Burgenland
Encyclopedia
Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria
. It consists of two Statutarstädte (towns with a charter) and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities. It is 166 km long from north to south but much narrower from west to east (only 5 km wide at Sieggraben
). The region is a part of the Centrope
Project.
, at 884 metres, the lowest point is 114 metres, near Apetlon.
Burgenland borders the Austrian provinces of Niederösterreich
and Steiermark
to the west, to the northeast it borders Slovakia
, Hungary
to the east and Slovenia
to the farthest south.
Burgenland and Hungary share the Neusiedler See
, known for its reeds and shallowness, as well as the mild climate throughout the year. The Neusiedler See is Austria's largest lake serving as a large tourist attraction bringing ornithologists, sailors, and wind and kite surfers into the region north of the lake.
won 17 seats, the ÖVP
won 13 seats, the FPÖ
won 4 seats, and the Green Party
won 2 seats. The provincial government is a coalition of the SPÖ and the ÖVP. The voting age
for regional elections in Burgenland was reduced to 16 in 2003. In an election held on 9 October 2005, the SPÖ
won 19 seats, giving them a majority. The ÖVP
retained its 13 seats, the Green Party
retained its 2 seats, and the FPÖ
fell to 2 seats. http://burgenland.orf.at/stories/63167/
, the Hun Empire, the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, the Italian
Kingdom of Odoacer, the Kingdom of the Lombards
, the Avar Khaganate, the Slavic State of Samo
, the Frankish Empire
, the Kingdom of Hungary
, the Habsburg Monarchy
, the Austrian Empire
, the Austria-Hungary
, the Austria
, and the World War II
German Empire
.
peoples appeared in this region around 3300 BC. Since the 4th century BC, the area was dominated by Celts and in the 1st century AD it became part of the Roman Empire
. During Roman administration, the area was part of the province Pannonia
, and later part of the provinces Pannonia Superior (in the 2nd century) and Pannonia Prima
(in the 3rd century). During the late Roman Empire
, Pannonia Prima
province belonged to larger administrative units, such are Diocese of Pannonia
, Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum
and Praetorian prefecture of Italy
.
in 380 AD. The Ostrogoths became allies of the Rome
and were allowed to settle in Pannonia with task to defend Roman borders
. In the 5th century, the area was conquered by the Huns
, but after their defeat, an independent Kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Pannonia was formed. Territory of present-day Burgenland became part of the Italian
Kingdom of Odoacer, but in the end of the 5th century, the Ostrogothic king Theodoric
conquered this kingdom and restored Ostrogothic administration in western Pannonia.
In the 6th century, territory of present-day Burgenland was included into another Germanic state, the Kingdom of the Lombards
. However, the Lombards subsequently left towards Italy
and area came under control of the Avars
. Briefly, in the 7th century, the area was part of the Slavic State of Samo
, but was subsequently returned to Avar control. After Avar defeat in the end of the 8th century, territory of present-day Burgenland was included into the Frankish Empire
. After the battle at Augsburg
(955), new Germanic
settlers started to settle in the area.
, who married later in the same year 1043 Agnes de Poitou
a daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine, and King Samuel Aba of Hungary
, whose descendants owned large estates in western Slavonia and whose relative married later a daughter of Agnes of Poitou, fixed the western border of the Kingdom of Hungary
along the Leitha and Lafnitz rivers, among others, but large parts of the territory of todays Burgenland were owned since that time until 1360 (Treaty of Brétigny
in 1360) by the most noble family
of the House of Gilet
, which came from the Duchy of Aquitaine in Medieval France during Robert II of France
, therefore Fraknó (Forchtenstein) became owned by the Curia Regia
(Royal Court of Hungary) in 1360. The current coat of arms of Burgenland imitates the coat of arms of the judge of the Curia Regia in 1360. On 20th of September 1058 Agnes of Poitou and Andrew I of Hungary, whose son later married a daughter of Agnes of Poitou, met to negotiate about the border-zone. The territory of the present-day Burgenland remained the western border-zone of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary until the 16th century.
The majority of the population was Germanic except the Hungarian border-guards of the frontier March (Gyepű). Germanic immigration was also continuous in the Middle Ages from the neighbouring Austria
.
) became a mortgage-territory according to the peace treaty of Wiener Neustadt
. In 1477 King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary retaken the area, but in 1491 it was mortgaged again by King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary
to Emperor Maximilian I
. In 1647 Emperor Ferdinand II
returned it to the Kingdom of Hungary (which itself was Habsburg possession in this time).
In the 16th century, medieval Kingdom of Hungary lost its independence and its north-western part that was not conquered by the Ottoman Empire was included into Habsburg Monarchy. This Habsburg possession was known as Royal Hungary and it included territory of present-day Burgenland. In the 16-17th centuries German Protestant refugees arrived in Western Royal Hungary to take shelter from the religious wars
of the Holy Roman Empire
, particularly from the repression of the Reformation in Austrian territories, then ruled by the staunchly Roman Catholic Habsburgs. After Habsburg military victory against Ottomans in the end of the 17th century, Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary was enlarged to include much of the territory of former medieval Kingdom of Hungary. In the 17-18th centuries the region of Burgenland was dominated by the wealthy Catholic landowner-families, for example the Esterházys and Batthyány
s. In 1867, Habsburg Monarchy was transformed into the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary and German-speaking population of Burgenland found itself within the Hungarian part of the Monarchy.
in 1918, the German inhabitants of Deutsch-Westungarn (German Western Hungary, Burgenland) intended to join Austria. According to the 1910 census 291,800 people lived on the territory of present-day Burgenland. Among them 217,072 were German-speaking (74%), 43,633 Croatian-speaking (15%) and 26,225 (9%) Hungarian-speaking. Roma people were counted according to their mother language.
The area had also been discussed as the site of a Czech Corridor
to Yugoslavia. The decision about Deutsch-Westungarn was fixed in the peace treaties of Saint Germain and the Trianon
. Despite diplomatic efforts by Hungary
, the victorious parties of World War I set the date of Burgenland's official unification with Austria as August 28, 1921. In fact, the establishment of the Austrian police control and customs was stopped on the same day, hindered by sharpshooters who offered armed resistance with the support of Hungary.
), the designated capital of Burgenland, and eight other communities. The poll took place from 14 December to 16 December, and resulted in a clear (but doubted by Austria) vote of the people who inhabited these territories for Hungary.
Contrary to the other ('Cisleithania
n') present Austrian states, Burgenland did not constitute a specific Kronland. Because of its different historical roots at the time of its formation it did not have its own 'regional' political and administrative institutions such as a Landtag
(representative assembly) and Statthalter (imperial governor).
On 18 July 1922, the first elections for the parliament of Burgenland took place. To cope with the changeover from Hungarian to Austrian jurisdiction, a lot of interim arrangements were made. The parliament decided in 1925 on Eisenstadt
as the official capital of Burgenland, and moved from the various provisional estates throughout the country to the newly built Landhaus in 1929.
The first Austrian census in 1923 registered 285,600 people in Burgenland. The ethnic composition of the province slightly changed: the percentage of Germans increased compared to 1910 (227,869 people, 80%) while the percentage of Hungarians rapidly declined (14,931 people, 5%). This change was due to the emigration of the Hungarian civil servants and intellectuals after the union with Austria.
In 1923, emigration to the United States of America
, which started in the late 19th century, reached its climax; in some places up to a quarter of the population went overseas.
After the Nazi German Anschluss
of Austria, the administrative unit Burgenland was dissolved and integrated into the districts of Niederdonau (Lower Danube) and Steiermark (Styria).
