The Settlement of the Liberated Danube Basin
It was obvious to the commanders of the Austrian
forces that the liberated areas were in a devastated condition after the Turks have
been expelled. It was almost deserted, because the local populations had fled to save
their lives, the former cultivated fields were in ruins, and the low-lying areas had
turned into swamps during the floods. The only local inhabitants they encountered
lived in ramshackle huts, the agricultural lands were abandoned, had reverted to
wilderness, they were unfriendly and unproductive.
The surviving population had
endured countless forms of cruel atrocities, and they were without hope in terms of
finding a safe and secure life for themselves, and as a result they became nomadic,
traveled in groups and often resorted to plundering and robbing others.
With the establishment of the
Military Frontier District, the Austrians had begun to provide security for the
region, but what was still missing was a stable population to develop it, who could be
brought into the region to undertake the hard work to bring about new life in the
area.
Following consultation and
planning and preparation, promoters to act as recruiters of colonists were sent into
the various German principalities that made up the Holy Roman Empire to entice
settlers to come to develop the new territories that had been added to the Hapsburg
holdings.
Three major streams of settlement
followed under the various Hapsburg monarchs, later known as the Schwabenzuege…Swabian
Migration. First under Emperor Charles (Karl) VI (1711-1740, then his daughter,
Maria Theresia (11740-1780) and her son Emperor Joseph II (1780-1790).
These mass movements were known
as the Carolinian Emigration 1722 to 1726, the Theresian Emigration from 1763 to 1771
and the Josephinian Migration from 1782 to 1787. In between these major waves of
settlement there were always individual and groups of settlers who entered Hungary on
their own and settled in the Middle Danube areas of Hungary.
In addition to the Hapsburg’s
efforts at colonization, there were the private lords, nobles and large landholders
who sought to gain settlers on their estates, who only allowed them to settle with the
understanding that they would work on their domains.
This was not an attempt on the
part of the Hapsburgs to Germanize the former Hungarian territories. The Emperor
wanted people from various nationalities to participate in the economic development of
their newly won empire. The settlers included Czechs, Slovaks, Romanians, Hungarians,
Croatians, Serbs, Italians, French and Germans.
The Emperor ruled in a
“Catholic” Empire, and for that reason he had no intention of settling Protestants in
his realm. The Hapsburgs sought to maintain their “Catholic” unity among all of the
people who were their subjects.
(Translator’s note. The author
then digresses into an examination of Hapsburg policy in this regard, concluding with
Joseph II’s repudiation of this policy during the final phase of the Schwabenzug,
which included Protestants, who settled mainly in the Batschka and the Banat. His
lengthy Immigration Patent begins on page 27 and is reviewed by the author but is not
included in this translation.)
The Emigration
Process for the Would Be Settlers
Every would-be settler first
had to report to his noble landlord and obtain from him his permission to leave as
well as purchase his manumission. (Literally: bought his freedom to serve his lord).
Following this, the would-be settler had to search out one of the settlement
commissioners in Frankfurt-an-Main, in Koblenz or Rottenburg am Neckar and present his
documentation. Following his recruitment and compliance with the rules for emigration
to Hungary, he received a passport, which he took with him as he and his family went
on foot to Ulm on the Danube, or if he came from Hesse or Franconia, to Wuerzburg and
Nuremberg and then on to the river port of Regensburg. At one of these places he and
his family took ship down the Danube on the so-called Ulmer Schachtel, (Literally:
box), which in effect was an open raft.
Reaching Vienna, the settler
had to report to the Royal High Court, where he had to provide his name, place of
origin, age and the amount of money he was carrying and pay a two Gulden traveling
fare per person to the Royal Chamber in Buda in order for him to continue his journey
down the Danube to the Hungarian capital.
While they were there their
destination for settlement was also identified, but many of the settlers changed their
minds on the way. Countless numbers of them responded to the invitations of the
Hungarian nobles and their agents to leave the ships and settle on their estates.
While on their way there were many of the young single men and women who traveled with
groups married as they passed through Ulm, Regensburg, Passau and Vienna.
