Chronological survey of the Burgenland Croats

1515 First mention of Croats in the Eisenstadt town records.
1564 Mass book of Klingenbach (Klimpuh) with Glagolitic, Cyrillic (bosancica) and Latin alphabets, oldest written document of the Burgenland Croats.
1568 Translation of the Protestant sermon book of Antun Dalmatin and Stipan Konsul for the Burgenland Croats.
1573 Secret imperial decree against the further settlement by Croats enacted out of xenophobic fears.
1609/1611 Beginnings of the Croatian written language in Burgenland: First Protestant collection of sermons published in Burgenland (Deutschkreutz), "Dusevne peszne" by Gregor Pythiraeus-Mekinich.
1732 First Burgenland Croatian Gospel book, "Horvacko evangyelye" (Anonymous).
1744 Publication of the first catechism in Croatian.
1754 First publication of the Croatian prayer book, "Hisa Zlata" by Laurentius Bogovics.
1805 "Novi Horvaczki Kalendar" (New Croatian calendar) — the beginning of secular literature in the Burgenland Croatian language.
1811 Translation of the Holy Scriptures into Burgenland Croatian — unpublished.
1853 The central authorities in Vienna print elementary textbooks in Burgenland Croatian.
1867 The first Constitution of Austria, the Fundamental Laws, guaranteed specific language and political rights to the "tribes" of the empire.
1879 First Hungarianization laws to curb the use of minority languages in primary schools.
1902 The first farmer’s almanac, "Kalendar Svete Familije", of Mate Meršic-Miloradic
1907 Strict Hungarianization laws for schools and official language use— it becomes mandatory to translate place names into Hungarian; the adoption of Hungarian family names is encouraged.
1910 Founding of "Nase Novine", the first newspaper of the Burgenland Croats, which despite brief interruptions and changes in name continues to be published to this day. Present title: "Hrvatske novine"
1912 Croatian workers from Hornstein (Vorištan) found the first Social-Democratic organization on the territory later to become Burgenland.
1919 Serious clashes between the troops of the Hungarian Soviet Republic and Croatian farmers in Nikitsch (Filež) leave two dead.
1919 Czech "Corridor Plan" with the Croatian-speaking areas of Burgenland as a link between the Czechoslovakian and Yugoslavian territories.
1919 The Treaty of St. Germain regulates the rights of minorities in the newly established Republic of Austria.
1921 Annexation of the Burgenland by Austria; in a memorandum the leadership of the Croatian Culture Association in Burgenland requests that the Croats remain under the jurisdiction of Hungary.
1922 Numerous Croatian localities along the Hungarian border are given to Hungary.
1923 Establishment of the newspaper “Hrvatske novine” in Vienna.
1929 Re-establishment of the Croatian Culture Association.
1934 Croatian organizations are incorporated into the structures of the authoritarian state; founding of the Burgenland Croatian Culture Association in Vienna.
1937 The new Burgenland School Act regulates Croatian and bilingual education according to the proportion of the population.
1938 Anschluss of Austria to the Third Reich. The cultural life of the Burgenland Croats comes to a standstill; bilingual education is forbidden.
1941 Nazi plan to resettle Burgenland Croats is thwarted by the party’s offices in Burgenland.
1942 "Hrvatske novine” is closed down by the Nazi party.
1943 Father Matthias Semeliker is sent to Dachau.
1945 The Croatian Culture Association achieves the release of Burgenland Croatian prisoners of war from Yugoslavian custody by Marshall Tito.
1946 The Croatian Dr. Lorenz Karall is voted provincial governor.
1946 Founding of the Croatian Catholic newspaper "Crikveni glasnik".
1947 Yugoslavia calls for either an exchange of the population or autonomy for the Croats in Burgenland.
1948 Founding of the Croatian Association of University Graduates in Vienna.
1948/1949 Autonomy demands voiced by the Burgenland Croats.
1955 The rights of the Croatian minority in Burgenland are defined in Article 7 of the State Treaty signed in Vienna and they are partially granted constitutional-level status.
1962 Reorganization of education. The former upper classes of the eight-year primary school becomes the lower secondary school (Hauptschule). Bilingual instruction is limited to the first four-grades of primary school.
1976 Organizations of ethnic groups successfully call for a boycott of the "Census of a special kind”. The Ethnic Minority Act is rejected by Croatian organizations, who do not send representatives to the Ethnic Minority Advisory Board.
1977 Founding of the Social-Democrat-dominated "Committee of the Mayors and Vice-Mayors of the Croatian and Mixed-language Communities of Burgenland".
1978 Media campaign for Croatian radio broadcasting over the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Company)
1979 First Croatian radio broadcasts over Ö2 (ORF).
1982 Dictionary published for German, Burgenland Croatian and Croatian.
1984 Founding of the Adult Education Center of the Burgenland Croats.
1987 The Constitutional Court repeals part of the Ethnic Minority Act. Effective immediately, Croatian becomes the second official language of Burgenland.
1987/1988 Pilot project with Croatian as a compulsory subject in secondary school
1989 First Croatian television broadcasting in the regional programming of ORF
1989 After the Fall of the Iron Curtain, cooperation intensifies between the Burgenland Croats and those parts of the ethnic group that remained in Hungary and Slovakia in 1921.
1991 A provincial census reports that 29,600 use Croatian as their colloquial language; of these 19,100 live in Burgenland and 6,500 in Vienna. According to estimates by Croatian organizations, 35,000 to 40,000 live in Burgenland, and 10,000 to 15,000 in Vienna.
1992 For the first time, Croatian organizations send representatives to the Ethnic Advisory Board.
1992/1993 Inauguration of the bilingual upper secondary school at Oberwart/Borta/Felsöör.
1993 Hrvatske organizacije šalju po prvi put zastupnike u Savjet za narodne grupe
1993 The Croatian Ethnic Advisory Board declares itself unanimously in favor of bilingual place-name signs in all bilingual areas of Burgenland.
1994 Opening of the Burgenland Croatian Center in Vienna.
1995 The Burgenland Minority Education Act exempts children from enrollment in Croatian language classes in communities with a majority of ethnic Croats, but permits Croatian language classes if at least 7 persons enroll applicable in all communities of Burgenland.
1998 The parliament in Vienna ratifies the "Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities" (FLG III 120/1998). This document of international law, drawn up by the Council of Europe, obliges all European governments to observe minimum standards in the protection of minorities.
1999 MORA Association (Open Minority Radio) broadcasts Croatian and bilingual news and its own minority programming over Antenne 4, a private radio station. As the Austrian government cut its financial support, these broadcats had to be stopped one year later.
2000 The Austrian Federal Parliament has adopted a provision for the protection of minorities in the Austrian Constitution.

A decree concerning bilingual place name signs has been adopted, 47 Croatian villages finally got such signs.