In addition to the oppression of the Jews, the ethnic groups Roma and Sinti
also suffered under the Nazi regime. The KZ Lackenback concentration camp for Gypsies was located in the area, as was KZ Zwaten.
The policy of Germanization had effects on other ethnic minorities especially Burgenland Croats
and Hungarians. Minority schools were closed and the use of native language discouraged.
The Nazis began, with the help of mostly Jewish forced labour and committed inhabitants, to build the Ostwall (Eastern Rampart), which showed itself utterly useless at the time Soviet troops crossed the Hungarian-Austrian border and began to invade Austria. In the last days of the Nazi regime a lot of executions and death-marches of the Jewish forced labourers took place.
As of October 1, 1945, Burgenland was reestablished with Soviet support and given to the Soviet forces in exchange for Steiermark (Styria), which was in turn occupied by the United Kingdom
.
Under the Soviet occupation, people in Burgenland had to endure a period of serious mistreatment and an extremely slow economic progression, the latter induced by investor-discouraging presence of the Soviet troops. The Soviet occupation ended with the signing of the Austrian Independence Treaty of Vienna
in 1955 by the Occupying Forces.
The brutally crushed Hungarian Revolution
on October 23, 1956 resulted in a shockwave of Hungarian refugees at the Hungarian-Austrian border, especially at the Bridge of Andau (Brücke von Andau
), who were received by the inhabitants of Burgenland with an overwhelming amount of hospitality.
In 1957, the construction of the "anti-Fascist Protective Barrier" resulted in a complete bulkheading of the area under Soviet influence from the rest of the world, rendering the Hungarian-Austrian border next to Burgenland a deadly zone of mine fields (on the Hungarian border) and barbed wire, referred to as the Iron Curtain
. Even during the era of the Iron Curtain, local trains between the north and south of Burgenland operated as "Corridor trains" (Korridorzüge) – they had their doors locked as they traversed Hungarian territory.
Starting in 1965 and finishing in 1971, the minefields were cleansed because people were often harmed by them, even on the Austrian side of the border. This could well be taken as a sign of the Soviet Union towards opening the borders to the Western countries, starting in the late 1970s.
) always producing excellent wine, some vintners in Burgenland added illegal substances to their wine in the mid-1980s
. When this was revealed, Austria
's wine exports dwindled dramatically. After recovering from the scandal, vintners in Austria, not only in Burgenland, started focusing on quality and mostly stopped producing poor quality wine.
On July 27, 1989, the Foreign minister
s of Austria and Hungary, Alois Mock
and Gyula Horn
, cut the Iron Curtain
(in German
: "Eiserner Vorhang") in the village of Klingenbach
in a symbolic act with far-reaching consequences. Thousands of East Germans used this possibility to flee to the West. Again, the inhabitants of Burgenland received them with great hospitality. Later, this was often referred to as the starting shot of the German reunification
.
After 1990 Burgenland regained its traditional role as a bridge between the western and eastern parts of Central Europe
. Cross-border links were strengthened with the joining of Hungary
, Slovakia
and Slovenia
the European Union
in 2004. All three countries became part of the Schengen zone
in late 2007 when border controls finally ceased to exist in the region.
(29,000 - 45,000) and Hungarian
(5,000 - 15,000) populations.
war in 1532, when the Ottoman army destroyed some settlements in their ethnic territory. The emigration in great haste of the Catholic remained population of western Slavonia
into the Burgenland was - as far as possible - organized by the estate owners. In the files of the Parliament of Croatia
(sabor) are found for this period numerous references to such resettlements. As reported in the spring of 1538 by the Ban of Croatia
, Petar Keglević
, who himself owned large estates in western Slavonia, that the country's population at the Ottoman border was preparing to emigrate. Their resettlement by estate owners was finished only in 1584. They have preserved their strong Catholic faith and their language until today, and in the 19th century their national identity grew stronger because of the influence of the National Revival in Croatia. Between 1918 and 1921 Croats opposed the planned annexation of West-Hungary to Austria, and in 1923 seven Croatian villages voted for a return to Hungary. The Croatian Cultural Association of Burgenland was established in 1934. In the Nazi era (1938–45) the Croatian language was officially prohibited, and the state pursued an aggressive policy of Germanization. The Austrian State Treaty
of 1955 guaranteed minority rights for every native ethnic minority in Austria but Croats had to fight for the use of their language in schools and offices even in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2000 51 new bilingual village name signs were erected in Burgenland (47 Croatian and 4 Hungarian).
The Burgenland Croatian language
is an interesting 16th century dialect which is different from standard Croatian. In minority schools and media the local dialect is used, and it has had a written form since the 17th century (the Gospel was first translated to this dialect in 1711). Today the language is endangered by assimilation, according to the UNESCO "Red Book". The Croats of Burgenland belong to the same group as their relatives on the other side of the modern Austrian-Hungarian border.
/Felsőőr, Unterwart
/Alsóőr and Siget in der Wart
/Őrisziget. The three villages together are called Upper Őrség
(Hun: Felső-Őrség, German: Wart), and they have formed a language island since the 11th century. The other old Hungarian language island in Oberpullendorf
/Felsőpulya has almost disappeared today. The Hungarians of Burgenland were "őrök" i.e. guards of the western frontier, and their special dialect is similar to the Székely
s in Transylvania. Their cultural centre is Oberwart/Felsőőr. Another distinct Hungarian group were the indentured agricultural workers living on the huge estates north of Neusiedler See. They arrived mainly from the Rábaköz region. After the dissolution of the manors in the mid-20th century this group ceased to exist.
) in Eisenstadt
, Mattersburg
, Kittsee
, Frauenkirchen
, Kobersdorf
, Lackenbach
and Deutschkreutz
, where they formed a substantial part of the population: e.g., in Lackenbach, 62 % of the population was Jewish as of 1869. After the war, Jews from Burgenland founded the Jerusalem haredi neighbourhood of Kiryat Mattersdorf
, reminding of the original name of Mattersburg, once a centre of a famous yeshiva.
the German-speaking western borderland of the Kingdom of Hungary was sometimes unofficially called Deutsch-Westungarn (German West Hungary). The historical region included the border city of Sopron
in Hungary (or "Ödenburg" in Austrian-German).
The name Vierburgenland (Land of Four Castles) was created in 1919 by Odo Rötig, a Viennese resident in Sopron. It was derived from the name of the four vármegye of the Kingdom of Hungary (in German Komitate, 'counties') known in Hungarian as Pozsony, Moson
, Sopron
and Vas
, or in German as Pressburg, Wieselburg, Ödenburg and Eisenburg. After the town of Pozsony/Pressburg was assigned to Czechoslovakia the number vier was dropped, but the name was kept because it was deemed to be appropriate for a region with so many old frontier castles. The Burgenland name was officially adopted by the first provincial Landtag in 1922.
In Hungarian the German name is generally accepted but there are three modern alternatives used by minor groups. The Hungarian translation of the German name, Várvidék was invented by László Juhász, an expert of the region in the 1970s and it is becoming increasingly popular especially in touristic publications. The other two names Őrvidék and Felső-Őrvidék derive from the name of the most important old Magyar language island, the Felső-Őrség. This microregion is around the town Felsőőr/Oberwart so these new names are a bit misleading however they are sometimes used.
The Croatian and Slovene names and are translations of the German name. The village of Jennersdorf is no more than 5 kilometers from the Slovenian, as well the Hungarian borders (see the United Slovenia
movement).
