After Tofü and Mekényes this is the third oldest German Lutheran settlement on the Dombovár Domain of the Esterhazys. The arrival and settlement of these German colonists took place in 1756. Most of them came from the Hessian villages of Tolna County but there had been other Germans before them. Johann Haass is…
Mekenyes in the Baranya
The German peasant settlers who immigrated to Hungary in the 18th century were often did so without documentation or papers with them for various reasons. One of the causes for their emigration from their homeland was the ongoing persecution of the Lutherans by their Roman Catholic landlords and princes. The customs officials at…
Bataapati in the Tolna
Documentation exists from as early as 1015 that the area where the village now stands was given as a gift by King Stephen to the Abbey of Pécs/Pécsvarad. In the twelfth century the lands were in the possession of the abbey of Báta as part of the endowment of Ladislaus the king at…
Mucsfa in the Tolna
All previous attempts at settlement at the site of the future Mucsfa since the dawn of Hungarian history were wiped out during and after the Turkish occupation. The area around the future Mucsfa was part of the Domain of the Counts Zinzendorf after 1687. In 1722, the “Little King” of Tolna County, Count…
Kotcse in Somogy County
(The following information is taken from an article published by Johann Müller of Bissingen-an-der-Enz and formerly of Bonnya, Somogy County, Hungary.) The village of Kötcse was founded early in the 18th century and was one of the two earliest German settlements in the northern area of Somogy County along with Felsömocsolád following the…
Zavod and Mucsi in the Tolna
(These are excerpts from “Heimatbuch Závod in der Tolnau” by Anton Mayer, translated by Henry A. Fischer.) The period of time allotted to the settlers, in which they were free from paying taxes to the County was extended and a new agreement was negotiated and new settlers were included in the terms. The…
The Republic of Mucsi
(This is my translation of an article that appeared in a publication entitled, Three Hundred Years of German Life in Hungary) By Henry Fischer Of the four hundred German Hungarian villages that came into being, Mucsi was located in the southern part of Tolna County and unlike many of them, Mucsi was one…
The Earliest German Settlements in Swabian Turkey
The following are the earliest German settlements in the Counties of Tolna, Baranya and Somogy an area collectively known as Swabian Turkey. Tolna County: Alsonana 1750 Baatapati 1730 Bikacs 1736 Bonyhad 1722 Felso Nana 1723 Gyonk 1722 Gyorkony 1722 Izmeny 1722 Kalazno 1721 Keszohidegkut 1723 Kety 1732 Kismanyok 1720 Kistormas 1724 Majos 1720 Moragy …
The Decade of Sorrows
(Translated from the German, by Henry A. Fischer from “Rebellion or Religion”) The question behind the bloodbath unleashed by the Habsburgs (especially Leopold I) against the Lutherans and Reformed, was whether it was in response to a political rebellion rather than the religious issue in terms of the ongoing Counter Reformation in Hungary.…
Mezobereny: A Short History
Mezöbereny lies in the center of the Great Hungarian Plain on the rail line from Budapest-Szaolnok-Arad-Bucharest, along the Körös River in Bekes County. Before the Second World War it had a population of 17,000, consisting of five nationalities and six religious communities: Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran, Reformed, Jewish, Baptists and Nazarenes. The…