Valla
Valla, Moson Megye, Hungary, Austria-Hungary
(now Wallern im Burgenland, Austria)
The Great Crisis:
The Destruction of Burgenland, 1938
&
The Re-establishment of Burgenland
from
"The Political Geography of Burgenland"
By Andrew F. Burghardt
© June 1958
Pages 171-180
C. The Great Crisis
1. The Destruction of Burgenland, 1938
In March 1938, the German Army marched into Austria, annexing her
to the German Reich. All newspapers were taken over immediately
by the Nazi party, so that it is impossible to locate any unbiased
printed appraisals of the move. The federal system of Austria,
which had been turned into a one-party rule by Dollfuss and
Schuschnigg, now vanished completely in the absolute dictatorship
of Hitler and his party. The tense interactions between Vienna
and the provinces were replaced by the simple hierarchy of rule
from above, without appeal.
At first the Nazis allowed the existing political subdivisions to
remain as they had been, with Nazi officials in complete control. A
new government was established for Burgenland; this consisted of 30
members, 20 of whorn were chosen areally, to represent the bezirke
(counties). A Kreis-leiter (County Supervisor),
Kreis-organisations-leiter (County Supervisor of Organizations), and
a Bauern-führer (Peasants' Leader) were selected for each of the
seven counties, except that Jennersdorf was included under the
jurisdiction of the Kreis-organizations-leiter for Güssing county.
The ten remaining members of the government were, of course, the
true holders of power. They held such offices as Hauptmann
(premier), his Stellvertreter (Vice Premier), and the Offices
of Propaganda, Press, Finance, etc. Of these ten, nine were from
the south. (The lone northerner was from Eisenstadt.) Every one
of these nine southerners came from a gemeinde that had either
a majority or a very strong minority of Lutherans. Eight of them
came from within 7 km (4-l/2 miles) of the Lutheran educational
center, Oberschützen; three were from Oberschützen itself. (The
three members specifically representing Oberwart Bezirk were from
this same local area, the gemeinden of Oberschützen, Unterschützen,
and Oberwart; eleven of the thirty-man total lived in or within 5
miles of Oberschützen.) This strongly suggests that the center
of Nazi strength and popularity in Burgenland was in the uplands
north of Oberwart and that actual party adherence may have had a
religious base.
Nazi Burgenland was of short duration. In May the new rulers of
Austria promulgated a vast reorganization of the Ostmark (Austria),
destroying or altering the areas of the provinces in favor of the
system of "Gau"s and "Kreis"s characterizing Germany. There were
not one, but two reorganizations of territory.
On May 24, 1938, it was decreed that the entire province of
Burgenland plus the bezirke Wiener Neustadt, Neunkirchen, and
Bruck a/d Leitha, counties of the former province of Lower Austria,
were to be added to "Gau" Styria. This seems to have been intended
as a reward to Styria for its support of the Nazi cause. This award
would have brought Styria to the Danube, at Hainburg, and increased
its area from 6,310 to 8,880 square miles. Though communications
between Graz and Hainburg might have been possible over the Semmering
Pass and then along the east side of the Vienna Basin, this new
Styria would have been somewhat of a monstrosity. Unfortunately
for Gau Styria, the affected population of Lower Austria protested
strongly against being detached from their traditional province,
and a new decision was deemed advisable.
On May 31, 1938, the Nazi power announced:
The former Austrian province, Burgenland, is dissolved; from
it the four northern governmental counties and also the enclosed
cities of Eisenstadt and Rust fall to the former Austrian
province, Lower Austria, the governmental counties Güssing,
Jennersdorf, and Oberwart to the former Styria.
The Grazer Tagespost had labeled the first decision as
"the only correct one, the best one that one could ever encounter";
the newspaper maintained a complete silence on the second decision.