Alternatively, the Serbs, Czechs and Slovaks call the western shores of the Neusiedler See
(lake) surrounding the town of Rust Luzic or Lusic. However, the descendants of Luzic Serbs
, Bosniaks
, Croats
, Czechs and Slovaks
were eventually assimilated into the ethnic German
or Hungarian
cultures over four centuries.
The province has a long history of Slavic, as well Austrian-German and Hungarian-Magyar settlement. The province's easternmost portion (the shores of the Neusiedler See) carried its own topographical term Seewinkel in Austrian-German. This is the least Austrian-German influenced area since the Hungarian and Slovak borders are less than 10 kilometers away.
Or, standing upon a rock sable, an eagle regardant, wings displayed gules, langued of the same, crowned and armed of the first, on his breast an escutcheon paly of four, of the third and white fur, fimbriated of the field, and in dexter and sinister cantons two crosslets paty sable.
The arms were introduced in 1922 after the new province was created. They were composed from the arms of the two most important medieval noble families of the region, the Counts of Nagymarton and Fraknó (Mattersdorf-Forchtensten, eagle on the rock) and the Counts of Németújvár (Güssing, three bars of red and white fur). http://hu.wikibooks.org/wiki/C%C3%ADmerhat%C3%A1roz%C3%B3/Burgenland_c%C3%ADmere
The flag of the province shows two stripes of red and gold, the colours of the coat-of-arms. It was officially confirmed in 1971.
Also notable is the annual "Miss Brüderschaft der Burgenländer" competition, held in a gala style event in New York. The current title is held by Lillianna Baczeski of Southbury, CT, having received the title from the 2006 winner, Jennifer Tuifl. http://www.burgenlaender.com/BG/Zeitung/2007/402/Miss402.html
with numerous international popstars
.
The permanent exhibition at Forchtenstein Castle
shows an impressive collection of the dukes of Esterházy, at whose court at Esterházy Palace
worked the world famous musician Joseph Haydn
, who composed from the Burgenland Croatian folk-song "V jutro rano se ja stanem" ("In the morning I rise up early") the melody of "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser
" ("God save Franz the Emperor"), which became the melody of todays national anthem of Germany. There are also cultural events organized by the minorities such as Croatian or Hungarian folk evenings.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. It consists of two Statutarstädte (towns with a charter) and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities. It is 166 km long from north to south but much narrower from west to east (only 5 km wide at Sieggraben
Sieggraben
Sieggraben is a town in the district of Mattersburg in Burgenland in Austria....
). The region is a part of the Centrope
Centrope
Centrope is an Interreg IIIA project to establish a multinational region in the Central Europe encompassing four European countries: Slovakia, Austria, Hungary and Czech Republic....
Project.
Geography
Burgenland is the 7th largest of Austria's 9 states, or Bundesländer, at 3,962 km². The highest point in the province is GeschriebensteinÍrott-ko
Írott-kő or Geschriebenstein is the highest mountain of the Kőszeg Mountains range, located on the border between Austria and Hungary. Its height is 884 m according to Austrian sources, whereas Hungarian references mostly mention 883 m. It is the highest mountain of Western Hungary and of...
, at 884 metres, the lowest point is 114 metres, near Apetlon.
Burgenland borders the Austrian provinces of Niederösterreich
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...
and Steiermark
Styria (state)
Styria is a state or Bundesland, located in the southeast of Austria. In area it is the second largest of the nine Austrian federated states, covering 16,401 km². It borders Slovenia as well as the other Austrian states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria, Salzburg, Burgenland, and Carinthia. ...
to the west, to the northeast it borders Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
to the east and Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
to the farthest south.
Burgenland and Hungary share the Neusiedler See
Neusiedler See
Lake Neusiedl is the second largest steppe lake in Central Europe, straddling the Austrian–Hungarian border. The lake covers 315 km², of which 240 km² is on the Austrian side and 75 km² on the Hungarian side. The lake's drainage basin has an area of about 1,120 km²...
, known for its reeds and shallowness, as well as the mild climate throughout the year. The Neusiedler See is Austria's largest lake serving as a large tourist attraction bringing ornithologists, sailors, and wind and kite surfers into the region north of the lake.
Politics
Burgenland's provincial assembly (Landtag) has 36 seats. At the election held on 3 December 2000, the SPÖSocial Democratic Party of Austria
The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the two major parties in Austria, and has ties to trade unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour. The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social-democratic parties that have preserved...
won 17 seats, the ÖVP
Austrian People's Party
The Austrian People's Party is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is similar to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in terms of ideology...
won 13 seats, the FPÖ
Freedom Party of Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...
won 4 seats, and the Green Party
Austrian Green Party
The Greens – The Green Alternative is a political party in the Austrian parliament.The party was formed in 1986 with the name Grüne Alternative, following the merger of the more conservative Green party Vereinte Grüne Österreichs and the more progressive party Alternative Liste Österreichs The...
won 2 seats. The provincial government is a coalition of the SPÖ and the ÖVP. The voting age
Voting age
A voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain to be eligible to vote in a public election.The vast majority of countries in the world have established a voting age. Most governments consider that those of any age lower than the chosen threshold lack the necessary...
for regional elections in Burgenland was reduced to 16 in 2003. In an election held on 9 October 2005, the SPÖ
Social Democratic Party of Austria
The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the two major parties in Austria, and has ties to trade unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour. The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social-democratic parties that have preserved...
won 19 seats, giving them a majority. The ÖVP
Austrian People's Party
The Austrian People's Party is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is similar to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in terms of ideology...
retained its 13 seats, the Green Party
Austrian Green Party
The Greens – The Green Alternative is a political party in the Austrian parliament.The party was formed in 1986 with the name Grüne Alternative, following the merger of the more conservative Green party Vereinte Grüne Österreichs and the more progressive party Alternative Liste Österreichs The...
retained its 2 seats, and the FPÖ
Freedom Party of Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...
fell to 2 seats. http://burgenland.orf.at/stories/63167/
Administrative divisions
In Burgenland there are 2 Statutarstädte and 7 districts. From north to south:Statutarstädte
These combine the attributes of district and city.- EisenstadtEisenstadt- Politics :The current mayor of Eisenstadt is Andrea Fraunschiel ÖVP.The district council is composed as follows :* ÖVP: 17 seats* SPÖ: 8 seats* Austrian Green Party: 2 seats* FPÖ: 2 seats- Castles and palaces :...
- RustRust, Austria----Rust is a city in Burgenland, Austria located at the shore of the Neusiedler See. Although it has only about 1,700 inhabitants, it is a Statutarstadt, as it was endowed with the rights of a free city by the Hungarian crown in 1681. As a Statutarstadt, it also forms its own administrative...
Districts
- Neusiedl am SeeNeusiedl am See (district)Bezirk Neusiedl am See is a district of the state ofBurgenland in Austria.-Municipalities:Towns are indicated in boldface; market towns in italics; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipality are indicated in small characters.Where appropriate, the Croatian names are given in...
(administrative center Neusiedl am SeeNeusiedl am SeeNeusiedl am See is a town in Burgenland, Austria, and administrative center of the district of Neusiedl am See.Neusiedl am See is located on the northern shore of the Neusiedler See.- History :...
) - Eisenstadt-UmgebungEisenstadt-UmgebungThe Bezirk Eisenstadt-Umgebung is an administrative district in the federal state of Burgenland, Austria.The area of the district is 453.14 km², with a population of 38,752 , and a population density 86 persons per km²...
