Mattersburg, Austria

 

Mattersburg (Hungarian: Nagymárton, Burgenland-Croatian: Matrštof) is a city in Central Burgenland, on the eastern slope of the Rosaliengebirge and has about 6,000 inhabitants.

 

Attractions

City parish church (1390), expanded in baroque style around 1700
Johann Nepomuk Berger Chapel
Ausreithkapelle (Hubertus Chapel)
War memorial chapel
Plague column (trinity column)
Frischherzkreuz (Krügelkreuz)
Holder cross
Mary and Anna column
Jewish Cemetery
Cultural center
Railway viaduct

 

Activities

Mattersburg is Burgenland's football city. The SV Mattersburg club is successful in a league with Wacker Innsbruck and Rapid. In particular the sporting offer leaves nothing to be desired:

1 sports hall, Wulkalände 2. Tel .: +43 664 5139133 (Franz Lehner), +43 664 5139122 (Peter Dirnbauer).
2 Burgenland Football Academy, Dr. Fred Sinovatz Str. 32. Tel .: +43 (0) 2626 21000 11, E-Mail: oliver.snurer@aka-burgenland.at.
3 outdoor sports facility / skate park, Wulkalände 2 (next to the sports hall). Tel .: +43 664 5139133 (Franz Lehner), +43 664 5139122 (Peter Dirnbauer).
4 Exercise Park, Wienerstraße / Langendorferweg. Tel .: +43 2626 623 3218 (Mag. Martin Hollweck).
5 Swimming pool & ice rink & poplar stadium, Michael Koch Str. 54. Tel .: +43 2626 62 151.
6 Tennis court, UNION: Wulkalände 1. Tel .: +43 664 8495739 (ASKÖ), +43 664 4154157 (UNION).
Firing range. Tel .: +43 2626 62725.

 

Getting there

By train
Regional trains to Mattersburg run every half hour to hourly from Wiener Neustadt and Sopron.

By bus
In the street
From Vienna via the A 2 to the Wiener Neustadt junction and the S 4 to Mattersburg.

 

Mattersburg can be reached from Vienna via the A3 (south-east motorway) and then via the S31 in 50 minutes. However, the route is heavily dependent on traffic. Mattersburg also has both a bus and a main train station. Vienna and Eisenstadt are approached every hour, the route mostly leads via Wiener Neustadt.

 

Shopping

The Mattersburg city center offers several boutiques, drug stores and grocery stores. On the outskirts there are 2 specialist retail centers with a few chains from the fashion, drugstore and technology sectors.

1 The arena, arena square. Tel .: +43 3572 4740010, fax: +43 3572 4740014, e-mail: office@arena2000.at. Open: Mo-Fr 09: 00-18: 30, Sa 09: 00-18: 00.
2 FMZ Mattersburg, Bundesstrasse 50.Open: Mo-Fr 09: 00-18: 30, Sa 09: 00-18: 00.

 

Nightlife

1 Beetlejuice, Arena 1/5. Tel .: +43 2626 20409, email: info@beetlejuice.at.  Open: Mon-Thu 09: 00-24: 00, Fri & Sat 09: 00-01: 00, Sun 11: 00-23: 00.
2 J.J. Lounge, Arena 7. Tel .: +43 2626 20409, E-Mail: info@beetlejuice.at.
3 Café Amerika, Bahnstrasse 2. Tel .: +43 2626 20663.
4 Cafe-Galerie Pablo, Judengasse 13-15. Tel .: +43 2626 64 837, email: pablo-galerie@gmx.at.
5 Café Savio, Michael Koch Strasse 39. Tel .: +43 676 83 73 0323.
6 Martinischenke, Wedekindgasse 4. Tel .: +43 2626 631 35, E-Mail: schenke@aon.at.
7 Peacock Pub, Gustav-Degen Gasse 8. Tel .: +43 2626 62 834.

