Contact We would like to hear your opinion about our homepage in German, English, Hungarian, Slovene, French or Italian! Write us either an email: vendvidek@citromail.hu or sign our guestbook Guestbook Name: Message: Please do not place advertisements here. We reserve the right to delete them. Ej Tibor & Joel - My cousin, Mitzi Delap, visited ancestral village of Sotina, Thursday July 15. Her mother, marija and my father, Jozef, were siblings there in 1920s and 1930s. Very emotional and memorable experience for Mitzi. Hope to see her photos soon (though house 77 is not otiginal Laposa family home. Old stone was better than current brick). Hvala lepa! Na zdravje za tebi! Josef Laposa - Indianapolis USA - 2010.7.18. A very nice website. It is very informative. I have ancestors whoh were from the Raba Sankt Martin area in the Velike (Welten) village. Paul Zotter - 2010.4.27. Dear Chris Jarrett! Thank you for writing in our guestbook! Concerning Windish and Slovene: The so called Windish people are also Slovenes. The expression Windish was given by German speaking people for Slavic people living in the south-east region of the German-Speaking area. The Windish people never called themself Windish in their Slovene language, they called themself always Slovence=Slovene. With other words: Those Slovenes who live outside of Slovenia, former- Yugoslavia respectively, namely in southern Austria and south-west Hungary, were often called by Austrians and Hungarians Windish. About 100 years ago when a lot of Hungarian-Slovenes and Prekmurje-Slovenes immigrated to the USA, they brought this expression Windish also to the USA. www.vendvidek.com Tibor and Joël - 2010.2.17. I am an American who has been living in Germany for some time. My mother's family came from Murska-Sobota and probably Precmuria. The Windish idea is a confusion which took place during the great immigrations and the founding of the Yugoslavian State as far as I know. Wher is the difference then between Windish and Slovene. Anyway, just for your info - my brother is the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett (I too am a musician) and he is half Slovene.We were born in Allentown - our relatives were steel workers. Chris Jarrett - 2010.2.3. Ej Tibor! Have not written you in awhile. Will celebrate Slovenian National Day on June 20 with members of Indianapolis-Piran Sister City Committee. Hope to visit Bethlehem, Pennsylvania someday and have real gibanica. From Primorska to Prekmurje, Zivela! Josef M. Laposa - 2009.6.4. stumbled upon this contact & my husband is researching Bajzek & Grebenar relatives from Felsoszolnok, Hungary. How do I get to your homepage? Please reply to emailmaniac@netscape.net THIV marguerite dengler - 2009.3.15. I just discovered this website! Awesome! I had no idea this region had a name -- Vendvidek. My ancestors came from Eckersdorf according to Ellis Island records and I recently figured out this is the other name of Szakonyfalu. Thanks for the pictures of Szakonyfalu. Now I can see where my Düh family came from. I see from the website that the church in Szakonyfalu was built in 1922. Does anybody know what church people from Szakonyfalu would have attended prior to 1922? (My family emigrated in 1906 and 1913.) Shoot me an email if you can give me any advice. My email is dixonater@aol.com Thanks, Ron Dixon - 2009.2.8. Glad to find your nice web site with the photos. My grandparents were all Slovenes born in the Raba Region, calling themselves Windish. My paternal grandparents came from Rabatotfalu, emigrating to Bethlehem in the United States, and I recognized some of the last names on the tombstone photos. My maternal grandmother came from Ketvolgy. Charles Schamenek - 2009.2.2. hi m18eq6iivliakqgf good luck tUHKkrSiMu - 2009.1.10. Hello everybody! I'm in high school and I'm doing research for a family history project. I just found out that my great grandmother was a Donchez (I think original spelled Doncsecz) who lived in Bethlehem, PA. Her father was a violin maker in Bethlehem named Anthony Donchez (or it could have been Lewis?) and they were of Hungarian/ Slovenian descent. That's all I know, and I would be very interested to know if anyone has anymore information! thanks, Sarah Sarah - 2008.12.14. Najprej lep pozdrav ter čestitke za izredno zanimivo in bogato internet stran o slovenskem Porabju. Že večkrat sem iskal kaj zanimivega o Porabju in moram napisat, da je to prva, kjer sem izvedel veliko novega. Tudi sam že nekaj časa zbiram informacije in fotografije o kraju in naši dolini za pripravo podobne internetne predstavitve. Hvala za vaše delo, ideje in vam še naprej želim obilo zadovoljstva ob ustvarjanju