The Expulsion
Protocol XIII of the Potsdam Declaration of August 2, 1945 subtitled: “Orderly Transfer of German Populations” states:
“The three governments (USA, Great Britain and the Soviet Union) having considered the question in all its aspects, recognize that the transfer to Germany of German populations or elements thereof remaining in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary will have to be undertaken. They agree that any transfer that takes place should be effected in an orderly and humane manner…”
The Hungarian government had already written to the Allied Control Commission on May 26, 1945: “It is urgent that these Germans who have betrayed Hungary in their support and in the service of Hitlerism be removed from our land because it is the only way to guarantee that in the future the German spirit and German oppression will never rule over our land again.”
In this report the number of Germans to be expelled was given as 200,000. On August 9, 1945 the Allied Control Commission informed the Hungarian government that on the basis of the Potsdam Declaration they should prepare themselves to expel a total of 450,000 Germans in Hungary. The actual total number of Germans in Hungary, that is “rump” Hungary after the First World War, stood at 470,000 and therefore this spoke of the expulsion of the total German population. The government continued to adamantly refuse to accept this figure as late as August 13, 1945 but then capitulated to the demands of the Allied Control Commission and agreed to the expulsion of 500,000 because they were also faced with masses of Hungarians who were being driven out Czechoslovakia and with no other alternative they signed the agreement on December 13, 1945 that all of the Germans in Hungary were to be expelled. I have translated that order:
“Regulation Number 12330/1945: With regard to the expulsion and transfer of the German population in Hungary to Germany on the basis of the Allied Powers’ Regulation XI:1945 subsection 15:
Those individuals holding Hungarian citizenship who acknowledged their German nationality or German mother tongue in the last census (1941), those who assumed their German family name after having had it Hungarianized, those who were members of the Volksbund or belonged or served in a German military formation or the SS is under obligation to be resettled in Germany.
1) The specifications associated with the above do not apply to the spouse or minor children of the marriage, if the spouse is not of German nationality (mother tongue) as well as those not affected by the above regulation living in the same household who are their relatives (parents, grandparents) if they were 65 years old before December 15, 1945. 2) The regulation as noted above has no effect on the individual who was a member of a democratic political party or at least a member of a recognized labour union. 3) The regulation noted above does not apply to anyone who claimed German as their mother tongue but declared themselves to be of Hungarian nationality, if they can prove through witnesses that they suffered persecution for being loyal to the Hungarian nation. 4) Those identified in 2) and 3) are freed from the regulations and the wife (widow) minor children (or underage orphans) along with those relatives living with them in their household (parents, grandparents). 5) Exemptions from these regulations and exceptions 2) and 3) do not apply to those individuals who changed their names back to its German form after having Hungarianized it or were members of the Volksbund or any other Fascist organization as well as any military formation. 6) Questions with regard to exemption from any of these regulations should be addressed directly to the Commission responsible to the Ministry of the Interior.
1) The moveable and non-moveable property of those persons to be expelled- whether they are currently in Hungary or in a foreign country-are declared confiscated as per the day that this law goes into force and the resident owner is not allowed to take anything or damage the property in any way. The resident owner can only take a reasonable amount of assets (food and other provisions) to meet the immediate needs of the household and its economic necessities. 2) The confiscated property will be inventoried. Qualified personnel with the authority to carry out and list the inventory will be appointed by the appropriate ministry and will also establish the value of the inventory. 3) The Ministry of the Interior will determine which movable property the expellees may take with them. 4) Any offence committed in light of 1) in keeping, damaging or destroying the confiscated property and goods will be considered a crime and will be punished with ten years in prison.
1) The expellees identified in regulation I are to register as households in every community and receive a certificate to that effect. Those persons absent from their communities at the time of the registration are required to provide identification papers. 2) Exempt from this registration and obtaining identification papers are those who are not to be expelled. 3) Every official in the district is obligated to properly carry out the purpose of this regulation and provide the results to the local community authorities.
1) The list of the names of the expellees is to be posted publicly on the community bulletin board. 2) Those persons whose names appear on the list can only leave their place of residence with the permission of the local public officials. Such permission can only be given if the person can meet certain qualifications or conditions. 3) Individuals who leave their place of residence without permission or attempt to escape from the expulsion will face internment under police arrest until such time as they are expelled and all of their possession will be confiscated. 4) In those communities where it appears there may be some obstructions with regard to the expulsion the Minister of the Interior can call upon the necessary force to carry it out…
1) The Interior Minister may send observers to oversee the carrying out of the expulsion. 2) The orders of the Ministry along with the expulsion regulations must be obeyed and carried out by the governing authorities and their representatives. The delegates of the Ministry will call upon security forces if required to carry out the operation.
The Minister of the Interior is responsible for carrying out these regulations in co-operation with the other appropriate ministries. 2) The decree and its regulations go into force on the day of its publication and the Interior Minister will see to its execution.