The length of the journey to
the southern parts of Hungary, into what later became Yugoslavia was approximately
1,200 kilometers, covered both by ship and on foot when passing by the rapids and
going overland to the settlements. Most of the immigrant groups journeyed for six to
seven weeks…
(Translator’s Note. The author
deals with some general observations with regard to the development of the
settlements)
Slavonia After
the Turkish Occupation
For over a century after the
liberation from the Turks, Slavonia, which was to become the homeland of our
ancestors, remained undisturbed and undeveloped. The land north of the Sava was part
of the Military Frontier District and was ruled from Vienna, and the land south of the
Drava, Croatia and Slavonia were ruled by the Ban in Agram (Zagreb). The liberated
territories were returned to the nobles and landed gentry and estate owners if they
could produce documents to substantiated their land claims. But because so many
nobles had gone into exile or had no heirs the Hapsburgs granted or sold estates to
former military commanders (sometimes as back pay). Most of them did not live on
their estates and showed little or no interest in them. The aristocrats held all of
the high offices.
Following the French Revolution
in 1789, and the wars of liberation to 1813, the various nationalities were awakened
by the idea of a national consciousness. As part of this national rebirth, the
“Illyric Movement” took place among the South Slavs. This awakening expressed itself
in the emphasis on national language and the upkeep and further development of it in
all aspects of life and a call for self-determination and independence from the
Hapsburg Monarchy.
As a result of the Napoleonic
Wars, the Germans in their various states and principalities moved towards some form
of national union and the Slavs too longed for a union of all Slavs. Among the
Croatians Ljudevit Faj and Louis Gay were the major advocates. While among the Serbs,
Vuk Stefanovic Karadzic played that leading role. As part of the Illyrian Movement
the differences between the various Slavic groups were downplayed. There was Slavism,
Neo-Slavism, Austro-Slavism, Pan-Slavism, both with and without Russian support…
(Translator”s Note. The author
provides additional information on the nationalist movements among the South Slavs).
The Revolution
of 1848
With the breakout of the
Revolution of 1848 all across Europe, the relations between Hungary and Croatia were
strained. The Croatians did not want to be a satellite of Hungary, but an equal
partner, with only a king in common. They wanted to use the Croatian language in the
Hungarian parliament and in all public institutions. Because these demands were not
accepted by Hungary, they separated from Hungary and declared war. General Jelacic,
the commander of the Military Frontier District hurried to Vienna with his troops to
support the Hapsburgs against the Hungarian insurgents.
In Vienna, the March uprising
toppled Metternich from power, and after a second uprising, a parliament was called
into being which declared the emancipation of the peasants in May and then during the
third uprising in October, Field Marshall Prince zu Windischgratz attacked all troops
that refused to fight against the Hungarians rebels. Joseph Jelacic, the Ban of
Croatia, besieged the Hungarian forces at Schwechat (Translator’s Note. Today’s
location of the Vienna Airport) while the Habsburg government fled to Olmutz. Emperor
Ferdinand abdicated, his successor, young Francis Joseph attempted to placate the
nationalities with a new constitution.
Jelacic called for a new
election for representatives to the Landtag (parliament) and at is first assembly had
himself installed as Ban by Joseph Rajacic the Orthodox Metropolitan and
representative of the Serbs. Jelacic helped the Austrians put down the Hungarian
revolution.
The Ban visited Emperor Francis
Joseph and hoped to achieve the full independence of Croatia from Hungary. The
Emperor was not prepared to go that far and that damaged the future relations with the
Hapsburgs and the Croats and all Germans.
When the Serbs, under the
leadership of their Patriarch found refuge in Hapsburg territory during the reign of
Leopold I in 1690-1691, they had the written promise that they would be free to return
to Serbia after the liberation from the Turks. They saw their settlement in the
Batschka, Banat, Syrmien and Slavonia as only temporary.
After a few generations, they
declared this “haven” to be their “homeland”, and their own settlement area they
desired to govern. Austria granted them their cultural autonomy in church and
school. They were free to educate their priests and teachers and develop a national
life of their own. In all of these areas where they resided there were numerous
non-Serbian populations.
With the re-organization of the
Hungarian government, the Serbs in 1859 achieved self-government for the Vojvodina,
Serbia and the Temesvár Banat, with their seat of government in Temesvár, a Crown land
until 1860, under the control of Vienna. The Emperor wanted to demonstrate to the
Hungarians that he had the other nationalities as his subjects and allies against
them.
