Pusztaszemes is a village in

Somogy County Somogy (, ; ; , ) is an administrative county (Counties of Hungary, comitatus or ''vármegye'') in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary. Somogy County lies in south-western Hungary, on the border with Croatia's Koprivnica- ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. It is known for being the birthplace of

János Kádár János József Kádár (; ; né Czermanik; 26 May 1912 – 6 July 1989) was a Hungarian Communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, a position he held for 32 years. Declining health led to his retireme ...

's father, ''János Krezinger''.

Etymology

The name of Pusztaszemes originates from the words ''szem'' () and ''

puszta The Hungarian puszta () is a temperate grassland biome of the Great Hungarian Plain. It is an exclave of the Pannonian Steppe, and lies mainly around the River Tisza in the eastern part of Hungary, as well as in the western part of the country ...

'' because this area depopulated during the Turkish occupation. It is also possible that the village got its name after its first owner, a man called ''Szemes''.

Geography

It lies on the ''Outer Somogy Hill Range'', 10 km south of

Balatonföldvár Balatonföldvár (, ) is a popular resort town in Somogy County, Hungary, on the southern side of Lake Balaton, approximately 120 km southwest from Budapest and about 23 km southwest from Siófok, the "capital of Balaton". Balatonföld ...

, in the southern end of the ''Kőröshegy-Pusztaszemes Valley''. The ''Brook Séd'' and ''Brook Jaba'' have their sources there. The first flows to the North in the

Lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater rift lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the List of largest lakes of Europe, largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the larges ...

, the second to the South in the ''River Koppány''.

History

Pusztaszemes was first mentioned in 1229 as ''Scernes''. I also appears in the papal tithe register between 1332 and 1337. In 1536 it was written as ''Waralyazemes'' (''Waralya'' means ''Castle bottom'').

Ottoman Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( or ''Babıali''; ), was a synecdoche or metaphor used to refer collectively to the central government of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. It is particularly referred to the buildin ...

's tax register mentioned it initially, later it became uninhabited. After the Siege of Buda the Hungarian nobility invited Christian settlers (mostly Roman Catholic) to Hungary. Until 1778 several German families arrived to Pusztaszemes who rebuilt the village. The landowner was the Széchényi family, but several residents had smaller portions of lands. According to the 1853 census the village had 340 residents of which 258 were

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

and 82

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...

.László Szita : Somogy megyei nemzetiségek településtörténete a XVIII-XIX. században - Somogyi Almanach 52. (Kaposvár, 1993)
/ref> Its Roman Catholic church was built in 1860 and was dedicated to

Saint Wendelin Saint Wendelin of Trier (; 554 - 617 AD) was a hermit and abbot. His cultus is wide-spread in German-speaking areas. He is a patron of country folk and herdsmen. He is honored on October 22. Life Because no information about him was availabl ...

Main sights

* Roman Catholic Church - built in 1860 and dedicated to

* monument for the heroes of the

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

* traditional houses * house of ''János Krezinger'', father of

- at the edge of the village next to the forest

External links

Street map (Hungarian)

References

Populated places in Somogy County Hungarian German communities in Somogy County {{Somogy-geo-stub