VOLUMEAJR JOURNAL 11 NO.8 AUGUSTauGUST 2011 The Italian connection his year saw the 150th anniversary State (based in Rome), Austrian influence of the unification of Italy in 1861, also remained decisive. Freedom-loving T which, along with the unification Italians perceived it as ruthlessly, evilly of Germany ten years later, transformed tyrannical; the fate of Puccini’s Tosca and the map of Europe and the international her lover Cavaradossi, one recalls, turns political order of the Continent. The in part on the outcome of the Battle of unification of Italy was closely intertwined Marengo (1800) between the Austrians, with events in pre-unification Germany, natural allies of the wicked Scarpia, and especially the power struggle between the French under Napoleon. the two principal German states, Austria The Italians and the Germans were the and Prussia, and formed an important principal national groups in Western and dimension to the history of German- Central Europe that did not have a unified, speaking Mitteleuropa in the nineteenth independent state of their own. The century. Germans lacked both the romantic appeal The historical connection between of such suppressed victim nationalities Germany and Italy reached back almost as the Poles or the Irish and the rallying 1,000 years, to the founding of the Holy force of charismatic leader figures, which Roman Empire, usually dated to the coro- the Italians undoubtedly possessed, in Count Cavour, 1810-61 nation of Otto I as emperor in 962, which the persons of Giuseppe Mazzini, the itself harked back to the coronation of the perception of Italy as the land of beauty, ideologue of Italian independence, and Frankish King Charlemagne as emperor symmetry and sunlit clarity, where the Giuseppe Garibaldi, the revolutionary in Rome in 800. Under the medieval Em- harmony in the proportions of works of nationalist commander. Austrian efforts pire, German emperors ruled over both art reflected the happy lifestyle of a people to preserve the status quo of 1815 in German and Italian territories, giving rise that, unlike its conflicted counterpart in Italy and Austrian dominance over the to such notable conflicts as that between the gloomy regions north of the Alps, peninsula were threatened by repeated the pope and the emperor and the compet- lived in harmony with itself and with the insurrectionary attempts. In 1830, a year ing parties of Guelphs and Ghibellines. natural world around it. The influence of turbulence following the revolution Such famous events in German history of Italian culture on German writers is in France that overthrew the restored as Emperor Henry IV’s walk to Canossa evident in celebrated works like Goethe’s Bourbon monarchy, there were uprisings (1077) to beg forgiveness of Pope Gregory Italian Journey, while the yearning for the in Italy, which were quickly and brutally VII, and such careers as that of Emperor Mediterranean ideal permeates the poetry suppressed by the Austrians. Frederick II (‘stupor mundi’ – ‘the wonder of Friedrich Hölderlin. But nationalist agitation continued, of the world’), were played out in Italy. At the dawn of the nineteenth century, fomented by such organisations as the Eventually, the dream of a transnational however, Austrian power lay heavily conspiratorial Carbonari (coal-burners) empire fell away and, in the early sixteenth across Italy. In 1706, Lombardy, in and Mazzini’s Young Italy. When a century, the empire was renamed the Holy the form of the Duchy of Milan, had more serious wave of revolution spread Roman Empire of the German Nation passed to the Austrian Habsburgs and, across Europe in 1848, again sparked (das Heilige Römische Reich Deutscher with the extinction of Venice as an by a revolution in Paris, it found a Nation). It was dissolved in 1806. independent power by Napoleon, the ready response in Italy, where armed The influence of Italy on German area of Venetia also came under Austrian opposition to Austrian rule broke out in culture was never stronger than in the rule. After 1815, Austria controlled these both Milan and Venice. In Milan, a popular eighteenth century, when the art historian important territories in north-eastern Italy insurrection succeeded in expelling and archaeologist Johann Joachim as the puppet Kingdom of Lombardy- the Austrian garrison and maintained Winckelmann famously defined art in Venetia. Italy, divided into numerous itself for some four months, until it was terms of his neoclassical ideal of ‘edle states, remained, in Austrian Chancellor subdued by the Austrians under Field Einfalt und stille Größe’ (‘noble simplicity Metternich’s dismissive words, ‘a Marshal Radetzky (immortalised by and serene grandeur’). This formulation, geographical expression’, its aspirations Johann Strauss’s march). In Venice, the deriving from Winckelmann’s pioneering to national liberty and autonomy stymied revolutionaries under Daniele Manin, the studies of Mediterranean, Greco-Roman by Habsburg power. In the