Budapest, December 22, 1945
Tildy Zoltán, Prime Minister
The decree was in response to the decision of the local representatives of the Allied Control Commission, which did not give the number of persons to be expelled, but only the maximum number that could be absorbed by Germany. The Allied Control Commission however, demanded that the Hungarian government carry out the decree on its own initiative but on January 26, 1946 the Hungarian government declared it was not yet prepared to carry it out. The expulsion of the Germans from Hungary got underway in January 1946 and brought 195,931 of them from Hungary to Germany and among them were 44,104 persons from the Tolna alone, (the number of expellees from other effected counties: Pest 39,642, Györ-Sopron 26,110, Baranya 25,139, Fejér 16,300, Veszpém 13,133, Bács-Kiskun 10,383, Komárom-Esztergom 6,025, Békés 4,548, Budapest 4,100, Somogy 3,238, Vas 2,778 and Csongrád 431). During the year 1946 approximately 135,000 of the Germans in Hungary came into the American and British Zones of occupation in Germany and in the following year 55,000 people were sent to the Soviet occupation Zone. Those who would follow in 1948 were also expelled to the Soviet Zone of occupation. Great numbers of them, in fact the great majority were simply victims of expediency, they were simply German by nationality, who had nothing to do with the SS or the Volksbund, in fact many of their fiercest opponents were among those who were expelled. The expulsions were halted in 1948 because there was simply no room for more of them in Germany. This collective guilt and the punishment of a whole people, every man, woman and child, has no political or humane basis. The Hungarian politicians, as well as those in Poland and Czechoslovakia were guilty of not having offered a critique or provided any opposition to this initiative on the part of the victorious Allied Powers. We can learn how the expropriation took place in the villages from the remembrances of Anna Maria Lehr (born in 1936) of Izmény:
“At seven o’clock in the morning on April 13, 1945 the mayor’s assistant went about the village beating his drum and announcing that all people, whether young or old, including the children as young as nursing infants were to assemble at the right hand side of the entrance to the village. Those who could not walk, the sick and the small children had to be brought by wagon. The only ones who were allowed to stay at home were those who were dieing at least that is what was said. Armed police surrounded the whole village. The people in the village were treated as if they were the greatest of criminals. The way to where we were to assemble was guarded on both sides. When and from where all of these policemen came to our village, no one knows to this day. Slowly all of the people of the village arrived and by eight o’clock all of them must have been there. The local elected leaders should have known about it, but it had been kept a secret from the rest of us. People were divided into groups according to a list of names. There was an A and B group (to the right and to the left). The person who stood on the A side had to go to Lengyel, and those who stood on the B side were allowed to go back to the village (Izmény was the first village in the Tolna where this was done). The people were taken to Lengyel by horse and wagon and those who could not find room on one had to walk. The people were escorted by heavily armed policemen, to prevent anyone from escaping. It was said that all of the members of the Volksbund had to leave. But that was not true, because there were many among of them who had not been members of the Volksbund. The people of the village were all in a state of shock about the whole thing. There was great fear among all of the villagers. The people were kept in the assembly area from eight to eleven o’clock. A Commission went about the village to the houses of the people that had been taken to Lengyel and they posted notices on them indicating no one was allowed to enter them again. The people who had to leave for Lengyel were imprisoned in the swine stalls of the castle (actually the manor house) of the Count. They were treated like animals. They lay on the floor next to one another on straw (there were also numerous children among them) because it was very cold that night. They warmed one another. The people from Izmény were kept in the swine stalls for ten days, with no water to wash, and almost without food; they were hungry and dirty. They were forbidden to have visitors. They were guarded night and day by armed policemen as well as Hungarian civilians who carried pitchforks, so that no one could escape. After these ten difficult days they were sent into the Count’s castle. The castle had served as quarters for the Russian military and looked quite terrible. In the meanwhile, other Germans from various villages in the Tolna had been brought there as well. There were no windows in the castle or indoor doors because they had all been removed by the Russians. Straw lay on all of the floors on which the prisoners were to sleep and up to ten people were housed in each room. There was no water and no toilets. In the garden of the castle a hole was dug and that served as the toilet. For many of the people that was very embarrassing because they had to be accompanied by an armed policeman when they went to use it. After a stay of about a week in the castle the prisoners inside were allowed visitors. The first to come was Ernst Hoffmann, our pastor, who came by horse and wagon to visit his parishioners. I came along with the pastor to visit to my mother. Policemen and civilian guards surrounded the castle. The people were only allowed to stand close by the windows and looked out and it was awful when we saw the people and all of them wept. Our pastor was able to comfort them. He read a short passage of scripture and prayed for all of them, that the Lord would give them strength to withstand the terrible things that were happening to them. In conclusion he prayed the Lord’s Prayer with all of them joining in. It had all gone by so quickly. Now we had to say our farewells. The policemen shot their rifles into the air. The people were all happy that the pastor had come to visit them. We were not allowed to bring them any food; it was forbidden. The policemen had searched the wagon. The pastor was allowed to visit them once more and I went with him again. Our stay was very short again. The people were not allowed out of the castle, they could only look out of the windows. One man told us that some people were being beaten, but only those from Izmény.
This was read at the 50th anniversary festival and all of it is perfectly true. The people from Izmény, and I believe all of the others, were allowed to leave the castle in May. They were told: You are free now. You can go wherever you want, but never back to your own houses. The people well knew that everything had been expropriated. This was a terrible fate for the Germans. Since then of course, we have been told it was an injustice, but that has come years too late. How happy our grandparents would have been if they could have lived to see the day when amends were made, even though the amends were only in words.”
Following the expropriation, most of those involved sought shelter with friends or relatives and in some cases with the new owners of their property in an attempt to find a way to survive.
The expulsion of the villagers of Izmény was carried out in two separate operations. The first group was transported by train in cattle cars to the Soviet Zone of occupation in August of 1947 and the second group left in March of 1948. Except for their regulation backpack (whose weight limits had been set) they could take nothing else with them. The names of those who were expelled can be read in the register of the individual families. Most of the families from Izmény arrived at the transit camp in Pirna and from here they were dispersed to Bischofswerda, Crimmitschau, Grosspostwitz, and Meissen. Many of them fled to the American and British Zones of occupation before 1949 and the establishment of the DDR (German Democratic Republic). They had to rebuild their lives and make their way in their new and yet old homeland.
Those who remained behind also faced severe difficulties of their own. From one day to the next, they became more and more a minority in their own village. There were three to five families (sometimes more) sheltered in a single house. Many years passed by until we no longer looked upon ourselves as criminals and sinners, and could trust one another enough to speak German among ourselves. Most of the former residents of Izmény now living in Germany are located in the regions of Ahlen (Nordrhein-Westphalia), Maxhütt-Haidhof (Bavaria), Grosspostwitz, Meissen, Crimmitschau and Bischofswerda (Saxony). Others of our countrymen are scattered in the United States and Canada or live in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, the capital city of Argentina.
Taking the place of those who were expelled and assuming ownership of their properties were Reformed Hungarians from Slovakia and Roman Catholic “Tschangos” from the Seklar area (the borderland between present day Moldavia and Romania). This group suffered a unique fate of its own. They had to leave their centuries old homeland that they had been given by the Hungarian government who then resettled them in the Batschka after it was annexed to Hungary during the Second World War and then afterwards received a new home in the German villages in the Tal District of Tolna County. The Hungarians for their part were exchanged on the basis of an agreement concluded between Hungary and Czechoslovakia and were settled in the properties of the German population in Hungary.
In the year 1941, there was a population of 800 Germans in Izmény. In 1949 there 182 Germans, 600 Tschangos and 160 Hungarians in the village. The numbers speak for themselves. The older people gradually died out, the young people married spouses from the other nationalities or went into the cities (Bonyhád, Szkeszárd, Pécs, Dombovár, Komló) or moved to larger villages (Nagymányok, Máza) where it was easier to make a living. As a result today there are 550 inhabitants with some 20 Germans now living in the village. The Lutheran Church that used to be crowded with people who had held fast to their faith and whose ancestors had made so many sacrifices for their sake, remains a witness of their faith for all time, even though today, only around five to ten people participate in the worship services.
