The Fate of Western Hungary 1918-1921 - Corvinus Library ...

orn Alfred Waldheim, drew attention to the length of the name, thus making it
unsuitable for public use. Instead, he suggested Burgenland. This suggestion
appealed to the chancellor and he used the name in his reply. 88
According to tradition, or to some, Waldheim gave the area the name
Burgenland, which he himself also claimed in later years, saying he named the
new Austrian province after the many western Hungarian castles annexed. 89
According to other sources, a person by the name of Gregor Meidlinger used
the term ‘Burgenland’ a month before with Chancellor Renner. 90 The
statements of the Viennese professor were later refuted by the real creator of the
name, Karl Amon, who drew attention that “Burgenland is an artificially
created name, which has political significance.” 91 According to some, the name
‘Burgenland’ is an exact translation into German of the Hungarian term ‘royal
county,’ which this author holds to be a artificial interpretation, since our
administrative unit of county has an equivalent in German of komitat.
Incidentally, it was from the Fall of 1919 that the expression took root among
the Croats of the region, mirroring the translation of the German concept of
‘Burgenland,’ the name of Gradišće and Gradiščansko among the Slovenes. 92
Following the meeting between Chancellor Renner and a group of western
Hungarian Germans living in Vienna, Austrian propaganda and the irredentist
movement immediately picked up the newly created Burgenland name and
began to clamor for the military occupation of the Western Hungary zone not
granted them in the Treaty of Saint-Germain.
In the meantime, the Paris Peace Conference was officially begun on
January 18, 1919 amid formal ceremonies. Three weeks later, on February 5,
88 Schwartz, Elemér: A Burgenland név [The name: Burgenland]. In: Magyar Nyelv,
1927, Sept.-Oct. issue, p. 486. Alfred Waldheim, fourth Governor of Burgenland
between July 14, 1923 and January 4, 1924. About the name Burgenland, also see:
Schwartz, Elemér, 1927, op. cit., pp. 484–487; Kubinyi, Elek: A burgenlandi németek
[The Burgenland Germans]. In: Magyar Szemle, 1928, vol. III, issue 3, pp. 251–252;
Schwartz, Elemér: A Burgenland magyar neve [The Hungarian name of Burgenland].
In: Vasi Szemle, year I, 1934, issue 3, pp. 226–231.
89 Walheim, Alfred: Wie das Burgenland zu seinem Nanem gekommen ist [How
Burgenland came by its name]. In: Volkszeitung, Vienna, 1924, January 27.
90 Tóth, Imre: Elméleti és módszertani megjegyzések a regionalitás kérdéseinek
kutatásához. Regionális identitások Burgenlandban és Nyugat-Magyarországon
[Theoretical and methodological remarks in the research of questions of regionality.
Regional identities in Burgenland and Western-Hungary]. In: Arrabona 45/1. Kiad.
Győr-Moson-Sopron Megyei Múzeumok Igazgatósága. Győr, 2007, p. 305.
91 Amon, Karl: Wer hat dem Burgenland den Nanem gegeben [How Burgenland got its
name]? In: Burgenländische Heimat (Sauerbrunn), 1926, July 11.
92 Schwartz, Elemér: A nyugatmagyarországi német helységnevek [German settlement
names in Western-Hungary]. Budapest, 1932; Schwartz, 1934, op. cit., pp. 226–231;
Kranzmayer, Eberhard: Die österreichischen Bundesländer und deren Hauptstädte in
ihren Namen. Wien, 1956, p. 25; Kiss, Lajos: Földrajzi nevek etimológiai szótára
[Etymological dictionary of geograpgical names]. Edition IV, vol. I. Budapest, 1988, p.
266.
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