This paper discusses the over-focalisation on the Mediterranean area of historians of the early modern Euro-Ottoman relationship and it offers a critical assessment of the numerous studies conducted by historians of the Habsburg Monarchy over thirty years. It shows that the histories of the Austrian monarchy and of the Ottoman Empire were interdependent and that war is a marginal element in their relationship. This paper emphasises the political use of the Ottoman history by Austrian scholars from Hammer-Purgstall's essential enterprise to the violent contestation of Samuel Huntington and his civilizational pattern. Cultural history, trade and diplomacy appear as the three ways of the Austrian historiographical shift, which nevertheless calls nowadays for a more pragmatic approach.
Purpose: On the occasion of its one hundredth birthday, the Republic of Austria has opened a history museum in November 2018 called the House of Austrian History. The considerations towards this are almost as old as the republic itself. This article shall analyze why political parties could not agree on a specific project for so long and illustrate the decision-making process and its implementation before ultimately categorizing the didactical-museographical concept of the exhibition from a historical-didactical perspective. Design/methodology/approach: The basis for the analysis is provided by Austrian daily newspaper coverage of the House of Austrian History. The body of sources limits itself to the period between January 2008 and January 2019 and has been evaluated based on the analysis of its content. Findings: In the course of the discussion, which preceded the opening of the House of Austrian History, the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP) and the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) debated bitterly for decades about how to best interpret Austrian contemporary history and were unable to find common ground. Eventually, both the SPÖ and the ÖVP were able to agree on a concept whereby the museum would focus upon the controversial, politically influenced metanarratives of the Austrian interwar period themselves. With the SPÖ having departed from the government, however, the museum's future remains uncertain.
The Republic of Austria emerged as one of the new states from the rubble of the Habsburg Empire after the First World War. Delegates from German-speaking provinces of the former Empire gathered in Vienna in October 1918 to discuss statehood. Whilst early debates focused on "German Austria" as a nation in its own right, the idea of an "Anschluss" with Germany gained ground, and soon became the prevailing political concept. Nonetheless, the State Treaty of St. Germain (1919) prohibited Austria any political association with Germany, which forced Austrians to discourse about national identity, a struggle that lasted until well after the Second World War and is still ongoing in the Austrian political far-right. Against this backdrop, Austrians embarked on an epic debate about a "national" museum as early as 1919.Recent Austrian history has since seen numerous debates about the appropriate way of visually representing national identity. Contentious issues include(d) inter alia the home-grown Austrian variation of Fascism 1934–1938, involvement in Nazi crimes, the lenient post-war treatment of Nazi perpetrators, issues pertaining to ethnic minorities, and questions of compensation and restitution for victims of National Socialism. Exactly 99 years after the idea of a "History Chamber" surfaced, the first national museum covering contemporary Austrian history opened in November 2018.Regrettably, the debate restarted just a few days ahead of the grand opening at a hastily arranged press conference, in which the Minister of Culture outlined a new concept for the museum. Claudia Leeb (Washington State University) explains these ongoing heated debates about the museum with defense mechanisms pertaining to Austria's Nazi-past, resulting in the continuing inability of contemporary Austrian society to live up to guilt and to come to terms with its past. One of the major "defense fighters" is the Freedom Party (FPO), a right-wing populist party that briefly joined the Austrian government in 2017–2018 and strictly opposes taking any responsibility for Austria's Nazi past.This paper addresses Austria's 'coming to terms with her past' in the wake of the rise of populist nationalism and examines the possible future of the Austrian culture of remembrance, particularly with regard to the fledgling Museum of Contemporary Austrian History.