vaše strani. Lep pozdrav iz Blagovice v Črnem grabnu na Gorenjskem. Ilija (Blagovica - SLO) - 2008.8.27. Hello everyone - I am writing from Bethlehem, PA. I am starting research into finding my heritage on my mother's family. Her parents came over from the old country at the turn of the century. They were Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Pintarich and settled in Bethlehem, PA. I know that they were Austrian/Hungarian but also they spoke Windish. My mother could never tell us where the Windish people came from (as kids we thought Windland). But I also knew how many times the Austria/Hungarian empire and border switched over the centuries. Here in Bethlehem, we have the only Windish Church in America: ST. John's Windish Evangelical Lutheran Church. My mother and her family are all gone. I want to get information and learn the language and cooking, so I can honor all of my family by keeping the Windish heritage alive. Please, I am asking for any help I can get. I want to know my family and heritage! I will help in any way I can to keep it from fading away. E-mail me: sandymast@rcn.com I hope to hear from my family of Windocs! Sandy Mast - 2008.8.19. Further info to my email below: Grandfather born in 1885 in Markovich ... Family in Salovci ....Idena Again Thanks! Deb - 2008.8.8. I stumbled upon this site in a search for my grandads relatives in Slovenia near Dolenci. Josef Korpics ....and my grandmother was Yankovich from Dolenci. We visited in 1999 and have since lost contact. Am searching for a way to find them. Any help would be appreciated. Deb Edwards - 2008.8.8. my dad lajos hann came over to england from szokonyfalu in 1956 with his family if anyone knew him please write back thanks or email me at lucyhahn12@hotmail.com lucy hahn - 2008.8.1. my dad lajos hann came over to england from szokonyfalu in 1956 with his family if anyone knew him please write back thanks lucy hahn - 2008.8.1. my dad lajos hann came over to england from szokonyfalu in 1956 with his family if anyone knew him please write back thanks lucy hahn - 2008.8.1. Hello from the Chicagoland area in Illinois USA, My father and his family immigrated to the US and left his baby sister there to be raised by her Godmother. When Grandma was able to send for her, she was much older and did not want to leave. Her name is Agnes (Heinczl)maiden name, I don't remember what her married name is. She has a daughter and a son. Last I heard the daughter lived in Zagreb. My mothers family also immigrated to the US. Grandpa's name was Marko Vori (Vouri) and Grandma was Ana Krampac (Krampach). If anyone knows of people still living in that area of Slovenia I would love to know. There are also some Kovas and Horvath's related to us in some way. Thanks for the time. Sharon (Hainsel, Heinczl?) Gary - 2008.7.1. My e-mail is Lucas123768@yahoo.com Just looking for relatives..... Lazo Szukics Jr. - 2008.6.4. Thanks for such a great site. I would love to visit my fathers area sometime but I have nothing but a last name of Korpics. ThankYou Sharon Korpics Haines - 2008.5.14. Tibor So glad to learn you have contacted my husband's cousin Kathy DeMarie, Jimmy (my husband) can't wait to see your site and learn also of existing family, as he too knew very little of the family. The collage you did of the Horvath family is very well done, we have printed it to pass to the family. We will be sending you more information of the family thru your email and thanks for doing this very informative site. We will be checking back frequently. Toni Hewes - 2008.3.25. dear Tibor, I am mary owens donchatz daughter. I believe the both of you have contacted each other.what a wonderful site you have created. I now feel like I belong somewhere. It has been wonderful for all of us to meet you.I will e-mail you soon. lad1096@yahoo.com Lisa Dillon - 2008.2.23. Hvala za razumevanje in lep pozdrav tudi! Tibor in Joël www.vendvidek.com - 2008.2.19. V redu, kakor ľelite. Lep pozdrav! LUCIJA - 2008.2.19. Dear Lucija! We did not say that it is not important to have information about the Slovene Raba Region in Slovenian. It is very important indeed. However, with our website we intend to reach those people who don't understand Slovenian, with or without Slovene ancestry. Furthermore, it is our intention to present and to preserve the Slovene Raba Region with its rich culture and tradition. You can find websites about the Slovene Raba Region in Slovenian already. There are people in Porabje and in Slovenia too, who are dealing with this topic in Slovenian. As a consequence, we are not the ones to contact. Thank you for your understanding. Tibor and Joël www.vendvidek.com - 