Protect on the mountains

Schützen am Gebirge , Hungarian Sérc , Croatian Česno , (coll .: Gschias ) is an Austrian municipality in the Eisenstadt-Umgebung district in Burgenland with 1,421 inhabitants (as of January 1, 2020).

geography

Schützen am Gebirge is a valley settlement on the Wulka and the only place in the municipality. The Jagdschloss Esterhazy is located northeast of Schützen . The municipality has a share in the Rust hill country , at the gate between the Eisenstadt basin and the basin of the Neusiedler See and the Leithagebirge . To the west of the village once a cold sprang sulfur - source . It dried up in 1971 after the underground water vein was damaged during excavation work in the course of the local sewerage (see #History).

Neighboring communities

Neighboring communities are: Donnerskirchen , Oggau , Oslip and Au am Leithaberge (Lower Austria).

history

Before the birth of Christ, the area was part of the Celtic Kingdom of Noricum and belonged to the surroundings of the Celtic hill settlement Burg on the Schwarzenbacher Burgberg . Later under the Romans, today's Schützen was located in the province of Pannonia .

Beginnings

The first written mention of Lvev (= Lövö ; Hungarian for shooter) comes from the year 1211 , but refers to a desert in the south of today's municipal area. In 1317 there was already an upper rifle (in Hungarian Felsö Lövö ), which suggests the existence of a second, lower rifle. This is also proven by a document from 1399, in which both are named as "accessories" of Oslip Castle .

Around the turn of the century, both places apparently became deserted, because in 1403 the new village of Gschies or Gschieß , which developed into today's Schützen, was located on their territory . This name appears for the first time in a document from 1390.

Around 1500 the place was almost deserted , and the former population was not reached again until 1527. But as early as 1529, with the first Turkish war , another evil hit Gschiess, as it was repeatedly devastated by the Turks due to its strategic location .

Early modern age

At the time of the Reformation , the local pastor at the time joined a Protestant group and was able to hold out until 1584 despite the Counter-Reformation , although a Catholic had been installed two years earlier . The church was also divided at the time.

In 1605 the Turks came back as part of the Bocskai Rebellion and set fire to numerous other villages around Lake Neusiedl in addition to Gschiess. They caused a real bloodbath in the village; For example, there is evidence that a mother and her child burned to death in church. With the Peace of Vienna in 1606, normality was restored.

The Turks did not return until 1683 as part of the Second Turkish Siege of Vienna , but this time the local population got to safety in good time. Gschieß itself was devastated again - all three altars of the church were destroyed by fire .

Since Gschiess was owned by the Catholic princes Esterházy , the Kurucs plundered the place in 1705. Although these had been driven out by the imperial troops by 1706, bands of robbers subsequently roamed the area. During these wars, the plague broke out in the village several times : in 1644, 1646, 1653, 1679 and 1713.

Modern

From July 11th to November 10th, 1809 Gschiess was occupied by French troops. During the Napoleonic Wars , armies repeatedly marched through the municipality, the last time on December 5, 1810.

In the revolutionary year of 1848, the so-called inheritance subordination was lifted; and in 1852 the municipality's first land register was created. In this the farmers were registered as owners.

After the settlement with Hungary , Gschiess belonged to the Hungarian half of the empire and had to take the Hungarian name Sercz due to the policy of Magyarization ; this is nothing else than the Hungarian translation of the previous one. In spite of this, the minutes of the municipal council's meeting were written in German until 1906 , after which it was only possible to enforce Hungarian against popular opposition. Even after that, the municipal council stood in the way of the Hungarian government's plans whenever possible: For example, on February 10, 1910, the request of the Odenburg County to join the National Association of Municipalities of Hungary was unanimously rejected.

Gschiesz at that time (top left) and its surroundings on the dried up Lake Neusiedl, around 1873 (recording sheet of the state survey )

Main street at height no.32 with a view towards the parish church (towards SW)

Schützen am Gebirge from Leithaberg with a view towards Rust / Neusiedler See (towards SE)

Schützen am Gebirge from Oberer Schoberacker with a view towards Goldberg (towards S)

Schützen am Gebirge from Oggauer Heide with a view towards Schneeberg (towards W)

Schützen am Gebirge at night from Hölzelstein with a view towards Eisenstadt (towards NW)

The great fire

On July 31, 1911, the worst fire in the history of the place broke out. Its spread happened so quickly that no one thought of saving anything but bare life. The fire brigades from ten communities came to Sercz to help, but it was in vain: only a heap of rubble remained of the place. Even the fruit trees fell victim to the flames, and of 227 houses only 67 were spared. According to estimates at the time , the fire that is said to have broken out while children were playing with matches caused damage of almost a million crowns .

