A Case Study on Trianon

In selecting a partner the rich peasant must consider his wife's personal attributes. Will she be a good partner-manager, and will she be

able to deal with workers in a shrinking labor market? Can she organize and mobilize farm hands when the need arises? The farmer's wife works alongside laborers in the fields as well as on the farmstead. A German-speaking wife, no matter how efficient, will not be able to partake in conversations carried on in Hungarian during work. She will be looked upon as "the boss" or as an outsider, and will create a sterner atmosphere. Farm laborers will feel ill at ease with her. Rich peasants, like other agriculturists, want a wife from the village.

Based on the aforementioned findings, it may be concluded that village endogamy is practiced by the three land-owning strata of Alsoor for reasons other than simply to prevent ethnic pollution Or to maintain the ethnic boundary between Hungarians and German-speaking Austrians. Endogamy is simply profitable and it also happens to fit into centuries-old norms. Marrying out is a luxury one cannot afford if he wants to remain a peasant. For those who want to escape the peasant lifestyle and assimilate into Austrian society, exogamous marriage is necessary. Almost all the exogamous marriages are made by members of the worker and white collar classes.

Poor peasants want to marry in the village to acquire land without cost, and to gain cooperation from their wife's relatives and friends. The middle peasant who wants to move up on the social scale needs a wife who brings more to the estate and who manages it while earning wages in industry-wages that can be used to purchase more land and machinery. The rich peasant who can afford to marry out does not do it because he relies heavily on agricultural labor which comes from the village. His wife would not fit in with his labor crews. Unlike his predecessors, the rich peasant today cooperates with various strata and age groups, bringing them closer together than they were ever before. For all three strata, consanguineal and affinal kin, friends as well as neighbors are very important, even in the age of mechanized agriculture. Their effort to acquire mates reflects their desire to improve farm operation. Theirs is a valiant struggle, taking place at a time when farming and being a peasant are low in prestige in East Central Europe.

Political control. Although Burgenland was awarded to Austria at the Paris peace treaties in 1919 it was not until 1921 that total political control was handed over to the new regime. Hungarian volunteer fighting units operated for two years in almost the entire

region; stormy plebiscites were held in certain areas (i.e., in the city of Sopron, and in some South Burgenland villages); and diplomatic maneuvers to retain the region continued. But in the end the Hungarian defenses collapsed and the regional government fled to Hungary.¹⁵

On November 21, 1921, three hundred Austrian infantrymen marched into Alsoor on the Lower Mill Road and camped on the Main Square in front of the Catholic church.¹⁶ According to eyewitnesses there was no resistance from the population and the "invaders" showed a substantial measure of good will. Peasants invited soldiers for lunch, officers exchanged political ideas with their hosts. The transition of power was orderly, and people were satisfied that no blood was shed. This mutual respect characterized relationships between Austrians and Hungarians in Burgenland until the annexation of Austria by the Third Reich in 1938. Initially, Hitler's political attitude toward minorities in Austria was one of tolerance, but later, secret plans to relocate them during the invasion of the Soviet Union in the newly acquired territories leaked out and caused much consternation among the population. The deportation of Jews and Gypsies was a grim reminder of what might happen to Hungarians and Croatians as well. But other than the ban on the teaching of minority languages, the villagers felt no recriminations. Their political system remained intact while economically the village enjoyed considerable prosperity, primarily because of mechanization and the annulment of outstanding farm debts.

The post World War II Austrian political model provides for a parliamentary democracy with a multi-party system that guarantees loyal opposition. In contrast to its eastern neighbors, Austria has been willing to insure total freedom of political action for the local community. Within this system the political actor's self-perception as a free agent of socio-political power serves as a fundamental political motivating force. Village communities (as well as larger ethnic organizations) can initiate action to insure ethnic boundary maintenance, and can react to potential threats against survival. They may, in addition, form political parties, which is forbidden in a Communist country.

The village government (the Council, or Gemeinderat) in Austria is established by proportional representation, which in turn is based on political strength shown at national elections. The duration of service of the elected officers is five years. The head of the Council is

the biro (mayor), who must be elected by the Council from the victorious party. The Council supervises and carries out laws and ordinances, oversees practices of land tenure, and is in charge of general safety, traffic, public utilities, entertainment, education (theater, museums, libraries), public housing, funeral parlors, the commons, the village inn, and village-owned apartments. It also adjudicates minor disputes unworthy of court action.

