Welcome to
the web pages of the Danube Swabian village of HRASTOVAC, also known
under its German name of EICHENDORF. Hrastovac was a thriving village
during the period of its original ethnic German inhabitants and
deserves to have its memory kept alive.
Hrastovac was established in
1865 by the sons and daughters of the Danube Swabian settlers in the
Swabian Turkey, the counties Baranya, Tolna and Somogy in what is
today Hungary but back in 1865 was still the Austrian Empire, which
two years later became Austro-Hungary.
Those Danube Swabians were descendants of the brave Pioneers who
arrived after the Turks were expelled from the Pannonian Plain in 1688
from diverse Germanic areas and transformed the swamps, deserts and
thick forest they found into the bread basket of Western Europe.
Their descendants spread as
of 1865 down to Slavonia and established what later became the vibrant
village of Hrastovac and many of its surrounding communities. Their
story and the story of their ancestors is written on these pages for
you.
Only a few years ago finding any ancestral information on that
village involved a major undertaking. First the City Hall was
telephoned to find out if the registry books were available and where
they were kept. The telephone call was followed with letters to the "maticni
ured" (vital registry office) in Garesnica, today's district city
hall, then to the archives in Bjelovar, Osijek and Zagreb, followed
by more calls, faxes and e-mails until a break-through was reached.
For any questions or suggestions please contact me directly.
