August 20, 2001
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EISDORF HOMEPAGE

WHERE IS ZIPS COUNTY

The village of Eisdorf in the Zips, (Hungarian Iszakfalva, Slovakian Zakovce in Spis), is a small village about 8 km (or 5 miles) from the provincial center of Kaesmark (also spelled Kesmark). The name comes from old South German Kes, meaning glacial, not from Kaese, (cheese). The Zips was connected to the main agricultural area along the Gran through the Kundert River (Slovakian: Hornad). Eisdorf lies in a small wedge protected (relatively speaking) against the icy winds from the Tatra Mountains. It is one of the few Zips vilages without access to a river, only a small brook crosses the village. Most of the drinking water had to be taken from wells.

HISTORY OF ZIPS COUNTY

The history of the Zips is hidden in the mist of time. There are traces of people who lived there in the stone and the bronce-ages. The first people of whom we know the names were the Kotiner, who were Iberians. In the fifth century B.C. the Celts conquered the area, and over time assimilated the conquered. In the first century B.C. smaller German tribes settled in the Zips, notably Sidonians, Naristians and Buren. They had settlements on the sites of the future Kesmark and Grossschlagendorf, notably. After the much larger German tribes of the Quaden and Markomannen followed, the entire area of today's Slovakia became Germanic. The celticized population now became germanized. The Markomannen and Quaden were often at war with the Roman Empire. Among their kings who built castles in the Zips was Ariogais, captured by the Romans in 174 C.E. Rev. Rainer Rudolf notes that surviving old charts from Neuendorf up to the 14th century name a small group of people living in an isolated spot in the Goellnitz valley , the Chodener, who are called neither Germans, Slavs nor Magyars. They probably were the last remnants of the old Kotiner, who, though not using their own language since over 1500 years, still were dimly conscious of their tribal identity. Then they vanished, assimilated by the surrounding peasantry. The Quaden were virtually destroyed by the Romans in the late 4th century C.E. Their remnants fled to the Zips fastness, and left with the Langobarden, who were travelling through from the upper Vistula, to conquer Northern Italy (Lombardy, the Land of the Langobards) in 568 C.E.

The situation after 568 C.E. is quite contentious among modern historians. For some, the area was empty, a res nullius, and hence its sole legitimate possessors are the Slavic tribes that followed after the Germans left. But archaeological finds--important for the centuries when few written records were created, and even fewer survived--and the transmission of Germanic place names, show that several thousand Germans remained. But they were likely assimilated by the Slavs over the next three centuries, when the area payed tribute to the Turkic Avars. The Avars were beaten by the Frankish Empire of Karl der Grosse (Charlemagne) in the Awar Wars from 791 and 803 C.E. To secure the area, the Franks founded several castles and villages in the Zips, notably on the site of Arnoldsdorf (slv. Arnutovce) and Toppertz (from Theudeberts), Mengsdorf and Lautschburg. From what is known about other Eastern areas with Frankish border defense villages, they were inhabited not only by German soldier-farmers, but by Christianized Slavs settled as well. After the 9th century, very little is known about the Zips for the next two centuries. Wild Magyar horsemen tumbled down the Carpathian passes in the late 9th century and conquered an area even larger than the Avar Empire: The great Pannonian plain, and the mountains around it, from Croatia in the South to Upper Hungary (future Slovakia) in the North and Transylvania in the East.

In 907 the Magyars beat the German army decisively. In 991, the Bavarian duke Heinrich der Zaenker (the quarrelsome) destroyed the Magyar army. In between, the few German villages left by the Carolingians in the 9th century may or may not have perished. No document survived. After the Magyars became Christians, they wanted to develop their kingdom into a modern state. But they were few in numbers. Their slavic bondsmen were not numerous either after 4 centuries of constant warfare. And neither group was accustomed to live in cities, nor experienced in crafts and mining.

