Stinatz is a town in the district of Güssing

Güssing (district)

The Bezirk Güssing is an administrative district in the federal state of Burgenland, Austria, bordering on Vas Megye Hungary, of which it had been a part prior to 1921....

 in Burgenland

Burgenland

Burgenland is the easternmost and least populous state or Land of Austria. It consists of two Statutarstädte and seven districts with in total 171 municipalities. It is 166 km long from north to south but much narrower from west to east...

 in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

. According to the last census 62% of the population are members of the Burgenland Croat minority

Burgenland Croats

Burgenland Croats are ethnic Croats in the Austrian state of Burgenland. Although an enclave hundreds of kilometres away from their original homeland, they have managed to preserve culture and language for centuries...

.

Geography

The town lies in the district of Guessing in the south of Burgenland and is composed of two urban districts, Stinatz and Stinatz-Nord. The neighboring towns are Ollerdorf, Hackerberg, Litzelsdorf and Wörterberg.

History

Due to the Ottoman Wars in the 15th century, many Croatian families emigrated to this area and founded their own town. Stinatz was first mentioned in a document in the year 1577. Like the whole Burgenland area, Stinatz belonged to Hungary until 1921. Due to a change in the Hungarian law and policy in 1889, the town, originally named Stinjaki, was given the Hungarian name Stinacs. The town belongs since 1921 to the new founded Burgenland.

Politics

In the year 2009, the long-time mayor Alfred Grandits (SPÖ) had to retire because of serious health problems. The next election will be in January of 2010. In the meantime Andreas Grandits (ÖVP) acts in place of Alfred Grandits. After the last elections the SPÖ has 10 mandate and the ÖVP has 9 mandate. Although the town has about 1400 citizen, there are many teenagers interested in politics and therefore there are many events arranged by the Social Youth and the JVP.

Educational institutions

Due to the quantity of children, the town has its own preschool and elementary school. Although the amount of births declined during the last years, the school has enough children, because there are many immigrants in the town.

Associations and events

There are many clubs in the town like the, football club, musical society, tennis club, Stinjacko

Kolo and the Naturfreunde. All these clubs have their own events.

Folkways

The town is characterized by its Croatian origin, in particular the colorful local costume (Stinatzer Tracht) and the huge weddings, where there is a lot of singing and dancing.

Notable people

• Marijana Grandits, politician
• Ferdinand Grandits, politician
• Ernst A. Grandits, TV host on 3 Sat
• Thomas Resetarits, sculptor
• Luka Resetarits, cabaret artist
• Willi Resetarits
  Willi Resetarits
  Wilhelm Resetarits , better known as Willi Resetarits and Dr. Kurt Ostbahn, is an Austrian singer, comedian and human rights activist....
  
  , musician, alias Kurt Ostbahn
• Terezija Stoisits
  Terezija Stoisits
  thumb|Terezija Stoisits, 2006Terezija Stoisits [] is an Austrian politician of the Green Party. Since July 2007 she serves as an ombudswoman of the Republic of Austria...
  
  , politician