The Swabian
Petition of 1849
After the Hungarian Revolution
was put down in 1849, twenty-seven men, who were loyal subjects of the crown arrived
in Vienna on October 2nd and presented a petition to the young Emperor.
They were Danube Swabians from Bogarosch.
They began by acknowledging
their thanks and appreciation for their invitation to settle in the Hapsburg Empire.
They shared the difficulties the colonists contended with in the swamps and wilderness
of the Banat, where with industriousness and skill they had planted a new
society…culture. So much so, that the Banat had become the granary of the Empire, the
pearl of Hungary, a part of the Hapsburg Monarchy to whom the Swabians always looked
to for help and direction. They wrote, “We respect and honour all of the other
nationalities among whom we live and we only desire what others have in terms of
rights and equality and not to be treated as orphans in our own house, so we ask for
the consideration for our 350,000 Danube Swabian people”.
They pointed out that since the
other nationalities had been given special recognition and freedoms and governmental
structures that the same should be granted to the Danube Swabians who desired to be
loyal to the Emperor. The Serbs had a Voidvoden, the Romanians a Captain, the Slovaks
a Paladin, the Swabians asked for a German Count to act as their “head”, much like the
Saxon Counts in Transylvania. They did not seek national independence, and had no
separatist tendencies. They wanted to be subjects of the larger Empire, where “we are
all proud to be Austrians not Hungarians, Serbs, Poles, etc. We believe that is
through a German count, who could act to defend our rights, and interpret government
decrees, and allow the use of the German language in government and public life”.
Representatives of twelve
Swabian communities in the Banat signed the petition. The Swabian National Assembly,
that had been elected met in Billed and had the priest, Novak write the petition on
their behalf and later signed it at Bogarosch.
This was the first political
action ever taken by the Danube Swabians and it demonstrated how forward looking the
Swabian leaders were at the time. But with the establishment of the Vojvodina
(1849-1860), Austria upgraded the status of the Serbs, punished the Hungarians and due
to a lack of understanding of the Swabians situation, simply ignored their request.
Joseph Georg
Strossmayer
Joseph Juraj Strossmayer
(1815-1905) now appeared on the scene. He saw in the union of the South Slavs the
possibility of union of the Orthodox Serbs and the Roman Catholic Croatians back into
“the lap of mother Rome”, with himself at the head of this Slavic State Church. Like
Gay, Strossmayer was culturally German, who became a 200% Croat. He saw that the
“Greater Serbian Movement” under Nikola Paschitsch left little room for a
partnership. As a result he moved to a stronger Croatian nationalist position.
He became the exponent of
Croatian nationalism, culture, art and language. The “father” of the Fatherland. He
was hated and loved like Bismarck in Prussia. He was the “awakener” of the Croatian
people. The power of the Croatian people was so great that it could give birth to a
patriotic Croat like him made out of a “German” child.
He was the son of a horse
trader and his Croatian wife, and grew up in bilingual Esseg, and felt and thought in
German. Following his education in Djakowar, Budapest, and Vienna he was a royal
chaplain and confessor at the Schoenbrunn Palace. He wanted to become the Prince
Archbishop of Salzburg. The Emperor, who had the right of appointment to the
position, however, did not support his candidacy. Distant Djakowar was perhaps, seen
as a punishment. But that would not hold him back.
At the instigation of the Ban
Jelacic in Vienna the Emperor named Strossmayer, bishop of Djakowar. This very
intelligent and sensitive man awakened the latent call for the liberation of the
Croatians. He was in favour of the use of the Croatian language as the language of
instruction in all of the schools of the land. He wanted to make everyone in the land
a Croat. He was an enemy of the German language. He was successful and renowned in
various fields, building churches and cathedrals, the intensification of agricultural
use of the land on his Episcopal estates, patron of Croatian culture, a theologian and
philosopher. At the first Vatican Council in 1869-1870, he was one of the leading
voices to oppose papal infallibility.
