Tokaj (also Tokay)

approx. Tokaj

The name ‘Tokaj’ is almost certainly of Old Turkic origin and roughly means ‘forest along the river’.

Tokaj is situated at 48° 12’ north latitude and 21° 42’ east longitude, 54 km south-east of the county town of Miskolc.

Tokaj lies at the confluence of theTisza and Bodrog rivers in north-eastern Hungary. Today, the town is the centre of the Hungarian part of theTokaj-Hegyalja wine-growing region.

Northern Hungary (Észak-Magyarország), the Zemplén Mountains (Zempléni-hegység), the Tokaj Hills (Tokaj-Hegyalja).

Hungary. Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County (Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén Megye); the centre of the Tokaj District (Tokaji járás) and the Tokaj micro-region (Tokaji kistérség).

The coat of arms, which has been in use since the early 20th century, is derived from the seal dating from 1549. A blue shield, tapering at the bottom, features a green triple hill; on the central ridge stands a golden (yellow) cross, upon which a bronze (red) snake winds its way; on each of the other two ridges is depicted a golden (yellow) vine bearing lush bunches of grapes.

The Tokaj highlands were already inhabited before the Migration Period. The oldest finds are attributed to the Gravettian culture or the Eneolithic period.

From the mid-16th century onwards, Tokaj’s military and political importance grew. In 1604, Tokaj was devastated by the campaigns of Giorgio Basta (1544–1607). It enjoyed a golden age as the property of the Rákóczi family between 1616 and 1660. From the mid-17th century, the political situation became increasingly unstable, a situation further exacerbated by the uprising against Habsburg rule led by Count Imre Thököly (1657–1705) (the Kuruc Wars). In 1660, the imperial armies occupied the castle. From 1663, the fortress architect Lucas Georg Ssicha worked on Tokaj Castle. In 1704, Ferenc II Rákóczi (1676–1735) had the castle, which was in his possession, demolished. In 1711, his extensive estates were confiscated and granted to the Austrian prince Johann Leopold Donath Trautson (1659–1724). Subsequently, the depopulated areas of the Tokaj highlands were settled by German colonists in several phases (e.g. Trautsondorf/Hercegkút, Karlsdorf/Károlyfalva, Ratkau/Rátka, Rakomas/Rakamaz). Towards the end of the 18th century, Jews from Austrian Silesia and Galicia also settled in the area. During the Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849, the Hungarian general György Klapka (1820–1892) fought his first successful battle against Habsburg troops in Tokaj.

During the Second World War, the majority of Tokaj’s Jewish population was deported in 1944, primarily to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp. Following the Soviet occupation, the Hungarian and German populations of the counties of Szabolcs and Zemplén were deported – organised from Tokaj between 1944 and 1945 – to Soviet forced-labour camps (Russian: malenkaya rabota, German: ‘kleine Arbeit’).^[1]

According to the census of 1784–1787, Tokaj had a population of 2,942.^[2] In 1880, of the 4,479 inhabitants, 86.8 per cent were Hungarians, 4.4 per cent Slovaks, 3.8 per cent Germans, 0.7 per cent Ruthenians and 1.1 per cent other nationalities. In 1910, 5,105 people lived in Tokaj, of whom 98.9 per cent were Hungarians, 0.7 per cent Germans, 0.3 per cent Slovaks and 0.1 per cent other ethnic groups.^[3] Today (2014), the population stands at 4,514, of whom 99 per cent are Hungarians and 1 per cent are Sinti and Roma, who also have a minority self-governing body in Tokaj.^[4]

German millers were also involved in the construction of watermills around 1570. The wine trade and other trade in goods was initially in the hands of Poles. Around the middle of the 17th century, a significant merchant class emerged with the settlement of ‘Greeks’ (i.e. Christian Armenians, Serbs, Bulgarians and Albanians), followed by Russians and Ruthenians, and, from the second half of the 18th century, a class of Jewish merchants.^[5] The Tokaj wine-growing region was the first in the world to be declared a protected wine-growing area by royal decree as early as 1737. By the end of the 19th century, Tokaj had become one of the centres of oenology in the Tokaj Highlands. Today, viticulture and the associated sale of wine are significant economic factors.

