Poggersdorf


Poggersdorf is a municipality, since 2013 a so-called Market Municipality in the district of Klagenfurt-Land in the Austrian federal state of Carinthia.

Geography

Geographic Situation

Poggersdorf lies in the center-east of the Klagenfurt plain, about 10 km east of the regional capital city of Klagenfurt. On the north and west, the Gurk forms the municipal boundary, and on the south between Gurker Brücke/Muta and Kreuth/Rute, the road to Pack forms the boundary. In 1920, on the occasion of the referendum on the affiliation of southern parts of Carinthia either to Austria or to the newly found State of later Yugoslavia, the river Gurk/Krka represented the boundary of the voting zones A and B, as the zone A, comprising Poggersdorf, was considered being largely Slovenian.

Neighbouring Municipalities

Structure of the Municipality

The Municipality is composed by four cadastral land register units: Leibsdorf, Linsenberg, Pubersdorf and St. Michael ob der Gurk. The Municipality encloses also 24 localities and villages :

History

The eastern part of the Klagenfurt Plain belonged during history to different centers of power. Until an advanced period of Middle Ages, the ancient Carantanian social group of Slavs respectively Slovenians called the “Edlinger” had specific social privileges. It was situated between feudality and farmers and had its own autonomous justice. It is in this tradition that developed for example the lower aristocratic domains of Eibelhof or Wutschein which gave their names to the respective cadastral land register units.
The territory of the municipality of Poggersdorf/Pokrče belonged to the higher court of Maria Saal. In the course of the creation of the modern political municipalities in 1850, the municipality of “Windisch St. Michael” was created. For ethnopolitical reasons – the municipality and the whole region were considered as being Slovenian – the municipality was renamed in 1896 and its administrative center was transferred to the village of Poggersdorf/Pokrče that was also nearer to the main regional road. In the course of the administrative reform of 1973, a part of the former municipality of Hörtendorf was attached to it.

In the last population census of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1910, about 59% of the population of the municipality of Pokrče declared Slovenian being their language of every day public use, which leads to the conclusion that even a higher part had or considered Slovenian being its mother tongue.
During centuries, the municipality was characterized by agriculture and it is only in the last decades that the phenomenon of commuters to the regional capital city became more and more important. In 2013, the municipality was given the specific status of a “Market Municipality”.

Population

According to the census of 2001, the population of Poggersdorf is 2.850, 97,8 % have the Austrian nationality and 87,5 % are Catholics, 2,9 % Protestants, 0,7 % Muslims and 6,2 % without religious confession. The Jehovah's Witnesses have a worship center in Leibsdorf.
The parish church of Poggersdorf as well as its filial churches of Wutschein, Wabelsdorf and Eiersdorf are formally bilingual.

Slovenian Dialect an Cultural History

The Municipality of Poggersdorf/Pokrče is still bilingual with German dominance. Historically however, it belonged to the linguistic area of the autochthonous Slovenian language or dialect of the plain of Klagenfurt, which is a central dialect respectively of transition of the so-called Slovenian dialect of the valley of Rosental and the dialect of the valley of Jauntal . The dialect was initially identified and described by Johann Scheinigg in 1882. This was confirmed by on site studies by Katja Sturm-Schnabl in 1973
At the beginning of the 20th century, numerous Slovenian associations under the patronage of the church as well as private were created in order to promote the Slovenian culture and to ensure its respect and legal rights, such as the Cyril and Method-Association. The Association called “Edinost” of the neighbouring parish of Saint Thomas also developed their activities.
During the ethnic cleansing of the Nazis and even before the beginning of WW II, any Slovenian activities as well as the use of the language were forbidden and persecuted and people who would speak it were put into camps at the latest in April 1942. Aster WW II, collective traumatisation and ongoing discriminations made a renewal of the Slovenian culture almost impossible.

Culture and Sites of Cultural Interest

Monuments

Poggersdorf/Pokrče has a primary school center and pre-elementary education in the municipal center as well as an elementary school in Waberlsdorf which is categorized as being bilingual in respect of the ethnic minority rights.

Coat of Arms

The coat of arms of Poggersdorf/Pokrče has the form of an escutcheon with green background as a symbol of the agricultural nature of the municipality. The black peak is heads down symbolizing the local industry as well the extraction of peat in the location of Raunachmoss. The religious monument, a wayside shrine, is characteristic for the whole region and can be found in Wabelsdorf, Eisersdorf in Linsenberg as well as in Raunachmoos. The lance and the shepherds’ stick symbolize the right of possession of arms and the rural culture of the so-called “Edlinger” of the times of medieval Carantania, which have kept their privileges much longer. The pincer symbolizes the mining activity in the Notburgahütte.
The blazon and the flag were conferred on 13. February 1996. The flag is green and yellow and contains the blazon.

Politics

Municipal Council and Mayor

The Municipal Council of Poggersdorf has 19 members and, following the local elections in 2009, is constituted by:
The Mayor Arnold Marbek has been elected directly.

Literature