(EisenstadtEisenstadt- Politics :The current mayor of Eisenstadt is Andrea Fraunschiel ÖVP.The district council is composed as follows :* ÖVP: 17 seats* SPÖ: 8 seats* Austrian Green Party: 2 seats* FPÖ: 2 seats- Castles and palaces :...
) - MattersburgMattersburg (district)Bezirk Mattersburg is a district of the state ofBurgenland in Austria.-Municipalities:Towns are indicated in boldface; market towns in italics; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipality are indicated in small characters.Where appropriate, the Croatian names are given in...
(MattersburgMattersburgMattersburg is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is the administrative center of the District of Mattersburg and home to a Bundesliga football team, SV Mattersburg.- Location :...
) - OberpullendorfOberpullendorf (district)Bezirk Oberpullendorf is a district of the state ofBurgenland in Austria.-Municipalities:Towns are indicated in boldface; market towns in italics; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipality are indicated in small characters.Where appropriate, the Hungarian or Croatian names are...
(OberpullendorfOberpullendorfOberpullendorf is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is the administrative center of the district of Oberpullendorf.- Geography :Oberpullendorf is situated in the middle of the Burgenland, in the valley of the Stooberbach. The town is divided into Mitterpullendorf and Oberpullendorf.- History :The...
) - OberwartOberwart (district)Bezirk Oberwart is a district of the state ofBurgenland in Austria.-Municipalities:Towns are indicated in boldface; market towns in italics; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipality are indicated in small characters.Where appropriate, the Burgenland Croatian and Hungarian names...
(OberwartOberwartOberwart or Felsőőr is a town in Burgenland in southeast Austria on the banks of the Pinka River, and the capital of the district of the same name...
) - GüssingGüssing (district)The Bezirk Güssing is an administrative district in the federal state of Burgenland, Austria, bordering on Vas Megye Hungary, of which it had been a part prior to 1921....
(GüssingGüssingGüssing is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is located at , with a population of 3,811 , and is the administrative center of the Güssing district.The Güssing Castle, built in 1157, is the oldest castle in Burgenland and a regional landmark....
) - JennersdorfJennersdorf (district)Bezirk Jennersdorf is a district of the state ofBurgenland in Austria.-Municipalities:Towns are indicated in boldface; market towns in italics; suburbs, hamlets and other subdivisions of a municipality are indicated in small characters.* Deutsch Kaltenbrunn** Rohrbrunn* Eltendorf** Zahling*...
(JennersdorfJennersdorfJennersdorf is a town in Burgenland, Austria, and capital of the district of Jennersdorf.- External links :*...
)
History
Through the history, territory of present-day Burgenland was part of the Roman EmpireRoman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, the Hun Empire, the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Kingdom of Odoacer, the Kingdom of the Lombards
Kingdom of the Lombards
The Kingdom of the Lombards or Lombard Kingdom was an early medieval state, with its capital in Pavia, established by the Lombards on the Italian Peninsula between 568-569 and 774 .Effective control by the rulers of both the major areas that constituted the...
, the Avar Khaganate, the Slavic State of Samo
Samo
Samo was a Frankish merchant from the "Senonian country" , probably modern Soignies, Belgium or Sens, France. He was the first ruler of the Slavs whose name is known, and established one of the earliest Slav states, a supra-tribal union usually called Samo's empire, realm, kingdom, or tribal...
, the Frankish Empire
Frankish Empire
Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire , Frankish Kingdom , Frankish Realm or occasionally Frankland, was the territory inhabited and ruled by the Franks from the 3rd to the 10th century...
, the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
, the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
, the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
, the Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
.
Prehistory and antiquity
First Indo-EuropeanIndo-European
Indo-European may refer to:* Indo-European languages** Aryan race, a 19th century and early 20th century term for those peoples who are the native speakers of Indo-European languages...
peoples appeared in this region around 3300 BC. Since the 4th century BC, the area was dominated by Celts and in the 1st century AD it became part of the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. During Roman administration, the area was part of the province Pannonia
Pannonia
Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
, and later part of the provinces Pannonia Superior (in the 2nd century) and Pannonia Prima
Pannonia Prima
Pannonia Prima was an ancient Roman province. It was formed in the year 296, during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. Previously, it was a part of the province of Pannonia, which was gradually divided into four administrative units: Pannonia Prima, Pannonia Secunda, Valeria, and Savia. This...
(in the 3rd century). During the late Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, Pannonia Prima
Pannonia Prima
Pannonia Prima was an ancient Roman province. It was formed in the year 296, during the reign of Emperor Diocletian. Previously, it was a part of the province of Pannonia, which was gradually divided into four administrative units: Pannonia Prima, Pannonia Secunda, Valeria, and Savia. This...
province belonged to larger administrative units, such are Diocese of Pannonia
Diocese of Pannonia
The Diocese of Pannonia , from 379 known as the Diocese of Illyricum, was a diocese of the Late Roman Empire. The seat of the vicarius was Sirmium.-History:...
, Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum
Praetorian prefecture of Illyricum
The praetorian prefecture of Illyricum was one of four praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided.The administrative centre of the prefecture was Sirmium , and, after 379, Thessalonica...
and Praetorian prefecture of Italy
Praetorian prefecture of Italy
The praetorian prefecture of Italy ) was one of four large Praetorian prefectures into which the Late Roman Empire was divided. It comprised the Italian peninsula, the Western Balkans, the Danubian provinces and parts of North Africa...
.
Early Germanic states
First Germanic people that settled in this region were the Ostrogoths, who came to PannoniaPannonia
Pannonia was an ancient province of the Roman Empire bounded north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia....
in 380 AD. The Ostrogoths became allies of the Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
and were allowed to settle in Pannonia with task to defend Roman borders
Limes
A limes was a border defense or delimiting system of Ancient Rome. It marked the boundaries of the Roman Empire.The Latin noun limes had a number of different meanings: a path or balk delimiting fields, a boundary line or marker, any road or path, any channel, such as a stream channel, or any...
. In the 5th century, the area was conquered by the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
, but after their defeat, an independent Kingdom of the Ostrogoths in Pannonia was formed. Territory of present-day Burgenland became part of the Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Kingdom of Odoacer, but in the end of the 5th century, the Ostrogothic king Theodoric
Theodoric the Great
Theodoric the Great was king of the Ostrogoths , ruler of Italy , regent of the Visigoths , and a viceroy of the Eastern Roman Empire...
conquered this kingdom and restored Ostrogothic administration in western Pannonia.
In the 6th century, territory of present-day Burgenland was included into another Germanic state, the Kingdom of the Lombards
Kingdom of the Lombards
The Kingdom of the Lombards or Lombard Kingdom was an early medieval state, with its capital in Pavia, established by the Lombards on the Italian Peninsula between 568-569 and 774 .Effective control by the rulers of both the major areas that constituted the...
. However, the Lombards subsequently left towards Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and area came under control of the Avars
Avars
Avar or Avars may refer to:* Eurasian Avars, a nomadic people that conquered the Hungarian Steppe in the early Middle Ages* Uar * Caucasian Avars, a modern people of the Caucasus** Avar language, the language of the Caucasian Avars...
. Briefly, in the 7th century, the area was part of the Slavic State of Samo
Samo
Samo was a Frankish merchant from the "Senonian country" , probably modern Soignies, Belgium or Sens, France. He was the first ruler of the Slavs whose name is known, and established one of the earliest Slav states, a supra-tribal union usually called Samo's empire, realm, kingdom, or tribal...