Strossmayer made certain that
the educational system for priests and teachers would produce patriotic Croatians. He
hindered the used German in worship and appointed Croatian priests to serve German
majority parishes, and with time assimilation was almost complete. That people lost
the right to use their mother tongue did not concern him a bit, but not everyone was
prepared to do that.
With the Turkish threat no
longer real, the Croatians agitated for the elimination of the Military Frontier
District and incorporating it into Croatia and Slavonia. The region was
underdeveloped and backward. The representatives of the Croatian parliament knew that
the tax income from the area and a strong economy would depend on building a railway
and highway network in the land. Even though the Croatian nationalists opposed the
settlement of other nationalities in their midst, they believed it was necessary to
bring in Germans to teach the population and set an example.
The estate owners made a good
living by selling lumber and timber. Slavonian oak was world famous as an export.
What do you do about de-forestation? There were countless swamps that needed to be
dammed and drained with canals to make the land useable for agriculture. There were
also Croatian settlers who worked the land who were free from paying taxes, but when
taxes were later imposed they left the area and took up tax-free land somewhere else.
A Croat politician complained about the poor work ethic of the Croatians. They saw
work as something forced upon them and not as something that was necessary. In 1848
most of them were shepherds, and a small number were cattle herders. They were simply
lazy. (Translator’s Note. That is an opinion).
As a result there was a byword
in Slavonia to the effect, “Svabo ore I sije, sokac sedi I pije”, which translated
means: The Swabian ploughs and seeds, the Croatian sits and drinks”.
Unfortunately, the result of
all of this was envy out of which hatred would emerge. In spite of that, the Swabians
in the Military Frontier District and towns and cities attempted to make friends with
their neighbours.
The Compromise
with Hungary – 1867
The Dual Monarchy, the
Austro-Hungarian Empire emerged as a result of the Compromise of 1867. The
self-government the Hungarians were able to achieve was what the Slavic people also
wanted and hoped for. Austria continued to have complete jurisdiction over Finance
and Defense, but in terms of foreign affairs, the Hungarians did manage to gain some
influence.
Each of the states had their
own home army. In Hungary, it was the Honved. Domestic, economic, school and church
issues were dealt with by each state. For the citizens of the Dual Monarchy there
were two constitutions in effect and the capitals were Vienna and Budapest. The
Emperor was now crowned wit the crown of St. Stephen. As a result, the following fell
under the jurisdiction of Hungary: the Batschka, Syrmien, Banat, Croatia, Slavonia and
Slovenia and were now part of the Kingdom of Hungary.
Those German speaking
populations living in the former territory of Hungary were already exposed to
Magyarisation as early as 1830. There was much more pressure after 1848, but now
official Magyarisation became official state policy. (Translator’s Note. The term
Magyarisation meant the forced assimilation of all other nationalities within an
expanded meaning of “Hungarian”, beginning with language and then family names and the
national “culture”).
The Slavic populations felt
betrayed and their aspirations were put on hold, in spite of their loyalty to the
Habsburgs against the Hungarians.
The Compromise
Between Hungary and Croatia – 1868
The Croatians were to unite in
a Compromise between Austria and Hungary, because they were part of the Kingdom of
Hungary for centuries. The Croats wanted to be an equal partner with its own
territory acknowledged within the Hapsburg Monarchy, and not to be put under the power
and control of Hungary. During this time, Strossmayer and the Serb minister
Graschanin had dealings with one another. Both dreamed of a South Slav State, Serbia
and the tripart Kingdom of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, independent of Austria and
Turkey.
Discussions took place, and
various revisions were considered, but the Emperor broke off talks in June of 1868.
Hungary promised that representatives of Croatia could participate in dealings of
special concern to them in discussions with Austria. The agreement made certain,
Croatia’s independence in terms of the courts and governing of its own territory. The
Banus, would be equal to a Prime Minister, but was responsible to the Hungarian Prime
Minister in Budapest. Croatia could be in charge of two ministries: the Interior
Ministry and Education. The flag of Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia had the crown of St.
Stephen imposed upon it.
The Croats would have
twenty-nine members of parliament in the Lower House, and two in the Upper House of
the Hungarian-Croatian parliament. The trading city of Fiume was independent, but was
united with the Hungarian crown. Croatia, of course, was not content with the results
and would rather have had an agreement with Austria.