Although the official language of the government is German, it is seldom used. People usually mix German with Hungarian when "doing official business" at the kozseghaza (townhall). In spite of the two councilmen of Eisenzicken (monolingual Germans), the combined councils of the two villages hold meetings in the Hungarian language.

There are two political parties operating in the community. Almost all agriculturists, conservative workers and the white collar class favor the Osterreichische Volks Partei (OVP, commonly referred to as Blacks), while liberal workers and most white collars sympathize with the Sozialistische Partei Osterreichs (SPO, called Reds). The primary reason for such a high degree of correlation between occupational groups and parties is the difference between the philosophies of the two parties. The OVP considers itself to be a "progressive party of the center ... a party of progress and no experiments." In essence, the Blacks believe in balanced budgets, moderate social programs, and a powerful central government. They favor private enterprise and-a crucial factor in Austrian politics-believe in maintaining a hard line against Communism.

Most mayors run on the Black ticket, and all attempts to break this line of continuity have thus far failed miserably. The primary prerequisites for village leadership are prestige, wealth, and descent. With the exception of one mayor, all have come from families of farmers, and have been of noble descent. Only after being satisfied with these preconditions do people inquire into the candidate's leadership qualities. Let us briefly examine the concept of noble descent.

The entire western border region of historic Hungary was settled by military garrison communities between the 10th and 11th centuries. The guards, called orok, received privileges from the kings, which were later to be broadened into territorial nobility. The latter prevented the powerful fiefs of the Middle Ages from taking over

their lands. In addition to territorial enclosure, the noble status of the orok ensured that the line of demarcation between them and the non-noble or serf population would remain well defined, who were German and Croatian in Western Hungary. These petty noblemen continued to look upon themselves as different even after the emancipation of serfs and the erasing of noble privileges in 1848. To do this was not an easy task, since by the middle of the 19th century almost a third of the village population was of common birth. These agilisek (literally, non-noble newcomers), who settled in the Orseg for the first time in the 17th century, were allowed to form separate village councils paralleling those of the noblemen, which were responsible for the welfare of the agilisek. The tension between the two distinct political organizations within a single village was great. The agilisek wanted more from the village commons, and the noblemen wanted to exclude them from every form of economic benefit the village offered. Following the social revolution of 1848, only one village council could operate within a community. The result was that for more than a half century the agilisek and their descendants were excluded from the new village councils. This continued discrimination has modern-day implications, especially in regard to the election of mayor.¹⁷

Since an open insistence on noble descent is strictly prohibited by contemporary Austrian law, it can only be maintained as an unspoken norm. Under no circumstances would a villager admit the existence of this central value to an outsider. The villagers themselves rarely discuss the issue, and when the outsider inquires about it, they show some measure of embarrassment. It took many months of close association with the people, and a thorough familiarity with village norms and attitudes before the issue of nobility was raised by a non-nobleman. But even non-noblemen are reluctant to elect or support a commoner as a mayor. They refer to them as "drifters" (gyutt-ment). An exception was made when in 1971, in the absence of a noble candidate, a compromise candidate was chosen in the person of a non-nobleman. But in the next election people "regretted" their decision, and once again they elected a man of noble descent.

The party of opposition, the SPO, eliminated its earlier extremist elements under the leadership of Austria's Chancellor, Bruno Kreisky. This party favors a more equitable distribution of wealth, and supports social legislation. It is a party of the working man and

does not champion peasant causes (e.g., it campaigns for the lowering of agricultural prices).

The growing number of blue collar workers in the village contributed to the rising popularity of the SPO. Membership in Alsoor increased from a handful of voters in 1951 to almost half the electorate in 1971. There is every likelihood that the SPO's prestige will further increase, but it is unlikely that Black control over village politics will be relinquished in the near future.

Village politicking is strongly interwoven with local customs. The pub (kocsma) is the focal point of such activity. The most important days for such discussion are Sundays; certain evenings are also designated for party meetings. In addition, there are several village-based organizations (i.e., the Glee Club, the Volunteer Fire Association, and the Water Service Association), which offer ample time for the expression of political thought. The least formal, and most ad hoc political forums are the familiar East Central European street-bench-talks. The number of participants at "bench-talks" is less than five, which allows for lengthy face-to-face dialogues in the evening. Nonetheless, the kocsma's social environment remains the most appropriate forum for testing one's political strength. One's popularity is measured by the number of people accompanying him, and the degree of agreement with his opinions and pronouncements.

