Mohatsch

approx. Mohács

Croatian: Mohač

There are several explanations for the place name Mohács. The Hungarian word ‘moha’ (English: moss) probably derives from a Slavic word, presumably of Slovenian origin. In the Middle Ages, the term ‘moha’ (English: moss) also had the meaning ‘mocsár’ (English: moor/marsh), which may indicate that the settlement was founded on marshy ground. However, it cannot be ruled out that the name ‘Mohács’ may be derived from a personal name. The place name was first mentioned in a document from 1093, which is now lost.

Mohács is situated at^45° 59’ north latitude and^18° 40’ east longitude, 190 kilometres south of Budapest, about 40 kilometres east of Pécs and about 10 kilometres north of the Croatian border.

Southern Hungary (Dél-Magyarország), Transdanubia (Dunántúl), the Mohács Plain (Mohácsi-síkság).

Hungary; Branau County (Baranya Megye), the centre of the Mohács District (Mohácsi járás).

Archaeological finds from the Mohatsch area (including pottery, weapons, net weights and traces of houses built on stilts) date from the Stone, Copper, Bronze and Iron Ages. From the 1st century BC to the 4th century AD, the area formed part of the Roman province of Pannonia. Nearby – at Altinum (Kölkedi Várhegy, meaning ‘Kölked Castle Hill’, where a fortification was also situated – the Pannonian Limes ran. South of present-day Mohács, the oldest known settlement from the Avar period in the Carpathian Basin was discovered. In the 9th century, Hungarians who were expanding their territory are thought to have settled here.

The city experienced a largely peaceful period of Ottoman rule, which lasted for almost 150 years. Military conflicts did not resume until the early 17th century. After the Habsburgs defeated the Ottomans in 1686, the town was resettled by people of various nationalities in order to revitalise the parts of the town that had been depopulated by flight or devastation: Alongside the Reformed Hungarians, Catholic Hungarians from Syrmia and Catholic Shokats from the Balkans now settled there under the leadership of Greek Orthodox Serbs. In the 18th century, Mohács even became a Serbian bishopric.

In a final major wave of migration, Catholic Germans arrived from Silesia, the Rhine region and Austria. The settlers from Germany travelled mainly on Danube ships (so-called ‘Ulm boxes’), and the settlement area they established – which, despite their diverse origins, came to be known as ‘Danube Swabian’ – formed part of what was known as‘Swabian Turkey’. The ‘Danube Swabians’ in Mohács were mainly engaged in the hospitality industry, viticulture and the (wine) trade. Roma also moved there continuously. Although the town’s three settlement areas – the Old Town, Klein-Mohatsch (Kis-Mohács) and Außen-Mohatsch (Külső-Mohács) – were united in 1796, the town’s structure, divided along national and religious lines, remained intact. In the 18th century, the town experienced a period of prosperity despite numerous epidemics such as the plague and cholera.

The Revolution of 1848 sparked great enthusiasm in Mohács. Lajos Kossuth (1802–1894), one of the leaders of the Hungarian independence movement, had already visited the town in the summer of 1847. In 1848, military clashes broke out with the imperial army, until Mohács was occupied by imperial troops in February 1849.

Whilst the population of Mohács consisted entirely of Hungarians until the onset of Ottoman rule in 1526, the settlement process initiated by the Habsburgs at the end of the 17th century – which continued until the final third of the 18th century – resulted in a town population that was ethnically and religiously diverse. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the overwhelming majority – over 75 per cent – of the inhabitants were Roman Catholic, over 15 per cent were Reformed, and approximately 7.5 per cent were Greek Catholic.^[8] Whilst, in terms of nationality, the Reformed were predominantly Hungarians and the Greek Catholics were Serbs or Greeks, the Roman Catholics included Hungarians as well as Germans and Schokatzen.

Jews began settling in the town from 1841 onwards. In 1850, 104 people identified as Jewish; in 1869, the figure was 484; and by 1914, it had risen to 1,233.^[9] They very quickly came to play an important role in cultural life: they established their own school, founded associations and were involved in book printing. The majority of them had presumably migrated from Galicia and Russia, whilst a smaller proportion came from the western regions of Austria. Most of them were craftsmen and traders. From the 1870s onwards, a significant proportion of the wealthy middle class came from their ranks. They played a decisive role in shaping the development of factory industry and trade.

From a national perspective, the composition of the population has developed as follows since the 19th century (figures in per cent):

Today, in Mohács, the Germans, Croats, Serbs and Roma have their own minority self-governing bodies.

