On the occasion of the centenary of Austria’s youngest federal province, sociologist Traude Horvath has made excerpts from biographical interviews available online. The sound recordings were made in 1988/89 during her field research among Burgenland migrants in New York, Chicago and various places in Pennsylvania. The Horvath Collection was handed over to the Phonogrammarchiv for archiving and has now been digitised; it contains around 65 hours of recordings of numerous interviews as well as some social gatherings.
The podcast summarises aspects of the migration process in eight audio portraits, such as reasons for emigration, work, reference to home, change or language. According to Traude Horvath, these historical voices can also open up references to current realities of life: “In the current social debate, migration is very often spoken of as a ‘problem’ that needs to be quickly solved politically. Perhaps looking at one’s own history – in this case at the Burgenländer emigration to the USA, which has rather positive connotations in the region – can contribute to a more differentiated view of the current situation”.