Austria became more and more
concerned about the separatist movements among the South Slavs, but young Francis
Joseph had his hands full with the Czechs, Moravians and Slovaks, as it was, who
sought a Triune Monarchy.
An uprising in 1871 in Rakowitz
was followed by a call for an independent state of Croatia under the leadership of Dr.
Eugene Kwaternik. He sought to achieve freedom from Hungary and Austria, and the
independence of Dalmatia from Italy. In three days the uprising was put down and
Kwaternik and the other rebel leaders were shot.
The occupation of
Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria in 1878, pained Serbia and the annexation of the
territory in 1908 only angered Serbia more. This act also meant that men of military
age had to serve in the forces of the Dual Monarchy.
On June 28, 1914 Austrian
military maneuvers were to conclude with a military parade in Sarajevo, Bosnia in
which Arch Duke Francis Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of the Dual Monarchy and his
wife were assassinated. It was on the anniversary of the date of the defeat of Lazar
and the Serbian nobles in 1389 at the hands of the Turks, and was seen as an affront
by the Greater Serbia Movement, even though the Arch Duke was a friend of the Slavs
and a proponent of the idea of a Triune Monarchy.
Only in the mid-19th
century, were Protestants permitted to settle in Croatia-Slavonia. According to the
constitution of 1850, religious freedom was granted in Austria, and all persons were
equal before the law. But only in September of 1859 was there a law put into effect
that Protestants could purchase houses and land. The Croatian parliament protested,
echoing what the bishop of Djakovo in his letter to the Emperor had objected to in the
Compromise of 1868, which made Roman Catholics and Protestants equal before the law.
This news hit the settlements
in the Batschka, Banat and Syrmien, and also on the estates in southern Hungary, with
a big bang. The reason for the response was economic stagnation and need. Large
families could not feed their children. Land was neither available nor too
expensive. The second son of a farmer who learned a trade and his sons after him were
unable to take over from their parents and found it difficult to marry and support a
family. They hoped that by selling their properties they could buy more land in
Slavonia. They did not think of the difficulties that lay ahead of them.
Most families arrived with
horse and wagon. Some found empty homes whose inhabitants had left for the cities.
They settled in numerous areas. German minorities were swallowed up by assimilation,
while others were able to maintain their identity, and some formed the majority of the
population in their villages.
Nobles and the clergy who had
estates expressed a great interest in settlers. Among the bishops was the very rich
bishop of Djakovo, the Serb Patriarch in Karlowitz (around Vukovar) and the Jesuits in
Poschegg. Nobles included Counts Eltz, Schonborn, Baron Trench, Prandau Ehrefels,
Counts Palffy and Caraffa, Baron Turkowitz and Count Pejatschewitsch. The noble
family Pejatschewitsch was especially active on their large estates in the Ruma
District: Ruma, India, Putinci and in the Esseg District: Retfalva and Kravitz and in
the Naschetz District: Deutsch-Bresnitz and Selište-Welimviowatz. The Count is
reputed to have paid 200 gulden to one Ivan Bukowatz for settlers on his estates at
the rate of 5 kreuzer per head and was able to inhabit abandoned villages and had the
wilderness lands cleared for cultivation. There were also villages that had been
developed by Serb refugees. There were also Slovak settlers, as well as Czechs. Most
of them came by wagon from north of Pressburg (Bratislava), others on foot, who did
seasonal work and then returned home again. Only later did some of them actually
settle in Slavonia.
The Emigration
of our Forebears into Hungary
The settlers who came to Klein
Bastei had their origins in Swabian Turkey in southwestern Hungary. (Translator’s
Note. The Counties of Tolna, Baranya and Somogy). The vast majority of these people’s
ancestors had their origins in Hesse. The dialect always remained south Hessian. The
reason for their emigration was the fact that their situation at home was unbearable.
Famine, military service, and heavy work dues and duties, the high taxes and various
forms of injustice led to their leaving. Added to that was the hunting duties owed to
the princes and nobles. The western borders were not secure against the French and
the high birth rate, were all issues that added to the struggle for their daily bread.
In light of this situation, it
was not difficult for the agents of Count von Mercy to find willing emigrants.
