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The Luxembourg-Banat Database has emerged as a continuation of the work on the neglected Luxembourgish participation in the Eastern Colonization and can help genealogists determine the origin of their forefathers. However, it can serve historians and sociologists as a starting point for larger research projects of a diverse nature. Unfortunately, even today, the wealth of data that genealogy can provide is underestimated and not sufficiently taken into account in research projects.
In preparation for the organization of the European Capital of Culture 2007, event which Luxembourg and the Greater Region shared with Sibiu (Hermannstadt) in Romania, the founder of the Luxembourg-Banat database in 2005 wrote the book „Auswanderung zwischen Rhein und Maas nach Siebenbürgen“ (Emigration between Rhine and Meuse to Transylvania), which can be purchased from Luxracines.lu.
In Transylvania the political and ecclesiastical interests of Western Europe and the ascending Hungarian Kingdom overlapped: securing the territories conquered by Hungarians through colonists and spreading the Catholic faith. With the establishment of the Latin Empire in Constantinople in 1204 by Western European crusaders, the unity of Christianity seemed within reach again. A line of the House of Hainaut and Flanders related to the Counts of Luxembourg and to the Counts of Vianden rose to the new imperial throne. The king of Hungary, Andrew II, married a sister of the Latin emperor Baldwin II. In this way, ties were formed that enabled a centuries-long exchange between East and West. In the article published in 2007 in the magazine "Transilvania" „Das arpadische Königshaus in Ungarn und das Viandener Grafengeschlecht von 1205 – 1250” 1 (The Arpadian Royal Family in Hungary and the Counts of Vianden from 1205 to 1250) the author tries to investigate the relations between Hungary and Vianden in a short period of time and to work out possible conclusions about the settlement of Transylvania.
Under Austrian rule, Luxembourgers participated again in the 18th Century massively in the colonization of the Banat, a region that today belongs to Hungary, Romania and Serbia.
On October 20th 2019, the founder, Pierrot Frisch, presented in the context of the 14th National Day of Genealogy and Local History his database and gave a lecture on the Luxembourgish emigration to Banat in the 18th century. A french version of this lecture can be downloaded here. We assist again, under the Habsburg monarchy, to a planned emigration from Luxembourg and the Greater Region this time to the Banat and the Batschka, to repopulate the territories conquered from the Turks and thus permanently occupy and f ortify this border region.
On the Banat side, my special thanks go to Peter Senn, Ragnar Schmidt and Dietmar Giel for their active support, the provision of documents, improvements and advice in setting up the Luxembourg-Banat database.
Today the Luxembourg-Banat-Database allows us to observe migration movements in time and space in a differentiated manner: migrations in the Saar-Lor-Lux territories, immigration of qualified workers from Austria to Luxembourg under Habsburg rule, secondary emigration to the Banat and the United States, emigration from the Banat. These migrations are the mirror image of political decisions, military actions, economic differences and determine decisively the future of specific countries and regions.
1 Frisch, Pierrot (2007) Das arpadische Königshaus in Ungarn und das Viandener Grafengeschlecht von 1205 – 1250 - Besiedlung Siebenbürgens –
in: Transilvania, vol. 36, Nr. 8/9, S. 30-56.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362361210_Frisch_2007_-_Das_arpadische_Konigshaus_in_Ungarn
