Creating Patriotism

Daniel Unowsky

Creating Patriotism

Imperial Celebrations and the Cult of Franz Joseph

Despite the role of the dynasty in the the four or five decades preceding World creation of the Habsburg state and the War I witnessed the 'invention of tradi continued power and influence of the tion' on a massive scale. 2 emperor in domestic and foreign affairs Many European states introduced pub ( even after 1867), little scholarly atten lic holidays and built monuments ven tion has been paid to Habsburg cele erating the ruling house and cultivat brations under Emperor Franz Joseph I. ing state and dynastic loyalty. Promot My work-in-progress, a study of the cre ers of dynastic celebrations often com ation, dissemination, and reception of the peted with national movements, which image of Franz Joseph as a potential commemorated events of allegedly cru symbol of common identity within the cial significance in the development of the Austrian half of the Habsburg Monarchy nation and extolled national rather than 1 (Cisleithania) , addresses this gap in the dynastic heroes. During dynastic cele historiography. I concentrate on the offi brations, government figures, aristocrats, cial presentation of the imperial cult, as and members of the ruling houses them weil as on the use or rejection ofthe image selves publicly equated national and state of the emperor by regional social and eth interests in order to counter and to har nic factions. By looking at both the pro ness popular nationalism. duction of the cult of the emperor and its The Habsburgs, however, could not reception, this project analyzes the ten claim to embody the spirit of the Ger sion between national and supra-national man nation without alienating the non identity in an age of mass political partic German majority in the monarchy. In any ipation. case, such an association of the dynasty The Habsburgs and their supporters with the interests of a 'nation' would have were not alone in redefining and ex been an admission that sovereignty arises panding the role of royalty for the cre from the people, independent of the his ation of state-oriented political identities toric rights of the dynasty - an unlikely in the second half of the 19th century. As concession from this most traditional of Eric Hobsbawm and others have noted, ruling families. The Habsburgs and their

280 ÖZG 9/1998/2 F o r u m , 269- 293 supporters instead promoted the emperor symbol of state unity in the 19 th and 20 th as a living symbol of state unity. centuries have received as much scholarly Habsburg invention and alteration of attention.3 This gap is all the more glar tradition is at the center of my study. I ex ing in the case of the Habsburg monarchy, amine the principal apparatus of monar a heterogeneous patchwork of territories chical representation - the court - as weil acquired largely through the ambitious as the display of imperial ritual, cere marriage politics of the ruling house. Few mony, and celebration to the population scholars treat supporters of the dynasty of Cisleithania. The project is divided as actors in the public sphere or look at into three tnain sections. I begin by look the use of dynastic symbols to justify var ing at changes in the presentation of the ious political programs.4 Habsburg histo emperor in the early decades of Franz riography has traditionally focused on na Joseph 's rule. In the wake of the revolu tionality and nationalism rather than on tions of 1848/1849, the Habsburg court imperial loyalty. The concern with nation sought to renew old traditions that could ality is understandable to all familiar with help legitimize the neoabsolutist system. the history of the monarchy, yet histori The second section analyzes the major ans often too readily assume that imperial imperial inspection tours of Galicia. The and national identities were by definition emperor's tours of the provinces brought mutually exclusive. Certainly, the post- the theater of court ritual to the masses 1848 period witnessed economic transfor outside of Vienna. This case study illus mations leading to the rise of peasants' trates how the appropriation of the dy and workers' movements and the radical nastic cult could affect local politics. The isation of ethnic politics, but the diver third section looks at celebrations mark sity of the monarchy's regional political ing the emperor's fiftieth and sixtieth Ju structures allowed for alternative routes bilees in 1898 and 1908 respectively. Al to the definition of national identity, some though the focus here is largely on the of which were compatible with imperial court and Karl Lueger's Christian Social loyalty. In fact, socialist agitation and city government in Vienna, I also con nationalist confrontation coexisted with sider how the Jubilees were celebrated in an unprecedented increase in official and the provinces and how information about popular manifestations of imperial loyalty the great festivities in Vienna was con in the last decades of Habsburg rule. veyed to the population outside the impe My study of the court, the presentation rial capital. The project also briefly con of the emperor, and the use, manipula siders the presentation of the Empress tion, and rejection of the mythic narra Elisabeth, imperial celebrations in World tives of Habsburg power, which were cre War I, and the burial of Franz Joseph. ated and bolstered during imperial cele While there is an extensive litera brations, reveals much about the work ture on European medieval and absolutist ings of the state. The study examines gov courts and court society, neither the per ernment attempts to build support for sistence of court ritual and ceremony, nor its programs, the place of the court in the presentation of the ruling house as a politics and society, and the ways local