But the question for many
remains, but where did our ancestors come from in Germany before they immigrated to
Hungary? From the research done by some of the families we know that the ancestors of
the Knies family came from Sellnrod in Hesse, which today is 6315 Mucke. The
Kraehling family came from 6479 Dauernheim-Ranstadt in Hesse, while the Heppenheimer
family had its roots in Nieder-Ramstadt bei Darmstadt, also in Hesse. The author
would have liked to research the origins of all of the families in Klein Bastei, but
time did not allow for that. But it is obvious that the vast majority of them must
have had their origins in Hesse. His mother had remarked upon hearing the way the
inhabitants of Seligenstadt spoke, “Now we are at home again”. It is here in the
southern portion of Hesse where words and grammatical usage are consistent with the
dialect spoken in Klein Bastei. The phrase “spillen gehn”, meaning to visit someone,
is still in use in Seligenstadt.
The author quotes another
source from the Landsmannschaft aus Ungarn for the following information of the German
settlement of Hungary:
“During the 150 year occupation
of Hungary by the Turks (1526-1686), a vast number of communities were destroyed. The
local population was taken off to slavery, many were massacred and others fled to
other areas beyond their reach. In the 15th century there were 900
inhabited communities in Somogy County. Many of them are only known now by name. How
the population declined is described in this example of Kaposvár, which was liberated
by Turkish Louis in 1688 and the total population was 120 persons. In the county
districts only households existed. At the end of the 16th century it has
been estimated that a total population of 45,000 persons lived in Tolna, Baranya and
Somogy Counties. In 1692 there were only 3,221 left. Szekszárd had 290 people in
1692 and Simontornya had 144. The same was true in Baranya. With the Turks gone a
new population was necessary to develop the land. The Landtag (parliament) of 1715
empowered the Emperor Charles to carry out a planned program of re-population.
Because there were no longer enough Hungarians to call upon, the Emperor turned to his
German holdings and his vassals to supply him with settlers. In Temesvár he put Count
von Mercy at the head of the colonization, with the first aim being the re-settlement
of the Banat.
Count von Mercy sent his agents
to the German principalities along the Rhine and Main Rivers, who used fliers and
leaflets to beckon and lure settlers to come to Hungary. In large towns, like Worms,
they set up emigration bureaus.
The local nobles mistrusted the
agents and had them abused and even jailed. But there was no way to stop the stampede
to Hungary. Whole families disappeared overnight. Mercy needed colonists for the
Banat to meet the Emperor’s objectives.
Captain Vatzy worked for Count
von Mercy as his representative in Vienna for the Banat colonization. All of this
would prove to be of great importance for the Lutheran and Reformed emigrants from
Germany who responded to the invitation who settled in what would be later known as
Swabian Turkey. This was especially true of Tolna County were the primary Lutheran
and Reformed settlements were established, with most of the colonists coming from Ober
Hessen. No primary settlements emerged in Baranya and Somogy Counties except for
Felsö Mocsolád and Kötcse.
(Translator’s Note. The author
digresses about the hunting practices of the nobles in Hesse and their effect on the
life of the peasants).
These hunting practices of
Ernst Ludwig of Hessen are an example of what the emigrants sought to leave behind
them. Their pietist pastors preached against “the hunt” and the disasters it caused
the peasants and their animal victims. Although the nobles opposed the emigration in
Hesse, from 1721 to 1725 up 1,000 persons from Hesse Darmstadt set out for Hungary.
For instance from Ober Ramstadt,
whole families consisting of 82 persons, some of them fleeing illegally, left for the
Temesvár Banat, 12 miles distant from Belgrade, in the district of Langenfeld. Larger
and smaller groups were on the way down the Danube.
Then an important event took
place in 1722 that would have a major impact on the future Lutheran congregations and
settlements that would emerge in Tolna County. Count Claudius Florimundus von Mercy
de Argenta purchased estates in Tolna County. He was the governor of the Banat and
president of the Temesvár Colonization Commission. His estates stretched from
Paulsdorf (Palfa) to the north, to Abstdorf (Apáti) in the south at the county border
with Baranya. In order to settle his lands he carried out extensive operations. He
allowed freedom of religion and conscience to all of his subjects. Very quickly, the
following Lutheran settlements came into being: Varsad, Felsönána, Kismányok, Izmény.