As far back as the Middle Ages, the Danube and its tributaries formed the basis for fishing. The village’s agriculture was characterised by livestock farming on the Danube’s wide floodplain and, further away from the river, by arable farming. Mohatsch’s food-producing trades were considered significant in the 14th century (fishermen, millers, butchers, beekeepers), with the milling trade being of particular importance. Other tradesmen included cloth makers, tailors, furriers, belt makers, shoemakers, blacksmiths, coopers and potters or brewers; however, no guilds had yet been established. Thanks to trade and commerce, Mohatsch became a thriving, prosperous market town in the 15th century.

The settlement’s development was interrupted by the Ottoman conquest and rule. The integration of the inhabitants of Mohatsch and their estates into the Ottoman Empire took place in accordance with Islamic and Ottoman secular laws. The first surviving written record of the Turkish tax system introduced in Mohatsch dates from 1544.

Mohatsch held market rights from 1701; in 1742, the market town was granted privileges and became part of the stagecoach network. From 1701 onwards, the town held market rights. This marked a golden age for the guilds. The various nationalities were engaged in different trades: Hungarians were mainly involved in fishing and – together with the ‘Schokatzen’ – also in arable farming and livestock breeding, whilst the Germans were primarily engaged in viticulture. Craftsmen came from every nationality, though potters and coopers were predominantly Croats. The grain trade was initially conducted by Greeks and Serbs; later they shared it with Germans, from whom it was then taken over by Jews.

During the Reform Era, trade took on an even greater role. The Danube port and the Danube Steamship Company (Duna Gőzhajózási Társaság) were of great importance. In 1857, the railway line between Mohács and Ötkirchen was extended. The craft trades were joined by the machine industry (e.g. silk, soap, leather and beer factories, as well as steam mills), which grew in strength. Towards the end of the 19th century, the iron and metal industry became more significant.

The First World War inflicted considerable damage on industry. The Treaty of Trianon of 1920 cut off important transport routes and turned former trading partners into adversaries. From the 1930s onwards, industry began to develop more positively again. From the mid-1950s onwards, the town’s industrialisation intensified. For example, the largest wood fibre board factory (Farostlemezgyár) in Central Europe was established here. The favourable transport links made Mohács one of Hungary’s most important trading centres. Today, Mohács continues to develop dynamically and serves as an EU border inspection post for ships.

Following Ottoman rule, Mohács was once again transferred to the Diocese of Pécs. In 1710, survivors of the plague epidemic built the Chapel of St Roch. The inner-city Catholic Church of St Michael was built between 1714 and 1718. The settlement of the nationalities mentioned above led to a further flurry of church-building activity: the Franciscans were able to move into their monastery in 1724 and erect their Franciscan church in the outer town in 1740; the Catholic Bishop’s Church, also known as the Church of the Holy Cross, was consecrated in 1743. The Serbian Orthodox Church was built in 1750 by Serbs who had fled to the Kingdom of Hungary to escape the frequent Ottoman attacks. The Reformed Church was built in the 1780s, whilst the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Votive Church (Battlefield Memorial Church) were not erected until the 20th century. The synagogue was demolished in 1966; the municipal library now stands on the site.

A parish school is said to have existed as early as the 11th century, and there is evidence of village teachers in Mohatsch dating from the early 15th century. By the end of the 16th century, the Serbs had their own school. The Turkish historian and traveller Evliya Çelebi (1611–1683) reported that, in 1663, the castle housed a madrasa (school of Islamic studies), as well as a monastery and two primary schools. During the 19th century, all the denominations and faiths represented in the town established their own schools. Today, the town is home to several primary and secondary schools, as well as the Mohácsi Jenő Library (Mohácsi Jenő Könyvtár).

Due to the wide variety of nationalities, city life was always multilingual. Whilst people traditionally spoke not only their mother tongue but also the languages of other nationalities, the use of Hungarian became increasingly widespread at the beginning of the 20th century. During the 20th century, the neighbourhoods – which had previously been segregated according to mother tongue or religion – as well as the distinctive traditional costumes, customs and traditions gradually dissolved.

The ‘Schokatzen’ brought to Mohács the custom of the winter expulsion and the influence on fertility – first documented in 1783 – which found its distinctive form in the Buschos’ carnival procession (busójárás).

In 1926, the town hall (Városháza), built in the Hungarian style with oriental motifs, corner domes and a tower dome, was inaugurated.