, but was subsequently returned to Avar control. After Avar defeat in the end of the 8th century, territory of present-day Burgenland was included into the Frankish Empire
Frankish Empire
Francia or Frankia, later also called the Frankish Empire , Frankish Kingdom , Frankish Realm or occasionally Frankland, was the territory inhabited and ruled by the Franks from the 3rd to the 10th century...
. After the battle at Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
(955), new Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
settlers started to settle in the area.
Medieval Kingdom of Hungary
In 1043 a peace treaty between Henry IIIHenry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry III , called the Black or the Pious, was a member of the Salian Dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors...
, who married later in the same year 1043 Agnes de Poitou
Agnes de Poitou
Agnes of Poitou, Agnes of Aquitaine or Empress Agnes was Holy Roman Empress and regent of the Holy Roman Empire from 1056 to 1062.-Family:...
a daughter of the Duke of Aquitaine, and King Samuel Aba of Hungary
Samuel Aba of Hungary
Samuel Aba , King of Hungary , Palatine of Hungary .-King of Hungary:Samuel was from Northern Hungary, Castle Gonce / Castle Abaújvár, County of Aba...
, whose descendants owned large estates in western Slavonia and whose relative married later a daughter of Agnes of Poitou, fixed the western border of the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
along the Leitha and Lafnitz rivers, among others, but large parts of the territory of todays Burgenland were owned since that time until 1360 (Treaty of Brétigny
Treaty of Brétigny
The Treaty of Brétigny was a treaty signed on May 9, 1360, between King Edward III of England and King John II of France. In retrospect it is seen as having marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War —as well as the height of English hegemony on the Continent.It was signed...
in 1360) by the most noble family
Nobilissima familia (Hungary)
The terms Nobilissimus and nobilissima familia have been used since the 11th century for the King of Hungary and his family...
of the House of Gilet
House of Gilet
The family Gilet came from France to Hungary during the reign of Saint Stephen I of Hungary.The most noble family of duke Gilet gave in the year 1360 Fraknó back to the crown....
, which came from the Duchy of Aquitaine in Medieval France during Robert II of France
Robert II of France
Robert II , called the Pious or the Wise , was King of France from 996 until his death. The second reigning member of the House of Capet, he was born in Orléans to Hugh Capet and Adelaide of Aquitaine....
, therefore Fraknó (Forchtenstein) became owned by the Curia Regia
Curia Regia
The Curia Regia was the supreme court of the Kingdom of Hungary .Charles VI in 1723 divided it into two courts: the Tabula Septemviralis and the Tabula Regia Iudiciaria ....
(Royal Court of Hungary) in 1360. The current coat of arms of Burgenland imitates the coat of arms of the judge of the Curia Regia in 1360. On 20th of September 1058 Agnes of Poitou and Andrew I of Hungary, whose son later married a daughter of Agnes of Poitou, met to negotiate about the border-zone. The territory of the present-day Burgenland remained the western border-zone of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary until the 16th century.
The majority of the population was Germanic except the Hungarian border-guards of the frontier March (Gyepű). Germanic immigration was also continuous in the Middle Ages from the neighbouring Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
Habsburg administration
In 1440 the territory of present-day Burgenland was controlled by the Habsburgs of Austria, and in 1463 the northern part of it (with the town of KőszegKoszeg
----Kőszeg is a town in Vas county, Hungary. The town is famous for its historical character.- History :The origins of the only free royal town in the historical garrison county of Vas go back to the third quarter of the 13th century...
) became a mortgage-territory according to the peace treaty of Wiener Neustadt
Wiener Neustadt
-Main sights:* The Late-Romanesque Dom, consecrated in 1279 and cathedral from 1469 to 1785. The choir and transept, in Gothic style, are from the 14th century. In the late 15th century 12 statues of the Apostles were added in the apse, while the bust of Cardinal Melchior Klesl is attributed to...
. In 1477 King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary retaken the area, but in 1491 it was mortgaged again by King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary
Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary
Vladislaus II, also known as Ladislaus Jagiellon ; was King of Bohemia from 1471 and King of Hungary from 1490 until his death in 1516...
to Emperor Maximilian I
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor
Maximilian I , the son of Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal, was King of the Romans from 1486 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 until his death, though he was never in fact crowned by the Pope, the journey to Rome always being too risky...
. In 1647 Emperor Ferdinand II
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand II , a member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary . His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War.- Life :...
returned it to the Kingdom of Hungary (which itself was Habsburg possession in this time).
In the 16th century, medieval Kingdom of Hungary lost its independence and its north-western part that was not conquered by the Ottoman Empire was included into Habsburg Monarchy. This Habsburg possession was known as Royal Hungary and it included territory of present-day Burgenland. In the 16-17th centuries German Protestant refugees arrived in Western Royal Hungary to take shelter from the religious wars
European wars of religion
The European wars of religion were a series of wars waged in Europe from ca. 1524 to 1648, following the onset of the Protestant Reformation in Western and Northern Europe...
of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
, particularly from the repression of the Reformation in Austrian territories, then ruled by the staunchly Roman Catholic Habsburgs. After Habsburg military victory against Ottomans in the end of the 17th century, Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary was enlarged to include much of the territory of former medieval Kingdom of Hungary. In the 17-18th centuries the region of Burgenland was dominated by the wealthy Catholic landowner-families, for example the Esterházys and Batthyány
Batthyány
Batthyány is the name of an old distinguished Hungarian Magnate family. The members of this family bear the title count or countess respectively prince or princess Batthyány von Német-Ujvár...
s. In 1867, Habsburg Monarchy was transformed into the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary and German-speaking population of Burgenland found itself within the Hungarian part of the Monarchy.
Dissolution of Austria-Hungary
After the demise of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchyAustria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
in 1918, the German inhabitants of Deutsch-Westungarn (German Western Hungary, Burgenland) intended to join Austria. According to the 1910 census 291,800 people lived on the territory of present-day Burgenland. Among them 217,072 were German-speaking (74%), 43,633 Croatian-speaking (15%) and 26,225 (9%) Hungarian-speaking. Roma people were counted according to their mother language.
The area had also been discussed as the site of a Czech Corridor
Czech Corridor
The Czech Corridor was a failed proposal during the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 in the aftermath of World War I. The proposal would have carved out an area of land to connect Kingdom of Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia. A different name often given is Czech-Yugoslav Territorial Corridor...
to Yugoslavia. The decision about Deutsch-Westungarn was fixed in the peace treaties of Saint Germain and the Trianon
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon was the peace agreement signed in 1920, at the end of World War I, between the Allies of World War I and Hungary . The treaty greatly redefined and reduced Hungary's borders. From its borders before World War I, it lost 72% of its territory, which was reduced from to...
. Despite diplomatic efforts by Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, the victorious parties of World War I set the date of Burgenland's official unification with Austria as August 28, 1921. In fact, the establishment of the Austrian police control and customs was stopped on the same day, hindered by sharpshooters who offered armed resistance with the support of Hungary.
Ninth state of Austria
With the help of Italian diplomatic mediation, the crisis was almost resolved in the autumn of 1921, when Hungary committed to disarm the sharpshooters by November 6, 1921, with the caveat of a poll about the unification of certain territories, including Ödenburg (SopronSopron
In 1910 Sopron had 33,932 inhabitants . Religions: 64.1% Roman Catholic, 27.8% Lutheran, 6.6% Jewish, 1.2% Calvinist, 0.3% other. In 2001 the city had 56,125 inhabitants...
), the designated capital of Burgenland, and eight other communities. The poll took place from 14 December to 16 December, and resulted in a clear (but doubted by Austria) vote of the people who inhabited these territories for Hungary.