This is the tragedy of a faith, a people, a nationality, a village community and its history, which can never be changed again. That is the sad and sorrowful fact about the once flourishing German Hungarian village of Izmény (Ismin) now forever without its German people and character.
Pastors of the Congregation
Walther
As mentioned previously, he served in the village presumably from 1723 until 1724 and from here he went on to Kismányok and then in the year 1728 he went elsewhere. In the book about the Church District written by George Bárány he is described as “sinnensis ex Darmstadt” (formerly of Darmstadt). Because there were a number of pastors with the name of Walther who served in the Church District, it is difficult to distinguish among them and we are unable to determine with accuracy the man’s later life experiences. It is unlikely that he was already in Izmény in 1722 and had arrived there with the first settlers because the number of settlers at the time was very small so that would not have warranted a pastor of their own. With Walther’s move to Kismányok, Izmény became a filial congregation for the next decades.
Stephan Bárány
We already reported on his presence in the village. He was the second son of George Bárány de Szenicze (1682-1757) and his wife Anna Varga. His father served as the pastor in Nagyvázsony – Weissenburg County (Veszprém) (1713-1718), in Gyönk (1718-1719), in Györköny (1719-1722), and in Sárszentlörinc (1722-1726, 1729-1757). He was the organizer of the Tolna Church District during the time when numerous Lutherans from Germany and northern Hungary were arriving here. The father of Stephan was one of the most important figures in the annals of Lutheranism in Hungary. The second pastor of Izmény, Stephan Bárány was born to this family in December of 1717 in Nagyvázsony. During the time of his ministry in Izmény the church entries continued to be recorded in the Church Records in Kismányok and from that we can assume that nothing had changed in terms of the filial arrangements between Izmény and Kismányok, which remained the mother church. Bárány was therefore an assistant to the pastor in Kismányok. He served in the village from 1742 to 1743 as the pastor. In 1743 he was expelled from office at the instigation of the Roman Catholic clergy, so that his ministry in Izmény lasted only one year. After Izmény, he was the pastor in Kistormás between 1743 and 1749 and between 1749 and 1775 in Varsád. In 1746 he was elected co-Dean of the Church District and in the year 1768 as Dean (he remained in this office until the time of his death). He died in Varsád on March 17, 1775 at the age of 57 years 3 months and 23 days. He was married three times and had nine children. His first wife Anna Domonkos died in Varsád in 1756 at the age of 38 years. His son Gabriel (born 1737 in Sárszentlörinc) was the pastor in Kistormás between 1764-1769. The brother of Stephan Bárány, Johann Bárány (1716-1758) was the pastor in Felpéc and between 1756-1758 he was the bishop of Trans Danubia.
David Perlitzy
He was the first pastor elected in Izmény following the Edict of Toleration. He was a member of a noble family and was born in 1755 in Szák in Komorn County, the son of the pastor Johann Perlitzy. He completed his primary studies at the schools in Sopron (Ödenburg). With the permission of the Governing Council he was allowed to continue his studies at the University of Wittenberg. He was elected the Lizent by the congregation in 1778 as the successor of Daniel Klement who had been elected the pastor of Kismányok. In May of 1784 he was elected pastor by the congregation and ordained. The church was built under his leadership in 1784-1785. Friedrich Buss was called by the congregation, to replace him as teacher. Perlitzy was a true guardian of the mother tongue and culture of his congregation. During his entire ministry he never preached in Hungarian even once. In the year 1792 the neighbouring village of Györe became a filial congregation of Izmény and at the beginning of the 19th century Máza became another and as a result his work was greatly increased. He married Charlotta von Szegner, the daughter of Johann Szegner and his wife Judith nee Wiedisch. He was the mayor of St. Georgen by Pressburg. They married in the church in Izmény on January 4, 1791. A son was born in this marriage. After many years of service in Izmény, Perlitzy’s eyesight became weak after 1825 and eventually on doctor’s orders he resigned. He bid farewell to his numerous brother pastors at an assembly of the Church District in Varsád on May 13, 1830. In his farewell address he spoke of the necessity to preserve the culture and the faith of their ancestors and of the importance of battling against all of the forces that would attempt to destroy them. He spent his remaining years in his wife’s family circle in St. Georgen where he died. The seat of the leading bishop of the Lutheran Church in Slovakia was in St. Georgen at that time.
Ludwig Bergmann
After Perlitzy gave up his ministry the congregation remained without a pastor from July 1830 until March 1832, almost two years. This was the situation they had to live with, although the congregation wrote to the bishop twice in the year 1831 requesting that he ordain the vicar in Mekényes, Samuel Knar the pastor’s son there, in order to serve as the pastor in Izmény. The two requests were both denied because the bishop felt the candidate was too young. In this situation in which the congregation found itself it was served by the neighbouring pastors of whom Andreas Bertel of Muscfa and Joseph Ritter of Majos were the most important. Additional pastors who provided pastoral services were: Stephan Hators, the pastor of Ráckozár, Joseph Borbély the preacher in Bonyhád, Johann Fuhrmann, pastor in Kismányok, Karl Kelchbrunner vicar in Ráckozár, as well as the Roman Catholic priest Joseph Kelemen from Szászvár and Paul Endrödy from Apar (all of the children baptized between November 1831 and March 1832 were performed by one of the two).
There was a great celebration in Izmény on March 25, 1832 as the Dean Emmrich Tatai, the pastor of Tolnanémedi ordained young Ludwig Bergmann as pastor and with his arrival the vacancy was filled. Gottlieb Ludwig Bergmann was born on April 4, 1807 in the German Lutheran village of Szarázd in the Tolna. His father, Chrisitian Gottlieb Theophil Bergmann (born in Sopron on May 29, 1767, died in Szarázd on October 25, 1847) was the pastor of both of the congregations in Hidegkút and Szarázd between the years 1793-1807, from 1807 until his death he was the elected pastor of Szarázd. His mother was Sussana Wohlmuth (born around 1776 in Ödenburg, died on June 29, 1834 in Szarázd). His parents married on September 12, 1796 in Ödenburg. There were nine children: Gottlieb Ludwig (born 1797 and died 1800), Karl Joseph (born 1801), Susanna Charlotte (born 1803), Samuel Karl (born 1805), Gottlieb Ludwig (born 1807), Katharina Theresia (born 1809 and died in 1809), Elisabeth Amalia (born 1809 and died 1809), Maria Amalia (born 1811) and Gottlieb Friedrich (born 1814). The youngest son Gottlieb Friedrich also became a pastor. He matriculated from the University of Vienna on September 2, 1834 and following his studies he was vicar in Györköny between 1836 and 1837 and between 1837 and 1842 he was vicar with his father in Szarázd and from 1843 until his death in 1881 he was the pastor in Györköny.