The musical life of Mohács was also shaped by the various nationalities living there. The Tambura was played mainly by the Szeklers; the Gajda – a type of bagpipe – by the Croats and Serbs; the zither and flute by the Hungarians; wind instruments by the Germans; and string instruments mainly by the Roma. In the 19th century, various choral societies were founded, and in 1904 the ‘Circle of Music Lovers’ (Zenekedvelők Köre) orchestra was established. Mohács still has a vibrant musical life today, as evidenced, amongst other things, by the Mohács Tambura Festival (Mohácsi Tamburafesztivál) and the International Folk Dance Festival (Nemzetközi Néptáncfesztivál).

Mihály Taizs (1828–1889) founded the first printing works, which by the 1860s had become one of the largest printing works in Branau County.

• Claudia K. Farkas: Zsidósors Mohácson 1944-ben [The Fate of the Jews in Mohács in 1944]. Pécs 2015.
• Gábor Frank, Mária L. Imre, Ibolya Englenderné Hock, Helmut Heil, Ferenc Várnai, Miklós Lantos, Zoltán Schmidt, István Fehér: Germans in Hungary [Ungarndeutsche]. Budapest 1998.
• János Füzes: Stream and Ship Mills near Mohács. Mohács 1996.
• Elly Kiss: German Folk Dance Traditions in Southern Transdanubia. In: Karl Manherz, Claus Klotz (eds.): Contributions to the Folklore of the Germans in Hungary 2. Budapest 1979, p. 185–228.
• Zsolt K. Lengyel: The Battle of Mohács 1526, in: Joachim Bahlcke, Stefan Rohdewald, Thomas Wünsch (eds.): Religious Sites of Remembrance in East Central Europe. Constitution and Competition in a Transnational and Transhistorical Approach. Berlin 2013, pp. 851–864.
• Imre Gábor Nagy: The Repopulated Town. Population, Society and Administration in Mohács until 1918 [The Repopulated Town. Population, Society and Administration in Mohács until 1918]. In: Imre Ódor (ed.): Studies from the History of Mohács. Marking the 900th Anniversary of the Settlement’s Existence [Studies from the History of Mohács. Marking the 900th Anniversary of the Settlement’s Existence]. Mohács 1993, pp. 129–176.
• Imre Ódor (ed.): Tanulmányok Mohács történetéből. A település fennállásának 900. évfordulójára [Studies from the History of Mohács. On the 900th Anniversary of the Settlement]. Mohács 1993.
• József Rózsás: A mohácsi fogadalmi emléktemplom [The Votive Church/Battlefield Memorial Church of Mohács]. Mohács 1995.
• László Szita (ed.): Baranyai helytörténetírás 1976 [Local History Writing in Baranya 1976]. Pécs 1976.
• Tibor Tüskés: Mohács [Mohács]. Pécs 1981.

• http://www.mohács.hu/ (Official website of the town of Mohács [Hungarian])
• http://www.mohacsinemetek.hu/de/ (Official website of the German Local Authority in Mohács [German])
• www.kanizsaidorottyamuzeum.hu/ (Website of the Kanizsai Dorottya Museum [Hungarian])
• www.mohacs.hu/ (Website of the Mohács Tourist Association [Hungarian])
• www.mohacsibusojaras.hu/ (Official website of the carnival parade for the Winter Farewell Festival [Hungarian])
• www.herder-institut.de/bildkatalog/wikidata/Q320798 (Images of Mohatsch/Mohács in the image archive of the Herder Institute, Marburg)

[1] Figures according to Claudia K. Farkas: Zsidósors Mohácson 1944-ben [The Fate of the Jews in Mohács in 1944]. Pécs 2015, p. 52ff.

[2] Előd Vass: Mohács a török hódoltság korában [Mohács during the Ottoman occupation]. In: Ódor: Tanulmányok Mohács történetéből, pp. 75–108, here p. 87.

[3] Nagy: The Repopulated Town, p. 134.

[4] Nagy: The Repopulated Town, p. 134.

[5] Nagy: The Repopulated City, p. 134.

[6] Nagy: The Repopulated City, p. 154.

[7] Central Statistical Office [Hungarian Statistical Office], www.ksh.hu/apps/hntr.telepules?p_lang=HU&p_id=23959 (accessed 19 September 2018).

[8] Nagy: The Repopulated Town, p. 134.

[9] Figures according to Farkas: The Fate of the Jews in Mohács in 1944, p. 18.

[10] Nagy: The Repopulated Town, p. 134.

[11] Nagy: *The Repopulated Town*, p. 154.

[12] Central Statistical Office [Hungarian Statistical Office], www.ksh.hu/apps/hntr.telepules?p_lang=HU&p_id=23959 (accessed 19 September 2018).

Tünde Radek: Mohatsch/Mohács. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2019. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32482 (accessed 30 July 2020).