 

Accommodation

1 Florianihof, Wiener Straße 1. Tel .: +43 2626 621 06, email: office@hotel-florianihof.at.
2 Hotel Müllner, Hauptstrasse 103, 7221 Marz. Tel .: +43 2626 63967, email: office@hotel-muellner.at.

 

Geography

Mattersburg is located in the northern part of Burgenland east of Wiener Neustadt in the Wulka Valley.

 

Congregational structure

The municipal area includes the following two localities (number of inhabitants in brackets as of January 1, 2023):
Mattersburg (6716) including pipe bridge
Walbersdorf (798)
The community consists of the cadastral communities of Mattersburg and Walbersdorf.

 

Incorporations

Mattersburg and Walbersdorf were united into one community with effect from January 1, 1971 by the Municipal Structure Improvement Act.

 

History

Before the birth of Christ, the area was part of the Celtic kingdom of Noricum and belonged to the area surrounding the Celtic hilltop settlement of Burg on the Schwarzenbacher Burgberg.

Later under the Romans, today's Mattersburg was in the province of Pannonia. Archaeological excavations documented prehistoric, Roman and early medieval finds.

Mattersburg was first mentioned in a document in 1202 as Villa Martini. It may have been St. Martinus. A castle originally standing here, which was the ancestral seat of the Lords of Mattersdorf-Forchtenstein, was demolished before 1294. In its place, Forchtenstein Castle was built.

Mattersburg received market rights as early as 1354.

The market took off when the railway from Wiener Neustadt to Mattersburg went into operation in 1847.

Since 1898, the Hungarian place name Nagymarton had to be used due to the Magyarization policy of the government in Budapest.

 

20th century

After the end of World War I, the short-lived Republic of Heinzenland was proclaimed on December 22, 1918 in Mattersburg by the local social democrat Hans Suchard. After that, the town, like the entire Burgenland, belonged to Hungary (German-West Hungary) and was awarded to Austria after tough negotiations in the Treaties of St. Germain and Trianon in 1919. Since the 1921 referendum in Burgenland, the town has belonged to the newly founded federal state of Burgenland (see also History of Burgenland). Until June 14, 1924, the municipality was officially called "Mattersdorf". On July 2, 1926, the town was elevated to Mattersburg.

Immediately after the annexation of Austria to the German Reich in March 1938, the Jewish population was expelled and expropriated, so that by autumn 1938 there were no longer any Jews in Mattersburg. Around 100 Jewish residents are believed to have been murdered in the extermination camps. The shtetl, the shul, the synagogue and the yeshiva were blown up in 1940. 77 years later, on November 5, 2017, shortly before the anniversary of the November pogroms, a warning monument was inaugurated in the presence of prominent figures at Brunnenplatz, the former location of the synagogue. 3 pillars with inscriptions and the graphic of a 7-armed chandelier, a door frame and a storage area for "Stones of Remembrance", made of rusting iron on a concrete slab, were designed by Michael Feyer from the "We Remember" association, who also took care of the financing.

More than 200 dead and missing soldiers were to be lamented in the course of the military operations of the Second World War. On March 30, 1945, the Red Army liberated Mattersburg as one of the first cities in Austria.

After the war, many returning so-called Ostarbeiter came to the city. The typhus was brought into the city.

In the first post-war years, construction work was carried out that is impressive. New housing estates were built, the sports facility was expanded and the anniversary secondary school was built, and the project for the construction of the swimming pool area was also tackled. The Burgenland German Secondary School, which had already been established in 1924, was taken over by the Republic of Austria in 1948 as the Bundesrealgymnasium and Bundesgymnasium and has been run as the Bundesgymnasium and Bundesrealgymnasium Mattersburg since 1964.

The Swedish company Felix Austria, founded by South Moravian people, was founded in 1959 as a subsidiary of the large Swedish canning factory Felix in Mattersburg - one of the most important economic projects in the post-war period.

A major renovation of the building of the district administration took place in 1962; the core building had probably already been occupied as the official residence in 1912. In 2004 a modern new building was erected.