F o r u m • 269 - 293 ÖZG 9/1998/2 281 political elites strove to defend and ex endary Habsburg reverence for the Rost, pand their power positions through the this ceremony offered an opportunity to manipulation of the imperial cult. I uti display the majesty of the court and the lize records from the imperial court, docu semi-sacred character of the emperor.6 ments from the Interior Ministry and the The bishops of Austria joined in the pro Ministry of Education and Culture, po cession. Franz Joseph, head uncovered in lice reports from Vienna, Lemberg (the a gesture of humility, walked behind the provincial capital of Galicia, now Lviv, priest bearing the Rost from Stephans Ukraine), and Krakow, the papers of the dom to four stations in Vienna's inner Lower Austrian and the Galician provin city. At each stop, excerpts from the cial administrations, memoirs, newspa New Testament were read. Yet the Cor pers, and pamphlets. pus Christi Procession was never merely a display of Habsburg humility. Imperial Court, Church, Dynasty guards in colorful uniforms and the high From the moment Franz Joseph ascended est aristocrats of the realm clothed in the throne on December 2, 1848, the the robes of the various Habsburg House neoabsolutist regime placed great empha Orders surrounded the emperor. An im sis on the representation of monarchical posing military parade followed the 1849 grandeur through ceremony and ritual. procession, in sharp contrast to that of This Habsburg appeal to 'tradition' be 1848, when Vienna's citizens had orga came necessary in part because of dy nized their own procession in the absence nastic discontinuity and the rejection of of the imperial family and without army tradition: Ferdinand abdicated and the participation. On Holy Thursday 1850, in rightful heir was passed over in favor of another display of Habsburg piety, for the Franz Joseph. The dynasty had broken first time the new emperor knelt in the with its own (relatively new) tradition of Ceremonial Hall of the Imperial Palace to primogeniture, something Franz and Met wash the feet of twelve old men in imita ternich had refused to do when securing tion of Christ. These Catholic ceremonies the succession for the debilitated Ferdi demonstrated the return to order and the nand. renewal of stability after the chaos of rev Franz Joseph 's court moved swiftly to olution. revitalize the Catholic ceremonial role The annual Foot Washing ceremony of the Habsburg monarch. Once sym and Corpus Christi procession, presented bolizing the baroque alliance of Church to the broader public through newspa and Dynasty, public expressions of the pers, commemorative publications, and Catholic piety of the Habsburg ruler, sermons, portrayed the emperor as a de like the annual Foot Washing and Cor vout son of the Church whose rule and pus Christi processions, had diminished new order were sanctioned by Heaven. in importance under Joseph II. and his Even after the cancellation of the Con successors.5 In 1849 Franz Joseph parti cordat with Rome in the early 1870s, cipated in his first Corpus Christi pro Franz Joseph rarely missed either cele cession as emperor. Its origins in the leg- bration and regularly kissed relics, at-