Map 29 (page 173) indicates how Burgeniand was divided between
her neighbors. The boundary between Lower Danube and Styria was
to extend to the Hungarian border along the former county boundary
between Oberwart and Oberpullendorf. Neusiedl County was joined
to an enlarged Kreis Bruck a/d Leitha. The two counties,
Eisenstadt and Mattersburg, were united into one Kreis Eisenstadt;
but the salient gemeinde Neudörfl was detached and added to Kreis
Wiener Neustadt. Oberpullendorf County was enlarged with the
addition of the adjacent portions of Lower Austria into a greater
Kreis Oberpullendorf. Oberwart County became Kreis Oberwart with
the addition of seven gemeinden, in the lower Pinka valley from
the former Güssing County. The major portion of Güssing County
and the northern half of Jennersdorf County (the Lafnitz valley)
were united to an enlarged Kreis Fürstenfeld. The southern half
of Jennersdorf County (the Raab valley) was joined to an enlarged
Kreis Feldbach.
Most of these alterations seem logical. The splitting of
Jennersdorf County and the uniting of its two halves to Fürstenfeld
and Feldbach provided an admirable solution of the problems of
that county. The transfer of the northern portion of the lower
Pinka valley from Güssing to Oberwart proved so acceptable that
it was allowed to remain after Burgenland was re-established
within its former boundaries. The joining of Neudörfl to adjacent
Wiener Neustadt was an astute move. The two westward salients of
Burgenland (Edelstal and Neudörfl) thus vanished from the map. In
contrast, Styria's disconnected gemeinde, Sinnersdorf, was not
united to Kreis Oberwart; that boundary aberration was allowed to
remain.
Only one move, that of making Kreis Oberwart a part of Gau Styria,
seems questionable. Though a first look at the map would suggest
this move as obvIous under the circumstances, the fact remains
that at present, and even more so at that time before the development
of buses, Oberwart Bezirk is tied more closely to Vienna than to
Graz (see Map 28, page 164). The principal routes, both railroad
and highway, run north towards Lower Austria and Vienna, rather
than towards Styria.
At present it is impossible to ascertain how the majority of
the people of Burgenland felt about the destruction of their
province. No one will admit that they were in favor of anything
that the Nazis did, yet everywhere people said, "Of course,
there were certain circles who favored it, because it does make
sense economically"; however, these "circles" were never identified.
Burgenlanders added, "What could we do?" "We couldn't say anything."
It evidently came as a surprise, though there was a week between
the two announcements.
It appears that most of the inhabitants were against the destruction
of Burgenland, but that few, if any, cared deeply. As one person
said, "Very few tears were shed." There seems to have been only
one case of local opposition to the attempted rearrangement: the
inhabitants of Sieggraben protested successfully against being
separated from Mattersburg and joined to Kreis Oberpullendorf.
On a provincial or regional scale there was no sign of any
opposition to the move.
Burgenland had experienced a very difficult 17 years of
existence, and in that time had not been able to surmount the
enormous difficulties confronting it. 1938 was less than two
decades past the time of the attempts of the Lafnitz valley
to join Styria and the desires of the extreme north to be
united to Vienna and Lower Austria. The political life of
the province had not yet come to rest in its citizenry; most
of the party leaders had been immigrants from Old-Austria, as
had been almost the entire bureaucracy. There were, therefore,
but few articulate persons who felt any deep identification
with a Burgenland.
2. The Re-establishment of Burgenland
In February 1945, the Soviet Army entered Burgenland. Within
two months the Nazi rule of Austria came to an end. In many ways
Austria was back to where she had been in 1918: a ruined country,
shattered by a disastrous war, dropped from a postition of great
power to one of powerless prostration, and, again, leading the
country was Chancellor Renner. For several months there was no
effective self-government in the provinces; durIng this time there
was uncertainty as to the future status of the former Burgenland.
