Family Berzeviczy

The first family member Berzeviczy who settled in Slovakia was Rutker(Rüdiger, Rudgerus, Rutgerus, Rutkerus Comes) from Tyrol, which served Hungarian king Andrew II. His wife was a maid of honor to Queen Gertrude and for her merits, what she received, together with her brother Spis provost Adolf, was land under the High Tatras. This confirms the donation of King Andrew II. from the year 1209.

Rutker’s sons Rikolf and Polan exchanged in 1274 some of their land for land in the Upper Torysa area, which at that time owned by the sons of a Saxon count Detrík. After the family chose for their main home municipality Brezovica, family members began to add the surname "de Berzeviczy" - from Brezovica. Under this name the family is known till today. Members of this family were prominent soldiers, economists and policy makers of Austro-Hungarian monarchy. The Blazov village founded by Blazej (Blassius) Berzeviczy in 1317 on the territory, which at the time owned Rikolf’s sons, Michael, Rikolf, John and Henrik. Next successive known owners of the village were Stanislav (1480), Francis (1513), Frederik (1585), Ladislav (1656), Baltazar and Sigismund (1668), Albert (1818), Rikolf (1880).

Gregor Franciscus Berzeviczy

Prominent members of the family who had a relationship to the village Blazov were also important economist of Austria-Hungary Georgius Berzeviczy (1763 -1822) and his son Otto Gabriel (1811 -1848), who was a talented actor and soldier. Otto was born in Blazov, any time he was member of the Saris Court and later worked as an actor in Budapest. In 1948 he fought against rebellion in the Romanian city of Cluj, where he was severely wounded. He died in August of the same year in Blazov. Family members Berzeviczy established a community of Blazov and next took care well as its later development. In the Dolina they built sawmill for processing wood and forge to process iron ore. Although they were Lutherans and Roman - Catholics, significantly supported the life of the Greek - Catholic Church in the village. Family owned some land around Blazov until 1945. (English correction: Jan Bayus)