Some remarks cited are enclosed with
a paper clip – page 177 of Beska – translated from Hungarian.
“Beschka lies not far from Karlowitz in Syrmia.
It began in 1859 (with a field purchase) and in the 1860’s when 54
people settled here. The Hungarian
provincial parliament law of 1790/91, after which the Evangelicals were
not allowed to settle in the military border, was no longer in force through the
patent in 1859 after which the migration to Beschka, Krtschedin, and other
communities in Syrmia began immediately. The
greater part of the immigrants were Evangelicals of the Augsburg denomination
and the smaller part were Reformed (Calvinists).
The people of Beschka have Neupsua as their daughter community.
Their fist teacher was Phlipp Lautenbach (1861), who worked here for two
years. )According to the Krtschedin
homeland book Samuel Freibs followed him for a few months.
In 1863 Friedrich Steinmetz came for his position as teacher and Levit.
He remained here in his office for six years.
(According to the Krtschedin homeland book he led a second Matrikel? Next
to Neupasua.) After he left (to
Schowe according to the Krtschedin homeland book – a teacher in Zsablya until
his retirement in 1910 according to my memory) the Reformed separated from the
Evangelicals and attached themselves to the Reformed mother community in Neusatz.
In 1870 the Evangelicals assigned Vicar Paul Polerezcky as pastor and
teacher. In 1872 on the recommendation of Eduard Skultety (Batschka
Senior?) and Gustav Bierbrunner, pastor in Altker, and the community of Beschka
applied to the mother community for approval.
The application was approved by Bishop Dr. Josef Szekacs on the 28th
of November 1872. On the 6th
of April 1873 Vicar Paul Polerezcky was chosen to be the first pastor in
Beschka. During the canonical
visitation in 1874 Polerezcky was in office.
The number of Evangelicals at the time amounted to 365.
In
1861 the Evangelical community had 9 Guilders of Viennese currency input and
output.
1872
Income: 462.69
Guilders , Expenses: 377.45
Guilders
1899 Income: 4480.53 Guilders,
Expenses: 4200.20 Guilders
These
numbers are evidence at best of the gratifying and relatively quick development
of the Evangelical congregation in Beschka.
Since the canonical visitation in 1874 Beschka went through several
important changes. Its first pastor
went to Katsch. His successor in
1878 was Rev. Samuel J. Gretzmacher who held the church services in a very small
room and lived in a very small apartment (in the last bell ringer’s
apartment). In 1884 the prayer room
was enlarged with a clay floor. In
1895 a beautiful new prayer house was built from stone with a bell tower for
about 6000 Guilders. In 1899 a
decorative, pretty (csinos) organ was purchased from the Rieger brothers of Jägerndorf
(Tschechei). The Croatian
government gave 1166.18 Guilders towards it and the wealthy community in
Mitrowitza provided 700 Guilders in financial aid.
In 1900 the neighboring farmhouse was purchased for a parsonage for about
2250 Guilders (according to Scherer – from Beintner).
This house was demolished in 1926 and a new one was built.
The new one cost 260,000 Dinar and was planned by contractor Fritz Beck (vgl.
Reg. No. 297). Nobody should
believe that the faithful would be burdened with high church taxes.
By no means. The married
couple paid 4 Guilders and 10 percent of the state wealth tax.
As a result of the good economy and their religious beliefs (buzgosag)
they were able to go through this. (Certainly
much of the church construction was accomplished free of charge.)
A great help was the church fortune of 57 yokes of field that the
political community allocated to the Evangelical congregation in 1890.
For
the first time in 1895 the Evangelical teacher was employed by the community
school, who also served as organist for the congregation for about 150 Guilders
per year. (That was Michael Gesell,
vgl. Reg. No. 612). The salary of
the pastor also consisted of a free apartment (and firewood) and 600 Guilders of
Stolarien (stipend?) per year.
The
community seal had an inscription:”Evangelical congregation of Bescka”.
In the middle was an open Bible with the I. Corinthians letter, verse 13
visible.
The
congregation had two bells from the Bochumer (Westphalen) Steelworks, both
weighed 7 double hundred and cost 410 Guilders.
The inscription on the larger is: “Honor God in the Highest”, and on
the smaller: “Peace on Earth”. Also
in addition on both reads: “Evangelical Congregation A.C. to Beska 1874”.
(So the bells are older than the church, and they were formerly hung in a
wooden belfry in front of the old prayer house).
The present pastor, Samuel Gretzmacher, was born in Ruszkin, one of the
16 Zipser? cities, on the 26th of September 1841.
His parents were the middle-class furrier Johann Gretzmacher and Anna
Maria nee Wolf. He attended public
school in his birth city. The lower four grades of grade school were in Leutschau at
what was at the time “Staatlichen-Evangelischen Gymnasium”, where he took his A
level exams
He studied
theology for three years in Eperjes and was ordained as pastor by superintendent
Karl Maday. At first he worked in
the house of Triedon Pfannschmidt as a private tutor in Leutschau.
Later he was hired in the same capacity by the Banat large landowners
Gaffay Kalman and Alexander Kaiser. In
1870 he went to Jena (not in the same capacity) and there he was appointed to
Andreas Sztehlo as chaplain, and in the same year he was appointed to Senior
Michael Lang in Pest (the eastern part of the city of Budapest).
In 1876 he married Berta von Scholz who died in 1898 and left behind four
orphans (further details in the register).
The
present teacher in Beschka, Michael Gesell, was born in Oberschützen,
Burgenland (Austria), where he also spent his study time and received his
diploma in 1890. He was in Udvari,
Tolnau for two years, and two years in Rackozar, Baranya as an assistant
teacher. In 1900 teacher Gesell was
a music professor at the teacher training institute in Oberschützen where he
was a student ten years before (further details in vgl. Register).
His successor was Samuel Schumacher who had his education in Essegg.”
(further details in register) – end of citation.