As we have noted, in addition to the covert prerequisite of descent, the would-be candidate's personal attributes of leadership are also considered crucial. First, "people must listen to him ... they must accept his advice." Inquiries about the kind of advice one might seek resulted in an unequivocal answer: "advice regarding farming." Thus, a leader is expected to be an authority on such problems as crop usage, crop rotation, fertilizer, machines, the utilization of day-laborers, marketing, and any other topics related to agriculture.

Secondly, a leader has to be a respected person within the community. He and his family must exhibit a high moral and religious standard. He should be a good family man (preferably a grandfather), and should not be a drunkard (reszeges). Women are not interested in political leadership.

Thirdly, to qualify for leadership, a person must be smart (eszes), bordering shrewdness. A cunning person (ravasz), however, has no chances in political competition. People feel that such persons would swindle the community, embezzle funds and practice favoritism.

Finally, a good leader is a good adjudicator of disputes. He must

keep in mind the needs of the community, and balance traditional norms with modern attitudes-a most challenging task for today's leaders. People in Alsoor find this quality to be one most lacking in present-day leaders. Many informants complained about recent cases of corruption and nepotism in local politics.

The typical political leader is still a wealthy farmer. The Hungarian proverb: "dogs bark but money talks" is often heard. There is a belief that only industrious and wise people can become wealthy. Of course, there is plenty of evidence to the contrary, but when it comes to electing leaders, exceptions are ignored. Poor people are poor, local belief has it, because they are lazy, dumb, or inherited "bad blood" (a fajodban van, literally: it is in one's race). Therefore poor people cannot be good advisors.

Village polity in Alsoor today has been successful in maintaining a working relationship between the two parties. The equilibrium is strong enough to sustain itself for the time being, if the larger political process in Austria remains intact. Even if there should be a sudden German or Croatian influx into the village (which is quite unlikely, given Alsoor's limited carrying capacity), the newcomers would encounter enormous opposition from the natives, who join political forces when they perceive an outside threat.

Additional factors of ethnic maintenance. There are several additional mechanisms for cultural survival whose detailed examination must be deferred to another occasion. At this time a very brief analysis must suffice. One of these mechanisms is language maintenance by Hungarians in Burgenland. This issue has been the topic of research by two Hungarian-born linguists, Samu Imre and Susan Gal. Imre is a native of Felsoor, whose highly pedantic analyses of the ori dialect and the process of Germanization¹⁸ identified linguistic retention, form, and admixture with German. He also made some profound observations about the problems of the assimilation of the young people of the Orseg.¹⁹ Gal is an anthropological linguist who conducted fieldwork in Felsoor in 1974. She concluded in her highly scholarly work that linguistic erosion is first accompanied by bilingualism, and a gradual dropping of Hungarian. Language shift is the outcome of the process of urbanization, and the simultaneous erosion of peasant prestige.²⁰ Both scholars are pessimistic about the future of Hungarians in Felsoor.

The examined evidence indicates, however, that in Alsoor and Orisziget, in spite of the great advantage of the German language in

the fields of education and mass communication, Hungarian linguistic maintenance has not failed completely. The language of communication in these villages is still Hungarian in every sphere of interpersonal communication. One sign of bilingual limitation is the performance of Alsoor's highschool children in Felsoor's German educational institutions. There, teachers complain about Hungarian students who "cannot express themselves in German either verbally or in writing." Indeed, very few people in Alsoor use German at home, and most middle-aged and elderly people are quite uncomfortable with it. During the second part of the fieldwork (two years following the first), this author noticed a substantial increase in Hungarian language usage among those youths who previously attempted to become German monolinguals. There was very little enthusiasm for becoming a German monolingual. The most obvious reason for this "remagyarization" is to be found in the improvement of Austro-Hungarian political relations. The stigmatization of Hungarians as "Communists" has all but vanished. Today Hungary is "a nice place to visit," where consumer prices are lower, and where rural Austrians enjoy a considerable amount of prestige. The people of the Orseg are the greatest beneficiaries of this international tourism, for they speak Hungarian and can "feel at home" in Hungary.

In the past six years a broadly-based cultural and athletic program was initiated by the two ministries of culture. Professional and amateur performers and clubs visit the Orseg from Hungary, and the Austrian-Hungarians reciprocate. These contacts have helped to rejuvenate peasant culture in the Orseg. Among those that survived are traditional rites of passage (baptismal, confirmation, wedding and funeral ceremonies), some calendrical rites (St. Nicholas, lucazas, the May-tree, and others), and various devotions to saints. More than fifty individuals go on an annual pilgrimage to Mariazell in Styria from the village, where they are received with special attention by Hungarian priests from Vienna. There they may sing ancient Hungarian religious hymns and the Hungarian national anthem.