Contrary to the other ('Cisleithania
Cisleithania
Cisleithania was a name of the Austrian part of Austria-Hungary, the Dual Monarchy created in 1867 and dissolved in 1918. The name was used by politicians and bureaucrats, but it had no official status...
n') present Austrian states, Burgenland did not constitute a specific Kronland. Because of its different historical roots at the time of its formation it did not have its own 'regional' political and administrative institutions such as a Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
(representative assembly) and Statthalter (imperial governor).
On 18 July 1922, the first elections for the parliament of Burgenland took place. To cope with the changeover from Hungarian to Austrian jurisdiction, a lot of interim arrangements were made. The parliament decided in 1925 on Eisenstadt
Eisenstadt
- Politics :The current mayor of Eisenstadt is Andrea Fraunschiel ÖVP.The district council is composed as follows :* ÖVP: 17 seats* SPÖ: 8 seats* Austrian Green Party: 2 seats* FPÖ: 2 seats- Castles and palaces :...
as the official capital of Burgenland, and moved from the various provisional estates throughout the country to the newly built Landhaus in 1929.
The first Austrian census in 1923 registered 285,600 people in Burgenland. The ethnic composition of the province slightly changed: the percentage of Germans increased compared to 1910 (227,869 people, 80%) while the percentage of Hungarians rapidly declined (14,931 people, 5%). This change was due to the emigration of the Hungarian civil servants and intellectuals after the union with Austria.
In 1923, emigration to the United States of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, which started in the late 19th century, reached its climax; in some places up to a quarter of the population went overseas.
After the Nazi German Anschluss
Anschluss
The Anschluss , also known as the ', was the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938....
of Austria, the administrative unit Burgenland was dissolved and integrated into the districts of Niederdonau (Lower Danube) and Steiermark (Styria).
In addition to the oppression of the Jews, the ethnic groups Roma and Sinti
Sinti
Sinti or Sinta or Sinte is the name of a Romani or Gypsy population in Europe. Traditionally nomadic, today only a small percentage of the group remains unsettled...
also suffered under the Nazi regime. The KZ Lackenback concentration camp for Gypsies was located in the area, as was KZ Zwaten.
The policy of Germanization had effects on other ethnic minorities especially Burgenland Croats
Burgenland Croats
Burgenland Croats are ethnic Croats in the Austrian state of Burgenland. Although an enclave hundreds of kilometres away from their original homeland, they have managed to preserve culture and language for centuries...
and Hungarians. Minority schools were closed and the use of native language discouraged.
The Nazis began, with the help of mostly Jewish forced labour and committed inhabitants, to build the Ostwall (Eastern Rampart), which showed itself utterly useless at the time Soviet troops crossed the Hungarian-Austrian border and began to invade Austria. In the last days of the Nazi regime a lot of executions and death-marches of the Jewish forced labourers took place.
Minefields
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Under the Soviet occupation, people in Burgenland had to endure a period of serious mistreatment and an extremely slow economic progression, the latter induced by investor-discouraging presence of the Soviet troops. The Soviet occupation ended with the signing of the Austrian Independence Treaty of Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1955 by the Occupying Forces.
The brutally crushed Hungarian Revolution
1956 Hungarian Revolution
The Hungarian Revolution or Uprising of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from 23 October until 10 November 1956....
on October 23, 1956 resulted in a shockwave of Hungarian refugees at the Hungarian-Austrian border, especially at the Bridge of Andau (Brücke von Andau
Brücke von Andau
The Brücke von Andau is a small bridge over the Einserkanal/Hansági-főcsatorna, a small river which forms part of the border between Austria and Hungary. It is located near to the village of Andau .- History :...
), who were received by the inhabitants of Burgenland with an overwhelming amount of hospitality.
In 1957, the construction of the "anti-Fascist Protective Barrier" resulted in a complete bulkheading of the area under Soviet influence from the rest of the world, rendering the Hungarian-Austrian border next to Burgenland a deadly zone of mine fields (on the Hungarian border) and barbed wire, referred to as the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
. Even during the era of the Iron Curtain, local trains between the north and south of Burgenland operated as "Corridor trains" (Korridorzüge) – they had their doors locked as they traversed Hungarian territory.
Starting in 1965 and finishing in 1971, the minefields were cleansed because people were often harmed by them, even on the Austrian side of the border. This could well be taken as a sign of the Soviet Union towards opening the borders to the Western countries, starting in the late 1970s.
Wine and Iron Curtain
Despite Burgenland (especially the area around Neusiedler SeeNeusiedler See
Lake Neusiedl is the second largest steppe lake in Central Europe, straddling the Austrian–Hungarian border. The lake covers 315 km², of which 240 km² is on the Austrian side and 75 km² on the Hungarian side. The lake's drainage basin has an area of about 1,120 km²...
) always producing excellent wine, some vintners in Burgenland added illegal substances to their wine in the mid-1980s
1985 diethylene glycol wine scandal
The 1985 diethylene glycol wine scandal involved a limited number of Austrian wineries that had illegally adulterated their wines using the toxic substance diethylene glycol to make the wines appear sweeter and more full-bodied in the style of late harvest wines...
. When this was revealed, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
's wine exports dwindled dramatically. After recovering from the scandal, vintners in Austria, not only in Burgenland, started focusing on quality and mostly stopped producing poor quality wine.
On July 27, 1989, the Foreign minister
Foreign minister
A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...
s of Austria and Hungary, Alois Mock
Alois Mock
Alois Mock is a politician and member of the Austrian People's Party . He was Vice Chancellor of Austria from 1987 to 1989. As foreign minister he helped take Austria into the European Union....
and Gyula Horn
Gyula Horn
Gyula Horn is a Hungarian politician and the third Prime Minister of the Republic of Hungary, from 1994–1998....
, cut the Iron Curtain
Iron Curtain
The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...
(in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
: "Eiserner Vorhang") in the village of Klingenbach
Klingenbach
Klingenbach is a town in Burgenland, Austria in the Eisenstadt-Umgebung district. It is located near the border with Hungary with a border crossing into Sopron....
in a symbolic act with far-reaching consequences. Thousands of East Germans used this possibility to flee to the West. Again, the inhabitants of Burgenland received them with great hospitality. Later, this was often referred to as the starting shot of the German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
.
After 1990 Burgenland regained its traditional role as a bridge between the western and eastern parts of Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...
. Cross-border links were strengthened with the joining of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
and Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
in 2004. All three countries became part of the Schengen zone
Schengen Agreement
The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed on 14 June 1985 near the town of Schengen in Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Economic Community. It was supplemented by the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement 5 years later...
in late 2007 when border controls finally ceased to exist in the region.
Minorities
Burgenland has notable CroatianBurgenland Croats
Burgenland Croats are ethnic Croats in the Austrian state of Burgenland. Although an enclave hundreds of kilometres away from their original homeland, they have managed to preserve culture and language for centuries...
(29,000 - 45,000) and Hungarian
Hungarians in Austria
The Hungarian community in Austria numbers 25,884 according to the 2001 Census. Of these, 10,686 were in Vienna and 4,704 in Burgenland. The total number of Hungarian-speakers is estimated at around 40,000, with 6,600 in Burgenland. Most of the Burgenland Hungarians live near the two district...
(5,000 - 15,000) populations.
Croats
The Croats arrived after the devastating OttomanOttoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
war in 1532, when the Ottoman army destroyed some settlements in their ethnic territory. The emigration in great haste of the Catholic remained population of western Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
into the Burgenland was - as far as possible - organized by the estate owners. In the files of the Parliament of Croatia
Parliament of Croatia
The Parliament of Croatia or the Sabor is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia and legislature of the country. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, represents the people and is vested with the legislative power...
