Hercegkút

Hercegkút (German: Trautsondorf) is a village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County in northeastern Hungary. Swabians— German immigrants — from the Black Forest (Schwarzwald) region of Germany settled here and played a major role in the evolution of the village’s viticulture. The cellars of Gombos Hill and Kőporos are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

German Origins

Hercegkút belonged to the domain of the Rákóczi family. The settlement was established in 1750, when its landlord, Prince Trautson, invited German settlers to the area after the Rákóczi War of Independence, similarly to the nearby villages of Károlyfalva (Karlsdorf) and Rátka (Ratkau). The settlement of the area of today's village took place in the summer of 1750, the early settlers came along the Danube in carts and on foot, but some traveled as far as Buda on rafts.

The settlement originally bore Prince Trautson’s name, it was called Trautsondorf (Village of Trautson), or Trauczonfalvá in Hungarian. The name of the settlement was changed to its current name Hercegkút in 1905.[1]

The German settlers originally came from Baden-Würtenberg - from the settlements of Balgheim, Binsdorf, Binswangen, Bitz, Böttingen, Bubsheim, Deislingen, Denkingen, Dürbheim, Frittlingen, Gosheim, Harpolingen (Bad Säckingen), Hettingen, Illerrieden, Kolbingen, Lautlingen, Luttingen (Laufenburg), Margrethausen, Renquishausen, Wehingen.[1] The settlers were mainly engaged in viticulture.

Founding the Village

During the first decades, only 80 acres of arable land could be occupied by clearing forests, but half a century later the village has already grown 543 acres. By the 1780s, the population of the village reached 420-430 people, so the intention to build a spacious church worthy of the size of the village arose. The royal license was obtained in 1779, and the landlord's patronage was obtained in 1785.[2]

Religious Background

The original settlers who founded the village were all Roman Catholic. After demarcating the area of the village, the first building was a small chapel, which was used until 1788. A stone cross can still be seen in front of the chapel's former location.

The founders of the village belonged to the Roman Catholic Parish of Patak, a state which lasted until the consecration of village's own Roman Catholic church on September 8, 1788 and the founding of its independent parish. Hercegkút's local church customs (e.g. baptisms, marriages, funerals) to this day, carry distinctly Swabian-Alemannic features.[3]

Deportations

After World War II, the village suffered many hardships due to its German origin. The greatest disaster that affected the entire community was the suffering of the 135 persons (men and women) who were deported to the Soviet Union for forced labor on January 2, 1945. A few days of public work in the match factory in Debrecen is what the villagers were told they were going to do. All able-bodied men aged 17-45 and women aged 18-30 of the village were deported on trains. Instead of Debrecen, two weeks later and 1,600 kilometers further east, they arrived at the Chistyakovo camp in Stalin county, in today's Eastern Ukraine. Instead of the three days of "public work", they faced forced labor for an unforeseeable period of time in Ukrainian coal mines blown up by withdrawing Nazi troops.

The daily task of the internees was to bring the coal mines into working condition, and later to start production for the Soviet industry. The brigades could not come up from the mine until the prescribed standard was met, if this was not achieved, they sometimes did not see the sunlight for days.[2]

Their food was scarce, and their working conditions were life-threatening. Freed from the damp mines, they walked for hours in frozen wet clothes to the camps. Typhus, malaria, and dysentery took their toll.

Fifteen of the 135 villagers taken from Hercegkút were never able to return home. Those who returned came home mentally broken and physically weakened. The Soviets threatened all returnees: if they dared to speak, their families would suffer the consequences and they would go back to the mine. The last 13 people arrived home on October 20, 1949.[3]

Despite this trauma, the community's sense of Swabian identity remained, it kept its traditions and holidays and today it still keeps 16 accepted holidays, some of which were famous holidays in Germany as well.

^ "Naár János - Hercegkút - honlapja [Kezdõlap]". www.narr.hu. Retrieved 2023-02-03. ^ Anna, Stumpf. "Stumpf Anna: Túlélni a túlélhetetlent | Mandiner". mandiner.hu (in Hungarian). Retrieved 2023-02-06. ^ "Áldozatok és hősök - Elhurcolás 1945. január 2". www.narr.hu. Retrieved 2023-02-06.
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