1 Andreas Hofer

Andreas Hofer - from innkeeper to Tyrolean Folk Hero Maria de Fátima Pais University of Aveiro ABSTRACT This paper aims at presenting Andreas Hofer-Tyrolean freedom fighter, his ways and how they contributed to the construction of a folk hero and Tyrolean myth and mythology. It also focuses on representations of the myth in the 21st century, namely in 2009, two hundred years after the Anno Neun (1809). The Andreas Hofer Museum as cultural touristic route and Andreas Hofer´s McDonaldization in the 21st century. Key words: Brand identity cultural route (Tyrol) 1809 Tyrolean freedom fight Andreas Hofer 1.Introduction “The mother, the father, the fields, the mountains - and the people. A homeland is not to be thought of without these, these are not to be thought of without it.”(Piock, 2004:2) Before approaching the proposal of a cultural route in the region of Tyrol, Austria I would like to point out two questions that arise whenever Tyrol comes into play: Heimat 1(homeland) and Tyrolean identity. These are crucial issues and become intertwined when we look at this region from the point of view of Cultural Studies. Stuart Hall is concerned on how things became meaningful, that meaning depends on individual interpretation and how the information is represented, this meaningfulness being a continuous and active cycle of creation. This is the reason why, in the first place, my interest for the Andreas Hofer phenomenon started, a name I happened to encounter in several journeys to Austria and specifically Tyrol. In fact, back in 2006, it was a 9-year old, Austrian godson of mine that, in great surprise, asked me: “How on earth have you never heard about Andreas Hofer?. “Everybody does!. I had to know about him, and certainly, at first, out of affectivity, my not wanting to let my boy down. I felt the need to get to know his “hero”, I had to find meaning in his devotion and in his drawings of a long bearded man, wearing a big Tyrolean hat. “He was a fighter many years ago, now he is “cool, everywhere here. If you are my god-mother, you´re supposed to study “about” him”. “I adore him, you´re supposed to adore him too, as you belong to our family and you love being here2 !”. My love for him, for my second home town, made me question myself, and I felt I belonged there, too, I felt that that Graz and Innsbruck were my third home, being the German language my second home, where I still dwell in difficulties, which I constantly study and teach, for which I advertise in Portugal, whose related culture and traditions I bring to my students. Portugal is my homeland, Austria is my Heimat. I wear Tyrolean hats whenever I feel I will not be 1 Heimat- according Hans Karl Peterlini (2010), a hardly translatable term, which melts political and personal needs for safety, belonging and distinction. 2 In Graz, capital city of the Steirmark state, Austria 1 looking ridiculous, I always wear Gieswein3 jackets in winter, I long for snowy and cold weather. 2. Some reflections on Heimat In a conference given in April 16th 2004, in Bozen, Tyrol, Professor Peter Piock, addressed the public not as a politician or a party´s supporter, but as an ordinary citizen of Tyrol and approached the meaning of the issue Heimat in this specific region. In fact, he began to define the concept of Heimat by raising questions to be pondered: - Is Heimat the object of traditional associations? - Is Heimat just a feeling, an old-fashioned word for home? - Is Heimat the place where one lives? - Is Heimat only an economic factor to be explored to the utmost consequences, so that an economical output may be drawn out of it? Piock goes on and stating that, “small spaces and identity give orientation, such as the mountain in a landscape gives us a feeling of space, so that you know where you are,(…), if you identify it, not just by its geographical traits, then you will not feel lost, you will feel at home”(Piock, 2004:2) The concept is a vast one and surges, not without controversy as this has always been prone to for and against discussion, with the issue of identity that may range from the collective I to frontier criteria, deeply mingled with Heimat, that has been described by Elisabeth Mossman as a Longing for Identity (Sehnsucht nach Identität.) Andreas Hofer, Tyrolean freedom fighter (1767-1810) may have had his very own concept of Heimat - he would fight for his beloved homeland till the day he would die. An elf in front of a giant, an innkeeper who gathered his fellow citizens through pungent speeches on the need to fight the Evil incarnated in the Napoleonic troops for the love and freedom of his land, regardless of the hopelessness of the