(sabor) are found for this period numerous references to such resettlements. As reported in the spring of 1538 by the Ban of Croatia
Ban of Croatia
Ban of Croatia was the title of local rulers and after 1102 viceroys of Croatia. From earliest periods of Croatian state, some provinces were ruled by Bans as a rulers representative and supreme military commander. In the 18th century, Croatian bans eventually become chief government officials in...
, Petar Keglević
House of Keglević
The House of Keglević is a Croatian noble family originally from Dalmatia, their members were pointed out in public life, also as soldiers...
, who himself owned large estates in western Slavonia, that the country's population at the Ottoman border was preparing to emigrate. Their resettlement by estate owners was finished only in 1584. They have preserved their strong Catholic faith and their language until today, and in the 19th century their national identity grew stronger because of the influence of the National Revival in Croatia. Between 1918 and 1921 Croats opposed the planned annexation of West-Hungary to Austria, and in 1923 seven Croatian villages voted for a return to Hungary. The Croatian Cultural Association of Burgenland was established in 1934. In the Nazi era (1938–45) the Croatian language was officially prohibited, and the state pursued an aggressive policy of Germanization. The Austrian State Treaty
Austrian State Treaty
The Austrian State Treaty or Austrian Independence Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state. It was signed on May 15, 1955, in Vienna at the Schloss Belvedere among the Allied occupying powers and the Austrian government...
of 1955 guaranteed minority rights for every native ethnic minority in Austria but Croats had to fight for the use of their language in schools and offices even in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2000 51 new bilingual village name signs were erected in Burgenland (47 Croatian and 4 Hungarian).
The Burgenland Croatian language
Burgenland Croatian language
Burgenland Croatian is a regional language variant of the Chakavian dialect of the Croatian language spoken in Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Burgenland Croatian is recognized as a minority language in the Austrian state of Burgenland where it is spoken by 19,412 people...
is an interesting 16th century dialect which is different from standard Croatian. In minority schools and media the local dialect is used, and it has had a written form since the 17th century (the Gospel was first translated to this dialect in 1711). Today the language is endangered by assimilation, according to the UNESCO "Red Book". The Croats of Burgenland belong to the same group as their relatives on the other side of the modern Austrian-Hungarian border.
Hungarians
Hungarians live in the villages of OberwartOberwart
Oberwart or Felsőőr is a town in Burgenland in southeast Austria on the banks of the Pinka River, and the capital of the district of the same name...
/Felsőőr, Unterwart
Unterwart
Unterwart or Alsóőr is a village in Burgenland, Austria, in the district of Oberwart . The village lies on the banks of the Pinka river, and it had a population of 964 in 2001 . Unterwart is the only settlement in Austria with an ethnic Hungarian majority...
/Alsóőr and Siget in der Wart
Siget in der Wart
Siget in der Wart or Őrisziget is a small village in Burgenland, Austria, in the district of Oberwart . The village lies on the banks of the Zicken Bach and administratively belongs to the neighbouring town of Rotenturm an der Pinka . According to the 2001 census it had a population of 274...
/Őrisziget. The three villages together are called Upper Őrség
Upper Orség
Upper Őrség is a traditional ethnographic region and a small Hungarian language island in southern Burgenland, Austria. It consists the town of Oberwart and the two villages of Unterwart and Siget in der Wart . The population of the three settlement was 7694 according to the 2001 census...
(Hun: Felső-Őrség, German: Wart), and they have formed a language island since the 11th century. The other old Hungarian language island in Oberpullendorf
Oberpullendorf
Oberpullendorf is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is the administrative center of the district of Oberpullendorf.- Geography :Oberpullendorf is situated in the middle of the Burgenland, in the valley of the Stooberbach. The town is divided into Mitterpullendorf and Oberpullendorf.- History :The...
/Felsőpulya has almost disappeared today. The Hungarians of Burgenland were "őrök" i.e. guards of the western frontier, and their special dialect is similar to the Székely
Székely
The Székelys or Székely , sometimes also referred to as Szeklers , are a subgroup of the Hungarian people living mostly in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, Romania...
s in Transylvania. Their cultural centre is Oberwart/Felsőőr. Another distinct Hungarian group were the indentured agricultural workers living on the huge estates north of Neusiedler See. They arrived mainly from the Rábaköz region. After the dissolution of the manors in the mid-20th century this group ceased to exist.
Roma and Jews
In addition to Germans, Croats and Hungarians, Burgenland used to have substantial Roma and Jewish populations, wiped out by the Nazi regime. Before their deportation during 1938, the traditionally very religious Burgenland Jews were concentrated in the famous "Seven Communities" (Siebengemeinden / Sheva kehillotSiebengemeinden
The Siebengemeinden were 7 Jewish communities located in Eisenstadt and its surrounding area. The groups are known as Sheva Kehillot in Hebrew....
) in Eisenstadt
Eisenstadt
- Politics :The current mayor of Eisenstadt is Andrea Fraunschiel ÖVP.The district council is composed as follows :* ÖVP: 17 seats* SPÖ: 8 seats* Austrian Green Party: 2 seats* FPÖ: 2 seats- Castles and palaces :...
, Mattersburg
Mattersburg
Mattersburg is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is the administrative center of the District of Mattersburg and home to a Bundesliga football team, SV Mattersburg.- Location :...
, Kittsee
Kittsee
Kittsee is an Austrian municipality in the District of Neusiedl am See, Burgenland.- Geography :Kittsee lies 32 km northeast from Neusiedl am See, on the Slovak border opposite Bratislava, with crossings into the Bratislava suburb of Jarovce...
, Frauenkirchen
Frauenkirchen
Frauenkirchen is an Austrian town in the District of Neusiedl am See, Burgenland.- History :The community of Frauenkirchen, like the rest of Burgenland, belonged to Hungary until 1920/21. From 1898 onwards, it was forced to change its name to the Hungarian Fertőboldogasszony because of the...
, Kobersdorf
Kobersdorf
Kobersdorf is an Austrian market town in Oberpullendorf, Burgenland.-Geography:Kobersdorf is located in Middle Burgenland and is divided into the districts of Kobersdorf, Lindgraben, and Oberpetersdorf...
, Lackenbach
Lackenbach
Lackenbach is an Austrian municipality in the District of Oberpullendorf, Burgenland.- Geography :Lackenbach lies in the Oberpullendorf District, the Middle Burgenland and is not divided into any districts.- History :...
and Deutschkreutz
Deutschkreutz
Deutschkreutz is an Austrian market town in the District of Oberpullendorf, Burgenland. Its Hungarian name is Sopronkeresztúr , in Hebrew it is called Zelem , .- Geography :...
, where they formed a substantial part of the population: e.g., in Lackenbach, 62 % of the population was Jewish as of 1869. After the war, Jews from Burgenland founded the Jerusalem haredi neighbourhood of Kiryat Mattersdorf
Kiryat Mattersdorf
Kiryat Mattersdorf is a Haredi neighborbood in Jerusalem, Israel. It is located on the northern edge of the mountain plateau on which central Jerusalem lies. It is named after Mattersburg , a town in Austria with a long Jewish history. It borders Unsdorf and Romema...
, reminding of the original name of Mattersburg, once a centre of a famous yeshiva.