This article presents the results of an analysis of different sources concerned with the workers' revolt of July 15, 1927 (also known as the Vienna Palace of Justice fire). The author pays special attention to the socio-historical and source-critical evaluation of more than 100 photographs illustrating this fire on July 15, 1927 by using the shadows on buildings in order to establish an exact dating of the documented acts of violence. This "shadow method" he developed himself allows to clarify the motivations and social composition of the protesters and reveal the role of the police in escalating the violence. He is able to establish an exact chronology of the events and an explanation of the social dynamics leading to a death toll of 85 demonstrators and 4 police men. ; Überarbeitete Fassung 2015 von: Botz, Gerhard. 2008. Zeitgeschichte in einer politisierten Geschichtskultur. Historiographie zum 20. Jahrhundert in Österreich. In Geschichtswissenschaft vor 2000. Perspektiven der Historiographiegeschichte, Geschichtstheorie, Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte. Festschrift für Georg G. Iggers zum 65. Geburtstag, hg. v. Konrad H. Jarausch, Jörn Rüsen und Hans Schleier, 299-328. Hagen ; Revised Version of 2015, from: Botz, Gerhard. 2008. Ungerechtigkeit, die Demonstranten, Zufall und die Polizei: der 15. Juli 1927. Bildanalysen zu einem Wendepunkt in der Geschichte Österreichs. In 80 Jahre Justizpalastbrand. Recht und gesellschaftliche Konflikte, ed. Bundesministerium für Justiz, Ludwig Boltzmann-Institut für Geschichte und Gesellschaft, Cluster Geschichte Wien: 21-57, Innsbruck: Studienverlag
Writing biographies for a long time had been a male hegemonic project. Ever since Plutarch and Sueton composed their vitae of the greats of classical antiquity, to the medieval obsession with the hagiographies of holy men (and a few women) and saints, Vasari's lives of great Renaissance artists, down to the French encyclopedists, Dr. Johnson and Lytton Strachey, as well as Ranke and Droysen the genre of biographical writing has become increasingly more refined. In the twentieth century male predominance has become contested and the (collective) lives of women, minorities and ordinary people are now the focus of biographical writing. This volume of Contemporary Austrian Studies offers a cross-section of Austrian lives and biographical approaches to recent Austrian history. Here are what may be called traditional biographies of leading political figures through the twentieth century. We also suggest that the intellectual biographies of thinkers and professionals are fertile soil for biographical study. Moreover, the prosopographical study of common folks in the Austrian population lifts these lives from the dark matter of anonymous masses and gives rich insight into the lives that ordinary Austrians have been leading. We present an array of political lives, including that of Ignaz Seipel and Therese Schlesinger-Eckstein, as well as "Lives of the Mind" which capture the lives of fascinating intellectual figures in pre- and post-World War II Vienna such as Viktor Frankl and Eugenie Schwarzwald. The approaches to writing biography taken in this volume also suggest that much work needs to be done to shed light on the lives of ordinary Austrians. In this volume we have biographical accounts detailing the lives of soldiers, prisoners of war, and farming families. The writing of lives is always situated between fact and fiction, ascertainable data and the imagination of the biographer. This volume of Austrian Lives offers an intimate look into the lives of intriguing individuals while illuminating the touching lives of ordinary Austrians in wartime Vienna. Authors: Bernhard Fetz, John Deak, Ernst Hanisch, Gabriella Hauch, Philipp Strobl, Johannes Koll, Elisabeth Röhrlich, Martin Eichtinger, Helmuth Wohnout, Deborah Holmes, Jason Dawsey, Timothy Pytell, Stefan Maurer, Wolfram Dornik, Wilfried Garscha, Günter Bischof, Barbara Stelz-Marx, Hans Petschar, Herbert Friedlmeier, Ernst Langthaler, Oliver Rathkolb, Peter Berger, Alexander Lassner, Gerald Steinacher, Berthold Molden, Maria-Regina Kecht, Thomas Nowotny, Reinhold Gärtner
The Austrian system for pensions and care is dated back to the monarchy and was established in the year 1848 when the future empire ensured the whole country. In the settlement with Hungary, the Hungarians got their own system, and now there is a guarantee for the wellbeing of older persons in Austria. As most of the people remember, the only introduction was after the First World War in Austria, between 1918 and 1920 the social assurance system was created by persons such as Ferdinand Hanusch or members of the social-democratic party. Now the whole system has three pillars: the assurance of health; the assurance of accidents; and the assurance for older persons and care, which is covering the risks after the age of 60. It was a class-struggle when people go into a pension, but as far as we can see, the development was similar in the whole of Europe. The changes were done after the Second World War when some of the countries became communist regimes, while Austria became a flower of diversity in the systems of social assurances. There were no private assurances, those who existed were plus-payers, so the state allowed the assurance according to professions and qualifications. As we see, the results are different from the communist states of the Warsaw Pact, and this chapter focuses on explaining the social system of today and the changes of it as it is perceived.