From his origins we can see that Pastor Ludwig Bergmann grew up in our regions and through his father’s ministry he was well familiar with the German Lutherans in Swabian Turkey during his childhood and youth. After completing his education and studying theology it was his desire to return as a pastor in this area and among its people. He matriculated from the Department of Theology of the University of Vienna on October 31, 1826. With the conclusion of his studies, he was a vicar with his father in Szarázd and then in 1831-1832 in Kéty, until March 1832 when he was ordained and became the pastor of Izmény. In 1833 he married Caroline Stotz. There were seven children born to their family. The daughter Caroline became the wife of the engineer Rudolph Ihrig, the daughter Ludovika married the resident teacher George Buss. There is no further information with regard to the three sons: Karl Joseph Friedrich (born in 1835), Gustav Adolph (born 1837) and Emil (born in 1841). Following the death of his wife in 1859, Bergmann married a second time, Johanna Knar of Mekényes the daughter of the resident pastor, Johann Knar and his wife Lidia Sebestyén. Bergmann also had to bury his second wife in 1884. In the year 1889, on the death of the Crown Prince Rudolph, he preached a powerful funeral sermon for which he was awarded the Gold Cross in the same year, by the Emperor, Francis Joseph. In his later years he received assistance from the following vicars:
Julius Ermel between 1872 and 1876 (late vicar in Apáti and the pastor there between 1876 and 1885).
Wilhelm Schleining between 1877 and 1881 (born in Kötcse in 1845 and between 1868 and 1876 vicar with his father in Majos, and then from the end of 1881 until 1883 he was the Adminstrator in Magyarbóly, between 1883 and 1884 the vicar in Kótcse, between 1884 and 1911 the pastor in Kótcse, and from 1911 until his death he was in retirement and died in 1930.
Otto Kottler from January 1, 1883 for a few months (from November 15, 1883 to 1889 the pastor in Magyarbóly and after 18898 the pastor Bulkes (northern Batschka).
Gustav Petz from April of 1883 until autumn of 1883 (previously he had been vicar in Harta).
Ladislaus Novomesztsky from December 1883 until November 27, 1884 (later he became the pastor of Nagylak then in the County of Békés)
Béla König from December 1884 until December 1888 (previously he had been vicar in Mekényes)
Julius Takács from December 1888 until the death of Pastor Bergmann (previously the vicar in Répcelak)
In his later years, the state of his health did not allow him to do much in terms of his ministry and he died on May 3, 1893. He served the congregation as their pastor for 61 years! His grave, those of his two wives and daughter Caroline can still be seen in the Izmény cemetery. Following Bergmann’s death the vicar Julius Takács acted as the Administrator of the parish and provided pastoral care.
Johann Szabó
In September of 1893, the recently elected Pastor Johann Szabó began his ministry. He was born in Lajoskomárom (Fejér County) on October 30, 1867, the son of the farmer Johann Szabó and his wife Elisabeth Mosberger. He was ordained in Ödenburg on September 18, 1892. Between September 1892 and September 1893 he was the vicar in his place of birth in Lajoskomárom. While he was there, he was elected pastor of Izmény. Right at the beginning of his ministry, Miksa Hildebrand came to the village as the teacher. On April 30, 1894 he married Ida Rüll in Bonyhád, the daughter of Karl Rüll and his wife Emilia Bernhardt, while he was the teacher in Kaposszekcsö. They had five children: Ida (born in 1895), Johann (born in 1897 and died in 1897), Emmerich (born in 1897 and died in 1899), Ilona (born in 1899 and died in 1922) and Johann (born in 1901). The youngest daughter married Captain Dezsö Fükö and died in Baja, and buried in the Izmény cemetery. The brother of the pastor, Christian Szabó also married in Izmény and settled here as a farmer (and later emigrated to America). Pastor Szabó sought to win the pastorate in Ráckozár in 1901, but without success after the death of Pastor Guggenberger, which had caused the vacancy. The congregation elected to call Johann Wagner who had been born there. In March of 1934 Pastor Szabó retired and his last service was in June of 1934 and then he and his wife moved away to Székesfehérvár where he lived during his retirement and died on April 20, 1955. His leaving played a major role in the election of a teacher after Hildebrand (who had come as the cantor and teacher to Izmény a few months after his arrival) retired in December of 1933. For the short period between March and September in 1934 the parish was without a pastor.
Ernst Hoffmann
After Johann Szabó retired, the Presbyterium (the elders of the congregation) and the congregation were called to a meeting at which Adam Weigel, the pastor from Muscfa presented candidates to fill the pastorate in Izmény: Adam Petermann, the pastor from Páti, Heinrich Falk, the teacher in Töfü having completed his theological education, Ferenc Kiss, pastor in the prison at Sopronköhida, Dezsö Aizepreiss interim pastor in Tengelic and Ernst Hoffmann, the pastor in Pusztavám. The congregation invited three of the candidates to hear a trial sermon: Ernst Hoffmann, Dezsö Aizenpreiss and Ferenc Kiss. On July 1st the congregation indicated by a great majority their preference for Pastor Hoffmann as their first choice and Dezsö Aizepreiss in second place (he received 11 votes). On August 5th the congregation elected its new pastor: 158 votes for Ernst Hoffmann and 3 votes for Dezsö Aizepriess. Accordingly, Ernst Hoffmann was declared the new pastor of Izmény. He had been born in the German Hungarian village of Zsibrik (Baranya County) on June 7, 1900. His parents were Samuel Hoffmann and Katharina Wagner and he was the teacher in Zsibrik and then in Kaposszeckcsö. He completed his high school studies in Bonyhád. He enlisted in the 19th Battalion in 1918. He graduated from Officer’s Training School and was released from war service with the rank of Corporal. He studied theology in Sopron between 1918 and 1922. He was ordained to the pastorate on September 16, 1922. From October 1922 to March 1927 he was a vicar in Dombovár, from March 1927 to November 1927 he was a teacher of religion in Györ, from November 1927 to September 1934 he was the pastor in Pusztavám and from there he was elected pastor in Izmény in September 1934 and remained the pastor of the congregation until October 1957. He was the leader in numerous organizations in Izmény. During the time of his ministry, several hundreds of his parishioners, around 70% of the membership of the congregation were expelled from the village in 1947 and 1948. The pastor did not abandon his small flock and served them under difficult circumstances with his unconditional loyalty to his calling and his people. His path then took him back to Pusztavám in October of 1957 where he continued to serve as pastor until he died in 1970.
