Aurelheim

On common Ground

The village of Aurelheim (colloquially: Ollerhas, Romanian: Răuţi, Hungarian: Aurélháza, also Holler) lies cross-country about 10 km southwest of Zillasch directly on the right bank of the Bega Canal, which is at a distance of about 1 km from the centre of the village (church).

Both Ollerhas and Zillasch are settlements on the former Praedium Sylhasch (pasture land of Sylhasch). The village was founded by Hungarian treasury act in 1843, after 40 Hungarian families from the nearby village of Hungarian Sanktmartin (Hungarian: Magyarszentmárton, Romanian: Sânmartinu Maghiar) settled here in 1841/1842. The land belonged to Count Aurél Dessewffy of Csernek and Tarkeő, a Hungarian landowner, journalist and politician, who in turn had subleased it to Aurel Bogta. The name Aurel was the inspiration for the place name Aurélháza, German Aurelheim. The Scharff and Neu-Silasi Puszta later belonged to the village.

At the time of the foundation of the village, Rauthendorf (as follows German Szent Mihaly - Németszentmihály - Deutschsanktmichael - Sânmihaiu German) already existed in the neighborhood; it was founded in 1808 by the Cavalry Captain Johannes Nepomuk Count von Rauth on land parts of the Praedium Sylhasch leased by him. The village of Silas, which is recorded in older cartography to the north-northeast near or on the Old Bega river, was gone at the time of the founding of Zillasch.

Rauth leased extensive lands in 1801, on which he founded the settlements of Rauthendorf and, as early as 1806, Hungarian-Sanktmartin (Romanian: Sânmartinu Maghiar, Hungarian: Magyarszentmárton), with the aim that his tenants would grow tobacco. As he was in arrears with the payment of the rent and generally did not comply with the terms of the lease, the lands were seized from him. As a result, Zillasch and Hungarian-Sanktmartin fell under the jurisdiction of the Vienna Court Chamber.
Count Ambrózy, the person in charge of chamber estates in Temesch County had to solve several conflicts of interest. Firstly, the estates were now located in different counties (Temesch and Torontal) with factual situations that were not based on decrees of the Court Chamber. Over time, wheat cultivation apparently yielded greater returns and was perceived by the settlers as more existentially advantageous than the drudgery of low-yield tobacco cultivation. In the meantime, enthusiasm for tobacco among the upper classes also seemed to have disappeared. 
In addition to Zillasch and Hungarian-Sanktmartin, the lease for a third settlement on these lands, established in 1838, still had to be settled: Ürmenhausen (Hungarian: Ürményháza, Serbian: Jermenovci), a village in the municipality of Zichydorf, northwest of Werschetz. 
Ambrózy managed that with the new leases in force after 1842, all traces that the settlers had once been tobacco farmers finally disappeared. Ambrózy, who favored the Germans in the Banat writes (source: Károly Dáczer) : "...but I will never wish that the Germans of Németszentmihály be deprived of the necessities of their existence and thereby harm the German element to which the Banat owes its present prosperity." Regarding their special treatment, he remarks: "The Germans of Németszentmihály, trusting in the great protection they enjoyed, wanted to gain a firm foothold in the wilderness of Silas." Last but not least, he even turned away the "Illerets and Vlahs," i.e. Serbs and Romanians, who wanted to settle on the lands of Silas. This created the free space for the settlement of Hungarians and the foundation of Ollerhas.

The Romanian place name Răuţi seems to have been created, on whatever basis, in my opinion with reference to von Rauth, the founder of Zillasch. Some sources (including Wikipedia and Enciclopedia Romaniei) even go in my view so far as to inaccurately and incompletely assign the place name Rautendorf to Aurelheim. 

The Hungarian population of the village was very nationally patriotic: almost all the men were recruited as soldiers at the time of the Hungarian campaign against the Austrians and Russians in 1848, and many of them never came back. In addition, the village suffered a lot from the raids and reprisals of the Timisoara Guard, which partly led to the evacuation of the entire population.

The first 10 German families settled in 1858. The Catholic church was built in 1876 and is still very well preserved today. The majority Catholic population was cared for by neighboring parishes.

The years 1859, 1861, 1885 and 1889 were marked by severe floods, but good defenses saved the village from devastation. In 1873, cholera was rampant.

Thriving business activity of the village in a peaceful social-cultural and diverse environment goes hand in hand with growing population - however, the last decades of last century are still marked by the resettlement of Germans and the departure of Hungarians: 

Zillasch also benefited from the prosperity of the Ollerhas: on 15 November 1902, the Hungarian Prime Minister Kálmán Széll of Duka and Szentgyörgyvölgy reported to the Parliament in Budapest as follows (own translation):

"The existence of the village of Németszentmihály in Temesch County was limited to 1,354 hectares of standing water land.

In the general interest of the national economy, it was necessary to sell to this village, which had insufficient land and, moreover, land of uncertain yield, land of sufficient size from the surrounding state property, which was not exposed to the water, on reasonable terms of redemption.

The 692 hectares, 196 □-meters, of the so-called Szilasi Wilderness, belonging to the boundary of Aurélháza Municipality in Torontal, and the 340 hectares of land in the fish pond of Románszentmihály Municipality in Temesch County were considered the most suitable areas for this purpose, and the Ministry of Finance assigned these areas to Németszentmihály Municipality, and since 1 October 1884 the Municipality has actually been in possession of these two areas".

At the same time, he ordered the administrative transfer of land from Torontal to Temesch County and made it legal. Unfortunately, this act, which was very helpful for Zillasch, could no longer prevent the emigration of residents to America. 

What has remained between Ollerhas and Zillasch to this day are neighbor and family ties that continue to exist or are being reestablished through the new media.

Sources: see previous page