This essay intends to investigate some aspects of the multifaceted relationship between the Viennese operetta and Austrian film in the period from the 1930s to the 1950s. In particular, the essay will try to trace the influence of the operetta on the way in which Austrian films depicted the country's history. Focusing on some of the most popular Austrian films of the period, including Willi Forst's Operette (1940), Wiener Blut (1942) and Wiener Mädeln (1944-49), as well as Ernst Marischka's trilogy from the late 1950s about the Austrian empress "Sissi", the essay will critically discuss Austrian cinema's penchant for the past, investigating the affinity of the Austrian (musical) film to the Viennese operetta, which served as its ideological and aesthetic model. In its affection for the past, Austrian cinema followed in the steps of the Viennese operetta. In contrast with the Hollywood musical genre or German musical films like Die Drei von der Tankstelle (1930) or Hallo Janine (1939), to mention just two of the most famous ones from the pre-war era, history was a key component of the Austrian Musikfilm. In Austria, the musical film overlapped with the historical genre, and it strongly influenced the country's memory of its past. By investigating the connection between the Viennese operetta and Austrian cinema, this essay aims to provide a better understanding of Austrian films in the cultural, political and historical context in which they saw the light of day.
In: Backhaus , U M 2007 , ' A history of German and Austrian economic thought on health issues ' , Doctor of Philosophy , University of Groningen , [S.l.] .
De ideeën van Paracelsus over gezondheid vanuit een sociaal-economische visie zijn al 500 jaar oud, maar werden eerst recent teruggevonden en toegankelijk gemaakt door een nieuwe editie van zijn sociaal-economisch werk. Ook de andere hier weergegeven inzichten over gezondheid en gezondheidszorg vanuit een economisch, sociaal en politiek perspectief zijn weinig bekend. In dit boek gaat het over de meest belangrijke ideeën van sociale wetenschappers en economen over gezondheid en gezondheidszorg, beginnend met Paracelsus en eindigend met Schumpeter. Behandeld worden grondleggende ideeën en concepten van Wolff, Justi, Roscher, Menger, Schmoller, Bücher, Oppenheimer en Althoff. De conclusie luidt dat hun bijdragen wel deels zijn te herkennen in de moderne gezondheidseconomie, maar dat wij toch ook belangrijke invalshoeken, die zouden voortvlooeien uit hun werk, vandaag missen. Daarom kan een geschiedenis van de theoretische ontwikkeling van de gezondheidseconomie ook geen Whig history zijn. Volgens deze richting is de huidige stand van de ontwikkeling het logische gevolg van werk dat vroeger al is gedaan. Om een aantal redenen hoeft dit niet per se zo te zijn. De nieuwe economie van de gezondheidszorg heeft andere wortels, met name de Engelse National Health Service. Verder staan de hier besproken bijdragen niet in het Engels, vandaag de lingua franca van de sociale wetenschappen, ter beschikking. In de dissertatie zijn, naast één voorbeeld van wetenschapspolitiek (Althoff), uitsluitend auteurs uit het Duitse taalgebied die klassieke bijdragen hebben geleverd voor een bespreking opgenomen. De hier gekozen auteurs zien gezondheid als onderdeel van menselijk handelen en gezondheidszorg als onderdeel van cultuur. De nadruk ligt op culturele ontwikkeling en gezondheid, op het subsidiariteitsbeginsel en op een minimale rol van de overheid in de gezondheidszorg. De weergave van de inzichten van de behandelnde auteurs geeft ook een antwoord op de vraag in hoeverre zij een bijdrage leveren over aspecten zoals vraag naar en aanbod van de gezondheidszorg, informatie, optimale contracten, de markt voor geneesmiddelen, verzekeringen, technologie, instituties zoals ziekenhuizen en bejaardenhuizen, waardering van levens en levenskansen, sociale verzekeringen, en beleid en vraagstukken in de toekomst. Aangegeven wordt dat hun voorstellen politieke relevant waren in hun eigen tijd