Heinrich Weiler
He was the last resident pastor of the congregatioin. After Pastor Hoffmann went to Pusztavám in October 1957, Heinrich Weiler was ordained by Bishop Louis Ordass (Wolf) in November of 1957, to serve as the pastor in Izmény. Heinrich Weiler was born to a farming family in Nagy-Ág (Baranya County) on January 22, 1917. His parents were Elias Weiler and Anna Rasch. He attended and graduated from the Junior College in Bonyhád and between 1936 and 1940 he studied theology in Sopron. On June 26, 1940 he was ordained as a pastor by Bishop Béla Kapi. Between August and September in 1940 he was vicar in Varsád and then until 1942 he was vicar in Majos. Between 1942 and 1946 he was the Administrator in Ivándarda (Baranya County) and between 1946 and 1951 he was the director of the mission school in Nagytarcsa (Pest County) and then he was elected the pastor of the congregation in Szepetnek (Zala County) where he served until November 1957. He was pastor of Izmény from November 1957 to November 1963. Between 1963 and 1966 he was the pastor in Knittelfeld in the Steiermark (Austria); between 1966 and 1972 he served in Vienna-Herndlgasse and between 1972 and 1979 in Schwechat. Until the time of his death he provided pastoral assistance to the congregation and its filials. He was visiting his daughter in Pécs when he died unexpectedly. According to his personal wishes he was buried at his last parish that he served in Hungary and he is buried in Izmény.
Since 1963 the pastorate of Izmény has been vacant. After Pastor Weiler, the pastor in Mucsfa, Franz Szentgyörgyi (originally Amminger) was appointed Adminstrator for the next few years while he was there and had the responsibility for pastoral care in Izmény. Izmény was a filial again. After Szentgyögyi, the pastors who had Izmény and came to serve them were: Béla Karl (died in Nagymányok, György Lupták (now pastor in Kiskörös), Erzsébet Csepregni (now pastor in Sárszentlörinc), János Brebovszky (later pastor in Paks for a few years but died early), Zoltán Ócsai (today pastor in Györ), Bernadett Schaller a vicar, János Brebovszky served in Máza, Zoltán Ócsai and the current vicar reside in Váralja and serve the congregations in Nagymányok and Máza as well as Izmény.
The Teachers in the Community and Congregation
Arndt Schriba
He was possibly the first teacher in the community. The first mention of him with this title is in the Kismányok Church Records dated 21.09.1729 at the baptism of the daughter of Johannes Schenk (Arndt Schriber, the school teacher from Issmy godfather of his daughter Anna Dorothea). In the year 1734 he taught German in the school with 60 pupils. The last mention of him in the Church Records is as Godfather at a baptism on 25.07.1738. His name cannot be found in the list of taxpayers. In the year 1742 at the marriage of his son, we find him in Kalaznó and he is identified as the teacher there. His daughter, Dorothea married Johann Wilhelm Rück while he was still in Izmény, and his son Johann George Schriba married Barbara Elisabeth Wolf the daughter of the brother-in-law of Johannes Zinn who was his successor. He probably left for Kalaznó from Izmény somewhere between 1738 and 1739 (certainly between 1738 and 1741). The family name died out in Izmény, but his son, Johann Adam, established a family in Kalaznó and his descendants did the same in Varsád. Outside of the little bit we discover about him in the Church Records we know very little. He was certainly born around 1685 to 1690 and his wife was Maria Salome who he married before 1715.
Peter Schiller
I have not been able to locate any sources with regard to his stay in Izmény as the teacher. But he is mentioned in Szita’s publication as a teacher. (He writes that a Peter Schüller was present in the village and served as the teacher from 1735 to 1740 and that he arrived with the first settlers). At the marriage of his son Kaspar Schüller in 1734 he was still living but he is not identified as the teacher. Between 1729 and 1738 he was certainly not the schoolmaster or he was simply an assistant of Arndt Schriba. It is possible that in 1722-1723 before Arndt Schriba arrived in the village he took on the role of the teacher. It is less likely that he was the schoolmaster after 1738.
Johannes Gring
His name cannot be found in the Kismányok Church Records. He was possibly the teacher between 1739-1741 as the successor of Arndt Schriba. There is nothing further known about him.
Johannes Zinn
He was the teacher in the community from 1741 until 1750. Johannes Zinn was supposedly born in Elmenrod in Hesse around 1690. He married the daughter of the pastor of Glauberg, Johanetta Elisabeth Wolf in Glauberg. He was schoolmaster here from 1714-1741 until he was apparently persuaded by the invitation of a family from Glauberg who was living in Izmény (Schenk, Franz) to emigrate to Izmény along with the family of his brother-in-law Ludwig Christian Wolf and immediately became the teacher upon his arrival. Following the death of his first wife, he married for a second time before 1734 and his wife was Klara Dietz. In his first marriage he had five children and four in his second (three of them in Izmény). He died in Izmény on February 23, 1750 (the entry in the Church Records does not indicate his age at death). His widow married the widower Johann Heinrich, 19 years later in Izmény.
George Laurenti
He was born in 1722 and was the teacher in Izmény from 1750 until 1764 when he died. Nothing further is known about his origins. He married the daughter of his predecessor Johannes Zinn in 1751 in Izmény. He died September 13, 1764 after having been bed ridden for several days. His widow entered into a second marrige with Johann Adolph Vallant, the teacher in Majos in June 8, 1765 and through this marriage she brought along their daughter to Majos.
Samuel Zunft
He held the office of teacher between 1764 until 1767. He was born in 1746 and came as a young teacher to his first and last assignment. He married the daughter of Pastor Michael Weiss of Kismányok, Anna Katharina Weiss. His marriage and career were both very short in that he died on January 10, 1767 at the age of 20 years. His wife followed him two months later.
Johannes Wölfing
He came to Izmény at the beginning of 1767 and served as the teacher in the community until 1768. There is nothing known about either his former or later life.
Daniel Klement
He came to the village in the year 1768 and was the teacher until 1773 and from 1773 until 1778 the Lizent of the congregation. He was born on November 2, 1743 in Besztercebánya in Slovakia, the son of Samuel Klement and Elisabeth Graf. Following his theological studies he came to Izmény. In 1768 he married Maria Elisabeth Klar. Five children were born to the couple in Izmény. When the possibility of establishing a Lizent ministry in Izmény arose, he was elected to be the first Lizent by the congregation. As previously mentioned, the Lizent was an assistant of the pastor and he was allowed to baptize, marry and bury and in addition he carried out all of the duties of the teacher. He recorded the first entries in the Church Records beginning in 1773. Klement was the first teacher in community who had studied theology. On April 10, 1778 he was ordained in Nemesdömölk as the pastor of Kismányok, which had been the mother church he had served in Izmény. He served the congregation in Izmény indirectly as the pastor of Kismányok until the autumn of 1783. In 1783 he accepted the pastorate in Ókörtvélyes (then in the County of Vas but now Slovenia) where he died on July 20, 1804.
