This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hignatz (talk | contribs) at 19:15, 21 March 2006 (Veliki Gaj, a small village in Serbia). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 19:15, 21 March 2006 by Hignatz (talk | contribs) (Veliki Gaj, a small village in Serbia)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Veliki Gaj is famous for no other reason I know except that it was the home of the Ignatz family during the first half of the 20th century.
Until 1918, the region around Veliki Gaj, a small village in the Banat region, had been part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Settled by German speaking Volks-Deutsch or Donauschwaben (or "Schwobe" in the dialect), the area was also referred to as the German Banat. The Ignatz family allegiance was thus to Germany and Austria, although Serbo-Croatian and Hungarian languages were also spoken. After WWI, this region became the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. In 1929, the kingdom changed its name to Yugoslavia. After much ethnic fighting that continues to this day, Veliki Gaj is now part of Serbia. Yugoslavia is now a Federation of only Serbia and Montenegro, as the regions of Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia declared their independence in 1991 -1992.
Wilhelm Ignatz (1898-1945), a local mayor, farmer and grain mill owner, and Magdalena Ignatz (née Werner, March 1 1906 - October 23 1993) raised their only son, Franz Wilhelm Ignatz (March 6 1924 - March 23 1976) in Veliki Gaj until he was old enough to go to a Jesuit school in the Croatian city of Zagreb. The Werner family came from Alsace, now part of northeastern France, but which at the time was also part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Wilhelm Ignatz was killed at the end of WWII, while Franz Wilhelm and Magdalena Ignatz fled to Austria and eventually emigrated to Canada.