Choral Performance and Reading

Chorissima Filzmoos 

Evangelischer Kirchenchor Gröbming

Literary Reading: Cornelius Obonya presents letters of exiled Protestants from the 18th century.

In the 18th century, the Austrian Court Chancellery used the term “transmigration” as a euphemism for deportation. It referred to the forcible resettlement of subjects—mostly Lutheran Protestants—to Transylvania, from where they were prohibited from returning.

This measure was not primarily motivated by religious goals, but rather by Habsburg state policy. Both Maria Theresa and Charles VI viewed Catholic unity as a means of stabilizing the multi-ethnic empire. In this context, the Church assumed a state-supporting role.