The Hungarians in Austria numbers 25,884 according to the 2001 Census. Of these, 10,686 were in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and 4,704 in

Burgenland Burgenland (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two statutory cities and seven rural districts, with a total of ...

. 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 capitals of

Oberwart Oberwart (; hu, Felsőőr; hr, Gornja Borta) 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. Oberwart is the cultural capital of the small ethnic Hungarian minorit ...

/Felsőőr and

Oberpullendorf Oberpullendorf (; hr, Gornja Pulja or ; hu, Felsőpulya) is a town in Burgenland, Austria. It is the administrative center of the district of Oberpullendorf. Geography Oberpullendorf is a municipality in the middle of the Burgenland. It con ...

/Felsőpulya. The Hungarian Group Advisory Council is the oldest of the official minority advisory councils in Austria.

History

Hungarians of Burgenland are the descendants of frontier guards sent during the eleventh century to protect the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...

. Burgenland place names contain the elements 'Schützen' or 'Wart' ( as in Obserschützen, Unterwart etc.) constituting the linguistic testimony of that historic period. (In the following centuries many of these early inhabitants assimilated into the German-speaking population of Western Hungary.Paulston, Peckham, p. 20) Hungarians had maintained their privileged status until 1848. Burgenland was under Hungarian rule until the 1920

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...

. Hungarian education continued in the interwar period in a number of municipalities. Economic decline in Burgenland after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

led to emigration. The negative image (see

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its ...

) of the

Hungarian language Hungarian () is an Uralic language spoken in Hungary and parts of several neighbouring countries. It is the official language of Hungary and one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. Outside Hungary, it is also spoken by Hungar ...

by this time led to assimilation. As a result of the recognition of the Viennese Hungarians (1992) as a part of the Hungarian minority, the Hungarian minority is composed of two parts, namely the Burgenland Hungarians and the Hungarians living in the Vienna region.

Viennese Hungarians

Hungarians established a community in Vienna from 1541 following the 1526

battle of Mohács The Battle of Mohács (; hu, mohácsi csata, tr, Mohaç Muharebesi or Mohaç Savaşı) was fought on 29 August 1526 near Mohács, Kingdom of Hungary, between the forces of the Kingdom of Hungary and its allies, led by Louis II, and thos ...

. Towards the end of the 17th century the city became a key cultural center for Hungarians. Hungarian students graduated from the Vienna University and from the 17th century onwards there was an increasing influx of Hungarian craftsmen into Vienna. The first cultural associations were set up in Vienna in the 1860s. 130,300 residents of Vienna in 1910 were citizens of the Hungarian part of the empire, while only 45,000 of them were also ethnically Hungarians. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

a re-emigration started. In censuses of the

Interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relative ...

Hungarians counted between 1,000-2,000 people. Refugees from Hungary increased the numbers again in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which Nuclear weapon, nuclear weapons Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been used in combat. Events Below, ...

, 1948 and

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

. Today, some 27,000 Hungarians live in Vienna.

Burgenland Hungarians

The Hungarians of Burgenland were split into four groups prior to the 1921 annexation of Burgenland: # Seewinkel region (Neusiedl District) # District municipalities including the future capital

Eisenstadt Eisenstadt (; hu, Kismarton; hr, Željezni grad; ; sl, Železno, Austro-Bavarian: ''Eisnstod'') is a city in Austria, the state capital of Burgenland. It had a recorded population on 29 April 2021 of 15,074. In the Habsburg Empire's Kingdom ...

# Oberpullendorf and Mitterpullendorf # The (Obere) Wart with the settlements of Oberwart and Unterwart as well as Siget in der Wart. The first two groups were largely absorbed after

, especially as a result of

industrialisation Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...

after 1955. When German was introduced as the official language, Hungarian was only used on a rather restricted level, mostly spoken within the family. In the post-war school system Hungarian was taught as a foreign language for 2–3 hours per week even in communities with a Hungarian majority.

Religion

Two-thirds of Hungarians in Burgenland were

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

in 2004;

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

and

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...

communities are also notable.

Notable people

Footnotes

References

* * * *

External links

Hungarian Cultural Fellowship in Burgenland

Magazine for Hungarians in Austria {{Authority control

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Hungarian Social history of Austria 11th century in Hungary

Austria–Hungary relations