282 ÖZG 9/1998/2 F o r u m , 269 - 293 tended church services, and was blessed inspection tours the emperor became, by Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Is as surely as he did when performing lamic clergy. The exhibition of Habsburg Catholic ceremonies in Vienna, a living religious devotion had regained its earlier symbol promoting dynastic loyalty and prominence, but Habsburg public piety identification with the state he ruled. The now projected a very different meaning. second section of my project is a case The Catholic bigotry of the Habsburg study of Franz Joseph's three major vis past had been transformed into a general its to Galicia (1851, 1880, 1894) and the respect for organized religion as a source aborted 1868 Kaiserreise - my study will of stability against the threat of revolu touch only briefly on the 1855 inspection tion. The Habsburgs now used Catholic tour undertaken during the Crimean War. ritual to create internal unity rather than This case study examines alterations in to define non-Catholics as enemies. Pub the presentation of the emperor and illus lic demonstration of the ruler's special trates the growing mutual dependence be Catholic ceremonial role bolstered the sa tween regional elites and the Vienna gov cred aura of the emperor and the dy ernment. nasty's claim to rule in Central Europe Almost equal numbers of Poles and by historic right. Ruthenians (Ukrainians) 7 as weil as a Franz Joseph performed his ceremonial large number of Jews populated the Habs roles with the same doggedness that char burg slice of the Partitions of Poland, acterized his legendary administrative known officially as the Kingdom of Gali stamina. The exactitude and consistency cia and Lodomeria. Poles constituted the of ceremonial presentation, maintained majority in the west, and Ruthenians with only modest alterations through in the east - although even in east out Franz Joseph 's reign, must be seen ern Galicia, Poles and Jews outnumbered as an important qualitative alteration of Ruthenians in many urban centers. Pol court procedures. Imperial Zeremoniell ish nobles controlled most of the land enhanced the prestige of the monarch, throughout this overwhelmingly agrarian separating him from those around him province.8 The emperor's first inspection and from the population as a whole, tour of Galicia in October, 1851, was one thereby increasing the importance of his in a series of inspection tours undertaken occasional interaction with lesser mortals. by Franz Joseph in the years following the revolution. The government mobilized Imperial lnspection Tours of Galicia police and military forces to assist the No celebrations brought the image of the court apparatus in turning these post emperor to the provinces more effectively revolution inspection tours of the crown than imperial inspection tours and vis lands into public affirmations of the vic itations (Kaiserreisen). The claims by torious 'Monarchical Principle.' For three the court and government to be the weeks, Franz Joseph viewed military pa defenders of stability and order in a rades, visited fortresses, and made tri chaotic world received physical manifes umphant entrances into Galician towns tation during these frequent travels. On while troops and police lined the streets.

Forum , 269-293 ÖZG 9/1998/2 283 The court and the government deter light parades, mountain top bonfires, city mined all aspects of the inspection tour, illuminations, serenades, court dinners, ignoring the appeals of the Polish nobil aristocratic balls, early morning prayers ity for a greater voice in the administra at cathedrals and synagogues. During the tion of the province. Polish nobles par 1880 imperial tour of Galicia, one can be ticipated in the festivities only as pas sure that nearly every inhabitant either sive courtiers in the emperor's entourage. saw the emperor, talked with someone In the 1860s, conservative Polish mag who did, read about his visit in the pa nates played important roles in the devel per, or heard about it at a village reading opment of the October Diploma, though hall or from the local Priest or Rabbi. their preference for a more federal recon Three factors contributed to the suc struction of the monarchy eventually lost cess of the 1880 Kaiserreise to Galicia. out with the creation of the Dual Monar First, widespread celebrations of the im chy in 1867. The 1868 trip to Galicia - perial wedding in 1854, the 25 th anniver called off after the Galician Diet (Sejm) sary of Franz Joseph 's ascension in 1873, passed a resolution calling for constitu and the 25 th wedding anniversary of the tional changes in favor of autonomy - was imperial couple in 1879 had enhanced the to have been an acknowledgment of the growing popularity of the emperor. Sec leading role of the Polish elites in Gali ond, with the fall of the Liberal gov cia. The cancellation of the Kaiserreise ernment in 1879, Cisleithanian Minister demonstrates that the presentation of the President Eduard Taaffe relied on Pol emperor no langer depended on the will of ish participation in his Iran Ring Reichs the court and central government alone. rat coalition. Finally, in Galicia, Krakow In the constitutional era, with its political conservative nobles (Stanczyks) and their and press freedom, imperial celebration Bürger and east Galician magnate al and the display of the majesty of the court lies had solidified their control of Gali could not be separated from regional and cia. Their policy of loyalism had secured monarchy-wide political disputes. the use of Polish in schools, courts, and To a far greater degree than was the local government in the late 1860s and case in 1851, or would have been the case early 1870s and now seemed poised to in 1868, the 1880 Kaiserreise was a public gain even greater de facto autonomy for event. In the first three weeks of Septem Galicia.9 The imperial visit promised to ber, from Biala to the Bukovinan border, serve the interests of both Taaffe's govern enthusiastic crowds greeted the emperor ment and the Polish conservatives. Taaffe as he knelt before relics of Polish saints had to confront German Liberals who held aloft by Roman Catholic priests or as viewed provincial autonomy and the de he signed his name in Polish in gymnasia pendence of the government on a largely guest books. The scenes repeated them non-German parliamentary coalition as selves: cannon fire, chiming church bells, threats to the unity of the state, while the massive crowds, peasant bands on horse Polish elites needed to establish their Pol back, school girls in white dresses laying ish national credentials in the face of crit flowers along the emperor's path, torch- icism from a democratic opposition dis-

