KERNEI HISTORY page
Carol Marion sent this to us from the Kernie Ortsippenbuch history page.
Kernei 1765 - 1944/45
The advance of the Ottoman Turks from the middle of the 14th century into the south-eastern portion of Europe could, at times, be stemmed at the Hungarian borders. But in the year 1683, the Turks stood before the gates of Vienna. It was only when all the military might of Western Europe was summoned up against them that the Turks were soundly defeated.
The effect of 150 years of Turkish rule was the decimation of the original Hungarian population.
After the wars of liberation (1683-1717) the desolate and deserted territory could be settled again.
The regions which had been re-conquered were gradually settled again with people from the interior of Hungary itself, from the Austrian territories, and from the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. It started with the colonization by the Hungarian landlords, and then was followed by the settlement programme of the Imperial Chamber of Administration.
In 1765, Kernei was founded in the Batschka as one such settlement by the Imperial Administration.
According to Fridrik Tamás, the town of Kernzája was known already in 1601.(1) Kernyája is mentioned for the first time in 1590 in a Turkish tax
list.(2) The next mention of the town occurs in 1720 and 1740. At that time, Kernyája, along with 17 large estates in the open country and nine "good villages" was under the administration of the military frontier of
Sombor.(3) After the abolition of the military frontier in 1745, there were 21 houses in
Kernyája.(4) The magistrate of the city of Sombor leased the desolate wasteland to individual townsmen in return for hay. In 1752, Kernyája came under the administration of the Hungarian Chamber, and a cattle industry was started by the
government.(5)
In 1763, the Imperial Advisor Anton von Cothmann, proposed to his Empress Theresia that Kernyája and the surrounding territory should be
settled.(6)
In 1765, we encounter the first Germann settlers in Kernei. The official list mentions, on 31.12.1765, seventeen German families with a total of 78
persons.(7)
The list of settlers on 26th November 1767 contains the names of those who settled in Kernei. They came from:
Germany 27
Moravia 21
Lorraine 6
Bohemia 5
Switzerland 1
Ass discharged soldiers 6
From Hungary itself 76
Settlers: 142
The group of migrants from within Hungary was the largest with 76, and 41 of them were Germans, settling for the second time within the country; these came primarily from Swabian Turkey, (N.W.
Hungary).(8)
These were the national affiliations:
German ... 85 = 59.08 %
Hungarian ... 20 = 14.08%
Bohemian-Moravian ... 31 = 21.83%
Southern-Slavic 4 = 2.82%
Others 2 = 1.41%
Settlers 142 = 100.00% 750 persons. (9)
The proportion of the population made up of other nationalities rose steadily until 1776 and then decreased again. The original plan, to populate Kernei multinationally, had to be abandoned by the administration for a variety of reasons. As families of other nationalities moved away, so their places were taken by German settlers.
In the period from 1784 to 1786, Kernei grew with the arrival of 100 settlers from Germany. The new settlers moved into the empty houses and for 76 settlers, new houses were built in the colonial
style.(10)
The first little church was constructed by 1767 and Kernei became an independent parish. Up to this time, the parish of Kernei had been included in that of Tschonopl.-around 1794, 374 families with a total of 1871 persons lived in
Kernei.(11)To accommodate this growing community, the present church was built from 1791 to 1797.
In the year 1805, Kernei already had 2000 inhabitants. When the number of people reached 3500 in 1850, the proportion of the population from other nationalities was less than 5 per
cent.(12) The first migration away from Kernei into newly established settlements began around
1866.(13) Around the turn of the century and thereafter, the great wave of emigration to North America abegan. There was a steady rise and fall in the numbers of the population so that it did not reach the 5000 mark until
1910.(14)
In 1941/42, the population in Kernei totaled 6000.(15)
Until 1904, the name of the town was Kernyája, then it was changed to Kereny. Subsequently, when it became part of Yugoslavia, it changed to Krnjaja. Its inhabitants always kept the name Kernei. Under this name, the town developed into a well-functioning community in a state of peaceful co-existence.
The Second World War brought about a disastrous development.
Many fathers and sons had to serve in the Hungarian and German armies.
On October 8th 1944, in fear of the advancing Red Army, 2438 persons fled
westwards.(16) On October 20th 1944, Kernei was overrun by the Red Army.
On December 26th 1944, 181 men and 159 women were transported to Russia to do forced labour. Of these, 59 persons never returned
home.(17)
On March 30th 1945, 2325 persons were interned via Gakowa in the extermination camp of
Kruschiwil.(18) Those among them capable of work had to do forced labour in various work camps, under most severe conditions.
When the war was over and people started looking for places to live, the former inhabitants of Kernei drew up a list of the victims, and it numbered 1054
persons.(19)
After the flight and expulsion, the areas around Munich, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe and Darmstadt became favourite centres for people to settle in. Manyalso found new homes in Hungary, in Austria, in the United States of America and Canada. Today there are people from Kernei to be found scattered even in South America and Australia. Those who at first remained in Kernei gradually followed their relatives to the Federal Republic of Germany, up until the year 1956.
The new rulers wanted to erase all traces of a 180-year-old German community in the Backa and in 1948 called it Kljajicevo.
In the middle of the town, there still stands the church which was consecrated in 1797. It is a reminder of those who built it and their descendants. Since Christmas 1993, the new inhabitants, who belong to the Serbian Orthodox faith, have been using it for their religious services.
Notes are in brackets ex: (1)
1 Borovsyky, Samu MagyarországVarmegyéi és Városai, Budapest 1909, Band I Seite 94.
2 Beljanski, Miljenko, Krnjaja - Kljajicevo, Sombor 1978, Seite 8.
3 Muhi, Janos, Zombor, Története, Zombor 1944, Seite 106
4 Dzinic, Ilija Conoplja, Sombor 1980, Seite 11
5 Beljanski, Miljenko, Krnjaja - Kljajicevo, Sombor 1978, Seite 13.
6 Stökl, Michael, Vor 200 Jahren, Kerneier Heimatblätter, Jg. 1965, Seeite 3 ff
7 Schmidt, Johann, Die ersten Siedler in Kernei, KHB, Jg. 1987, Seite 6ff
8 Schmidt, Johann, Von Bükkösd, in der Baranza nach Kernei, KHB, JG. 1991, Seite 28 ff.
9 Stöckl, Michael, Vvor 200 Jahren, KHB, Jg. 1966, Seite 10
10Stöckl, Michael, Vvor 200 Jahren, KHB, Jg. 1967, Seite 4
11 Schmidt, Johann, Bevölkerungswachstum in Kernei, KHB, Jg. 1982, Seite 11
12 ebenda, Seite 27.
13 Ebenda, Seite 25ff.
14 ebenda, Seite 21.
15 ebenda, Seite 23.
16 Eichhorn, Michael, Kernei un die Kerneier, Gegensburg 1979, Seite 223
17 ebenda, Seite 229
18 ebenda, Seite 223
19 Schmidt, Johann, Die zu beklagenden Opfer des Zweiten Weltkrieges..., KHB, Jg. 1991, Seite 43