As a result, the need was so great that the authorities had to initiate an aid operation. The local council had a collection carried out in the surrounding communities in order to raise funds for reconstruction. Even after the fire, the misfortune of the burners of Gschiess continued: the homeless residents were plagued by rain and hail . But the reconstruction also brought work for 300 to 400 craftsmen.

First World War and the interwar period

In the First World War , which lasted from 1914 to 1918, the community had 58 dead and 17 missing.

In 1920 the price rose sharply, as a lot of food was smuggled into Austria, where there was a famine. As a result, the company's own reserves also tightened, which caused prices to quadruple. The municipal council lodged a written protest against the separation of Burgenland from Hungary. Above all, the residents feared that Hungary would refuse to deliver grain if it were annexed to Austria and would leave them hungry. In 1921 Hungarian irregulars occupied the place, but then had to give way to the resistance.

As a result, the interventions that stemmed from the Magyarization policy of the past decades were reversed. The minutes of the meeting of the municipal council were written in German again, and the municipality was initially given its former name Gschiess . On June 9, 1924, the authorities finally approved the renaming of the place to its current name Schützen am Gebirge ; almost two years after the municipal council unanimously approved the motion. The renaming was a wish of the residents, as the old name Gschiess had been made a lot of ridicule.

National Socialism and World War II

In 1938, after Austria was annexed to Hitler Germany , there were radical changes: the organs of the community were no longer elected until the end of Nazi rule , but were appointed by the NSDAP . In addition, a Reichsarbeitsdienstlager was set up in the village, causing the population to skyrocket.

Towards the end of the Second World War , Schützen am Gebirge was converted into a fortress by the Nazis. To this end, several anti-tank barriers were initially built in and around the place. When the Red Army approached in March 1945, the Wulka Bridge was also blown up. At this point in time there were several units of the Waffen SS and around 60 Volkssturm men in the community who put up stubborn resistance to the Russians.

A total of around 200 Russians were killed in the battle for riflemen; the number of Germans killed is not known. The battle left clear traces in the village itself: numerous houses were set on fire by the Russian artillery ; The church tower, in which German snipers had holed up, was hit several times. On April 1, 1945 at 3 p.m., the Russians had completely captured riflemen. The war had cost the lives of 45 protectors in total; 46 were missing.

Post-war to the present

The local population suffered even after the liberation, as elsewhere, the Soviet soldiers looted the place and raped numerous women. Although this phase lasted only a few days, it made the Russians hateful in the long run. Only in 1955, when Austria regained its freedom with the State Treaty , did the occupiers leave.

The arduous reconstruction took years. On November 26, 1950, the first free municipal council elections for a long time took place while still under Russian occupation. The predominantly agricultural population began to build a new existence with the remaining equipment. Until around 1960, the majority of the population lived on agriculture and livestock.

With the beginning of the economic upswing in the 1960s, that changed abruptly: Agriculture began to concentrate on a few farms that had the necessary tractors and additional equipment. Livestock farming also declined rapidly: from the initial 500 horses and cattle, only a few remained, and in 1970 the last cow in the village disappeared.

The wine-growing increasingly gained importance, and it made available surface was always conceived to 1986 the increase. However, the drop in prices in the 1980s, and in particular the glycol wine scandal in 1985, hit the winemakers more and more, and many sons were not prepared to continue their parents' business. The vineyard area in Schützen has continued to decline since then.

The resolution passed by the municipal council in 1967 to channel the entire local area was implemented from 1968 onwards. On June 24, 1971, during excavation work, the water vein was damaged, which supplied the so-called sulfur well , a healing spring that has been known for centuries. Since that day the spring has dried up. Subsequently, the streets were paved and paved with pavements, which permanently changed the appearance of the town.

Population development

Culture and sights

Parish church Schützen am Gebirge

Catholic parish church Schützen am Gebirge hl. Maria Magdalena: The parish church is a baroque building with a high altar from a later period. Gravestones from the 17th century have been preserved along the churchyard wall.
Ruin of the hunting lodge: The hunting lodge, built in 1794, was bought and renovated by a private person.
Sulfur well: Renovated well of the dried up healing spring
Wayside shrines: There are several wayside shrines in the municipality .
Anti-tank trench: Since autumn 2014, a restored section of the anti-tank trench can be viewed in the northwestern municipal area . As part of the south-east wall , it led in a zigzag course in the Schützen area from the slopes of the Leithagebirge (Tiergarten) through the Kreutmais, Iseläcker and Straßäcker vineyards to the village, crossed the former main road at today's Eisenstädter Strasse 92 and ran past the train station to the Eisbach.