David Perlitzy
David Perlitzy was called as Lizent as the successor of David Klement. He was in office until May of 1784 when he was ordained as pastor of Izmény and more about him appears earlier as a pastor of the congregation.
Samuel Szeliczky
We know very little about his time in Izmény. On the basis of the analysis of the handwriting in the Church Records between May 1778 and October 1779 we can detect another hand that was certainly not Perlitzy’s handwriting. Perhaps this was the period that he served here while Perlitzy finished his studies in Wittenberg.
Friedrich Busz
With the election of Perlitzy as pastor, he took over the office of teacher in the year 1784 (he was still in Varsád in February of 1784) until his death in 1814 in Izmény. He was born on August 6, 1762 in Kismányok, the son of the resident teacher Heinrich Busz and his wife Christina Fey. His father was the teacher in Varsád between 1750 and 1760 and again between 1764 and 1777 and in Kismányok in the time between. His father was the founder of the extended Busz family of teachers. His brother Johannes Busz was the teacher in Varsád until 1799. On February 25, 1783 he married Christina Weitert in Varsád, she was the daughter of the man in charge of wine cellars at Högyész, Johannes Weitert. The marriage was blessed with ten children. He died on February 24, 1814 in his 30th year as teacher in Izmény at the age of 52 years.
Johannes Döring
He was born around 1785 and was the teacher in Izmény between 1814 and 1818. His place of origin is unknown. His wife was Anna Maria Schmiermund. Two children were born to the couple in Izmény. Döring died young on December 9, 1818 at the age of 33 years, 8 months and 5 days.
Johannes Busz
Döring’s successor was Johannes Busz who held the office of teacher between 1818 and 1833. He was born in Izmény, the son of the teacher Friedrich Busz and his wife Anna Christina Weithard on Febraury 8, 1787. In the year 1807 he took over the role of assistant teacher with his father in Izmény. He married Sabine Stolzenbach on January 30, 1810 and she was the daughter of the miller in Kismányok, Johannes Stolzenbach and his wife Theresia Sommer. From the time of his marriage he is mentioned as the notary of the community. In 1811 he was called to Felsönána to serve as the teacher where he served until the death of his predecessor Johannes Döring and he moved here. One daughter was born to the couple in Felsönána. In 1818 he was called to be the teacher in Izmény. He committed suicide on December 4, 1833 in Izmény.
George Grosch
The newly elected teacher George Grosch was born on December 30, 1812 in Mucsfa, the son of the resident teacher there, George Grosch and his wife Anna Margareta Ruppert. His father came from the German Reich as a single young man and teacher and is the founder of the widespread Grosch family of teachers. The son, George Grosch came to Izmény as a single 20 year old teacher and his teaching career was cut short to a few months, because of his death on May 31, 1834.
Heinrich Busz
He was born in Varsád on March 4, 1795 the son of the resident teacher Johannes Busz (born 1766) and his wife Elisabeth Grimm. He and his predecessor Johann Busz were cousins. Heinrich was the teacher in Apáti between 1817 and 1833 and came here following Grosch’s death. On May 6, 1817 he married Elisabeth Lämle in Kéty, the daughter of the notary in Kéty, Heinrich Lämle and his wife Elisabeth Bischof. In the year 1838 his daughter married his assistant teacher Johann Hütter, the son of George Hütter and his wife Elisabeth Busz of Bonyhád. After having been served by his uncle Friedrich Busz for a long term, he too served the congregation on a long term basis and died of dropsy shortly after his 25th year of teaching in Izmény on April 19, 1861.
George Busz
He was born in Kalaznó on June 22, 1840 the eldest son Johann George Busz and Elisabeth Muser. His father and his predecessor Heinrich Busz were cousins. He came as a young man to teach in Izmény and was married here on May 18, 1863 to Ludovica Bergmann, the daughter of the Pastor Ludwig Bergmann and his wife Christina Stotz. After 30 years of fulfilling his teaching ministry he died of typhus on December 16, 1874. His widow married a second time, the widower Rudolph Ihrig who was her brother-in-law. Busz’s monument stands to this day in the back of the old cemetery in Izmény.
Karl Grosch
He was born on December 1, 1846 in Apáti the son of the resident teacher Heinrich Grosch and his wife Elisabeth Wentzel. In terms of his earlier teaching career we only know that he served in Szabadi from the summer of 1873 to the end of 1874. From there he came to Izmény at the beginning of 1875. On June 17, 1875 he married Elisabeth Höhnel, the widow of the teacher in Magyarbóly, Heinrich Wenczel. A son was born to them, Karl Grosch, who became a doctor after first working in a hospital in Budapest and later became a member of the health ministry. Grosch left the community by mutual agreement with the congregation on January 1, 1893.
Karl Amminger
Three candidates were proposed for the election of a new teacher: the current assistant teacher Karl Amminger, the assistant teacher in Bonyhád, Johann Waller, and Michael Gesell the assistant teacher in Ráckozár. The congregation voted overwhelmingly for the first mentioned as the new head teacher. A year later he was elected the teacher in Szentgyörgy and took his leave of the community on Febaruary 23, 1894 with the grateful thanks of the congregation for his past services.
Maximillian Hildebrand
The young Maximillian Hildebrand was the elected successor of Karl Amminger as cantor and teacher. In May 1874 he was appointed secretary of the meetings of the congregation. He was born in 1874 in Kapospula, the son of a railway official, Jakob Hildebrand and his wife Katharina Büchner. On December 18, 1894 he married Anna Kraft the daughter of Just Kraft of Bonyhád. The couple had five children. On September 16, 1906 he was elected as the head teacher in Mucsfa at a salary of 1,500 Crowns per year, a garden, a residence and the regular educational fees, accepted the call and prepared to go there. A special congregational meeting was immediately held in Izmény, where the congregation raised the salary of the head teacher to 1,500 Crowns and in addition a piece of land (234 Quadraklafter) as well as a smaller parcel of land in the vicinity of the cemetery for his use. Since he was invited by a delegation from the congregation to participate in a congregational meeting he did so and afterwards received a written contract from the congregation and he indicated he was prepared to continue as the head teacher. In the year 1926, because of illness he took a three month leave of absence, and his substitute was Eugene Spannagel. He served the congregation until October 1, 1933 when he went into retirement. The congregation took a rather emotional farewell from its teacher who had served them for 40 years. None of his predecessors had ever matched his length of service.