"This volume celebrates the study of Austria in the twentieth century by historians, political scientists and social scientists produced in the previous twenty-four volumes of Contemporary Austrian Studies. One contributor from each of the previous volumes has been asked to update the state of scholarship in the field addressed in the respective volume. The title "Austrian Studies Today," then, attempts to reflect the state of the art of historical and social science related studies of Austria over the past century, without claiming to be comprehensive. The volume thus covers many important themes of Austrian contemporary history and politics since the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1918—from World War I and its legacies, to the rise of authoritarian regimes in the 1930s and 1940s, to the reconstruction of republican Austria after World War II, the years of Grand Coalition governments and the Kreisky era, all the way to Austria joining the European Union in 1995 and its impact on Austria's international status and domestic politics."
The article investigates the political debate around the Austrian University Organisation Act from 1955. It focuses on three fields of dispute: The autonomy of the universities, the appointment procedure of professors, and the question of (parliamentary) control of the powerful ministry of education. Based on yet uncovered sources from the Austrian State Archive, the paper explains why, despite suggestions to alter the system at the three "neuralgic" issues mentioned, Austrian higher education in the 1950s remained in firm hands of the conservative elite that dominated Austrian universities. ; The article investigates the political debate around the Austrian University Organisation Act from 1955. It focuses on three fields of dispute: The autonomy of the universities, the appointment procedure of professors, and the question of (parliamentary) control of the powerful ministry of education. Based on yet uncovered sources from the Austrian State Archive, the paper explains why, despite suggestions to alter the system at the three "neuralgic" issues mentioned, Austrian higher education in the 1950s remained in firm hands of the conservative elite that dominated Austrian universities.
"With its ambiguous mix of weak federalist and strong centralist elements, the Austrian constitutional architecture has been subject to conflicting interpretations and claims from its very beginning. The written 1920 constitution has been paralleled by informal rules and forces making up for the imbalance of power between national and subnational authorities. Understanding these inherent weaknesses, virtually all political actors involved are well aware that reforming the allocation of rights and duties between the different levels in the federal state is urgently needed. In recent years, several initiatives of recalibrating the system of power-sharing between the different levels of government have been initiated. So far progress has been modest, yet the reform process is still underway. The contributions to this volume shine a light on history, presence, and future aspects of the Austrian federal system from historical, juridical, economic, and political science perspective. The volume is also the first book in English ever devoted to the Austrian version of federalism."