Economy and Infrastructure

Schützen am Gebirge has a bypass in the form of Burgenland Strasse (B 50).

Schützen is connected to the Eastern Railway with the Pannoniabahn .

politics

Municipal council

Local council election 2017

%

70

60

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

67.49
(+23.61)

32.51
(+0.87)

n. k.
(-24.47)

uBf

Municipal office Schützen am Gebirge

The council has because of the population currently 19 members (as of 2018).

Results of the municipal council elections since 1982

Political party	2017			2012			2007			2002			1997			1992			1987			1982
Political party	Sti.	%	M.	Sti.	%	M.	Sti.	%	M.	Sti.	%	M.	Sti.	%	M.	Sti.	%	M.	Sti.	%	M.	Sti.	%	M.
ÖVP	598	67.5	13	459	43.9	8th	436	41.8	8th	587	61.1	12	496	55.5	11	505	58.2	11	547	59.5	9	485	53.2	8th
SPÖ	288	32.5	6th	331	31.6	6th	314	30.1	6th	334	34.8	7th	285	31.9	6th	293	34.1	6th	310	33.7	5	352	38.6	6th
FPÖ	not running			not running			not running			40	4.2	0	112	12.5	2	62	7.2	2	62	6.7	1	not running
uBf	not running			256	24.5	5	269	25.8	5	not running			not running			not running			not running			not running
FBL	not running			not running			23	2.2	0	not running			not running			not running			not running			not running
Free list of shooters	not running			not running			not running			not running			not running			not running			not running			75	8.2	1
Eligible voters	1221			1237			1200			1198			1085			1035			994			967
voter turnout	84.28%			92.32%			89.08%			87.15%			91.80%			92.6%			95.0%			95.8%

Parish council

In addition to the mayor Roman Zehetbauer (ÖVP), the community board also includes the deputy mayor Gunther Kos (ÖVP) and the executive councilors Manuel Artner (SPÖ), Michael Mader (ÖVP) and Hannes Schneider (ÖVP).

mayor

Mayor of Schützen am Gebirge is Roman Zehetbauer (ÖVP), who succeeded Walter Hofherr (ÖVP) in 2013. Zehetbauer was elected with 72.22% and thus achieved more votes than his party.

Vice Mayor is Gunther Kos (ÖVP).

The head of the municipal office is Alois Trucksitz.

literature

Franz Theuer & numerous co-authors : Chronicle of the community of Schützen am Gebirge (1996)

Web links

Commons : Schützen am Gebirge - Collection of images, videos and audio files

10314 - Riflemen on the mountains. Community data, Statistics Austria .

Individual evidence

↑ Cultural Association / Projects / Panzergraben. Retrieved February 19, 2017 .
↑ ^a ^b Province of Burgenland: Election results Schützen am Gebirge 2017 (accessed on November 27, 2017)
↑ Province of Burgenland: Election results Schützen am Gebirge 2012 (accessed on November 27, 2017)
↑ Province of Burgenland: election results Schützen am Gebirge 2007 (accessed on November 27, 2017)
↑ ^a ^b Province of Burgenland: election results Schützen am Gebirge 2002 (accessed on November 27, 2017)
↑ ^a ^b ^c sharp.net internet services gbmh: BF online archive 1922–2007. Retrieved March 4, 2018 .
↑ ^a ^b Municipality of Schützen am Gebirge: Municipal Council (accessed on November 27, 2017)
↑ Municipality of Schützen am Gebirge: Municipal Office (accessed on November 27, 2017)

[1] Cultural Association / Projects / Panzergraben. Retrieved February 19, 2017 .

[GRW2017-2] Province of Burgenland: Election results Schützen am Gebirge 2017 (accessed on November 27, 2017)

[3] Province of Burgenland: Election results Schützen am Gebirge 2012 (accessed on November 27, 2017)

[4] Province of Burgenland: election results Schützen am Gebirge 2007 (accessed on November 27, 2017)

[WE_2002-5] Province of Burgenland: election results Schützen am Gebirge 2002 (accessed on November 27, 2017)

[:0-6] sharp.net internet services gbmh: BF online archive 1922–2007. Retrieved March 4, 2018 .

[GemRat-7] Municipality of Schützen am Gebirge: Municipal Council (accessed on November 27, 2017)

[8] Municipality of Schützen am Gebirge: Municipal Office (accessed on November 27, 2017)