Mattersburg and Walbersdorf were united into one community with effect from January 1, 1971 by the Municipal Structure Improvement Act. The city administration has been housed in a newly built town hall since 1972. Until then, the old school building, built in 1855/57, had served as the first town hall.

With the construction of the cultural center in 1973-1976 (one of the few surviving buildings in the Brutalist style), a communication center for all social classes was created. Since the anniversary secondary school proved to be too small, it was replaced in 1975 by the central secondary school with the sports hall. The special educational center, the polytechnic school and the commercial school and commercial academy moved into the vacant premises in the anniversary secondary school.

In 1985 the guild tree was erected on the square in front of the Florianihof. It shows 16 representatives of various crafts that once belonged to guilds. In 2004 the tree got a new stand in front of the old district administration.

In 1996, the largest municipal rubble dump in Burgenland was opened in Mattersburg - the rubble is processed and largely reused. The waste collection point was awarded the "Golden Dung Beetle" - an award that the municipality received for its services to waste management.

Likewise, in recent years, many building sites have been created in the settlement areas, and apartments and family houses have been completed.

The infrastructure was improved by redesigning the city center, rehabilitating the parks and setting up the MEZ shopping center. The new construction of a municipal kindergarten with a children's playground and its own crèche should make Mattersburg an interesting place to live for young families.

 

21st century

Numerous investments have been made in recent years: the pool and ice skating rink as well as the elementary school and secondary school have been renovated. In addition, an outdoor sports facility, a mountain bike and a Nordic walking route were built. The SVM Mattersburg built a new football stadium.

In 2005, a "Funcourt" and an "Exercise Park" were built - thus the health and wellness concept was taken into account. In 2006 the social center "Villa Martini" was opened. ARENA 2000, a modern shopping center on the outskirts of the city, opened in 2007. In 2008 the construction of the first Burgenland football academy began.

 

Jewish history

The history of Judaism is interesting. In the 16th century, Jews expelled from Sopron settled here and the city grew rapidly. In 1671 the Jews had to leave Mattersdorf, as the town was then called, by order of Leopold I. However, they returned in 1678 at the invitation of Prince Paul I Esterházy, although they had to buy their possessions again. Since then, Mattersdorf has belonged to the seven Jewish communities in Burgenland. The independent Jewish community was only merged with the market community in March 1902. After Austria was annexed to the German Reich in 1938, the Jews were expelled and expropriated. Many tombstones from the Jewish cemetery were used for road construction. As early as September 30, 1938, the local Nazis reported that all Jews had disappeared. Many managed to emigrate to Brooklyn, New York. Among them were the doctor and later employee of the New Yorker, Richard Berczeller, and the chief rabbi, Samuel Ehrenfeld. After the founding of Israel, Ehrenfeld founded the district of Kirjat Mattersdorf in the north of Jerusalem, in memory of the Burgenland origin. The yeshiva, the Torah school of Mattersdorf, which was nationally respected before 1938, is continued there to this day, since Ehrenfeld's son and then his son succeeded their father as rabbis and bearers of the "Mattersdorfer scholarship".

In 2017, the memorial was erected in the Judengasse to commemorate the former Jewish community of Mattersburg. On November 5, 2017, the memorial on the site of the destroyed synagogue was opened by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen (see above).

 

Population development

The censuses carried out under Hungarian administration show 358 people (9.5%) in Mattersburg (without Walbersdorf) for 1910 and 275 people (7.4%) for 1920 who declared themselves to be Magyar. After Burgenland was annexed to Austria, this number dropped to 120 people (3.2%). The proportion of Burgenland Hungarians in the total population was around 1% in 2001, and that of Burgenland Croats 1.6% (measured against the resident population with Austrian citizenship).

The number of Jews in Mattersburg has been steadily declining since the end of the 19th century: while there were still 700 Jews in 1883, there were only 511 in 1934. Shortly after the National Socialists took power in Austria, the Jewish families were expelled from Mattersburg. Of the more than 500 Jews living here in 1938, around 400 survived the Shoah.