small duchies converted son of a Jewish father, seized art, gave rise to the widespread German of central Italy, and even in the Papal continued overleaf 1 AJR JOURNAL auGUST 2011 AJR JOURNAL auGUST 2011 THE ITALIAN CONNECTION cont. from p1 ‘Double Exposure: Jewish Refugees power and held out under siege in the city from Austria in Britain’ THE AJR: 70 YEARS ON until the following year. n Tuesday 14 June, the exhibition the Austrian Refugee Voices project and Celebrating the Jewish Refugee Experience in Britain After 1848, the cause of Italian indepen- ‘Double Exposure’, which is introduced the film ‘Double Exposure’. he AJR celebrated its 70th disappointment with the response dence became increasingly entwined with Obased on interviews with former On Monday 20 June, the film was anniversary in June with an of the Austrian government. the territorial ambitions of European refugees from Austria in the AJR’s shown again at the Freud Museum. Timpressive programme of Fascinating lectures were powers and the dynastic ambitions of Refugee Voices and This was followed by events: panel discussions; lec- delivered on ‘Weimar culture’ European ruling houses. These were to Continental Britons a panel discussion tures on German and Austrian (Patrick Bade); the German exercise a large measure of influence collections, opened involving four of history and culture in the 1930s; political background of the an audio-visual presentation; film over the course of events that led to at the Austrian the interviewees refugees (Trudy Gold); Austrian Cultural Forum in screenings; and a concert of cham- culture in 1918-38 (Patrick Bade); Italian unification and independence. The who appear in it: London. The exhibi- Otto Deutsch, Elly ber music. The programme was Sigmund’s Freud’s escape to rising power within Italy was Piedmont, tion, created by Dr Miller, Peter Pulzer co-ordinated with, and hosted Britain (Professor Stephen Frosh); the area around Turin, known as the Bea Lewkowicz, is and Wolf Suschitzky; by, the London Jewish Cultural the UK the refugees encountered Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, and ruled accompanied by a the discus sion Centre (LJCC). in 1938-39 (William Tyler MBE); by the House of Savoy. In 1848, the King of film, also entitled was chaired by Dr Members of the First, Second and growing up in Munich and and Third Generations provided Piedmont, Charles Albert, sought to take ‘Double Exposure’. Anthony Grenville. the UK (Dr Edgar Feuchtwanger). varying perspectives in the panel After the Direc- Dr Peter Mikl and Dr Bea Lewkowicz The event proved Dr Anthony Grenville spoke advantage of the weakness of the Austrians debate ‘The Legacy – Generations about his book Jewish Refugees tor of the Austrian Cultural Forum, Dr so popular that it overflowed the in Lombardy by declaring war on them; Speak Out’ on the first evening of from Germany and Austria in Peter Mikl, had welcomed those present, Freud Museum and had to be moved he was defeated by Radetzky at Custoza. the programme. Joanna Millan, ‘The Legacy – Generations Speak Out’: (from left) David Herman Britain 1933-1970 and, with Dr Bea the Austrian Ambassador, Dr Emil Brix, to the neighbouring Anna Freud When he renewed hostilities in 1849, he a board member of the AJR and (chair), Joanna Millan, Anne Karpf, Michael Newman Lewkowicz, gave a presentation opened the exhibition and spoke elo- Centre. Carol Seigel, Director of the PHOTO: JUDY TROTTER the LJCC and a member of the on the AJR’s audio-visual project was again defeated at Novara and forced quently of his high regard for the former Freud Museum, spoke to welcome the First Generation, stressed that until recent participants were human rights activist ‘Refugee Voices’. Rabbi Dr Jonathan to abdicate in favour of his son, Victor refugees and of their place in Austrian audience, who were evidently moved years many First Generation members had Helen Bamber OBE, Austrian Ambassador Wittenberg’s theme was ‘When and Emmanuel II. culture. Professor Peter Pulzer of the by the film and responded enthusiasti- wanted to speak, but ‘no one had wanted Dr Emil Brix, historian Dr Helen Fry, What do you Tell Your Children?’ and However, the consolidation of Aus- University of Oxford spoke movingly cally to the ensuing panel discussion. to hear.’ Anne Karpf, a writer, sociologist LJCC Chief Executive Trudy Gold (chair), Dr Martin Lovett OBE, a member of the trian power proved temporary, for the of his own experience as a child refu- The exhibition and film can be viewed and journalist and a member of the Second Lord Moser, Rabbi Rodney Mariner and world-famous Amadeus Quartet, was revolution of 1848 in France had brought gee and of the distinctive culture that at the Austrian Cultural Forum until Generation, stressed the impressive legacy German Deputy Ambassador Dr Eckhard interviewed by David Herman. accompanied the Viennese refugees from 2 September. to power the adventurer Louis-Napole- of the refugees in British life.