I recently heard from Ernst and Rosina
Nabinger who gave the following information about the Nabinger Family history in
Austria. Following is what they
reported.
Our family lives in a village in Austria
called Wulkaprodersdorf, 50 kilometers from Vienna. The landscape is idyllic
and is part of the "Wulka-plain" with the Wulka River crossing the
area. We are in the Austrian state of Burgenland which is the easternmost state
of Austria. Lake Neusiedl, the largest steppe lake in Europe is about 15
kilometers away. The area is quiet, has almost no crime, and people work as
civil servants, laborers, artisans and farmers. Due to the mild climate and the
proximity to the lake we have a strong vineyard and wine industry. People like
good food with a glass of wine and Vienna schnitzel with potato salad and
Hungarian goulash (spicy, with onions meat) are both popular meals. The
population is almost exclusively Catholic.
In Austria, there are only about 50
"Nabingers". They come from our village and spread throughout the
country only in recent years with the growth of motorization. Nabingers in our
area were first recorded around 1850 at which time the area was inhabited with
Croatian-speaking people. The colonization of the Croatian Adriatic Sea took
place in 1650, as prior to that time the area was almost completely
extinguished by wars and epidemics. Croatian culture has been partially
maintained through language and traditions to this day. The people in our
village still speak mostly Croatian and, of course, the language of the
country, which is German. The area until 1921 was part of the Hungarian side during
the time of Austria-Hungary Empire and at school we were speaking Hungarian. It
was only in 1921, after the First World War, that our area was split off from
Hungary and added to Austria. From that date, the official language has been
German.
Nabinger is a German name. We therefore
assume that a German journeyman came to our area and stayed. Family genealogy
is difficult because before 1921 the files are incomplete and there are
language problems. The church is planning a digitization of archives and
perhaps after that is completed we can learn something more about our
ancestors.
My husband, Ernst, was a police officer
and I have worked with a notary. Our daughter Ursula studied Nutritional
Sciences and her husband is a landscape architect. They have three daughters
18, 13 and 9 years old.
We live in a house with a 1,800 m2
garden, so since our retirement we work more with the garden, the own fruit
trees, and bio vegetables. In addition we have a 10,000 m2 garden next to the
Wulka River. We love this idyllic base and spend a lot of time with family and
many friends.
