Antoni Werner
Marianna Redenz
Danube Swabian Farmers
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Antoni Werner
Antoni son of Jakob Werner and Barbara Dydyo, was born May 9, 1826 in Filipowa and baptised in the town in Brestowatz.
Antoni Werner married the eighteen year old Marianna Redenz on January 14, 1850. Antoni & Marianna lived like the other agrarian villagers of Filipowa. Their life as farmers in the 19th century consisted of a lot of hard work. A picture of how difficult life was for Antoni & Marianna is painted by the short lives of many of their children.
Antoni himself, lived until the age of 72 and died on December 23, 1898.
The Kingdom of Hungary
The Magyarization Program would bring about social changes for the Danube Swabians in the 1850s. To better understand reasons behind this change, one has to look at the history of the Kingdom of Hungary and its people, the Magyars.
As seen in the topographical map, the carpathian basin forming Hungary is shaped like a fortress surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains to the east and the Alps to the west. The Magyars were a nomadic tribe said to be the original Hungarians. Although opinions vary as to the origin of this tribe, there is now evidence that points to Asia rather than Europe. Russian Chronicles state that Magyars appeared in the Carpathian Basin of present day Hungary around 670-680 AD.
From their newly acquired Carpathian homeland of Hungary, the Magyar soon harassed the Western and Southern Europeans by sending waves of fierce war parties. The Magyar horsemen were the first to ride horses equipped with stirrups. This simple riding accessory gave them an advantage by allowing them to shoot arrows in all directions while galloping.
The Magyars were eventually defeated by the armored cavalry of the German King of Saxony. This defeat and the subsequent European influence changed these nomadic warriors into a sedentary Christian people. The first Christian King of Hungary, Istvan I was granted a crown by Pope Sylvester II before the end of the first Millennium in 1000 AD.
In the 15th Century, the population of Hungary had reached over 4 Million, of which 77% was Magyar. By the end of the Ottoman Empire reign, there were less than 1.7 Million people left and the Magyars represented only 45%.
The map on the left shows all the villages that existed in 15th Century Southern Hungary. On the right, you can see the few villages that were left after the Ottoman Empire and before the arrival of the Danube Swabians.
(13-14)
Although, the Danube Swabians
often lived peacefully side-by-side in the
cities and villages with different ethnic groups, the
colonization program strickly reserved for Germans did make the others feel less favoured.
There were also many Hungarian authorities of Magyar descent who resented the "Germanization" effect of the
Habsburgs.
For the German immigrants, their loyalty
naturally went to the Habsburgs who were
primarily responsible for freeing the land from the Ottoman Empire and
for organizing the resettlement program. (5)
Under the rule of the Habsburgs, the official language became German instead of Latin and
by 1740, cities like Budapest became predominantly German.
To counteract the Swabian influence, the Hungarian nobility wished to make
Magyar (Hungarian) the official language of the country.
(5)
The Germanization policy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire offended the Hungarians who were used to conducting legal and administrative affairs in Latin or Magyar. The Hapsburg also brought changes to the administration of their country which caused great inconveniences to the Hungarians. They took power away from the lesser nobles who ran the county governments by making changes to the tax and customs systems which some felt placed an unfair burden on Hungary and threatened the nobles' right of tax-exemption. (23)
The Magyarization program officially started around 1844 and from then on Hungarian became the official language. The Danube Swabians who lived in the country were not too affected by this change except for adding the Hungarian language as a compulsory subject in their schools. However, for many who lived in the cities, it meant drastic changes in the language of use and in some cases it lead to magyarizing their names.
(13-14)
The Kingdom of Hungary remained in the Hapsburg Empire until the end of World War I when as seen above, parts were divided among the neighbouring countries in 1920. Mariana Redenz was born November 18, 1832, the daughter of Johan Redenz and Elisabeth Dvorsky as registered in Brestowacz. Marianne married Antoni Werner in Brestowacz on January 14, 1850. Marianna will give birth to thirteen children but will lose more than half of them before they reach adulthood.
Marianna will herself die on December 7, 1919 in Filipowa not long after she reached the age of 87.
Mariana Redenz
Of the thirteen children born of Antoni Werner & Marianna Redenz, at least seven never became adults.
Married on October 18, 1887 in Brestowatz,
Eva Wolbt (Georg & Theresia Merkeli)
Died circa 1954 in Germany
Married on November 26, 1883 in Brestowatz,
Magdalena Kopschitz (Georg & Magdelana Boos)
Died after 1892
Born Nov. 15, 1850 and died seven days later on November 22nd.
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This page created on May 12, 2001 by Diane Pitre Werner