Reportedly there were movements in Lower Austria and Styria to
keep their portions of Burgenland. In May 1945, at a meeting
in Eisenstadt of the mayors of Lower Austria, Provincial Vice
Premier Helmer stated that he was certain that, despite attempts
to reintroduce a government for Burgenland, the majority of the
people of north Burgenland would not feel this to be the time to
tear the ties that bound them to Lower Austria.
All the less so when the only question may be whether or not five
hundred more officials will find employment.
In certain circles there was very great opposition to the
resurrection of Burgenland. Leading positions in our state were
of the opinion... that the Burgenland people... did not have the
ability to govern themselves.
A delegation representing party leaders of the former Burgenland
formally appealed to the provisional government of Austria
for the re-establishment of the province. Its request was quickly
granted. A special law, the "Burgenland Law," was enacted on
August 29, 1945. Article 1 stated, "Burgenland is re-established
as an autonomous ["selbständig"] province of the republic," and
Article 2 stated that its boundaries were to be the same as they
were previously.
Though Burgenland was now once more a province, its immediate
resumption of its rights, privileges, and functions was not
assured. The matter was debated at the September 8th session of
the provisi6nal national government. Chancellor Renner suggested
the naming of a special commissioner who, with the help of a
council chosen from the three permitted parties, was evidently
to oversee the government of the province. This would have
signified that Burgenland was to be handled as a "second-class
province," considerably less than autonomous. Herr Fig, the leader
of the Austrian People's Party (Volks-partei), and who later
became chancellor, fought this proposal, energetically supporting
the complete self-government of Burgenland.
On October 1, 1945, Burgenland again became an autonomous and
equal province. On November 10, 1945, the August 29 "Burgenland
Law" of the Austrian government was accepted by the Allied
occupation authorities.
In the moves that returned self-government to Burgenland, the
population of the province was very poorly represented. Except
for the delegation of interested persons that went to Vienna
to request the re-establishment of the province; all activity
concerned the leaders of the provisional national government
in Vienna. Did the majority of the population wish a
resurrection of Burgenland? It seems that they did; beyond doubt
the inhabitants of Burgenland wanted their province back.
There remain yet the important questions. Why was Burgenland
re-established? Why did its inhabitants want the province back?
Why did they get it back so easily? No clamor, no demonstrations,
no floods of letters to Vienna or Eisenstadt were required.
1. There was a revulsion to everything Nazi. After the
catastrophic war Austrians seemed seized with the desire to reverse
everything the Nazis had done, just because they had done it.
The old boundaries and provincial entities were re-established:
the Ost-Tirol was separated from Carinthia, even though it is
topographically a continuation of the Carinthian valleys and
isolated from the remainder of the Tirol; the territorial changes
among Salzburg, Styria, and Upper Austria were reversed; and
Vienna surrendered to Lower Austria the area it had gained in
1938. Unless there were compelling reasons for not doing so,
everything was returned to its pre-l938 status. The presence
of the Allied occupation forces strongly augmented this tendency.
The Nazi-introduced marriage law, allowing civil marriage and
divorce, and driving on the right side of the road remained in
force.
2. The Allied Forces, in effect, reconstituted Burgeniand even
before the enactment of the Burgenland Law by the Austrian
government. Early in August 1945, in the Allied agreement on the
zones of occupation, the Soviet zone was specified to include all
of Lower Austria, that portion of Upper Austria north of the Danube,
one quarter of Vienna, and the former Burgenland. Burgenland was
thus designated as a separate zone of occupation, separate from
Styria which was occupied by the British. Actually, Burgenland
had been under Soviet occupation since February. The principal
reason for this demarcation of Burgenland as a zone of occupation
separate from Styria lies, undoubtedly, in its geographic
position; by occupying this strip, the Soviet Forces prevented
any direct contact between the western powers and Hungary.
Furthermore, the Soviet authorities may have favored a separate
Burgenland as granting them an added opportunity to influence
political activities.
