches wide (the section above is an approximate 4-foot clip)... and that the Tabula is not a geographic map, rather, it is a schematic map (like a lot of subway transit maps). [In fact, mapmaker Sasha Trubetskoy has turned the major destinations on the Italian section of this map into a subway-style map, which can be seen here: roman-roads-italy-subway-map-HD.png. According to it, you travel from Rome to Scarbantia via the Via Flaminia [F], the Via Popilia Veneta [PV], the Via Gemina [Ge] and the Via Pannonica [Pn].]

Further examination of the Tabula will reveal that the lower light-brownish section is the upper half of the Italian boot and the darker brownish-gray sections around it represent water, meaning the Adriatic Sea is the water in the middle of the map and other seas (sometimes called arms) that compose parts of the Mediterranean Sea are below the boot (extra bonus points: name the two arms/seas on the west of Italy!). The very top of the map shows what I think is the Danube River and a very thin strip of land above it representing the countries and peoples north of the Roman Empire, then showing the Baltic Sea (and other northern seas) as the water at the top.

The Tabula is believed to represent Itinerarium, that is, diagramic lists of destinations along Roman roads and the distances between those destinations. It shows these roads as a series of stepped lines along which the destinations have been marked in order of travel. These destinations were the stations of the Cursus Publicus, the state-administered road network for couriers and official transportation. Stations were at intervals of one day's travel and had facilities to repair wagons, change horses, eat, bathe and rest. This made it possible for an official courier to carry a parcel or message all the way to its destination, instead of relaying them from person to person as in earlier times.

Compared to the clip above, a modern cartographic map (on the right) shows this journey in a substantially different manner. Scarbantia (Sopron) is in the upper right of this clip, Aquileia is at the top of the Adriatic Sea, and Rome is down at the bottom of the map. Here, direction and distance between points are consistent with their places on the map. This map was actually generated by omnesviae.org (per the link Klaus provided). I have added labels to make it easier to find our three points of interest, but it is otherwise unchanged. The red dots along the yellow route indicate the known or assumed locations of the stations that were labeled along the route on the Tabula Peutingeriana.

One interesting thing about these maps (and therefore of the indicated routes) is that river crossings were identified along each route. I suspect that this was because bridges and natural fords were rare, making major rivers substantial impediments to road travel and making any crossings quite important. Conversely, mountain passes were not identified by name, although one would think they were equally important.

As I mentioned above, distances (in Roman numerals) between stations were provided on the Tabula, and they are shown in a textual report that accompanies the map generated by omnesviae.org. I placed those values into a spreadsheet and converted the numerals to numbers (Roman miles) and then to kilometers. In my comments from two months back, I had estimated (using GoogleMaps) the distance from Scarbantia to Aquileia to be 467 km, equal to 316 Roman miles. Adding up the values from the Tabula gives the distance as 309 Roman miles, distances very much in agreement with each other.

As for the total distance from Scarbantia to Rome, it was reported on the marker as DCCXXXVI (736) Roman miles and 1051 km (even though 1051 km equates to just 710 Roman miles). I estimated (using GoogleMaps) the distance to be 1077 km (= 728 Roman miles). Adding up the values from the Tabula gives 692 Roman miles. While one could quibble a little about the equivalence of the three values, I think they are close enough to say they are estimates of the same approximate "distance" given it is unlikely they all followed the same exact step-for-step route.

Regardless, the Tabula Peutingeriana is an interesting resource and omnesviae.org makes it much more accessible. I thank Klaus for bringing these to our attention.



Esther Heiss, New Head of the Jewish Museum: The Austrian Jewish Museum (Österreichische Jüdische Museum) in Eisenstadt recently hired a new director, Esther Heiss, to replace Johannes Reiss, who retired at the end of November with 35 years as director of the museum.

Esther Heiss is 28 years old, was born in Vienna, and has family roots in central Burgenland. She holds a BA degree in Oriental Studies and Jewish Studies, as well as MA degrees in both. She had been working as a Prae-Doc (pre-doctorial University Assistant) at the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Vienna, has written several relevant academic papers, and continues to work on her dissertation on humor as a coping strategy in rabbinic texts. Prior to her appointment as a Prae-Doc in 2021, she was a tutor at the Institute of Oriental Studies. Her research interests include Ancient Near Eastern cultures, religions and empires, rabbinic time and literature, as well as humor and coping strategies in these contexts.

The Austrian Jewish Museum was founded in 1972 as the first Jewish museum in Austria since before 1945. The museum is located in the Wertheimer House in the former Jewish quarter in Eisenstadt. The house was built in 1719 by Samson Wertheimer, a merchant at the court in Vienna and chief rabbi of Hungary. The Austrian Jewish Museum in Eisenstadt is home to the only synagogue in Burgenland that has been preserved in its original function.