And so the Hungarian kings called in German settlers. Well documented is the settlements of Germans in the Zips during the reign of Geza II (r. 1142-1161) and especially Andreas II. In contrast to the Germans of the Hauerland and Pressburg, whose dialect points to bavarian-franconian origins, the Upper Zipser dialect points to Northwest Germans (Lower Rhineland, Flanders) but who had settled first in neighboring Silesia. In specific cases, settlers came from other German areas as well, as in Eisdorf, whose inhabitants were brought from the Eisacktal in South Tyrol by their Lord, Bishop Ekbert of Andechs-Meran, who owned land in South Tyrol and in the Zips. In the lower Zips, however, the Zipser Gruende, the children of the Upper Zips Germans intermingled with the Bavarian-Franconian miners. The dialect of the Lower Zips is quite different from that of the Upper Zips, while the area around Lublau, including Hopgarten, spoke a Silesian German dialect.

In Hungary, the King owned uncultivated land not only as sovereign, but also as lord. To transform the forest into tax-producing farms, he granted feudal estates to nobles, who then tried to get settlers on the land. In the Zips, the first great landholder known to posterity was the above-named Ekbert of Andechs-Meran. His sister Gertrud was the wife of King Andreas II. Ekbert received from the king a large chunk of the Zips around Gross-Lomnitz and Eisdorf. Ekbert then granted the land to the Zipser abbot Adolf, whose sister was married with the knight Rutker von Matrei, the ancestor of the noble houses of Berzeviczy and Tharczay. The Berczeviczy family received from the king further lands in the Zips and founded the villages of Bierbrunn, Landeck, Altendorf, Katzwinkel and many others. Another noble family that founded many German villages were the descendants of Jordan von Gargau, the future Goergey family. Having performed heroically during the Mongol invasion, Jordan received the old Carolingian village of Toppertz as seat, and went on to found in the 13th century Malthern, Schoenwald, Kreig, Scheuerberg, and Bauschendorf, as well as the mixed Slavic-German village of Windschendorf (windisch=Slavic) .

The Mongol invasion of 1241 (Mongolensturm) destroyed most of the settlements, as well as the archives. The survivors, together with new settlers called in from Germany by King Bela IV (r. 1235-1270) rebuilt the cities and villages. Hungary was divided in counties, administered by a Gespann and a county legislature made up of the local nobles. The Zipser Germans formed an autonomous Federation of the 24 Zipser Cities (Zipser Staedte Bund) that was exempt from the royal county administration of Zips county, to which it continued to belong otherwise. Its self-governing privileges were confirmed by King Stephan V in 1271. The capital was in Leutschau. The name remained though their number (in the medieval sense, today most would be called villages) grew to 43 by 1312. Kesmark belonged to the Federation until 1350, when it became a royal free city, which gave it an even more complete autonomy. The Federation, for the annual payment of 300 Marks (one mark was about a half-pound) of pure silver and 50 soldiers, plus free food for the king and his court should they visit, was freed from further financial obligations towards the king. Only a part of the Zips, about half, belonged to the Federation. The other half, inhabited by Magyars, Germans and Slovaks, remained under direct royal administration. As times went by, the local nobles tried to curtail the autonomy of the Zipser cities.

However, the federation's inhabitants were not free from their obligations towards the local lords, the nobles who owned the agriculture land used by the peasantry. The Zips had legally, till 1848, three classes of people. The nobles owned the land and had a seat in the county legislature. They were tax exempt. The Buerger, or burghers, lived in the cities and paid taxes collectively through these. Untertanen (subjects) were the peasants. Most Germans, unlike most Slovaks, were not serfs (leibeigen) but personally free. However, if their city was not anylonger member of the Zipser federation, they had to pay various taxes to the King. Much worse was the obligation of paying rent for their farms to the landholding noble, who, in the absence of a cash economy, demanded that the rent be paid in labor (robot)--and a lot of it. The Besiztlose, that is Hausleute, Kleinhaeusler, Mietsleute were people without enough land to live from farming. They eked out what their could from their garden plots and worked as laborers or itinerant laborers or peddlers.

