Minorities in Burgenland

Burgenland has notable Croatian (29,000 - 45,000) and Hungarian (5,000 - 15,000) population residing in it. Hungarians are living in the villages of Unterwart/Alsoor, Oberwart/Felsoor and Siget in der Wart/Orsziget. The three villages together are called Felso-Orseg (Upper-Orseg, Wart), and they have formed a language island since the 11th century. The other old Hungarian language island in Oberpullendorf/Felsopulya has almost disappeared today. The Hungarians of Burgenland were “orök” ie. guards of the western frontier, and their special dialect is similar to the Szekelys in Transylvania. Their cultural centre is Oberwart/Felsoor.

The Croatians arrived after the devastating Ottoman war in 1532, when the Turkish army totally destroyed some parts of the territory. Their re-settlement by estate-owners was finished only in 1584. They preserved their strong catholic faith and their language until today, and in the 19th century their national identity grew stronger because of the influence of the National Revival in Croatia. Between 1918 and 1921 Croatians opposed the planned annexation of West-Hungary to Austria, and in 1923 seven Croatian villages voted for a return to Hungary. The Croatian Cultural Association of Burgenland was established in 1934.

In the Nazi era (1938-45) Croatian language was officially prohibited, and the state pursued an aggressive policy of germanization. The Austrian State Treaty of 1955 guaranteed minority rights for every native ethnic minority in Austria but Croatians have to fight for the use of their language in schools and offices even in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2000 51 new bilingual village name-signs were put out in Burgenland (47 Croatian and 4 Hungarian).

The language of the Croatian minority is an interesting, 16th century dialect which is different from standard Croatian. In minority schools and media the local dialect is used, and it has a written form since the 17th century (the Evangelium was first translated to dialect-Croatian in 1711). Today the language is endangered by assimiliation, according to the UNESCO “Red Book". The Croatians of Burgenland belong to the same group as their relatives on the other side of the modern Hungarian border.