100 Years of Superintendence in Burgenland: 2024 will be the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Evangelical Lutheran Superintendence in Burgenland (also known as the Diocese of the Protestant Burgenländers). A superintendence is the protestant equivalence of a Catholic diocese and is headed by a Superintendent. The current superintendent, Robert Jonischkeit, is the seventh superintendent since the establishment of the superintendence, which currently has 29 congregations and about 30,000 believers.

The kickoff for the anniversary year began this December with a festive service in the Tolerance Church in Zurndorf to herald the anniversary. The Evangelical Lutheran bishop for Austria, Michael Chalupka, led the service along with superintendent Jonischkeit. Anniversary flags were then raised throughout the state with the intent to make this special year publicly visible and to alert and invite the membership to the wide variety of events scheduled to follow in 2024.

While Austria is predominantly Catholic (only three percent of Christians in Austria are Protestant), the percentage is much higher in Burgenland, being 10.5 percent, so the Protestant Church there sees itself as an integral part of Burgenland's identity. However, other Austrian states have more members and the combined membership of Evangelical Lutherans in Austria is 265,000, plus there are some 12,000 members in the Reformed Church in Austria. 

Christmas Trees In Burgenland: I recently saw an interesting article about Christmas trees in Burgenland, and it commented mostly on two points: "slender" trees are particularly trendy at the moment, and prices have risen compared to the previous year.

It reported that about 115,000 Christmas trees are grown in Burgenland each year by about 50 producers, with the Nordmann Fir being the most popular followed by fir, blue spruce, spruce and pine.

I had not previously heard of a Nordman Fir (see picture at right), so I looked it up. The variety is named after a botanist from Finland, Alexander von Nordmann, who discovered it growing in Georgia (the country, not the state). It is a native of Georgia, Turkey, Northern Armenia, the mountains around the Black Sea and in the Russian Caucasus.

As a Christmas tree, it has been popular in Europe for many years and is apparently gaining popularity in the western United States (it grows well in Oregon). It is favored for its "attractive" foliage, softer needles, and its resistance to shedding needles as the tree dries, plus it is a great choice where allergies or sensitivity to the typical Christmas tree aroma is a concern, as it is fragrance-free.

However, regardless of variety, Sascha Sommer, chairman of the "Burgenland Quality Christmas Tree" association, says "slim" Christmas trees are particularly in demand, and that the trend towards narrower Christmas trees is a result of apartments becoming smaller. "Most people opt for trees that are around two meters (six and a half feet) tall. Dense and narrow trees are particularly in demand."

She also says that the trend towards densely-branched, perfectly-shaped Christmas trees comes from America, and is called "shearing" in technical terminology. "These trees need to be cut laterally with hedge trimmers so that the tree is more compact and denser" ...over the eight to ten years needed for the tree to reach the desirable height.

The article also reported that the price this year for a two-meter-tall tree is between 40 and 60 euros ($44-$66), which is apparently a slight increase in prices compared to the previous year, and that sheared trees are a bit more expensive than traditional trees. That's still a nice bargain compared to prices here in south-central PA, where I live, and a major bargain compared to prices my son sees in metro-DC!



Collaborative Transcription Opportunity: I was contacted by BB member Rebecca Chamberlain (of Anchorage, AK) about facilitating collaborative record-transcription opportunities.

She has particular interest in the records held at matriken.at, the online research portal of the Catholic diocese of Eisenstadt. The portal provides records for time periods not available through FamilySearch (i.e., for before ~1826), and for time periods where records are available on FamilySearch but are hand-written copies rather than the original records. The two main advantages of originals are that there is no opportunity to make a copying error and that notes added later by the priest can be seen. As such, the originals are a primary record source, rather than a secondary source like the FamilySearch copies, and that is always better.

Rebecca's specific interest currently is transcribing birth, marriage and death records from Apetlon (a village for some of her ancestors), and she has made some initial headway. However, she could use some help, both to transcribe records and to verify what she thinks the writing says.

As you may know, old records can be a challenge to read, not just because they may be damaged through the passage of time, but because the handwriting "font" often does not match modern handwriting. We in the modern western world write using Latin script letters. In pre-Burgenland, words were often written using Kurrent script letters. While this hand-font represents the same letters as in our Latin font, those characters can look significantly different from what we are used to and, perhaps worse, can look like modern letters but represent a different letter of the alphabet. Kurrent also has a few ligatures (combined letters) that add a bit more complexity... but only a bit.

I have transcribed many records written in Kurrent. What I've learned is that, after an adjustment period, you adapt and it becomes easier. Part of that adaptation is leaving behind the Latin font... that n-like thing may not be a n! The font itself becomes less of a problem than the quality of the writing. Hen-scratching is hen-scratching, regardless of font! Also, you discover that every writer has their particular take on how to write each character... we call this their hand and you have the learn the hand every time. While these are challenges, it is quite rewarding when you overcome them and the reading gets easier.

Given the nature of transcribing these records, Rebecca felt that the whole process would be better if it were done in a collaborative way... so we talked.