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HISTORY OF EISDORF

Probably at the end of the 12th century, two villages were founded in the township of Eisdorf, Eisdorf and the hamlet of Klein-Eisdorf 3 km away. The first surviving mention of Eisdorf is from a charter of 1209. After the Mongol invasion of 1241 Eisdorf was rebuilt but Klein-Eisdorf not. Eisdorf belonged to the Zipser Staedtebund from the very beginning. Several historians believe that the settlers of Eisdorf came from the Eisacktal in South Tyrol, (Rudolf, 78) including the ancestors of my own mother's family, the Alexy (then called Haering). Eisdorf belonged to the Zipser Bund, which means that the village, which had at its heyday at most 500 people, had city status. The township of Eisdorf since the middle ages had an area of 3635 Joch (a Joch has 5700 square meters, an acre 4040, a Joch is 1.41 acres). The village had an area of 5125 acres or about 8 square miles. By 1944, the distribution was 75% fields, 14% forests, the rest meadows, gardens and the village.

The Eisdorfer suffered from the catastrophes that shook the area. For non-nobles, life was not fun in a feudal society in the best of cases. But here, the Czech Hussites came and plundered and murdered in the 15th century. In the 16th, they were followed by the Ottoman Turks, who though stopped 20 miles south of Eisdorf, conducted regular raids northward until decisively beaten between 1686 and 1699. Eisdorf had become Lutheran in 1542. In 1672, the government banned Lutheran parishes. In November 1672, Imperial troops plundered the village, in February 1709 the rebel Kurutzen, and in May 1709 the troops of Prince Rakoczy. After that, enemy troops would not come to the village till 1945, though the young men had to suffer in far-away wars.

Eisdorf also suffered from devastating fires. The village has no riverfront or fire pond, and so fires could not be quenched in time. In 1717, 1869, 1873, 1882, 1892, 1919, 1927, 1931 and 1937, large chunks of the village burned, destroying also the stored harvest and creating famine. There also were illnesses and epidemics. In 1558, 1600 and 1646, the plague struck. In the year 1700, 73 men, 67 women and 25 children, or 165 people, a third of the village, died of the plague. The cholera was less deadly, but still...in 1831, 34 people died of the cholera, in 1855 44 people, in 1914 10 people.

The village economy

Even when the plague (Pest), Cholera and war did not threaten, the life of the Eisdorf peasant was not easy. Most of the villagers were Untertanen, the remainder Besitzlose. The peasants were differentiated according to whether they owned the rights to a full farm (64 Joch, that is 90 american acres, or 36.5 hectar), a half or a quarter farm. In 1821, there were 105 full and 28 half-sized farms. The peasants made fruit brandy and homespun linen. Otherwise, there were no crafts. However, in 1944, the village counted a carpenter, smith, merchant and innkeep.

The land on which the village stood belonged since the 16th century to the count Csaky family. For the right to use a full farm a peasant family owed the Csaky family annually until 1848:

This farm labor had to be done at the same time the peasant family needed to do them, too. As Adalbert Wanhoff notes, when he was young his grandparents told of the days when before 1848, when, as small children, they worked with their parents at harvest time from 3 AM in the morning to 10 PM at night, to bring in the Csaky's harvest and then their own, and sometimes even throughout the night.

In addition, each farm had to pay to the king and to the Catholic Church, which was the state church (I'm still trying to understand the particulars of some of these taxes):

The village had comparatively few meadows, and so there was not much cattle. The majority of grasslands was owned in common, with hay cut only once a year because the soil was poor. But geese and sheep, which could be feld in the scrubland, were kept in larger numbers. The fields were planted according to the three-fields rule, each peasant having a long strip in each third, the rotation of the crops (potatoes, wheat, then rye) being decided by the village elders. Every five years, to allow the thin soil to regenerate, all fields were used as pasture. After 1848 the farmers were not legally bound anylonger to cooperate in the three fields system, but continued to do so because this way of farming was necessary until fertilizers became more available--but they were not cheap.

In 1848, the robot, the tenth and the payments of wood and chicken were cancelled, and the peasants became full owners of their homesteads. The fact that by 1848, most Eisdorf peasants still owned a full 64-Joch farm (not common then) explains the relative wealth of the village in the second half of the 19th century, before full distribution to all male heirs (prohibited before 1848--only one got the farm), left very small farms that could not feed their owners.