His settlement program was continued and ended by his successor, his nephew Count
Anton Ignace (Karl Augustus) von Mercy whom he adopted on September 24, 1727 as his
son and heir. The younger von Mercy died at the battle of Esseg on January 22, 1767.
He was succeeded by his son, Count Claudius Florimundus von Mercy II, who had been a
student of Pastor Georg Bárány at Sárszentlörinc, who died in 1794 after a short term
as the ambassador of the House of Hapsburg in Paris and London. It was Mercy II who
sold the Tolna estates to Count Georg Appony for 700,000 to 780,000 gulden.
The first Mercy settlements
were actually established by former owners, such as Count Wenceslas Zinzendorf, Baron
von Schilson and the Székely family. 1722-1772 the von Mercys were the richest and
most powerful of the landowners in Tolna County, who had all of the privileges of the
Hungarian nobility, and after 1723 “the power of the sword”, which meant power over
life and death of his subjects.
All three of the Mercys were
the protectors and defenders of their Lutheran subjects against the attempts to
persecute them on the part of the Roman Catholic clergy and the Roman Catholic County
Administration. The destiny of the Seniorat (Translator’s Note. The Lutheran Church
Administration of the Counties of Tolna, Baranya and Somogy, i.e. Synod) in human
terms, under the “quiet persecution” of Maria Theresia would have had a different
result if the Mercys, the landowners and protectors of numerous totally Lutheran
communities had not been there for them. These settlements were the seed of the
future Seniorat. The Mercy settlement policy was the result of the suggestions of
their adviser, Pastor Georg Bárány, who advocated that settlers of the same confession
be settled separately from others who did not share their convictions in order to
avoid disputes and arguments. Only Magyar Kölesd was mixed confessionally. As a
result there were either Roman Catholic or Lutheran villages. Mercy I would not
permit the formation of Calvinist congregations among his Lutheran settlers.
Count von Mercy carried out a
publicity campaign in Hesse as President of the Banat Colonization Commission. These
campaigns were carried out to settle his Tolna domains. As a result he sent his
commissioner, Captain Vatzy to Vienna, fully empowered to act in his name to entice
some of the emigrants heading for the Banat for his Tolna estates. From a report of
Pastor Johann Balassa of Sárszentlörinc, von Mercy was ordered to Vienna for an
audience with Charles the Emperor to answer for his manipulation of the situation and
charged him with settling Lutherans in Hungary contrary to his orders and decrees.
But Count von Mercy did not allow that to deter him for a moment and continued with
his colonization efforts in the Tolna. From 1721-1724 there was a massive emigration
of Hessian Lutherans into the County.
In 1722 emigrants from Ober
Hessen founded Kalazno, which became a filial of the Varsad congregation in 1724,
where Karl Johann Reichard was the pastor who had been driven out of Langenfeld in the
Banat by the Jesuits and had taken protection with Count von Mercy.
The Lutheran settlement of
Apáti was established during the reign of the Emperor Charles in 1724, and not Maria
Theresia as others suggest. The names of Lutherans in Apáti already appear in the
church records of Kismányok as early as 1724 when it was a filial congregation.
From its beginnings in 1722,
Kalazno had a “Bethaus” (Literally: prayer house) and a teacher. In 1733 the Bishop
of Pécs wanted to form a Hungarian Roman Catholic parish in Varsad and Kalazno. That
perhaps indicates that when the Hessian settlers first arrived there were Magyars
already living there. Only later would Kalazno become a completely German speaking
Lutheran community. In 1725 Michael Reulein was the teacher here. The ruins of a
church from the Middle Ages were discovered early in its history.
In 1719 Györköny was a Mother
Church. (Translator’s Note. This is a term used by the Lutheran church in Hungary to
describe a congregation with a resident pastor who also served a number of smaller
congregations in the vicinity, that were served by teachers who also functioned as
clergy, with the exception of celebrating Holy Communion). In that year Georg Bárány
organized the congregation in Gyönk, then turned it over to Stefan Denes and went to
the mixed language German/Hungarian congregation in Györköny. Daniel Krmann,
Superintendent (Translator’s Note: Bishop) of Slovakia, who was a major Orthodox
Lutheran opponent of Pietistm, nonetheless, appointed Georg Bárány as the Senior of
the Tolna “Contuberniums” on January 27, 1720 to provide leadership to the fledgling
emerging congregations greatly under pressure from the Roman Catholic church
authorities. There was no superintendent in southern Hungary until 1742.