In that discussion, she proposed using Google Drive as a platform for doing that... so we explored it... and it appears to be a functional way of doing this. Rebecca uploaded her Excel spreadsheet onto her personal Google Drive and opened it in Google Sheets (a spreadsheet system compatible with Excel). Then she shared that file with me and gave me Editor permission. I could see her whole file, add new records and edit existing records.

When we simultaneously accessed the sheet, if I clicked a cell, that cell was outlined in "my" color and Sheets "locked" it so Rebecca could not edit it too. Likewise, if she clicked a cell, I was locked out and the cell was outlined in "her" color, so I knew where she was working. When one of us completed work in a cell, the changes appeared within a few seconds on the other's screen.

There is also a chat feature where we could discuss whatever we wished. So, for example, if she struggled with a record, she could ask me to look at that record and chime in. We also found that we could paste snippets of images into the sheet (I'd suggest a dedicated tab for this) so the other could quickly look at it, rather than take time to search it out on Matriken. All in all, it was a very satisfactory way to do this.

All you need is a free Google account, as that includes Drive access and 15 GB of storage (useful should you wish to host a collaborative effort yourself!). In addition, if you are going to transcribe records, you will need a paid Matriken.at account, so you can access the images.

So, why should you volunteer to become a team member?

Clearly, if you have family from Apetlon, you can extend your knowledge about your personal family line, and that is always nice. And you will be part of the process that guarantees that the data you acquire is as accurate as possible.

In addition, you will be making a contribution that helps other Apetlon researchers... perhaps some of them are your distant cousins!

Also, if you are already spending money to access Matriken, participating on a collaborative team will help improve your ability to interpret and read these records. You'll have a crew right at hand to answer your questions and teach you tricks in reading these records. And you might have a little leverage to later ask people to help you transcribe a village of greater interest to you.

Lastly, learning any new skill and/or providing a service to others is inherently self-rewarding. So, do yourself a favor and try it!

If interested, contact Rebecca Chamberlain at beccam.chamberlain@gmail.com.



The Facebook Bunch (from Vanessa Sandhu):

Greetings, Burgenland Bunch!

I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season! We had a great month in our Facebook group. We welcomed 25 new members, bringing our membership count to 2118 members! We had lots of genealogy, music, and recipes to share. Come join us if you haven’t already! facebook.com/groups/TheBurgenlandBunchOFFICIAL/.

We listened to lots of great holiday music, courtesy of the Burgenländisches Volksliedwerk’s musical advent calendar. They share many wonderful traditional Burgenland songs throughout the year! You can check out their channel here: youtube.com/@burgenlandischesvolkslied.

Member Daniel Weber shared a cool video of a Krampuslauf celebration: youtu.be/sFfeRAheN5k.

Member Rebecca Chamberlain shared the indexes that she created for Apetlon baptisms 1771-1779, 1780-1789, and 1794-1798. She also shared an index of Apetlon marriages 1790-1798. Thank you for your hard work, Rebecca! It is very appreciated!

Member Janet Kroboth-Weber shared a nice reel featuring a youth folk dance group performing in Güssing: facebook.com/reel/189465397581301.

Member Franz Stangl shared some great photos and videos of the December 28th “Feast of the Innocent Children” at Basilica Güssing. The children are blessed, and then they use a “korvatsch” (a switch or rod) to wish the adults good health for the incoming New Year. A saying is mentioned, which varies by location, but always begins with the phrase “fresh and healthy”!

CONNECTIONS:

Member Andreas Stöger is searching for members of his Stöger family hailing from Wiesen (Mattersburg), Burgenland.

Member Katherine Scott writes “I recently found out my 2nd great grandfather was born in Volgyfalva/ Zillingtal so I have shifted my research to try to find out more information about him and this part of my family. His name was Julius Lakits, born in 1884. It's possible that he had two marriages so it makes things a bit tricky for me but I've found two other children aside from my great Grandfather so far through online research. If anybody has any suggestions, tips, tricks or information to share it is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.”

Member Donna Pratl-Smith writes “My husband and I visited Austria in the fall. The countryside is so beautiful. We visited the villages of Burg and Grafenschachen where my grandparents were born. Unfortunately due to time constraints we were unable to connect or meet up with possible families with their names. If there are any Gossi or Pratl living in those areas, I would love to find any connection to my grandparents.”

If anyone has any information for Andreas, Katherine, or Donna, please contact me at HooftyRN@msn.com and I will be sure to pass the information on to them!

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy New Year! Please enjoy this wonderful song by our own Alex Meixner!



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 1757 copies, as interested people purchased 4 books during this past month.

As always, the book is available for online purchase at a list price of $8.89 (which is the current production charge for the book, as we purposely choose not to make any profit 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... and an excellent belated Christmas gift... get theirs now!



Burgenland Recipes: (none this month... do you have one to share?)



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!



Cartoon of the Month:


 

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