Village administration The city administration consisted of a Richter and Geschworene. In today's German, this means a judge assisted by a jury, but in the old German cities of the Hungarian kingdom, a Richter was a mayor and a Geschworener an alderman. A true judge was a Stuhlrichter (a sitting judge). In Eisdorf, the mayor was elected annually in the church yard. The mayor had quite a lot of power over his fellow villagers. The mayor also managed the village cemetary (for both Protestants and Catholics), the village commons (meadows and forest in the mountains), the village ice cellar, and the village butcher yard. The communal properties were used after the abolishing of serfdom in 1848, in fact most survived till 1945.

Living on the farm The lifestyle of the village of my ancestors was rough. The climate did not allow large gardens. Hence, vegetables and fruit were uncommon at meals. As Adalbert Wannhof remembered from his youth in the 1930s, farmers breakfasted with hot sweet milk-coffee and bread and butter. There was a second, more substantial, breakfast at 9 AM. Food was simple. Because there were few meadows and gardenland, vegetables and milk were not plentiful. The staple for breakfast, lunch and dinner was the potato, cooked in ingenious ways, and served with bacon or some milk product.

Life was characterized by ceaseless labor to eke out a living from a harsh land, even after the Robot for count Csaky had ended. Houses were seen not as homes in a romantic sense, but as mere dwellings, with the limited resources being rather put into improving the stalls rather than the living room. After the large farms began to be subdivided, the large homes became cramped--even though the number of villagers dwindled.

Looking at old birth registers, it is noticable that many births up to the 1930s were stillbirths, because pregnant women worked as long as they could on the fields. The impact of the new right to leave the farm to all children meant that many families now owned a little peace of land here and there. The birthrate began to drop sharply after the 1880s.

Population: In 1700, the population was about 500 people.
The official census of 1921 counted 608 people, of which 582 were German, 10 Slovaks, 4 Magyars, 2 ethnic Jews and 10 others. By religion, 420 were Lutherans, 167 Catholics, 2 Jewish.
The census of 1930 counted 641 people. Of these 624 were German, 10 Slowaks, 2 Magyars, 3 ethnic Jews, 2 other. By religion, 428 were Lutheran, 207 Catholic, 3 Jewish, 3 other.

For the Spirit: Churches and Schools: The Catholic St Nicolas' church was built in the 13th century, (oft modified) and has parish registers beginning with 1672. Many Eisdorfer became Lutheran in 1542. The list of all Lutheran ministers has been kept. Catholicism was the state religion. Until 1782, Lutherans could worship only in a few churches in Slovakia. Births and death of Lutherans in Eisdorf were registered at the Catholic parish until 1782, then at the Lutheran church was in nearby Menhardsdorf. Around 1830, a Lutheran church was built.

In the 19th century, the two parishes organized parish grade schools. In the 20th century, a kindergarten was built as well.

There were not many societies. There was a Lutheran Maennergesangverein (male glee club) and a relief society (Bruderverein). Every 24th June, St John's Day, the "brothers" shared the "Bruderbier." In city hall, there was a small public library with smoking room, the "Casino." Young men also joined the volunteer firefighters.

The End after 800 Years: Slovakia became independent in March 1939. In the great European civil war between the two ideologies, its leaders allied themselves with Hitler, who was not yet a mass-murderer in 1939, rather than with Stalin, who had already murdered 20 million men, women and children by that time.

In Summer 1944, there was a Communist-led partisan revolt in Central Slovakia. Over 3,000 ethnic Germans were massacred. To protect their children as the Soviet Army rolled nearer, the children were evacuated to Austria on September 21, 1944, the boys to Glognitz and the girls to Rabenstein. On January 10, most women and old men were evacuated with the last trains from the railroad station in Kaesmark. On January 23, the 85 men who had stayed packed their belongings on 55 carts, with 112 horses, and began a long trek through the snow-covered and wolf- and partisan-infested countryside until they reached Bischofsteinitz in the Sudetenland on February 25, having trekked for 350 miles. Once the fighting was over, they expected to be able to return to their little village.

But when the war was over, the great self-anointed humanitarians who fought the "good war" allowed the Czech government to torture some, kill others, and ethnically cleanse all of them from their homes of 800 years. Today, Eisdorf only lives in the memories of families who live in the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, the United States and Canada.