There are examples of peasant traditions, such as folk medicine, folksongs, folk poetry and theatrical plays, which have remained in the forefront of village culture in Alsoor.²¹ Plays are staged by the school principal or priest, while chorus performances are given by the Glee Club. These events are attended by the entire village.

Finally, since the 1960's, when crossing the Hungarian border

became easier for Austrians, the Hungarians of Burgenland have established or rekindled ties with their ethnic relatives. Today both governments use the Hungarians of the Orseg to demonstrate their good will towards each other, and to eradicate the last vestiges of the Cold War.

During the 1970's an increasing number of Hungarian workers and technocrats gained employment with Austrian firms contracted by the Hungarian government. These "ambassadors" offer a counter-example to young people wishing to assimilate into Austrian society. The message is clear: it is worthwhile to remain Hungarian.

During the past sixty years the Hungarians of Burgenland underwent dramatic demographic, economic and cultural changes. Already a small minority in 1921 their number shrank rapidly, not because of discriminatory state policies, but as a result of emigration and voluntary assimilation into the German world. One of the most intriguing and ancient ethnographic and linguistic units in Hungary, this westernmost enclave of rural people has been reduced to three villages in Southern Burgenland. Their techniques of ethnic survival emanate from a successful socio-economic adaptation to the Austrian state, which, in return, has guaranteed their minority status. Four of these mechanisms were examined here. Three of them (the family and kinship system, land tenure and inheritance practices, language and folk custom maintenance) are autogenerative devices invented in earlier centuries. They are central to maintaining a clear line of ethnic demarcation between the Hungarians and other Austrians. Without a stable family, partible inheritance, linguistic maintenance, and a strong feeling of "we, the orok," the Hungarians in Austria would now be indistinguishable from the German population.

Two external conditions, the Austrian political system and relatively unrestrained travel to Hungary, have added to the success of ethnic maintenance. These favorable factors allow the individual to play the role of a free political actor, and to gain prestige by being Austria's "ambassador" to Hungary.

As long as conservative village politicians allow the youth to participate in the village polity, where they can feel effective and relevant, and as long as there is advantage to being a member of a minority group, assimilation will be retarded.

The Austrian example demonstrates how Hungarians may benefit in a host of countries that decided to embark on a policy of ethnic

tolerance directed toward a people who sixty years ago represented the ruling ethnic group in the Carpathian Basin, a part of which is the land now called Burgenland.

Notes

1. For inconsistencies in Romanian census data, consult B. Satmarescu, "The Changing Demographic Structure of the Population of Transylvania." East European Quarterly 8 (1975):425-39; Michael Sozan, "Reply" to Romanian Research Group, "On Transylvanian Ethnicity." Current Anthropology 20 (1978):140-48.

2. The Austrian Census Bureau used the term Umgangssprache (colloquial language) for assessing ethnic minority population.

3. Anthropological fieldwork was financed by the International Research and Exchanges Board (New York).

4. For a comprehensive appraisal of Hungarians in Austria, see Istvan Szepfalusi, Lassatok, halljatok egymast! [See and hear each other!] (Bern: Az Europai Protestans Magyar Szabadegyetem. 1980); Erno Deak, "Burgenland: a magyarsag helyzete a szazadfordulotol napjainkig" [Burgenland: the situation of Hungarians since the turn of the century]. Katolikus Szemle 31 (1979) :254-65.

5. For scholarly assessments of the importance of the Western Hungarian frontier, see Andrew Burghardt, Borderland (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1962), pp. 57-161; Hansgerd Gockenjan, Hilfsvolker im mittelalterlichen Ungarn (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1972), pp. 1-22; Alfred Schmeller, Das Burgenland (Salzburg: St. Peter, 1974), pp. 9-39; Ladislaus Triber, ed., Die Obere Wart (Oberwart: Tyrolia, 1977), pp. 77-257; Harald Prickler, Burgen und Schlosser im Burgenland (Wien: Birken Verlag), pp. 5-11.

6. Burgenland's traditional material culture as reflected in agricultural implements found in Alsoor during the 1950s and 1960s, are thoroughly analyzed by Karoly Gaal, Zum Bauerlichen Geratebestand im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (Wien: Herman Bohlaus, 1969), pp. 1-29.

