Cultures at War: Austria-Hungary 1914-1918 (X-Post H-Habsburg)
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Cultures at War: Austria-Hungary 1914-1918 (x-post H-Habsburg). Oxford: Judith Beniston, University College London; Deborah Holmes, University of Kent; John Warren, Oxford Brookes University; Austrian Cultural Forum London; Modern Humanities Research Association; Oxford Regius Professor of History, 13.04.2011-15.04.2011. Reviewed by Megan Brandow-Faller Published on H-Soz-u-Kult (October, 2011) Underwritten by the Austrian Cultural Forum stitutions, German Dialectics and Multi-Cultural London, the Modern Humanities Research Associ‐ Commitments, at a reception hosted by Austrian ation and the Oxford Regius Professor of History, Ambassador Dr. Emil Brix. “Cultures at War: Austria-Hungary 1914-1918” Interdisciplinary fuidity and multi/transna‐ spread new research on the production, dissemi‐ tional perspectives on Austria-Hungary’s war of nation, and reception of culture in the Habsburg culture and ideology constituted one of the con‐ monarchy during and immediately after the Great ference’s major strengths. The strongest, most en‐ War. The conference brought together over thirty- gaging papers, including the majority of those five scholars from Central Europe, the United presented in the opening and closing plenary ses‐ Kingdom, and the United States presenting to fel‐ sions, spoke across the disciplines rather than to low scholars, students, and the general public. field-specific internal dialogues. While the majori‐ Like the diverse lands and peoples of late-Imperi‐ ty of papers tended to focus on Cisleithania, a sig‐ al Austria-Hungary, conference participants nificant minority of presenters centered their hailed from a variety of disciplines including his‐ talks on wartime culture in the Hungarian, Czech, tory, art history, literature and theater and flm Croatian, and Romanian lands. Further bolstering studies, and harnessed a wide range of textual, the conference’s multinational, interdisciplinary visual, and musical sources. Key themes probed character, “Cultures at War” paired analytical pa‐ included cultural mobilization and the Auguster‐ pers on Austria-Hungary’s cultural front with ses‐ lebnis; tensions between supranational and na‐ sions spotlighting the actual artifacts of wartime tional loyalties as well as elite and popular cul‐ cultural mobilization, such as flm, music and po‐ ture; censorship in literature, art, and theater; etry. On Wednesday evening Dr. THOMAS BALL‐ center and periphery relations; gender, pacifism HAUSEN (Filmarchiv Austria) introduced a series and the feminist Burgfrieden. Proceedings were of rare flm clips, ranging from footage of the conducted bilingually in German and English, repatriation of the assassinated Archduke’s and with participants switching freely between lan‐ Archduchess’s bodies back to Vienna, to shots of guages in the stimulating question and answer civilian internment camps and the Austrian Gen‐ sessions. The conference also marked the launch eral Staff, to selections from the wartime farce of distinguished Kraus biographer Edward “Wien im Krieg” (1916) mentioned in Robert von Timms’ memoirs, Taking Up the Torch: English In‐ Dassanowsky’s paper on Austrian wartime flm. H-Net Reviews The textual and visual congruence between the elite and popular cultures and to what extent film-newsreels and papers, for instance used in were artists and intellectuals co-opted into state Matthew Stibbe’s talk on civilian internment patriotism? As quoted in ANDREW BARKER’s (Ed‐ camps and Lutz Mutzner’s paper on Alice inburgh) paper “Peter Altenberg: Apocalyptic Aes‐ Schalek’s coverage of the Isozno Front, offered thete,” Altenberg’s text entitled “1915” perfectly participants unique cinematic frames of refer‐ captures the quandary facing artists and intellec‐ ence. Likewise, on Thursday evening, a musical tuals in the wake of the war. “Ich sehe, die program featured patriotic songs from prominent Dichter, die Schriftsteller ergreift ein panischer operetta and Wiener Lieder composers, as well as Schreck: sie fürchten jetzt vergessen zu werden! settings of poems by Richard von Kralik and Rasch eine Kriegshymne oder ein politischer Es‐ Franz Eichert. The evening concert complement‐ say: ‘Wesen des Deutschen!’” The presenters in ed a panel session on wartime music earlier that the opening plenary sessions concurred that, at afternoon: THOMAS STEIERT’s (Bayreuth) paper least initially, the outbreak of hostilities in August on Soldatenlied and Kunstmusik and ANITA MAY‐ 1914 offered the possibility of transformative cul‐ ER-HIRZBERGER’s (Vienna) arguments on the Au‐ tural regeneration and the overcoming of class, gust Madness and the Wandervogel movement’s national, and political divisions in the civilian collection of folk songs: songs