[To the top of the Webpage] Sources: Rudolf, Rainer, Pater, et alii, Zipser Land und Leute, (Vienna, Austria: Karpatendeutsche Landsmannschaft 1982), esp. 45-60. Wanhoff, Adalbert. "Eisdorf, ein deutsches Dorf in der Oberzips," Karpatenjahrbuch 1990, 77-88.

ZIPSER SPEECH

Carpathian Germans were divided by dialects that were not mutually intelligible. Pressburger German was close to Viennese. The other two dialects were rather unique. Here is an example of Ober-Zipser dialect, spelled phonetically, using standard German phonemes.

A dancing song from the Zips
From Karpatenpost June 1968, p. j1.

Wu gejst hin, wu gejst hin, du schworzes Porailchen?
En die Mihl, en die Mihl, mein liebes Frailchen.
Wos sollst du en der Mihl, du schworzes Porailchen?
Mohln, mohln, mohln, mohln, mohln, mein liebes Frailchen.
Wos sollst med Mahl dank tun, du schworzes Porailchen?
Of mein Hochz, of mein Hochz, mein liebes Frailchen.
Wann wed dein schejn Hochz sein, du schworzes Porailchen?
Wanns Mihlchen pfeift, 's Korn a"uch reift, mein liebes Frailchen.

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ANCESTORS

The places were my ancestors lived underwent name changes in this troubled 20th century. The village names mentionned below are (with current names in brackets) in Slovakia: Eisdorf (Zakovce), Rissdorf (Ruskinovce) Bierbrunn (Vibornej), Hollumtz. In the Batschka area of Serbia are Becserek (today Becej) and Bulkesz.

My ancestors in/from Eisdorf were, starting with my Opi (grandfather) as 1st generation:

1st Generation:
Alexy, Desider Paul (x 24 May 1905 Bierbrunn, + 24 May 1963 Stuttgart/Germany)
married 23 Jan. 1931 in Pressburg
Boehm, Martha (x 23 Jan. 1911 Pressburg, + 12 Aug. 2001 Stuttgart)

The couple had three children, 11 grandchildren (including yours truly) and 20 great-grandchildren.

Desider Alexy In Pressburg, he was active in the foundation of the Deutscher Kulturverband in 1925, and the Karpatendeutsche Partei in 1930. He remained its chairman till 1939.

2nd Generation:
Alexy, Matthias (x 18 April 1853 Eisdorf, + 24 May 1934 Bulkesz/Batschka)
married 10 June 1878 Zipser Bela to
Schmeisz, Julianne Pauline Schmeisz, (x 27 Jan. 1862 Zipser Bela, + 21 July 1939 Bulkesz), who came from an old Zipser Bela family.

Matthias was ordained a Lutheran priest in 1877, and served from 1877-1890 in Rissdorf, then till 1912 in Bierbrunn, after which he was able to transfer to the wealthy Danube Suebian parish of Bulkesz in the Batschka. He retired in 1930. The couple had 16 children. My Opi was the 15th.

  1. Irene Berta, (x 18 May 1879 Rissdorf, + 1883 Rissdorf)

  2. Gisela Ilonka, (x 19 May 1880 Rissdorf, + 27 Feb. 1973 Oettingen/Bavaria), married to Rev. Paul Kailing, from Dolha/Karpato-Ukraine. Rev. Kailing served in Rissdorf and Kleinlomnitz/Zips. The couple had 5 children. Several remained in Slovakia after 1945.

  3. Emma Juliana, (x 16 Oct. 1881 Rissdorf, + 1981 Stuttgart ), married on 18 March 1911 in Bierbrunn to Arthur Teltsch, mayor of Zipser Bela (x 1855 Zipser Bela, + 1931 there). They then owned an insurance agency. Their marriage, while happy, was not blessed with children. I remember "Tante Emma" well.

  4. Grete Anna, (x 1883 Rissdorf, + 1883 Rissdorf)

  5. Julius Aurel, (x 10 Dec. 1885 or May 30, 1884 in Rissdorf, +Dec. 31, 1971 New Jersey).
    Married to Ella Pallay (1886 St Nikolaus/Mikulasch, Slovakia, + 11 Aug. 1971 New Jersey). An electro-technician, he immigrated to New Jersey during the early 1900s. He had two sons, Aurel, who died childless in 1948,and Erwin, with whom I corresponded. Erwin has two children in the USA, which have children as well.