Tokaj Castle played a strategic role at the ferry crossing during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. Lazarus von Schwendi (1522–1583), as Captain-General of the German armies against the Turks, not only recaptured the castle but also organised the defence of the entire mountainous region.

Excavations at the castle (Rákóczi vár) have been taking place since 2007.

The town is home to the following venues: the Rákóczi Cellar (Rákóczi Pince), built in the early 15th century; the Tokaj Museum (Tokaji Múzeum, housed in the former Greek merchants’ building); the Ede Paulay Theatre (Paulay Ede Színház), the former synagogue, now a cultural and conference centre (Kulturális és Konferencia Központ), the former Orthodox church, now the Tokaj Gallery (Tokaji Galéria), and the Ferenc Németi Municipal Library (Németi Ferenc Városi Könyvtár).

The Tokaj Wine Festival (Tokaji Borfesztivál) and a writers’ retreat (Tokaji Írótábor) are held in the summer, whilst the Tokaj Harvest Days (Tokaji Szüreti Napok) take place in October.

The name ‘Tokaj’ became synonymous with winemaking, specifically with ‘Ausbruch’ (aszú, a wine made from dried grapes). The late harvest (beginning on 28 October) – a prerequisite for the production of ‘Ausbruch’ – dates back to the late 1490s; it was then that ‘Tokaj’ began to gain a worldwide reputation. Even the famous physician Paracelsus (Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, 1493–1541) visited Tokaj and the Tokaj mountain region in the early 1520s, presumably to see for himself the gold content of the Tokaj vines and the healing properties of Tokaj wine. Tokaj wine became the favourite drink of popes, rulers and artists. It is frequently featured in world literature, for example in *The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* by Gottfried August Bürger (1747–1794), in *Faust* by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), in *Faust* by Nikolaus Lenau (1802–1850) and in the novel *Where Were You, Adam? * by Heinrich Böll (1917–1985). Also worthy of mention is *In Praise of Tokay* by Gabriele von Baumberg (1768–1839).

In the historic old town, residential buildings dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries have been preserved to this day (Baroque, Zopf style, Classicism, Historicism). Notable historic buildings include the Baroque-style Greek Catholic Church of St Nicholas of Myra, the Neo-Romanesque Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart, and the Baroque-style Rákóczy-Dessewffy Palace.

The painter Tibor Tenkács (1913–1998) lived in the town.

The Hungarian poet Bálint Balassi (1554–1594) lived in Tokaj for a short time. The journalist and writer György Urházi (1823–1873), the actor and translator Ede Paulay (1836–1894) and the conductor and composer József Záborszky (1918–2015) were all born in Tokaj. The poet and hymn writer Ferenc Némethi died a heroic death in 1565 whilst serving as captain of Tokaj Castle. During his childhood, the poet Nikolaus Lenau (1802–1850) spent two years in Tokaj.

*Tokaji Hírek* (Tokaj News) is a monthly newspaper.

The Tokaj wine-growing region was inscribed on the UNESCOWorld Heritage List in 2002.^[7]

Part of the Tokaj wine-growing region lies in what is now Slovakia. The use of the ‘Tokaj’ designation was the subject of a dispute: in 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that the designation‘Vinohradnícka oblast’ Tokaj’may also be used in Slovakia.