task. He is to a certain extent a tragic hero in the Aristotelian view, for his misfortune is not deserved and the death punishment exceeded his deeds. Furthermore, his decay and fall was not a pure loss, as there was some increase in awareness on the part of his fellow citizens and a reinforcement of identity and love for the Heimat Tyrol. But having come from a humble background, having urged his keens to an unequal struggle, he became what may be defined as a folk hero. According to Klapp (1949)4, (…) not only do the hero myths of various cultures seem to be composed of stories from a common repertoire, but forming hero legends seem to approximate these types (…) the total picture suggested by this literature is that as historical personages become legendary, they are made into folk heroes by the interweaving and selection of mythical themes appropriate to their character as popularly conceived (…)” 3 Gieswein is a trade mark for Austrian clothing in „Trachten-look“ 4 No page reference available 2 Following Klapp´s line of thought, Philip Manger cited in Urbanitsch , “a myth is “a form of poetic truth, the sifting out of an essence, a hypothetical, meta-historical core that contained an intrinsic meaning,” a meaning that joins the past to the present and thus establishes another, perhaps higher, form of reality. This holds true for all kinds of myths (…) (Urbanitsch, 2004, 35:101) This is true for Andreas Hofer, as his past has established if not a higher form of reality in the present, it established another form of it. A celebrated Tyrolean patriot, born in the Passeier Valley, in 1767 had his time on the breaking out of the insurrection against the French and the Bavarian government, to which the Tyrol had been lately transferred. He entered into secret negotiations with the Archduke Johann and Joseph Freiherr von Hormayr for the deliverance of the country. In April 1809, with the assistance of an Austrian army, Andreas Hofer, at the head of the Tyrolese peasantry allegedly cried out: “Men, the time has come”5. He defeated the French and the Bavarian Troops at the Sterzinger Moose. In the following May, the Austrians under General Chesteler suffered a defeat from the superior numbers of the enemy near Wörgl. Soon after the Tyrolese were again victorious in an engagement near Mount Isel 6; but the Austrian army being withdrawn after the Battle of Wagram, the country was once more invaded by Marshall Lefébre. On the 13th of August 1809, Hofer with the army of Tyrolese peasants, signally defeated the French commander near Mount Isel, after a long and obstinate conflict; the Treaty of Schönbrunn between Napoleon and Franz I from Austria was signed on October 14th 1809. This was seen by the Tyrolese as a sort of betrayal and Andreas Hofer gathered his brothers-in-arms for another insurrection; however, overpowered at last by the reinforcements sent from France, he took refuge in Pfandleralm in the mountains. Being soon after betrayed by Franz Raffl, a former brother-in-arms, for the sum of 1500 Gulden, he was tried at Mantua and was shot in February 20th, 1810. A New Testament-like end - the child of the Heilige Heimat Tirol7, betrayed by a follower and “crucified” at the hands of the enemy. The events that took place in Tyrol in 1809 - also known as Anno Neun (Year Nine) contributed to the birth of one more folk hero. A simple man, a peasant and innkeeper with faith, courage and patriotism. Did he manage to become a myth? Yes. However what interests me most is the fact that Andreas Hofer became a mythology, in the sense that Roland Barthes in the 1950´s has acknowledged this phenomenon. Andreas Hofer belongs in Tyrol´s daily life. His character much contributed to the feeling of patriotism in Tyrol. He stands for the love of the Heimat, of the land and its geographical accidents, of a certain sense of belonging in the people that grew up in valley-isolated villages, in the parades of the Schützen8; he is the object of numerous folk and folkloric celebrations, all around the year. Much that is to be observed in Tyrol today ranges from monuments, plates , processions, commemorations on the part of the Schützen, school projects on Andreas Hofer, hotels, restaurants bearing his name to an endless 5 "Mander s´ischt Zeit“ (Tyrolean dialect)- Männer, es ist Zeit (German). There is no written record of this cry-of-war in this context. It has however become legendary. According to Connerton, “the oral history gives the possibility of saving from silence the history and culture of the subordinate groups” (Connerton, 1999:21) 6 Bergisel, in the Austrian toponymy.

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