 

Sports

Soccer: The city has gained particular notoriety in recent years primarily through the soccer club SV Mattersburg, which played in the Bundesliga from 2003 to 2013 and from 2015 to the bankruptcy in 2020.
In 2009, a football academy was built for around 10 million euros with several grass pitches and a boarding school to promote young football in Burgenland.

Basketball: The BK Mattersburg Rocks has been playing in the 2nd Bundesliga South Division since the 2007/08 season.
Hockey: The ASKÖ hockey club has been playing in the leagues of the Austrian Hockey Association since 2006.
Two Austrian long-distance hiking trails, the Northern Alpine Trail and the Central Alpine Trail, lead through Mattersburg.

 

Economy and Infrastructure

Mattersburg is the economic center of the region with more than 300 companies and over 3,400 jobs. One of the largest companies is the food manufacturer Felix Austria. There are also many other businesses in the commercial and service sectors. Mattersburg has three shopping centers.

The Commerzialbank Mattersburg im Burgenland AG, a regional banking institute, is based in Mattersburg. The bank became nationally known in July 2020 after the financial market supervisory authority FMA uncovered extensive accounting fraud and the bank was then forced to close.

 

Traffic

Road: Mattersburg can be reached by road from Eisenstadt and Oberpullendorf via the Burgenland Expressway S 31 and from Wiener Neustadt via the Mattersburg Expressway S 4.
Train: Mattersburg is connected to Wiener Neustadt and Sopron by the Mattersburg train.

 

Mayor

The mayor of the city has been Claudia Schlager (SPÖ) since December 2021. In the 2022 election, she received 61.03 percent of the votes in the first ballot.

1931-1938: Michael Koch (CS)
1986-1991: Eduard Sieber (SPÖ)
1999-2021: Ingrid Salamon (SPÖ)
since 2021: Claudia Schlager (SPÖ)

 

City council

In addition to Mayor Claudia Schlager, the City Council also includes Deputy Mayor Otmar Illedits (SPÖ), Melanie Eckhardt (ÖVP), Rafaela Strauß (SPÖ), Andreas Feiler (ÖVP), Sophia Wilfing (SPÖ) and Manfred Schandl (SPÖ).

 

Coat of arms

The coat of arms was awarded to the city on July 4, 1973 by the Burgenland state government.
Description of coat of arms: In a red shield a golden poker with a silver handle. Above the shield a golden crown set with nine silver pearls.
The coat of arms figure is also interpreted as a vine knife, which indicates that the town was the largest wine-growing community in the dominion in the 17th century, had a number of privileges regarding the wine trade and had the right to serve wine as early as the 14th century.

 

Personalities

Honorary citizen
1993: Eduard Sieber († 2020), Mayor of Mattersburg 1986-1991

Sons and daughters of the community
Theodore Alconiere (1798–1865), painter
Johann Nepomuk Berger von der Pleisse (1768–1864), Feldzeugmeister
Pál Kitaibel (1757–1817), Hungarian botanist, physician and chemist
Michael Koch (1877–1941), master mason and politician
Heinrich Pollak (1834–1908), journalist and writer
Josef Rauhofer (1875–1939), politician (CS)
Franz Reisner (1890–1962), businessman and politician
Thomas Salamon (born 1989), footballer
Franz Sauerzopf (born 1932), politician (ÖVP)
Hans Suchard (1893–1968), politician and union secretary

People related to the community
Hertha Kräftner (1928–1951), writer, grew up in Mattersburg
Richard Berczeller (1902-1994), doctor, author and film actor, 1930-1938 community doctor of Mattersburg
David-Zwi Pinkas (1895–1952), Israeli politician and Minister of Transport, co-signer of the founding proclamation of the State of Israel, comes from Mattersburg on his father's side.
Claudia Schlager (* 1973), politician (SPÖ), member of the state parliament, city councilor and school director