Sopronbánfalva (german: Wandorf), also known as Bánfalva, is a former

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

part of the

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Sopron Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...

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 ...

, since 1950. It is also called Kertváros (Garden-City in Hungarian) or Sopron-Kertváros. It is located west of the city center, at the northeastern foot of the

Sopron Mountains The Sopron Mountains ( hu, Soproni-hegység, Soproni-hg., german: Ödenburger Gebirge), occasionally also called the Ödenburg Mountains, is a low mountain range which forms the eastward extension of the Eastern Alps in Europe. It is part of the ...

, next to the road connecting

with Brennbergbánya.

History

According to the

Treaty of Trianon The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in ...

in 1920, in the western part of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

, the city of

and its surroundings were assigned to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. After an uprising in 1921 in this region, a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

was held and 65.08% of the votes were in favor of belonging to Hungary. This referendum was accepted by the

Entente Powers The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...

and Sopron and its surrounding 8 villages (including Sopronbánfalva) remained in Hungary. The city of Sopron and Sopronbánfalva began to stretch towards each other at the beginning of the 20th century, and since the annexation of the village into the city in 1950, the areas have merged. Before 1945, the village had 3,304 inhabitants, with the majority being ethnic

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

. However after the

World War II 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 ...

, many ethnic Germans were deported, leaving only around 700 residents. This happened due to the desire to, among other things, secure the border with

Pauline–Carmelite Monastery

The monastery in Sopronbánfalva is today a hotel, resting on medieval foundations, located in the southwestern part of

, in Sopronbánfalva. The forest-covered

and the Heroes' Cemetery of Sopronbánfalva lie in the immediate vicinity of the monastery. The

Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...

nuns moved to the monastery in 1892 and were there until 1950. They made a numerous reconstructions and modernizations, part of the work was to supply the church with new paintings, which fell to painter Zoltán Básti. He painted various biblical scenes and figures, which included

Saint Peter's Basilica The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...

, the

Esztergom Basilica The Primatial Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Adalbert ( hu, Nagyboldogasszony és Szent Adalbert prímási főszékesegyház), also known as the Esztergom Basilica ( hu, Esztergomi bazilika), is an ecclesiastic basili ...

, and Bishop Vilmos Apor who died in 1945 during the Siege of

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia ...

. Bishop Vilmos Apor refused to release the women who fled to his residence, a Soviet soldier fatally wounded him during a scuffle. The 17-year-old bishop's nephew jumped in front of his uncle and received three bullets, the bishop was also hit by three bullets. Painting Apor was in itself a testament to considerable courage in the beginning of the Stalinist Rákosi era, which built up total terror. However, the painter was not satisfied with that: above the gallery, the triumph of

Saint Michael the Archangel Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), a ...

over

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

is depicted, but his defeated face was inspired by the Soviet dictator

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

. Attila Németh, the parish priest of the church said to the MTI: "He was a brave man, that much is certain. At that time, such an act would have been punished. Just think of the poets of the Soviet Union who wrote satirical poems about Stalin. Most of them were either executed or exiled to Siberia. Only very few could know the "secret" of the painter from Upper Hungary. Of course, the parish priest at the time, István Nagy, who ordered the works, could have been among them. In addition, the artist cunningly disguised his figures: in several other allegorical scenes also visible on the walls, he immortalized the faces of his compatriots in the village."

References

External links

* Sopron Former municipalities of Hungary {{Gyor-geo-stub

History

Pauline–Carmelite Monastery

See also

References

External links