  6. Adalbert August, (x 10 July 1886 Rissdorf, + 18 June 1945 Prerau/Moravia), married to Maria Galgon from Bierbrunn (1895-1976).
    Adalbert became, like his father and his brother Desider, a Lutheran minister. He served as Field Pastor (Feldkurat) in the Austrian-Hungarian army in World War I. The couple had four children, who came to Germany in 1945. He served as minister in Hollumtz/Zips and was murdered by Czech troops on June 18, 1945 with 267 other Zipser men, women and children during the massacre of Prerau.

  7. Kornel Matthias, (x 14 Dec. 1888 Rissdorf, + 22 Oct. 1971). Merchant in Becserek/Obecse. Married on 24 July 1924 in Peterreve/Batschka the teacher Maria Tapolcsany. No children.

  8. Otto Erwin, (x 1889 Rissdorf, + there as baby).

  9. Erwin Robert, teacher in Magyarboly/Hungary (post-1919 borders), married to Hilda Bortsch. Two children. One died young, while Otto (x 1923 Magyarboly) emigrated to Canada in the late 1940s or early 1950s, and vanished there.

  10. Alfred Eugen, (x 10 Sept. 1891 Bierbrunn, + 1906 Bierbrunn)

  11. Emil Johann, (x 29 July 1892 Bierbrunn, missing since 1919). Trained as a butcher, he served in the Austrian-Hungarian Army in World War I on the Eastern Front and was captured. According to family lore he returned quite impressed with the Soviet regime. In 1920, he tried to cross from Bulkesz to the Zips and was never heard of again. Whether he died during the Civil War in Hungary or went to the Soviet Union, his family never learned.

  12. Ida Maria, (x 13 Oct. 1893 Bierbrunn, + ). Married in Oct. 1926 in Bulkesz Rev. Alexander Konecsny. He was priest in Kikinda/Banat/Serbia and died there in 1973. The couple had no children.

  13. Alexander, (x 1897 Bierbrunn, + 1898 Bierbrunn)

  14. Jolan, (x 1899 Bierbrunn, died as baby)

  15. Desider Paul, (my Opi, see above).

  16. Edmund, (x 24 Nov. 1907 Bierbrunn, + 16 March 1920 Bulkesz)

3rd Generation:
Alexy, Jakob, Master-Mason and stone-cutter in Eisdorf, (x 16 Nov. 1818 Eisdorf, + 11 Nov. 1897 Eisdorf).
married on 30 April 1848 Eisdorf to
Renner, Susanna, (x 12 Nov. 1828 Eisdorf, + 9 March 1893 Eisdorf)

Jakob Alexy had at least two younger brothers, Paul and Michael, mentionned in a letter from 1847.

4th Generation.
Alexy, Matthias, peasant in Eisdorf, (x 14 Feb. 1795 Eisdorf)
married 26 Nov. 1816 Eisdorf
Schmidt, Maria (x 14 Sept. 1801 Eisdorf)

Renner, Johann, peasant in Eisdorf. (x 18 June 1806 Eisdorf)
married 15 Nov. 1825 Eisdorf
Roth, Eva (x 15 Sept. 1810 Eisdorf)

5th Generation.
Alexy, Michael, peasant in Eisdorf. (x 24 March 1752 Eisdorf)
married 11 Jan. 1794 Eisdorf
Spiess, Eva, widow Graumann (x 9 Dec. 1766 Eisdorf)

Schmidt, Paul, married 19 Nov. 1780 Eisdorf with
Schimko, Susanna

Renner, Matthias, (x 16 Feb. 1762 Eisdorf)
married to
Mitschko, Catharina, (x 23 Sept. 1776 Eisdorf)

Roth, Jacob married to Catharina Kutschar

6th Generation.
Alexy, Matthaeus, peasant in Eisdorf, married to Susanna.
Spiess, Matthias, married to Agnes
Renner, Martin, peasant in Eisdorf.
Mitschko, Michael, peasant in Eisdorf
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