• László Alkonyi: The Wine of Freedom. A szabadság bora. Budapest 2000 (Borbarát 1).
• Iván Balassa: The Grapes and Wine of Tokaj-Hegyalja. A Historical and Ethnographic Study [Grapes and Wine in the Tokaj Hills. A Historical and Ethnographic Study]. Tokaj 1991 (with a German-language summary, pp. 711–724).
• Iván Balassa: On the History of German Colonisation in the Tokaj Hills. In: Iván Balassa, Claus Klotz, Karl Manherz: Contributions to the Folklore of the Hungarian Germans. A magyarországi németek néprajzához. Budapest 1975, pp. 67–99.
• János Bencsik, István Orosz (eds.): Tokaj Várostörténeti tanulmányok. I., II. [Tokaj. Studies in the History of the Town]. Tokaj 1995.
• János Bencsik (ed.): Tokaj Várostörténeti tanulmányok. III. [Tokaj. Studies in the History of the Town]. Tokaj 2002.
• János Bencsik (ed.), Attila Ulrich: Tokaj Várostörténeti tanulmányok. IV. [Tokaj. Studies in the History of the Town]. Tokaj 2003.
• Tokaj-hegyaljai album. Tokaj-hegyalja Album. Album de la Tokay-hegyalja. Album of the Tokay-hegyalja. Pest 1867. Reprint: József Szabó, István Török (eds.). Budapest 1984.

• tokaj.hu/tokaj (the town’s official website in Hungarian and English)
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gpknk3wQm8 (Tokaj Castle in the 15th and 17th centuries, based on historical sources)
• tokajiborlovagrend.hu/en/the-confrerie-de-tokaj/ (Tokaj Order of Wine Knights [Tokaji Borlovagrend])
• tokajimuzeum.hu/index.php?oldal=muzeumtortenet (Tokaj Museum [Tokaji Múzeum])

[1] Among those deported to the Soviet Union for forced labour was the German Mátyás Stumpf (1905–1945), a priest from Tokaj, who died in a Russian forced-labour camp in Donetsk. Since 1992, a commemorative plaque has been on display in the Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart: ‘The Reverend Mátyás Stumpf, archiepiscopal councillor, served as parish priest of this church from 1941. In 1945, he died in a Soviet forced-labour camp amongst the deportees from his parish. He lived for 41 years. His unmarked grave lies far away, but the Roman Catholic parish of Tokaj will honour his memory. 1992.”

[2] Sándor Frisnyák: Historical Geography. The geography of the Szatmár-Bereg Plain, the Rétköz, the Nyírség and the Zemplén Mountains in the 18th–19th centuries [Historical Geography. The Geography of the Szatmár-Bereg Plain, Rétköz, Nyírség and the Zemplén Mountains in the 18th–19th Centuries]. Nyíregyháza 1985, p. 71.

[3] Péter Takács: The Market Town of Tokaj Undergoing Bourgeoisification. Tokaj 1850–1918 [The Market Town of Tokaj Undergoing Bourgeoisification. Tokaj 1850–1918]. In: Bencsik, Orosz (eds.): Tokaj I, pp. 271–301, here p. 273. In 1880, 25.9 per cent of the population identified as Jewish; by 1910, this figure had fallen to 21.9 per cent (see the absolute figures in the section on religious and ecclesiastical history). The decline in numbers between 1880 and 1910 is linked to the migration of the Jewish population, primarily to Miskolc, Nyíregyháza, Pest and Szerencs.

[4] According to data from the Statistical Office dated 1 January 2014 www.ksh.hu/apps/shop.kiadvany?p_kiadvany_id=35528&p_lang=HU (accessed 1 March 2015).

[5] László Veres: Városi ipar és kereskedelem a 16.–17. században [Urban Industry and Trade in the 16th–17th Centuries]. In: Bencsik, Orosz: Tokaj I, pp. 125–137, here p. 132.

[6] Takács: A polgárosodó (note 3), p. 274.

[7] whc.unesco.org/en/list/1063.

Tünde Radek: Tokaj. In: Online Encyclopaedia on the Culture and History of Germans in Eastern Europe, 2015. URL: ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/p32476 (accessed 30 June 2015).