The treatment of history in Austrian-Hungarian state primary school textbooks for Bosnia and HerzegovinaFollowing the Austrian-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the new authorities introduced an interconfessional school system aimed at educating children in the spirit of Bosnian-Herzegovinian provincial and Habsburg civic patriotism. Existing South Slavic textbooks, containing numerous texts that were offensive to Muslims, proved unsuitable for such an undertaking. The goal of this article is to address the treatment of history in the new textbooks written for Bosnia-Herzegovina's state primary schools, considering both the selection of historical topics and the manner in which historical education was utilized in order to impart desirable loyalties among the students and further the government's political goals. Besides encouraging the students to identify with the glorious deeds of their medieval forefathers and thus fostering a historically based Bosnian patriotism, the textbooks were written with a clear intent to appeal to the province's Muslims and, in particular, to their gentry. They implied a clear continuity between Bosnia's medieval, supposedly Bogomil aristocracy and the contemporary Muslim elites, while also being careful not to address historical topics in a manner that may offend Muslim sensibilities. Lastly, considerable effort was invested into historically justifying contemporary Habsburg rule over Bosnia in Herzegovina and, in a wider sense, teaching the children that a benevolent foreign government may benefit a society suffering from disunity or rebelliousness. Podejście do historii w podręcznikach szkolnych Austro-Węgier dla państwowych szkół podstawowych w Bośni i HercegowinieW następstwie austro-węgierskiej okupacji Bośni i Hercegowiny nowe władze wprowadziły międzywyznaniowy system oświatowy nastawiony na kształcenie dzieci w duchu patriotyzmu prowincjonalnego bośniacko-hercegowińskiego oraz obywatelskiego habsburskiego. Istniejące podręczniki południowosłowiańskie, zawierające liczne teksty, które były obraźliwe dla Muzułmanów, okazały się dla tego przedsięwzięcia nieprzydatne. Niniejszy artykuł ma na celu omówienie podejścia do historii w nowych podręcznikach napisanych dla państwowych szkół podstawowych w Bośni i Hercegowinie, biorąc pod uwagę zarówno dobór tematów historycznych jak i to, w jaki sposób edukacja historyczna została wykorzystana dla narzucenia uczniom pożądanych postaw lojalności, a następnie politycznych celów rządu. Oprócz zachęty do tego, by uczniowie identyfikowali się z chwalebnymi czynami ich średniowiecznych przodków, a tym samym zamysłu propagowania historycznie wspartego patriotyzmu bośniackiego, podręczniki te zostały napisane z wyraźną intencją, aby trafiły do zamieszkujących tę prowincję Muzułmanów, zwłaszcza ich szlachty. Implikowały widoczną ciągłość pomiędzy bośniacką średniowieczną arystokracją, zapewne bogomilską, a współczesnymi elitami muzułmańskimi, przy czym starannie unikały odniesienia do tematów historycznych, w sposób który może obrażać wrażliwość Muzułmanów. Wreszcie, z dużym nakładem pracy dążyły do tego, by historycznie uzasadnić ówczesne rządy Habsburgów w Bośni i Hercegowinie oraz, w szerszym sensie, wpoić dzieciom wiedzę o tym, że łagodne obce rządy mogą dobrze przysłużyć się społeczeństwu cierpiącemu na brak jedności i buntowniczemu. [Transl. by Jacek Serwański]
The thesis confronts the case of Austrian nation formation with nation-formation theories. The thesis shows the policies of nation formation such as creating traditions and constructing narratives in school textbooks. Another subject is the discourse analysis of Austrian historiography. The sources are then confronted with nation formation theories of E. Hobsbawm, T. Anderson, M. Hroch, M. Budyta-Budzyńska and other.
Veltzé Alois (1864-1917) was born on 10 February 1864 as a son of a kk financial Inspector in Totis in Hungary. After the military secondary school to Mährisch-Weißkirchen, he entered in 1881 in the "Wiener Neustädter Military Academy" and in 1884 retired as a lieutenant to the Tyrolean Imperial fighter regiment. From 1894 to 1920, Veltzé official of war archives. As a respected military historian, he wrote several military history publications. ; Alois Veltze (1864-1917) wurde am 10. Februar 1864 als Sohn eines k. k. Finanz-Oberinspektors in Totis in Ungarn geboren. Nach der Militäroberrealschule zu Mährisch-Weißkirchen, trat er 1881 in die "Wiener Neustädter Militärakademie" ein und wurde 1884 als Leutnant zum Tiroler Kaiserjäger-Regiment ausgemustert. Von 1894 bis 1920 war Veltzé Beamter des Kriegsarchives. Als angesehener Militärhistoriker verfaßte er mehrer kriegsgeschichtliche Publikationen.
