All Was Lost - A Man & His Manor House (Lost Lands #80)

The man who owned Grad Matzenau longer than anyone else had a name just as grand as the manor house he purchased in 1900. Though I have been unable to find information on his father, mother or other ancestors, the name Karl Friedrich Franz Matzenauer graf von Matzenau says a lot. Someone with a name like that came from the upper echelons of 19th century European society. The name is redolent of nobility, and by extension wealth. Matzenau had a lot in life going for him long before he purchased Grad Matzenau, but he also lived up to his exalted name. He and his family made Grad Matzenau their home from the turn of the 20th century, until near the end of World War II. This was no easy feat.

The numerous owners of the property before Matzenau would sell out after a couple of years. Whether it was the remote location or financial problems, none of the previous owners of Grad Matzenau were able to keep the property. It is easy to see why. The manor house was tucked away deep in a netherworld of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The kind of place few aristocrats or wealthy magnates wanted to live for more than a few months. They can hardly be blamed. Grad Matzenau is the remotest place on my itinerary for the lost lands beyond Hungary’s borders. Even today, with modern transport, the manor house is not an easy place to visit. The same was true when the Matzenau’s moved there.

Bucolic Backwater - Life In The Countryside

Karl Friedrich Matzenau was not a young man when he bought the 150-hectare property on the southwestern frontier in the Hungarian administered portion (Transleithania) of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was already forty-nine years old, married for the second time with six children. Karl Friedrich’s move to Prekmurje was quite a change. He had been born in southern Moravia and lived there before moving to Grad Matzenau. He was a professional diplomat who continued to serve in that role despite living in one of the empire’s backwaters. If Grad Matzenau is remote today, I can only imagine how much more it would have been in the early 20th century. Life in Prekmurje (Venvidek in Hungarian) moved at a much slower pace in a rapidly changing empire. The pace of change in the region was glacial. That was until World War I upended the political, economic, and social order in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Karl Friedrich was too old to serve when Austria-Hungary went to war. The aftermath of the conflict had major ramifications for his property. The empire’s defeat and disintegration led to an adjustment of Hungary’s borders. Prekmurje became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed Yugoslavia in 1929). With his diplomatic experience, Matzenau advised on negotiations of where the border should go. Grad Matzenau ended up on what many in the area must have felt was on the wrong side of the border. The inhabitants of the village of Prosenjakovci, just a kilometer away from Grad Matzenau, were predominantly ethnic Hungarians. The Yugoslavia-Hungary border was a mere five kilometers from Grad Matzenau. The change from life in Austria-Hungary to Yugoslavia was a difficult transition for those who lived within walking distance of the border. A seemingly arbitrary line drawn in the glittering halls of Versailles had decided their fate.

Call To Arms – The Final Years

One of the main worries for anyone of wealth and means in formerly Hungarian territory was that their estates might be confiscated (with compensation) by the Yugoslav government. Land reform was a raison d’etre of the Yugoslav government and a rallying call for the masses in rural areas. The nobility and large landowners in regions such as Prekmurje had a great deal to lose with land reform. Karl Friedrich made the transition from Austria-Hungary to Yugoslavia better than most. Grad Matzenau and its surroundings only covered 150 hectares. This was small enough that the Yugoslav government did not take any of the estate. Other challenges would prove more problematic. Yugoslavia’s economy was fragile. Karl Friedrich struggled to keep Grad Matzenau solvent. His resourcefulness paid off as he kept the estate until his death in 1932, He was seventy-eight years old at the time. His wife Maria-Theresia died six years later. Ownership of Grad Matzenau was inherited by a son and daughter. With World War II on the horizon, the darkest period of Prekmurje’s modern history was soon to come.

When Hungary reoccupied Prekmurje in 1941, the stage was set for a disaster, but that was not apparent at the beginning. Members of the Matzenau family were happy to see the Hungarians come marching in. They must have believed the Hungarians were there to stay because the manor house soon enjoyed its greatest period of expansion. More land was added and put under cultivation. In retrospect, this expansion begs the question of what exactly they were thinking. Nazi Germany was going down in defeat and their ally Hungary right along with them. Perhaps, the Matzenau family was so confident in a German victory that they failed to consider how exposed they would be in the event of a loss. The situation became clearer to them in 1944 as the Red Army closed in on Grad Matzenau. There was nothing they could do but save themselves by fleeing the area. Predictably, this was the moment when Grad Matzenau took a turn for the worse.?

Last Vestiges – Pillage & Possession

The Red Army had no use for the aristocracy, considering them enemies to be either imprisoned or liquidated. Grad Matzenau would never be the same again. The Red Army and their allies wiped out the last vestiges of old Europe in the lands they occupied. Estates such as Grad Matzenau were fair game. The manor house was used as a field hospital. It was later turned over to Yugoslav forces and subsequently pillaged. The idea of private property was anathema to the communists. Soon, the interior of the manor house was in complete shambles. And still, the communist authorities were not through with Grad Matzenau. Once Yugoslavia had the estate back in its possession they had other uses for it in mind.