7. See Osterreichischen Statistischen Zentralamt (Wien, 19M, 1961, 1971).

8. Consult Deak, pp. 257-59.

9. Consult Marton Kovacs, A felsoorsi magyar nepsziget [The Hungarian ethnic island of Felsoor]. (Budapest: Sylvester, 1942), pp. 11-29; Erno Wallner, "A felsoorvideki magyarsag telepulese" [The settlement pattern of the region of Felsoor]. Foldrajzi Kozlemenyek 54 (1926):1-5.

10. The following figures express Alsoor's demographic trend: 1910: 1464; 1951: 989; 1961: 916; 1971: 847 (Peter Csoknyai. "Statistische Daten" in

Ladislaus Triber ed., Die Obere Wart (Oberwart: Tyrolia, 1977), p. 302.

11. Socioeconomic differentiation of Als6or's households utilizing land size as an index of status:^a

peasants before 1945 ^b after 1945 ^c

"rich" 10-20 holds ^d (4%) 20-100 holds (16%)

"middle" 5-9 holds (30%) 10-19 holds (24%)

"poor" 0-4 holds (66%) 0-9 holds (60%)

total: 100% total: 100%

a. The terms "rich," "middle," and "poor" are of local usage and the size of the land associated with them is computed from the responses of 45 informants.

b. Percentages for 1925 are from Wallner, p. 19.

c. Percentages for after 1945 are from the village records, gathered by Josef Bertha, Notary.

d. One hold equals 1.4 acres.

12. I visited the local ethnographic museum on many occasions, accompanied by teenagers who could easily identify several hundred implements by name, which were long out of use. They are also familiar with most field names in Alsoor and with the Hungarian names of villages and towns in Southern Burgenland.

13. As can be readily understood, there were many people who owned larger tracts and sold them at a high profit to outsiders, or set up their son-in-laws in fragmented estates. Such deals can be found in the earliest commercial transaction documents dating from the 17th century.

14. One of my more knowledgeable elderly informants, S.J., gave the following account of the late 19th century: "Every child received an equal portion of land and everything else when the father reached the age of immobility. Some fathers favored one of the children. This child received better or more land. Often the children divided the wealth after the death of their father with much bickering. The person who was chosen to take care of the elderly received more than others."

15. For a representative Austrian interpretation, see Richard Berczeller and Norbert Leser, Mit Osterreich verbunden (Vienna and Munich: Jugend und Volk Verlagsgesellschaft, 1975), 368-74, and for a Hungarian one, see Katalin Sos, Burgenland az europai politikaban [Burgenland in European politics]. (Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1971), pp. 135-60.

16. Karl Seper, Unterwarter Heimatbuch (Graz: Druck Leykam AG, 1976), p. 58.

17. The "noble clans" (nemesi torzsek) are well known to the villagers, and they are distinguished from the non-noble clans (nem nemes torzsek) on the basis of the Book of Clans (Torzskonyv) kept in the Notary's office for anyone's inspection.

18. Samu Imre, A felsoori foldmuveles [Agriculture in Felsoor]

(Debrecen: Dolgozatok a M. Kir. Ferenc Jozsef Tudomanyegyetem Magyar Nyelvtudomanyi Intezetebol, 3, 1941); Nemet kolcsonszok a felsoori magyarsag nyelveben [German loan words in the Hungarian dialect of Felsoor] (Kolozsvar: Dolgozatok a M. Kir. Ferenc Jozsef Tudomanyegyetem Magyar Nyelvtudomanyi Inteetebol, 13, 1943); A felsoori nyelvjaras [The dialect of Felsoor] (Budapest: Akademiai Kiado, 1971).

19. Imre Samu, "Ausztriai (burgenlandi) magyar szorvanyok." [Scattered Hungarians in Austria (Burgenland)], Nepi Kultura-Nepi Tarsadalom 7 (1973), pp. 126-30.

20. Gal's conclusions are the following:

Conversational language-switching, while being a step in language change, is, at the same time, also an instrument of the social change that language shift reflects. In conversational language-switching, the opposing values and differential prestige of the peasant and urban ways of life are symbolically juxtaposed; the social contrast is thereby implicitly equated with some interpersonal contrast in the immediate conversation. For instance, when in the midst of a disagreement conducted in Hungarian, one speaker switches to German, the effect is to imply that the German statement should win in the interpersonal conflict just as the way of life it symbolizes dominates in the social sphere (Cal, Susan, Language Shift (New York: Academic Press, 1979), p. 174.

21. Karoly Gaal, Spinnstubenlieder (Munich: Schnell und Steiner, 1966), pp. 11-32.

A Case Study on Trianon