2008.2.16. Well I can help you with translating the site into Slovenian! And for this I don't want money. I still disagree with you that it's not important to have this site in Slovenian language too. Konec koncev vam lahko jaz brezplačno pomagam pri urejanju slovenskega teksta za tole spletno stran. Se pač ne strinjam z vami, da ni pomembno, da bi bila ta stran tudi v slovensąčini. Tekste mi lahko poąljete na mail/ You can send texts to: lucija.horvat@demokracija.si LUCIJA - 2008.2.15. Dear Lucija! Of course it would be nice to have also a Slovenian version of this website. However, we work on this homepage independently because we are interested in this topic. We are not sponsored by any institution or organisation. As mentioned below, the audience we focus on are the descendants of the emigrated Porabje Slovenes. If anyone wants to get informed on the Porabje Region in Slovenian, they can search for information given by institutions or organisations which deal with topics about Porabje in Slovenian language. Tibor and Joël www.vendvidek.com - 2008.2.14. I understand, but what about Slovenes from Slovenia, who would like to read the site in their language? Well I speak and understand english and german, but I still would be glad to read the site in Slovenian. ©e vedno nisem zadovoljna z stranjo. To ni v redu, da stran ni tudi v slovenąčni - saj zgleda kot, da bi govorila o eni izumrli ostalini. Je res,da je porabskih slovenscev vedno manj, ampak - če je glavna informacija o njih v angl. ali nemąčini - ja kakąna podpora pa je to zanje? Eden močnih elementov nacionalne pripadnosti je tudi jezik. ©e vedno mislim, da bi lahko poiskali koga, ki bi vam stran prevedel v slovenąčino. Saj porabski Slovenci niso zaimivi amo za tiste, ki imajo od tam prednike, ampak tudi za Slovence iz matične Slovenije. Sicer pa gre tudi za princip! Če se govori o Slovencih, naj se govori TUDI po slovensko. Sicer je pa stran dobra. Ampak, da ni tudi v slovenąčini, je pa res skrajno moteče. LUCIJA - 2008.2.14. Dear Lucija! Thank you for your message! The main reason why we have created this website is to inform the people living around the world whose ancestors derived from the Slovene Raba Region in Hungary. The majority of them often don't speak Slovenian anymore but are interested in learning more about the region from where their ancestors came from. Therefore, we have decided to offer them information in German and English. We make this website in our free time and so we are busy enough updating it in German and English continuously. Tibor and Joël www.vendvidek.com - 2008.2.13. Zakaj pa stran ni prevedena v SLOVEN©ČINO, če govori o porabskih SLOVENCIH???? Mislim HALO!! COULD YOU TRANSLATE THIS SITE ZO SLOVENIAN LANGUAGE????!! IT IS ABOUT SLOVENE RABA REGION!! LUCIJA - 2008.2.13. Dear Karin! Thank you for writing on our website! I assume that your grandfather came from Felsõszölnök, Szakonyfalu or perhaps from Alsószölnök. In these villages you can find a lot of Grebenar's. For more informations, please contact me on the above written email address. Thank you! Tibor www.vendvidek.com - 2008.1.31. I am 44 years old now and always have tried to find out where my name comes from. On your page I found the confirmation of what I have been told by my grandfather, that there is a village in Hungary, where the cementary is full of Grebenars. But I would like to know more details about my grandfather - as I suppose he or his father came from Hungary during the first worldwar or later. His name: Otto Josef Grebenar Grebenar Karin - 2008.1.31. Danke für die sehr schöne Webseite welche uns immer hilft die Zeit bis zum nächsten urlaub in Apatistvanfalva zu überbrücken. Wir fahren jedes Jahr in den Geburtsort des Vaters meiner Freundin und freuen uns dort mit allen Onkel, Tanten und Freunden eine schöne Zeit zu erleben. Köszönöm seben. Andreas Winkler+Nicole Kozma - 2008.1.25. Hello, I was born in Hungary and escaped from there in 1956, during the Revolution. Most of my family is from the Vendvidek, my mother was from Rabatotfalu, and my grandfather, Ferenc Grebenar was from Felsoszolnok. When my father was born the name was spelled Graebner, ergo the name Graebner now. If your name was Grebenar at one time you may have relatives in Felsoszolnok. The local cemetery, close to the Church is full of Grebenars. Many Grebenars changed their names from Grebenar in the 1930's to names which sounded more Hungarian, due to Govt. pressure at the time. There are many Grebenars in Murska Sobota, and in the villages between Felsoszolnok and Murksa Sobota in Slovenia. There is a road crossing there now which has been re-opened recently so it is possible to