Rezsö Balassa
After a very long process, finally on December 31, 1933 he was elected the cantor teacher and could assume his office. Rezsö Balassa was born into a very poor Roman Catholic family in Pusztavám in 1899. His earlier family name was “Babli”. The local Roman Catholic priest early recognized his talents. He attended the Pedagogical College through a government grant. That is why he allowed his name to be Hungarianized. In 1916 he volunteered to serve in the Hungarian Army. Following his disillusionment with the Roman Catholic Church he converted to Lutheranism. In 1922 he married Theresia Jakobi born in 1903, the daughter of a well situated merchant from Kecskéd. At first the couple lived in Kecskéd and then he got a teaching position in Pusztavám and in 1933 he came from there to Izmény. At the time of their arrival in Izmény the couple had three daughters: Christina born in 1923, Magdalena born 1924 and Katharina born in 1925. In Izmény a son was born to them. Balassa’s served as head teacher until 1940. At that time the family fled to the Batschka to Neusatz (Novi Sad) and at the end of the war they had to flee from there. Following the war the family came back to Izmény, but he was unable to take up his teaching profession. In the end, the family moved to Germany where Balassa died in 1967. His widow died in 1997 at the age of 94 years. Today the children live in Germany and Canada.
Joseph Bévárdi
He was the cantor and teacher in the community from 1941 to 1948. Joseph Bévárdi was born on August 23, 1921 in Kisvaszar the son of Joseph Bévárdi and Katharina Buchert. He attended the Lutheran junior college in Bonyhád, between 1931-1935 and from 1935 he continued his studies at the Lutheran Teacher’s College in Miskolc (Northern Hungary) where he received his teaching diploma in 1940. He did his practicum in Tarrós and was elected cantor and teacher in Izmény in 1941. In the fall of 1942 he had to report for military service at Szekszárd and following graduation from Officer’s Training School he was ordered to the Eastern Front. He participated in the battles in the Carpathians and was wounded in 1944, was hospitalized, and was discharged on March 5, 1945. He resumed his teaching post in Izmény. In the meanwhile, he attended the Pedagogical High School in Pécs where he received a degree in education in 1954. In 1962, along with his family he moved to Dombovár. Here he taught mathematics and physics until he retired in 1981. At the time of his retirement he was honoured by the Minister of Education and Religion. He died in Dombovár on January 26, 1986. Today, his descendants live in Dombovár.
The Known Assistant Teachers Who Taught in the Community
At the beginning of the 20th century the second or assistant teacher taught the three lowest grades in the school, while the senior or head teacher taught the three older grades, and also acted as the church cantor and organist. Finding this assistant was not always a simple matter, as we shall see later.
Johannes Busz
He served the congregation as assistant teacher during the year 1810.
Johannes Hütter
He was the assistant teacher and served between 1838 and 1842 in Izmény.
Heinrich Busz
He was the assistant teacher and served between 1843 and 1844 in Izmény.
Michael Schall
He was the assistant teacher between 1852 and 1858 in Izmény and later served as the teacher in Váralja (between 1869 and 1904).
Michael Turczár
Between 1879 and 1800 he was the assistant teacher in the community.
Samuel Busz
We find him as the assistant teacher in Izmény in 1885.
Karl Amminger
He was the assistant teacher in Izmény in 1891. More about him can be discovered under the teachers of the congregation.
Joseph Brader
He was elected assistant teacher by the congregation on May 27, 1894.
Samuel Hatz
Between 1898 and 1903 he was the assistant teacher in the community. In 1902 he was the teacher in Györe.
Rezsö Breuer
He was chosen by the congregation from among five applicants and elected on August 24, 1902. The congregational Minutes do not indicate when he resigned from the position.
Ludwig Kirchner
He was probably the assistant teacher in the community in 1906. There is no report of his election in the Minutes of the congregation. On September 17, 1906 he was appointed to take the minutes at the meetings, which indicates he was already in Izmény at the time. He resigned on July 28, 1907.
Adam Schwarcz
The following persons applied for the position: Piroska Kender, J. Schneider, Hermann Hujber and Adam Schwarcz. The congregation chose Adam Schwarcz and Hermann Hujber as candidates. Shortly after, on August 4, 1907, Schwarcz was elected by the congregation to the position. He remained in Izmény until 1909.
Julia Töpfer
On April 4, 1909 the pastor shared the suggestions of the bishop for the position of assistant teacher (Matthias Karner from Pinkafö and Adam Schiller from Fertömeggyes) but the congregation was not prepared to elect either of them and left the position open until September 1st. On August 1, 1909 the congregation voted from among three candidates and elected Töpfer to the position of assistant teacher. (Other candidates were Rezsö Ulbrich from Pécs and Heinrich Löbl from Tófü). On January 22, 1911 he requested that the congregation increase his income, which the congregation declined to do. Obviously this was the reason for his resignation.
Andreas Hutflesz
On September 3, 1911 from among four candidates presented the congregation elected Andreas Hutflesz from Györköny as the assistant teacher (other candidates included vince Dömötöri from Köveskál, István Tóth from Lajzon and János Petö from Hidas). But since he was also elected the head teacher in Tiszakálmánfalva, he declined the call to Izmény on November 1, 1911.
Julius Schmaldienst
According to the Minutes of June 23, 1912 the congregation approached the former teacher in Izmény who was now a teacher at the Lutheran Teacher’s College in Felsö-Lövö and requested that he recommend someone from among the candidates who were graduating. This happened following the failure of their advertising for a candidate. Brader recommended Julius Schmaldienst who had his diploma. The congregation proceeded to elect him as the assistant teacher without resorting to any further advertising of the position. But he resigned a short time after on December 13, 1942 and left the community.
Johann Wagner
Following the resignation of Schmaldienst, Dezsö Gönyi the assistant teacher in Mucsfa offered himself as a candidate for the position with the condition that he would get enough money to pay the rent for two rooms in the village. The congregation replied that they would gladly have him take the position, but they could not pay more for this position then that what was set forth. On January 12, 1913 Jakob Kellermann inquired about the position and was elected as the assistant teacher. But just a few days later he was called to the position of teacher in Szeghegy and was unable to accept their offer. Pastor Szabó wrote to several teachers, until finally Johann Wagner the teacher in Bize accepted the offer and the congregation validated it on February 23, 1913 by a special vote. On December 21, 1913 the congregation was informed that Johann Wagner had been elected teacher in Keszöhidegkút and had resigned from his position.
