Hans Karner, the mayor of Gresten Land, told us a lot of information and there were several main themes, which, to some degree, were unconnected. In the mid 1500's, the majority of the citizens in Austria had become Lutherans. About 1570 there occurred a counter-Reformation led by the combination of the Church and the State. This last movement was not entirely successful. Toward the close of the century, there was a peasant's revolt, in which several individuals from Gresten played a major role. This was suppressed by the army. About 1630, during the Thirty Years' War, the Catholics were able to reclaim the church building in Gresten. A few years after the Thirty Years' War, about 1655, the Emperor declared that the Lutherans had a choice. They could either convert to Catholicism, or they could emigrate. So many opted to emigrate that the Emperor made the act of emigration hard and painful to discourage it. Still, six hundred citizens from around Gresten left for Dietenhofen in Germany.
After the courtesies shown us by Hans Karner and Florian Berger, we invited them to a dinner that evening. Hans came alone but Florian brought his wife Elisabeth. The conversation ranged over many topics, but I asked Hans about the work that the Mayor did. I asked him if he had any political opposition and Florian laughed and said, "I am the opposition." (When I looked in on the web site for Gresten Land, I saw that Florian was the only member of the opposition.) I was impressed that Florian and Hans would lay aside their differences and would work together to entertain a couple of Americans. After a long dinner, when it was getting dusky outside, Hans insisted that the party adjoin to the main plaza where a map of the local area hung. This marked out many of the farms, including Plankenbichl and Pletzenberg. Hans commandeered a passer-by to take photos of all of us in front of the map. He had a camera and I had one so each of us could have photos.
Hans gave us two mementoes of our visit, a commemorative plate, or plague, and a book of history for Gresten. We spent another couple of days in and around Gresten. We walked in the hills and drove over some of the roads which gave access to the farms. At one point, we came across two ladies with about eight small children. A conversation with them showed that it was a nursery school class from Vienna. They came out on a train to Gresten and were staying at a guest house on a farm.
Around Gresten there are several castle ruins, which implied what life was like in earlier days. Of course, most people did not live in the castle but were subservient to the occupants of it.
(25 Apr 05)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.