The site of Mattersburg was already populated in antiquity based on excavations of Roman and Longobard graveyards. The town was first mentioned in writing as Villa Martini in 1202. Its Hungarian name also refers to the church consecrated to Martin of Tours. Originally the German name was Mattersdorf and was renamed to Mattersburg in 1924. Matter developed from Martin and also refers to St. Martin of Tours, while Dorf means "village" and Burg means "castle". The area's original fortress had already been torn down by 1294. Mattersburg was elevated to the status of a market town in 1354. The town was destroyed by fire in the year 1774 and again in 1856. The area's wealth increased, when the railway began running from Wiener Neustadt to Mattersburg in 1847. During the 19th century, the town was the site of a ceramic manufacture founded by János Ziegler in 1815 or 1818, producing yellow coloured wares following the style of Vienneseporcelain. An interesting part of Mattersburg's history is the history of its Jewish minority, as the town was one of the Burgenland Siebengemeinden. The first Jews to settle in the town arrived in the 16th century, having been expelled from Sopron, and their presence in the town increased greatly over the following years. In 1671, the Jews were forced to abandon the town at the order of Leopold I. They were allowed to return to Mattersdorf, as it was then called, in 1678, although they were forced to buy back their own possessions. The self-governing Jewish community was first merged with the rest of the town in 1902/03. Mattersburg belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary until 1920 and it was the seat of the Nagymarton district in Sopron county. After the end of the First World War, German West-Hungary was given to Austria in the Treaties of St. Germain and Trianon; there it formed the new province of Burgenland. Mattersburg kept the official name of Mattersdorf until June 14, 1924; on July 2, 1926, it received town privileges. In 1978, Mattersburg incorporated the town of Walbersdorf. After the Anschluss in February 1938, the Jewish population of Mattersburg was expelled and dispossessed, so that already in the Fall of 1938, there were no more Jews in Mattersburg. In the course of the war, more than two hundred of the town's residents were missing or killed. Approximately one hundred of its Jewish residents were killed in the Holocaust.
Politics
The Mayor of Mattersburg is Ingrid Salamon of the Social Democratic Party ; there are two Vice-Mayors: the first is Klaus Leitgeb of the Austrian People's Party and the second Josef Reisner of the SPÖ. The District Mayor of the Borough of Walbersdorf is Hubert Lang of the SPÖ and Johann Wallner is the Chief Officer. Mattersburg's municipal council has 25 seats with party mandates as follows: 9 ÖVP, 14 SPÖ, 1 Freedom Party, 1 Grüne, other lists 0.
