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Joseph II
making the announcement
of his
reform.
Joseph II at the imperial residence
in Vienna.
The view Joseph II enjoyed when he visited this
site near Obertrum, Salzburg.
“Die Kaiserbuche”
a
monument in honor of Joseph II
to commemorate his visit in
1780.
A tree planted
in Josef's name stands on a site for more than 220
years, named Kaiserbuche near
Obertrum, Salzburg. Hans stands beside
the gigantic trunk of the tree. A new tree
has been planted right behind its trunk.
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When our ancestors settled in Hungary they did
not really own the land they settled. However,
they were allowed all the land the farmer and
his family could cultivate. To understand
the facts more clearly let us look at the
reforms made by Joseph II as they were indented.
The Settlement Patent
released during the reign of Empress Maria
Theresia consisting of nine points gives us a
good understanding of the contracts under which
the Germans settled in Hungary. It
contained the privileges of the settlers, as
well as, the expectations by them to the
government. The land the Germans settled
was appropriated to them at no cost and remained
government property. This could be considered as
a never-ending lease contract, as long as, a
farmer and his family could work the land that
was appropriated to them. A farmer had the
right to all of the crops he could raise and was
taxed with a percentage of the amount he
harvested from the land. The land had to
be passed on undivided to the heir, usually the
oldest son (this was not true in all of the
communities). During the first years when plow
animals were scarce only a few acres could be
handled. As time passed and more plow animals
and manpower became available, more land was
appropriated to the farmers. These contracts
were in force until 1848, at which time they
could take possession of the land and were free
to purchase or sell it.
The third major movement of colonists came
during the times of 1782-1787 under the Emperor
Joseph II (1780-1790). He was also
referred to as "The Reformer" or "The German."
Emperor Joseph II saw his major task as a
statesman in reforming the "Government of the
Monarchy" in the spirit of more freedom for the
people. Step by step he proceeded with the
realization of his far-reaching dreams this was
welcomed by the Hungarian population below the
level of the aristocracy.
One of his achievements was to ban the "Leibeigenschaft"
or the "Serfdom" so that our ancestors were no
longer subjects of the nobles. They became
"free men." One must also understand
that our ancestors prior to settling in Hungary
were "Leibeigene," subjects of the nobles who
were the lords of the land. The farmers
were "un-free" or "half free" subjects.
Was their "freedom" from the landlords the most
important promise made to our ancestors that
motivated them to leave their homes? They
were often burdened with additional taxes, to be
paid in the form of crops and produce.
They were also burdened having to perform work
without pay, which in many cases were extremely
high and unreasonable.
In 1784 he instituted "German" as the official language
for the administration and the military, replacing Latin
as the official language. This was often seen by
the Hungarian politicians as an attempt to Germanize its
population and they did not understand the real reason
for the change, since he also made it the official
langue in Hungary. The reason becomes quite clear
when one realizes that the German language was by far
more developed and that all the scientific and technical
books where written in German and that all the
professors teaching these subject were of German origin
with few exceptions. Since the reign of Emperor
Ferdinand II who resided in Prague and during whose
reign the first German University was founded in Prague
in 1348, many other educational institutions were
established within the empire.
The ever
growing economical, as well as, cultural
dominance of the Germans especially in the
rural areas of Hungary was cause of great
concern for the Hungarian administration. The Hungarian parliament begins to realize
and recognizes, that the largest problem
existing in Hungary was the fact that the
Hungarians with 29% were a minority in their
own country. The dominating nationalities in
Hungary were the Germans, Slaves, Romanians
and the Jews among others nationalities,
although none larger than the Hungarians.
It became
quite clear if Hungary wanted to develop its
industry it needed students who could speak
German to become the new teachers for its
Hungarian speaking students. This feat
actually was accomplished in one generation
by the Hungarians. However, it became now a
policy by the Hungarians to begin a
assimilation politic which became even more
intensive after the equalization treaty
between Austria and Hungary when the Double
Monarchy was established in 1867 and the
Hungarians gained an inter-politically free
hand which was a disadvantage for the
Germans who settled in Hungary.
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