Johann Zsizsák
He was elected the assistant teacher on January 11, 1914.
Ernst Steller
He was elected to the position of assistant teacher, by the congregation, on February 1, 1914. He came from Szepesváralja in Slovakia. He had to enlist in the army in 1915 and after 5 years in prisoner of war camps he was able to take up his position again on September 1, 1920. On October 1, 1920 he resigned because after all of the years in the war he had lost the desire to teach.
Eugene Spannagel
Following Steller’s resignation, the following persons applied for the position: Gizella Bellák, János Krutzler, Károly Neubauer and Eugene Spannagel.. The only one of them that was accepted as a candidate was Eugene Spannagel and he was elected to the position of assistant teacher on December 5, 1920. Eugene Spannagel was born in Tscherwenka (in the Batschka) in southern Hungary on October 21, 1894 (today the village is Crvenka and belongs to the former Yugoslavia and now Serbia). His father Karl Spannangel was the teacher in Tscherwenka and his mother was Ida Rumpf. He graduated from the Teacher’s College in Sopron in 1916. But in 1916 he participated in the First World War and fought on the Russian and Italian Fronts and served in the National Guard. He was honoured on several occasions and was a Reserve Lieutenant on his discharge from the army. His teaching career began in Izmény. In 1932 he married Ilona Antal the daughter of George Antal the teacher in Mucsfa and his wife Elisabeth Haffner. He had two children, Edith and Zoltán. He became the president of the community co-operative the “Hangya” and head instructor of the youth in the “Levente” (local para-military unit). He was the teacher in Izmény to the time of his death in 1959.
Johann May
When Eugene Spannagel had to enlist in 1942, Johann May came as a young man to serve as the assistant teacher in Izmény in May 1942 and stayed for one year until 1943 to help the village out during that time.
The Richters (Mayors) of the Community
The Richter was elected to his position by the inhabitants of the village but he could only carry out his duties with the permission and assent of the Domain. In the 18th century these elections were highly influenced by the landlord. The Richter was the number one man in the village and had the unpopular task of collecting those portions of the crop designated for the landlord from the inhabitants. He acted as judge over disputes and quarrels between inhabitants and when it was urgent he represented the community in dealings with the landlord. If the officials of the Domain came to the village, he was responsible to wine and dine them. The salary that the Richter received for his carrying out his responsibilities was a guarantee from the landlord that he would not have to pay any taxes. If someone in the village was elected Richter he could not refuse the position and had to stay in the position for at least a year. These factors make it clear that the office of Richter was not all positive. In most cases, respected and prosperous heads of families were elected Richter. Later, after the War of Liberation in 1848/49 and the government reforms that followed, the so-called “political communities” were established and this position and office could be compared to that of the contemporary mayor. If we would compare this position in the 18th century with Germany at that time, the Schultheisz or the Schultze (village mayor) played a similar role. The following list has been developed using the Church Records, the Tax Lists and the Church Protocols (Minutes). There are times when the Richters are not known, but there are no major gaps:
(Translator’s note: the names of the Richters and their dates in office are listed beginning on the bottom of page 145 and for all of page 146.)
Notaries of the Community
Although the Richter was perceived to be the number one man in the village from a judicial and theoretical sense, in actual practice the Notary, who was often the most educated man, often played an even greater role in the leadership of the village. Their influence was especially great after 1848/49. In the 19th century a law was put into effect that there could only be a Notary in those communities with a population of 1,000 persons. The Notary was elected by the villagers in the presence of the Superior Court Judge. The Superior Court Judge often had a great deal of influence on the election of a Notary in a village. Those Notaries of the village known to me were the following (you can see more about them in the Family Register):
(Translator’s note: Their names are listed on page 147 and their years in office.)
The Village in the Light of Statistics
The first Hungarian census took place between 1784 and 1787 at the order of Emperor Joseph II. In the year 1828 an economic survey was done in which the population was also included. In 1857 and 1869 censuses were taken involving only the number of inhabitants. In the census of 1881, 1891, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 and 1941 the religion and nationality of the population was also recorded. In the census of 1949 these were again asked, but only a few thousand people in Hungary declared themselves to be of German nationality, and the results of the religious data were only made public in 1998. In the census of 1960, 1970, 1980 a person’s religion or nationality was not included. In the census of 1990 the question of nationality was asked. In the last census in January of 2001, after 52 years the two questions were asked once again and the results were certainly realistic. Up until now, only the results of this census were made public. In Izmény, the village was entirely German and Lutheran before the expulsion. The inhabitants who were of another religion or nationality were an insignificant minority. What follows in the next Table is a summary of the data regarding Izmény in the various censuses that were undertaken:
(Translator’s note: that Table appears on page 148. The overall heading is: Statistics for the Community. The columns reading from left to right: 1) Year of the Census 2) The Number of Inhabitants 3) German 4) Hungarian 5) Serb 6) Lutheran 7) Roman Catholic 8) Reformed 9) Jewish 10) Number of Houses 11) Can Read and Write 12) Speak Hungarian 13) Fields in Kastral Jochs.)
In the first census 1784-1787 there were 8 non-Germans who lived in the village; 196 men were married, 271 were single, 489 women lived in the village. There was one pastor and two tradesmen (men who earned their living by their profession) 88 peasant farmers, 82 properties that could be inherited, 107 cottagers, 135 children between 1-12 and 27 children between 13-17.
In the year 1900, there were 21 inhabitants from Izmény who were living in foreign lands and in 1910 there were 28 persons. In 1900 there were 27 homes with thatched roofs, by 1910 this had sunk to 7. The rest of the houses had tile roofs. In 1900 and in 1910 all of the houses had pounded clay walls with brick and stone foundations. In 1910, there were 7 persons who lived in Annamajor and 8 lived in Pörkölödcsárda that belonged to the village. The information on nationality in the census of 1949 is inaccurate. The fear of our people, who had identified their nationality as German in 1941 and for which reason they had been expropriated, still lurked deep within them. The religious statistics that were part of the census made public for the first time at the end of the 1990s with regard to the census of 1949 reported 182 Lutherans in the village. We can assume all of them were Germans. In 1960 there were 106 inhabitants who responded that their mother tongue was German (even though only 26 identified their nationality as German). By 1970 the number had sunk to 40. In 1980 according to the community council 54 inhabitants belonged to the German nationality.