3 Hotter

The border between the kingdoms of Austria and Hungary used to run along here, now it is the border between Lower Austria and Burgenland. This important boundary has always been known as the 3 Hotter. Hotter is the term for a mound of earth used to mark a border. To stop the mound being washed away by the rain and blurring the boundary line, fragments of clay were buried in them, which could not be washed away so easily. The older generation can still remember additional measures used to safeguard the borderline, such as those employed at the annual Hottermarsch. Young boys would be taken along on the walk and, at important boundary points, have their faces slapped so that they would remember where the boundary ran for the rest of their lives. Today, 3 trees are a reminder of the former earth mounds.

Interesting events often take place at borders. Necessity is known to be the mother of invention and after World War 1 the citizens of Hof on the Austrian side of the border and those of Donnerskirchen on the Hungarian side tried to make the best of their situation. The farmers of Hof and Donnerskirchen became involved in large-scale smuggling. Both groups took their animals to graze on a border meadow and as chance would have it the herds got mixed up. Upon their return, the Hof herds had suddenly and miraculously grown in size. And because everyone stuck together the border police were powerless against the sly farmers. “Nowhere is smuggling as prevalent as in Hof”, appeared in the parish chronicle!

Today no one has to smuggle anymore, but the people of Hof are still supposed to be shrewd businessmen.