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Rauhriegl-Allersgraben
Joint village, Ortsteile of Weiden bei Rechnitz in the district of Oberwart
(Allersgraben: Sirokány; Kroat: Širokani)
(Rauhriegl: Füsthegy; Kroat: Rorigljin)
Current population of the combined village, Rauhriegl-Allersgraben, is 53. It is an Ortsteile of the municipality of
Weiden bei Rechnitz (which has the civil records) along with 8 other villages: Allersdorf, Ober- and Unter-Podgoria,
Mönchmeierhof, Parapatitschberg, Rumpersdorf, Podler, and Zuberbach (980 inhabitants and 456 houses in all).
Allersgraben has a chapel built in 1968 that is dedicated to Mary, Mother of God. A well-kept, small cemetery,
which substantially pre-dates the chapel, lies some distance behind. Some older graves have been overlaid with newer
ones but many older graves, with names Ostovics, Zlatarits, Glavonovits, Rupanovics, Marlovits, Penzinger, Karlovits,
Mikovits and Ruck, survive. The village
currently has 18 houses and is part of the Catholic parish of Neumarkt im Tauchental (which has the church records).
Rauhriegel's chapel is dedicated to the Sacred Heartand was built in 1959. It was renovated in 1982 to include an
Aufbahrungshalle, a mortuary hall for lying-in-state before burial.
As mentioned above, Allersgraben is civilly joined with Rauhriegl (now as Rauhriegl-Allersgraben), and has been
so-linked as far back as the land registers of 1678 and 1686. However, the villages are over a kilometer apart and the
village of Mönchmeierhof lies on the road between them. The likely reason for this is that both villages (Rauhriegl and
Allersgraben) derive from Wallachian (Vlahi / Vlachs) roots (and, correspondingly, enjoyed common freedoms, rights and
social connections), whereas Mönchmeierhof was established earlier by Paulaner monks, where they had a Gutshof (estate
farm). The Wallachians were Croatians who were part of the early Hungarian "Wart" defensive system.
Allersgraben was established about 1560, as a land grant by the local Grundherrschaft to Vlachs of the older community
of Allersdorf. Rauhriegl is first mentioned in the 1636 land register as a subsiderary of another Wallachian settlement
(unnamed, but presumably Allersgraben).
Allersgraben is first mentioned in a 1570 document, where the name "Syroka Haza" is recorded. This name appears to be
the source of the village's later Hungarian name, Sirokány, and is derived from one of the settlement's initial
families, who were named Sirokan. "Haza" means "home" in Hungarian, so the village was the "home of the Sirokan's."
In 1660, families named Osztovics, Glavonovics, Zlatarits, and Lakits arrived in Allersgraben. It is said of the
Osztovics (who at one point dominated the town) that "...it was similar to the arrival of refugees today--one family
came and put out the call to the whole clan." Common family names in the area records of the late 1600s and early
1700s include Holbox, Horvath (many listed as Gypsies), Glavonovits, Bursits, Lakits, Szmolyan, Tallian, and Osztovics.
Some are listed as noblemen.
Sources: website http://www.weiden-rechnitz.at/ and an interview by Joy
Minns of an Allersgraben resident and Buschenschank owner named Mr. Ruck.
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