!!!Kroaten

Croats: At the beginning of the 16%%sup th/%  centuries nobles from 
western Hungary and Austria called Croats, who had fled from the Turks 
to the north came to settle in the area of what is today Burgenland, 
then depopulated by wars and epidemics, as well as the adjoining parts 
of Lower Austria (e.g. the Marchfeld region). The settlers came from 
various parts of Croatia, ranging from the Dalmatian coast to 
Slavonia. Today their origins are still reflected in a variety of folk 
costumes, songs and dialects. Whereas in Lower Austria the number of 
people speaking Croatian steadily declined in the 19%%sup th/%  and 
20%%sup th/%  centuries, in Burgenland 40,500 people stated that they 
spoke Croatian in everyday life in 1934 (13% of Burgenland's 
population). According to the census of 1991 30,000 inhabitants, 
19,460 (7.2%) of which were residents of Burgenland; belonged to this 
ethnic group, 3,003 of them said they spoke Croatian in everyday life 
and 16,457 of them were bi-lingual and 7,000 in Vienna. Since 1993 the 
Croats are represented by a Minorities Advisory Council.

\\
While an attempt to establish a Croatian party (Hrvatska stranka) had 
failed in 1923, a Croatian cultural association (Hrvatsko kulturno 
drusto) was founded in 1929. It was to be a non-party organisation but 
was clearly influenced by the Catholic clergy at the beginning. In 
Vienna there has also been a cultural association of Burgenland Croats 
since 1934, and since 1948 there has been a club of Croatian 
university graduates (Hrvatski akademski klub). The newspaper " 
Hrvatske Novine" has been published since 1910. After the church 
newspaper "Crikveni Glasnik Gradisca" (founded in 1946), it is the 
most important Croatian paper. The Croatian press association 
(Hrvatsko stamparsko drustvo) releases numerous publications and 
publishes literature by Burgenland-Croatian authors, as well as the 
calendar "Gradisce".

\\
29 primary schools offer Croatian in their curriculum, in secondary 
schools (Hauptschule and Gymnasium) students can take Croatian as an 
elective subject; there is a bilingual Gymnasium in Oberwart and a 
bilingual Hauptschule in Grosswarasdorf. The provincial schools board 
of Burgenland has an inspector specifically charged with matters 
concerning Croatian in schools. Since 1989 Croat has also been an 
official language of Burgenland.

!Literature
S. Geosits (ed.), Die burgenlaendischen Kroaten im Wandel 
der Zeiten, 1986.


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