The occupation boundary was strictly enforced, turning the
Burgenland-Styria border into a milder version of the "Iron
Curtain." Barbed wire was strung along the border. People could
cross back and forth with a pass, but the checkIng was often a
dangerous and uncomfortable procedure; the Soviet authorities
used the border check points as convenient places for apprehending
wanted persons.
As a result, south Burgenland was forced to turn north. This
dependence of the south on the north was of great importance
because it was in the north that political power in the province
had been centered, hence it was there that the desire to have
the province re-established was most strongly concentrated. The
north had always feared that the south tended towards Graz; now
the south was being forcibly turned away from Graz towards
Eisenstadt and Vienna. The occupation boundary exerted a definite
pressure towards the resurrection of a Burgenland government.
3. The war had produced a solidifying of the Burgenland
provincial consciousness. Just as in the First World War, when
the local men had served as soldiers of Hungary but had returned
with an intensified consciousness of being German, so now the
men returned with an Intensified consciousness of being
Burgenlanders. They had felt themselves different from the other
German, or even Austrian soldiers; when they met a serviceman
from some other portion of Burgenland they would greet him as a
provincial kinsman, as someone who could understand the mutual
problems.
Among the civilians this consciousness of a difference was
strengthened also. The people of the south, who were supposedly
so similar to the Styrians, felt the difference keenly and
referred to themselves as "New Styrians" in distinction to the
Styrians themselves. This conscious distinction was based on the
many "differences" mentioned previously; because of their
different heritage, even because of the economic backwardness
of their area these people felt themselves to be different from
their neighbors.
4. The "Grenzland" (borderland) consciousness rekindled the desire
to try it alone. The Burgenlanders felt themselves a border folk,
in a border area. They had been the "stepchild" of the Hungarians;
recently they had been the "stepchild" of the Styrians and the
Lower Austrians. There was a borderland which was always neglected
in favor of other areas or provinces.
They had grown to suspect any rule by any outsider. "For the
Lower Austrian government Burgenland was only an area for the
procurement of the necessities of life for the Lower Austrian market,
but nobody concerned himself whether or not the needy areas of
Burgenland were supplied." One peasant put it into local
terminology "If I have five oxen and like four but am not too
interested in one, then I will give all my best to the four and
neglect the one. South Burgenland was only an extra bit attached
to the rim of Styria." The prevailing opinion of the people of
south Burgenland is that in Styria they paid their taxes but
received nothing in return; in Burgeniand there is less money to
work with, but they know that they will get their share. As long
as they remained somebody's borderland they would be neglected.
They wIshed to rule themselves.
5. All the county seats that had lost their political functions
wished to regain their positions and offices. This was true of
Neusiedl, Mattersburg, Güssing, and Jennersdorf. Not only the
county seats themselves desired this resumption of political
power, but all the surroundIng areas as well wished a return to
the former system, if only for the reason of convenience. Thus
a peasant in Steingraben explained that he had favored a
re-establishment of Burgenland because Güssing was close at hand,
where as Fürstenfeld, the Kreis center from 1938 to 1945, was
several hours away by foot or wagon. Since this factor also
carried weight in every village to the east of the former county
seats, it may have had some influence on almost half of the
inhabitants of Burgenland.
Thus Burgenland survived the most rigorous test a political area
can endure, the test of dissolution. The destruction and division
of Burgenland had long been contemplated as a possible, and perhaps
a preferable, solution to the organizational problems confronting
it. During the Nazi regime this alternate suggestion had been
given the benefit of a trial, albeit under poor circumstances.
It must be remembered too that the act of dissolution had occurred
before the special unifying features of added finances and
integrated road and bus systems had become operative, yet in
two decades the "Staatsidee" based on a complex of "differences"
had grown from nothing to a power capable of maintaining a
Burgenland when the organization of the area had been abolished.
E-mail: dwagner2@isd.net
©2004 DJW
Last Modified:
February 2, 2004