Pusztaszemes is a village in

Somogy County Somogy ( hu, Somogy megye, ; hr, Šomođska županija; sl, Šomodska županija, german: Komitat Schomodei) is an administrative county (comitatus or ''megye'') in present Hungary, and also in the former Kingdom of Hungary. Somogy County lies ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. It is known for being the birthplace of

János Kádár János József Kádár (; ; 26 May 1912 – 6 July 1989), born János József Czermanik, was a Hungarian communist leader and the General Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, a position he held for 32 years. Declining health le ...

's father, ''János Krezinger''.

Etymology

The name of Pusztaszemes originates from the words ''szem'' ( en, grain, eye, core) and ''

puszta The Hungarian Puszta () is a temperate grassland biome of the Alföld or Great Hungarian Plain. It is an exclave of the Eurasian Steppe, and lies mainly around the River Tisza in the eastern part of Hungary, as well as in the western part of t ...

'' because this area depopulated during the Turkish occupation. It is also possible that the village got its name after its first owner, a man called ''Szemes''.

Geography

It lies on the ''Outer Somogy Hill Range'', 10 km south of

Balatonföldvár Balatonföldvár (german: Földwahr) is a popular resort town in Somogy County, Hungary, on the southern side of Lake Balaton, approximately 120 km southwest from Budapest and about 23 km southwest from Siófok, the "capital of Balaton ...

, in the southern end of the ''Kőröshegy-Pusztaszemes Valley''. The ''Brook Séd'' and ''Brook Jaba'' have their sources there. The first flows to the North in the

Lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and th ...

, the second to the South in the ''River Koppány''.

History

Pusztaszemes was first mentioned in 1229 as ''Scernes''. I also appears in the papal

tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...

Ottoman Porte The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( ota, باب عالی, Bāb-ı Ālī or ''Babıali'', from ar, باب, bāb, gate and , , ), was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire. History The nam ...

's tax register mentioned it initially, later it became uninhabited. After the Siege of Buda the Hungarian nobility invited Christian settlers (mostly Roman Catholic) to Hungary. Until 1778 several German families arrived to Pusztaszemes who rebuilt the village. The landowner was the Széchényi family, but several residents had smaller portions of lands. According to the 1853 census the village had 340 residents of which 258 were

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

and 82

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

.László Szita : Somogy megyei nemzetiségek településtörténete a XVIII-XIX. században - Somogyi Almanach 52. (Kaposvár, 1993)
/ref> Its Roman Catholic church was built in 1860 and was dedicated to

Saint Wendelin Saint Wendelin of Trier ( la, Vendelinus; 554 - 617 AD) was a hermit and abbot. Although not listed in the Roman Martyrology, his cultus is wide-spread in German-speaking areas. He is a patron of country folk and herdsmen. He is honored on O ...

Main sights

* Roman Catholic Church - built in 1860 and dedicated to

* monument for the heroes of the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

* traditional houses * house of ''János Krezinger'', father of

- at the edge of the village next to the forest

External links

Street map (Hungarian)

References

Populated places in Somogy County Hungarian German communities in Somogy County {{Somogy-geo-stub