drive there from the Hungarian side of the border. Many Grebenars immigrated to the US in the late 1800's and early 1900's to the US. My grandfather Grebenar ended up in Cudahy (Milwaukee) in 1904 and my father was born thereand that is when his name was accidentally changed to Graebner. My grandparents and my father (who was US born) returned to Europe in 1921, first to Heiligenkreuz, now Austria (just across the border from Hungary by a few km.) and later to the Hungarian side of the new border which cut the region apart. The Versailles Treaty and Trianon was tragic for the region as an economic and socially cohesive region. The Russians occupied the Hungarian side on April 4, 1945 and did not really pull out. The communist era discouraged the speaking and use of Vendish (Vend) and now only about 5,000 people speak it as their mother tongue. Some of the villages are Alsoszolnok, Felsoszolnok, Rabatotfalu, Apatistvanfalva, Orfalu, and in Szentgotthard the regional center. I have been traveling the region in all 3 countries since 1973 and will be going back home in April. If you need any info, please, contact me. frank graebner (was grebenar) - 2008.1.13. Thank you very much Tibor and joel for creating this site.Iam a Anonymous - 2008.1.1. I will be sending you an email. I am a granddaughter of Ferenc Talaber and Rozalia Geycsek and great granddaughter of Balazs Talaber and Terez Zetek. Our great Grandfather owned a home in Orfalu and we believe we have family living in Apatistvanfalva (Zankocs) and in Csorotnek. My sister and I hope to make a trip there in the next 2 years. Our grandfather passed away in the US before any of us were born, but our Grandmother Rozalia (my name sake) was the most wonderful Grandmother in the world and we were so fortunate to have her in our lives. Rosalie Talaber Howell - 2007.12.13. My grandfather, Steve Baloi was from Raba. I am trying to find out exactly where . He was bor in 1892 and came to US through Canada. Can you help??? Fred Baloy - 2007.11.8. My grandmother is from Szakonyfalu, and I would like to visit her home country; I have relatives that are there that I would like to meet - with the family name of Somenek. Can you provide me with any guidance on where I would look to find out how to travel there? Thank you very much! My email is cerise28@charter.net Thank you! Cerise Semrinec - 2007.10.31. Cool guestbook, interesting information... Keep it UP. excellent site i really like your stuff. Unknown - 2007.9.24. Wonderful and informative web site.I used information from that site its great. Unknown - 2007.9.24. Hello! great idea of color of this siyte! Unknown - 2007.8.8. Hello Tibor and Joel, Thank you for your wonderful website. I had many questions about the Wendish people(Slovenes). My father Zsampar, Luis was born in Rabatotfalu but emigrated to USA, Cleveland,Ohio.(circa 1924). My Grandmother was a Domjan. I never met her but wish I had. There is/was an Aunt Etelka Zsampar who probably still lives in Rabatotfalu, but I am not sure. My Father spoke both Slovenian and Hungarian. There are three names I am familiar with: Zsampar, Domjan, and Pinter. I would like to correspond with anyone familiar with these family names. English or German is OK. Again thank you for your website and for answering some of my questions. Vielen Dank, William Sampar Grand Junction, Colorado wjsamp@gmail.com William Sampar - 2007.6.30. Tibor and Joel, Thank you for creating such a wonderful website featuring the heritage of the Windish people. It is so difficult to find this information and unfortunately, the ancestors who COULD tell us all out our heritage are often already passed away. I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Raba Slovene Region in 1997 with my grandfather and father. My grandfather grew up there prior to coming to USA. It was amazing to experience the region through his eyes. I tried to learn as much from him about the Windish people and traditions prior to his passing in 2005, but he was 96, and his memory was not as good. THis website is a nice tribute to our Windish heritage. I also want to thank you for helping those of us who are doing genealogical research on our family. The photos,etc are a great help! The 2 of you should be commended! Also, if anyone reading these comments is searching for relatives with surnames of Szukics/Sukic/Sukitsch/Hovath/Csuk/Schultz, I'd appreciate any information. D.Sukitsch(Szukics) princessdms1@yahoo.com D.Sukitsch(Szukics) - 2007.3.7. Hallo.. finde die seite sehr intresant und schön. und habe eine Persönliche frage Ich bin auf der suche nach einem Schmied in Ungarn. würde mich freuen wenn mir jemand einen Kontakt senden