Italians
There is also a small number of Italians in Burgenland, whose ancestors came to Burgenland mostly as builders of castles and fortified churches in the 17th Century. For example, in the little town of Spitzzicken have been in the year 1686 10 families with Italian surnames and 12 families with Croatian surnames. The inhabitants of Spitzzicken got special privileges of personal freedoms at their settlement.Name
As the region wasn't a territorial entity before 1921, it never had an official name. Until the end of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the German-speaking western borderland of the Kingdom of Hungary was sometimes unofficially called Deutsch-Westungarn (German West Hungary). The historical region included the border city of Sopron
Sopron
In 1910 Sopron had 33,932 inhabitants . Religions: 64.1% Roman Catholic, 27.8% Lutheran, 6.6% Jewish, 1.2% Calvinist, 0.3% other. In 2001 the city had 56,125 inhabitants...
in Hungary (or "Ödenburg" in Austrian-German).
The name Vierburgenland (Land of Four Castles) was created in 1919 by Odo Rötig, a Viennese resident in Sopron. It was derived from the name of the four vármegye of the Kingdom of Hungary (in German Komitate, 'counties') known in Hungarian as Pozsony, Moson
Moson
Moson was a historic administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary in present-day eastern Austria and northwestern Hungary, on the right side of the Danube river...
, Sopron
Sopron
In 1910 Sopron had 33,932 inhabitants . Religions: 64.1% Roman Catholic, 27.8% Lutheran, 6.6% Jewish, 1.2% Calvinist, 0.3% other. In 2001 the city had 56,125 inhabitants...
and Vas
Vas
Vas is the name of an administrative county in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary. The county is a part of the Centrope Project.-Geography:...
, or in German as Pressburg, Wieselburg, Ödenburg and Eisenburg. After the town of Pozsony/Pressburg was assigned to Czechoslovakia the number vier was dropped, but the name was kept because it was deemed to be appropriate for a region with so many old frontier castles. The Burgenland name was officially adopted by the first provincial Landtag in 1922.
In Hungarian the German name is generally accepted but there are three modern alternatives used by minor groups. The Hungarian translation of the German name, Várvidék was invented by László Juhász, an expert of the region in the 1970s and it is becoming increasingly popular especially in touristic publications. The other two names Őrvidék and Felső-Őrvidék derive from the name of the most important old Magyar language island, the Felső-Őrség. This microregion is around the town Felsőőr/Oberwart so these new names are a bit misleading however they are sometimes used.
The Croatian and Slovene names and are translations of the German name. The village of Jennersdorf is no more than 5 kilometers from the Slovenian, as well the Hungarian borders (see the United Slovenia
United Slovenia
United Slovenia is the name of an unrealized political programme of the Slovene national movement, formulated during the Spring of Nations in 1848...
movement).
Alternatively, the Serbs, Czechs and Slovaks call the western shores of the Neusiedler See
Neusiedler See
Lake Neusiedl is the second largest steppe lake in Central Europe, straddling the Austrian–Hungarian border. The lake covers 315 km², of which 240 km² is on the Austrian side and 75 km² on the Hungarian side. The lake's drainage basin has an area of about 1,120 km²...
(lake) surrounding the town of Rust Luzic or Lusic. However, the descendants of Luzic Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, Bosniaks
Bosniaks
The Bosniaks or Bosniacs are a South Slavic ethnic group, living mainly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a smaller minority also present in other lands of the Balkan Peninsula especially in Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia...
, Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
, Czechs and Slovaks
Slovaks
The Slovaks, Slovak people, or Slovakians are a West Slavic people that primarily inhabit Slovakia and speak the Slovak language, which is closely related to the Czech language.Most Slovaks today live within the borders of the independent Slovakia...
were eventually assimilated into the ethnic German
Ethnic German
Ethnic Germans historically also ), also collectively referred to as the German diaspora, refers to people who are of German ethnicity. Many are not born in Europe or in the modern-day state of Germany or hold German citizenship...
or Hungarian
Magyarization
Magyarization is a kind of assimilation or acculturation, a process by which non-Magyar elements came to adopt Magyar culture and language due to social pressure .Defiance or appeals to the Nationalities Law, met...
cultures over four centuries.
The province has a long history of Slavic, as well Austrian-German and Hungarian-Magyar settlement. The province's easternmost portion (the shores of the Neusiedler See) carried its own topographical term Seewinkel in Austrian-German. This is the least Austrian-German influenced area since the Hungarian and Slovak borders are less than 10 kilometers away.
Symbols
Heraldic description of the coat-of-arms of Burgenland:Or, standing upon a rock sable, an eagle regardant, wings displayed gules, langued of the same, crowned and armed of the first, on his breast an escutcheon paly of four, of the third and white fur, fimbriated of the field, and in dexter and sinister cantons two crosslets paty sable.
The arms were introduced in 1922 after the new province was created. They were composed from the arms of the two most important medieval noble families of the region, the Counts of Nagymarton and Fraknó (Mattersdorf-Forchtensten, eagle on the rock) and the Counts of Németújvár (Güssing, three bars of red and white fur). http://hu.wikibooks.org/wiki/C%C3%ADmerhat%C3%A1roz%C3%B3/Burgenland_c%C3%ADmere
The flag of the province shows two stripes of red and gold, the colours of the coat-of-arms. It was officially confirmed in 1971.
Burgenländische Gemeinschaft
The Burgenländische Gemeinschaft was founded in 1956, hoping to unite those from Burgenland who have emigrated and now span the globe. The main goals include fostering Burgenland unity, establishing a global community, organizing family trips and gatherings, and reinforcing a sense of homeland attachment. Efforts are also being made to ensure the security of important Burgenland historical documents. Since its inception over 50 years ago, regional chapters have spread throughout the world, with large communities in USA, Canada, Argentina, Switzerland, and Germany. In the USA alone, Burgenländische Gemeinschaft services over 20,000 people. http://www.burgenlaender.com/Also notable is the annual "Miss Brüderschaft der Burgenländer" competition, held in a gala style event in New York. The current title is held by Lillianna Baczeski of Southbury, CT, having received the title from the 2006 winner, Jennifer Tuifl. http://www.burgenlaender.com/BG/Zeitung/2007/402/Miss402.html
Culture
The cultural offerings are diverse and especially in the summer famous for the Seefestspiele Mörbisch and the Nova Rock FestivalNova Rock Festival
The Nova Rock Festival, also just Nova Rock, is a music festival that has existed since 2005 and takes place each year in June. It is Austria's biggest rock music festivals, and also one of the largest in Europe. It is located in Burgenland, the easternmost federal state of Austria, near...
with numerous international popstars
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
.
The permanent exhibition at Forchtenstein Castle
Forchtenstein Castle
Forchtenstein Castle is a castle built in the late Middle Ages near the municipality of Forchtenstein in northern Burgenland, Austria.-History:...
shows an impressive collection of the dukes of Esterházy, at whose court at Esterházy Palace
Schloss Esterházy
----The Schloss Esterházy is a palace in Eisenstadt, Austria, the capital of the Burgenland state. It was constructed in the late 13th century, and came under ownership of the Hungarian Esterházy family in 1622...
worked the world famous musician Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
, who composed from the Burgenland Croatian folk-song "V jutro rano se ja stanem" ("In the morning I rise up early") the melody of "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser
Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser
Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser was an anthem to Francis II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and later of Austria. Lorenz Leopold Haschka wrote the lyrics, and Joseph Haydn composed the melody...
" ("God save Franz the Emperor"), which became the melody of todays national anthem of Germany. There are also cultural events organized by the minorities such as Croatian or Hungarian folk evenings.
Sources
- History of Burgenland (PDF file)