The two nationalities in
Györköny did not get along. As a result, Bárány asked permission from Count von Mercy
to resettle the Hungarians at Sárszentlörinc in 1722 and he accompanied them.
Sárszentlörinc became the center of Lutheranism and the Seniorat. The Lutherans in
Nagyszekély became a filial of the congregation in Sárszentlörinc, prior to that they
had belonged to Varsad. The colonizer of Nagyszekély was Count Styrum-Limburg who
was of Dutch origin.
On May 9th 1724,
settlers from Wiesbaden founded Kistormás. There were sixty families with their own
pastor and teacher who accompanied them. Some of them also moved into Kölesd among
the Hungarian Lutherans there. The church records in Kistormás indicate that “we
arrived between seven and eight o’clock in the evening on the wagons provided by Count
von Mercy which had brought us from the market town of Tolna on the Danube, we were a
new small group of Lutheran colonists who sat down and rested in the deep grass of the
“puszta” (Translator’s Note: Prairie) of Tormasch. We came from the region around
Wiesbaden. The green grass and the earth formed our bed and the sky was our roof for
our first night in our new home. We brought our preacher with us, Johann Nikolaus
Marsilius Tonsor who was born in 1692 in Wallau, and was ordained in Wertheim am Main
on our way here to Hungary. Among us is also our school master Johann Wolfgang
Friedrich of Idstein by Wiesbaden”.
Mucsi existed when Zinzendorf
owned it and in 1718 there was a small Lutheran congregation in the Roman Catholic
village. The pastor of Bikács discovered that years later, but it disappeared in the
1730’s in the time of the great persecution.
Hesse and the
Danube Swabians
(Translator’s Note: This is
only a recap and resume of this section based on the work of Johann Weidlein)
The Hessian connections with
Hungary were varied. According to a census in 1715 in Tolna County there is a
reference to the Lutheran Hessian village of Majós. Between 1715-1720 a whole row of
Hessian villages arose in the hilly lands of Pécs: Zabod 1718, Kismányok 1719, Varsad
1718-1719, Nagyszekély 1720. There was a great increase in Hessian colonists after
1719. Most of the Hessian settlements in Hungary were established 1722-1724.
Felsönána, Keszöhidegkút, Mucsfa, Izmény, Diósberény (Roman Catholic Hessians).
Lutherans from Hesse arrived in Bátaapáti in 1730. After von Mercy accommodated the
original Hessian emigrants, he had no room for more, so that his neighbours took them:
Gyönk 1722, Bonyhad 1723, Kéty 1732, Szárázd 1735, Udvari 1736, Murga 1745. In
northern Baranya there were Hessian settlements at Tofu in 1722, and Hidas in 1730 and
they were primary Hessian settlements in addition to those in the Tolna. Mekényes
received its Ober Hessen settlers in 1735 from Tolna County. The goal of the
emigrants from Fulda was the eastern Baranya and the domains of Prince Eugene of
Savoy.
In the 18th and 19th
centuries the Hessians in Tolna and the eastern Baranya moved on deeper into Magyar
areas and the south Slav areas, including those moving into Slavonia and Syrmien. The
greatest stream of settlers in the 18th century went to the Batschka and
the Banat. There were many Hessians among them at Temesvár, Verbas, Neusiawatz,
Sektisch, etc. But here they were a small minority and their dialect disappeared.
Only in Swabian Turkey would the Hessian dialect survive. The Batschka was
overwhelming from Pflaz, Swabia and Bavaria, and in the Banat it was the same except
for Liebling, which maintained a Hessian character in terms of its Lutheranism and
dialect since many of the original settlers also came from Swabian Turkey. In other
areas of Hungary, the Bavarian dialect is the chief common characteristic, especially
among the Heidebauern. But Swabian Turkey’s 200,000 Hessians were in effect “Little
Hessen”.
To
Mali-Bastaji_History
