[2] Hungarians of Burgenland are the descendants of frontier guards sent during the eleventh century to protect the Kingdom of Hungary.

[3] (In the following centuries many of these early inhabitants assimilated into the German-speaking population of Western Hungary.

[2] The negative image (see Iron Curtain) of the Hungarian language by this time led to assimilation.

[6] When German was introduced as the official language, Hungarian was only used on a rather restricted level, mostly spoken within the family.

[6] Two-thirds of Hungarians in Burgenland were Roman Catholic in 2004;[2] Lutheran and Calvinist communities are also notable.