which were origi‐ Burgfrieden. Yet, taking cues from Jeffrey Verhey’s nally collected to be sung when hiking but were influential thesis on the ‘Spirit of 1914,’ partici‐ misused during the war effort in mass concerts pants probed the myth of war enthusiasm. In against the movement’s founding principles. Yet “Loyalty and Legitimacy in the Habsburg Lands, in both cases such initial patriotic euphoria ex‐ 1914-18,” MARK CORNWALL (Southampton) test‐ pressed through music grew thin. EDWARD ed the limits of the August Madness and suprana‐ TIMM’s (Sussex) well-attended presentation, “Mu‐ tional loyalty in certain peripheral regions, in‐ sical Subversions of Militarism in Karl Kraus's Die cluding Galicia, Bukovina, and the South Slavic letzten Tage der Menschheit,” represented a musi‐ lands, focusing on shifting loyalties and state cal performance in and of itself: a performance identities as war euphoria melted away. Ultimate‐ which, as Timms reminded the audience, Kraus ly, despite steady dialogues between center and might have approved of given the way that a pi‐ periphery, Cornwall pointed to front and home‐ ano typically accompanied Kraus’s lectures. front propaganda, for instance nationalistic peri‐ Timms effectively wove his arguments on musical odicals and broadsides, in labeling ethnic groups and textual subversion, particularly the invisible like the South Slavs as ‘traitors in the midst.’ Like‐ line between popular and military music, with wise, in a later panel session, MARTIN MOLL live piano and recorded excerpts of a few of the (Graz) presented accusations of ‘Verrat’ springing one-hundred pieces quoted in Kraus’s cataclysmic up between Styrian Germans and Slovenians im‐ drama. mediately following the declaration of war. More‐ Cultural mobilization and the limits of the so- over, as Moll’s co-panelist JAN VERMEIREN (Lon‐ called ‘Augusterlebnis,’ or August Madness, repre‐ don) argued, even the Dual Alliance was not im‐ sented a major theme problematized across many mune to its share of treachery or perceptions panels. How did the diplomatic missiles fred in thereof: i.e. the idea that some Austrian perceived Summer 1914 shape the production of literature, the Germans as ‘our secret enemies.’ theater, music, and art? Crucially, how did the Following Cornwall in the plenary session, war exacerbate already strained relations be‐ WOLFGANG MADERTHANER (Vienna) and AL‐ tween the Empire’s centrifugal and centripetal FRED PFOSER (Vienna) set the tone with their col‐ forces? Finally, what dialogue existed between laborative presentation “Krieg und kulturelle 2 H-Net Reviews Transformation.” Maderthaner and Pfoser framed title refers to the fact that, at least while Emperor the Ringstraße as particularly important to an ex‐ Franz Josef was alive, the Monarchy shunned ap‐ plosion of war hysteria and Germanic sentiment pearance in any possible patriotic flm projects. bridging societal divisions. Though Sigmund Yet, with the 1913 de-facto lifting of the ban of Freud and the Arbeiterzeitung editor Friedrich Burgtheater actors from appearing in flms, both Austerlitz were not immune to this war psychosis the military command and the new Emperor Karl at frst, soon Austerlitz and Freud joined Karl eventually awakened to the transformative power Kraus in vehement opposition to the war. A rather of newsreels and propaganda flm. Paul Stirton’s different perspective on Austerlitz’s Arbeit‐ paper also addressed the slippery slope between erzeitung was provided the next morning by DEB‐ elite and popular culture maintained by Das‐ ORAH HOLMES’ (Kent) interesting study of the co- sanowsky regarding the postwar integrality of opting of the particularly Viennese journalistic film and literature. Stirton’s presentation, based form, the feuilleton, for the war effort. While such on visual and material evidence, shifted the 2-3 page feuilletons had typically played promi‐ methodological emphasis from the mostly text- nent yet subordinate roles to front-page headline based papers. Tracing connections between com‐ news, Holmes argued that a certain harmony both merce (including advertisements for heroic beers, above and ‘unter dem Strich’ ensued during soaps and war bonds) and government propagan‐ wartime by pointing to coverage of important mo‐ da, Stirton used visual evidence to suggest the ments during the war, including the June 1914 as‐ war’s profound effect on Hungarian avant-garde sassinations. art and design as Hungarian artists turned their Two additional papers from the opening ple‐ backs on Germanic Central European visual cul‐ nary sessions—PAUL STIRTON’s (New York) “Com‐ ture for more dynamic modern styles such as merce, Modernity, and Cosmology: Hungarian Vis‐ Cubo-Futurism, Dada, or Constructivism. The war, ual Culture Durng the First World War” and Stirton maintained, was the fnal stage