kann. danke schon mal im vorraus. die mail ist mit absicht mit leerzeichen geschrieben, um Spam zu vermeiden. :-) T y r c o n @ F r e e n e t .d e Dennis Röhr - 2007.2.27. Zanimiva stran... Sam sem prekmurec, gojim tudi dobre stike z porabskimi slovenci in madľari...,so me v bliľnji preteklosti zanimale korenine mojega naroda. V bistvu je zgodba zelo dolga in sega ąe v čas, ko sem strastno prebiral indijsko/himalajsko literaturo; Vede, Ramayana... Ko sem iskal dol. mesta na samem zemljevidu, sem odkril nekaj nenavadnega; veliko staroindijskih sanskrt besed izpred 7000 let ali celo več, je bilo zelo podobno zdająnji slovenąčini. Npr. beseda himalaja; oz. satemska oblika zima, ter kentumska hima... Ali pa kar področje Gorovath; danaąnji tibet; torej beseda gora... Tudi besedo deľela; oz sanskrt; desh... nirvana; mir vani; mir zunaj(staro-venetska/vendska religija, čaąčenje onostranstva, raja)... Tako sem odkril deľelo Vindya Parvata; domnevna deľela v katero so se pred 4000-5000 let zatekli Vindi, oz. Hindi. V območju Punjab, so se ustalili tudi arijci, ki so v bistvu govorili zelo podoben jezik kot vendi. Iz neznanih razlogov so takratna ljudstva začela prodirati proti zahodu(pred več kot 3500 leti). Ustalila so se na območjih danaąnjega baltika, norveąke, finske. Arijci so npr. naselili bretanijo ter severni del ąvedske in norveąke in finske. Vendi, pa so se naseljevali na območjih ob rekah v Franciji(veliko območij je ąe danes poimenovano po njih),©vici, Belorusiji, Čeąki, Slovaąki, Avstriji, deloma tudi Nemčiji(Luľiąki Sorbi; ne zamenjuj z Srbi/Avari) , Istri, Benečiji, Prekmurju, vse do balkanskega polotoka (tudi bosni; pred kratkim odkriti monumenti v Visokem in odkrita fonetična pisava na kamnih priča v zapis fonetico/deloma rune oz. grąka pisava, ki se je razvila neposredno na tej.) Novejąa genetična raziskovanja po evropi, kaľejo na to, da imamo npr. Prekmurci, oz. vsi slovenci veliko skupnega z Norveľi, tudi finci, Samo - 2007.2.14. Hello Herr Horváth and Herr Gerber, Thank you very much for making this web site. For so long I have seached for information on my Mother's roots. I was like a dream come true when we found your site. My mother Emma Grebenar is from Szakonyfalu and my father's Stephen Czvitkovicz birthplace is unknown. We believe it not far from Szakonyfalu. The Szakonyfalu tombstone page is wonderful. There are three names we are familiar with: Grebenar, Bajek (Felsőszölnök ). I would like to correspond with anyone who is familar with thes familay names and location. German or English is ok. My parent spoke Wendish. Is this a language still spoken? Again thank you both for taking the time and expense to give the world this website. Danke, Jeanne Grebenar Brown San Diego, California bbrown@metricsystems.com Jeanne Grebenar Brown - 2006.12.31. Nagyon örülünk, hogy felfedeztük ezt a honlapot, illetve a fiam fedezte fel. Először megtalálta Szlovéniában a rólunk elnevezett falut :-) azután kiderítette vend származásunkat, azóta keressük a vend-témájú információkat. Köszönettel Zslebics Gyula Zslebics Gyula - 2006.12.17. Pozdravljena! Z zanimanjem sem si ogledal vajino internetno predstavitev Porabja. Zelo pohvalno. Jaz sem sosed Porabja, saj stanujem v neposredni bliľini mejnega prehoda Martinje - Gornji Senik. Ko bosta kaj v bliľini, se oglasita na klepet. LP Srečko kalamar@goricanka.si KALAMAR SREČKO - 2006.12.6. I am from Alsoszolnok Hungary. I escaped in 1956. My mother's family is Slovene and my father's side is German. I still have family in Alsoszolnok. My wife and I spent several weeks this spring in my hometown. I have enjoyed this website very much. It brings back alot of old memories. I was 18 when I left, and my first time back home was in 1988. My recent trip was very different from the first one. No Iron Curtain. Thank you, John Kovacs John Kovacs - 2006.12.4. Cestitam Vam in hvala! Stefan Tomislav - 2006.11.13. Dear Mr Edward Szvétecz! Thank you for visiting our website! We are happy to see that you want to visit Rábatótfalu again after all these years. We are sure that you will enjoy your stay in Porabje. Since 1983, especially after the fall of the Iron Curtain, there have been a lot of positive changes in that region. With kind regards! Tibor Horváth and Joël Gerber www.vendvidek.com - 2006.9.10. Dear Mr Charles F. Szvetecz! Thank you for your interest in our website! My (Tibor) grandfather's sisters emigrated from Apátistvánfalva to the USA at around the same time your grandparents did. We will continue updating our website with historical and cultural reports about the Porabje region in Hungary. Best Wishes! Tibor Horváth and Joël Gerber www.vendvidek.com - 2006.9.10.