284 ÖZG 9/1998/2 Forum, 269-293 satisfied with the alleged servility of the speeches, many of which were written not Polish elites and conservatives' rejection by local mayors and notables but by Pol of the Polish revolutionary tradition. ish Statthalterei officials, who also penned Not content to mutely attach them most of the emperor's responses. selves to the emperor's entourage, the The conservatives used the Kaiser confident Polish elites initiated the prepa reise to define a series of Polish national ration of massive celebrations. The Sejm symbols, all of which had been gained approved !arge sums of money and ap and supported due to the close relation pointed a committee of leading politicians ship between the emperor and the Pol and nobles to organize every detail of ish elites. Franz Joseph acknowledged cul the visit, ignoring the emperor's desire to tural progress by visiting the Galician avoid extravagant expenditure. The Pol Diet, the Krakow and Lemberg Univer ish dominated Statthalterei encouraged sities, and the Krakow Academy of Sci local notables to inspire the peasant pop ences, all ofwhich were dominated by Pol ulation to cheer the emperor's train along ish conservatives. In a central symbolic the entire planned route. Police and secu moment, Franz Joseph agreed to return rity forces quietly cleared towns of street Wawel Castle to the people of Galicia and urchins and watched the gathering places to designate this former home of Polish of undesirables. Citizens' Guards pro kings an official imperial residence. Con vided security, and newspapers touted the servatives praised the emperor for his sup apparent lack of police and army mea port of Polish interests at these and other sures as proof of Franz Joseph 's popular carefully orchestrated events. Editorials ity. Nobles vied for the honor of hosting compared the oppression of Polish cul the emperor, eagerly making costly reno ture in neighbouring Russian Poland to vations to their palaces to meet the tastes the relative freedom under the Habsburgs and needs of the imperial entourage. and lauded the emperor for allowing the The court and central government Poles use of their own language in schools, worked closely with the Polish conserva church, and government. The crowds who tives. The court accepted provincial gov cheered the emperor and the speeches of ernor (Statthalter) Alfred Potocki 's re the Polish elites appeared to confirm the quests to relax court etiquette in order to conservatives' definition of national sym honor important figures who did not pos bols. sess imperial titles or sit in the provin However, not all the 1880 events con cial parliament with invitations to im formed to the will of the Polish con perial dinners, soirees, and theater pro servatives. Franz Joseph made sure to ductions. Taaffe granted representatives visit Ruthenian institutions as weil - he of the official Vienna and Galicia gov himself had set the foundation stone of ernment press special access to all events the Ruthenian National Horne during his and seats in the emperor's train in order 1851 visit to Lemberg. Ruthenian associ to guarantee "authentic and direct" cov ations set aside bitter disagreements over erage of the Kaiserreise. 10 The Statthal their national identity and produced a terei and Taaffe's government censored all unified reception for the emperor. The

F o r u m , 269- 293 ÖZG 9/1998/2 285 emperor also insisted on entering Lem July, Polish democrats and veterans of berg's two main synagogues, where he, the January Uprising of 1863 made public the attending generals, and Polish nobles their intent to commemorate the fiftieth were blessed by liberal and orthodox Rab anniversary of the 1830 November U p bis. At every turn, peasants and widows rising. However, their ambitious designs of soldiers and government workers knelt failed to inspire much enthusiasm, and in the mud before the emperor's carriage the provincial elites were able to coun to plea for help or threw petitions for fi teract or suppress most of the planned nancial and legal support into the impe events. The Catholic Episcopate forbade rial coach. The thousands of petitions for the holding of any church services beyond imperial assistance attested to the fact mourning for those who lost their lives that all was not as harmonious as the in the uprising. Conservative newspapers ideal Galicia created in media accounts denounced the glorification of events that of the inspection tour. Polish democrats cost Polish Jives and damaged Polish in criticized the conservative monopoly over terests, proudly juxtaposing the fruits of a the Kaiserreise, and rhetorically sepa policy of accommodation with futile mar rated loyalty to the emperor from support tyrdom. of conservative policies. In the final analysis, the Polish demo Despite the grumbling of the Pol crats could only claim to represent the ish democrats, the emperor's respectful small number of Galicia's educated ur treatment of non-Polish institutions, and ban Poles. The Ruthenians on the other the presence of thousands of dissatis hand, posed a much more serious threat fied Galicians, the inspection tour ulti to the attempt by the Polish elites to mately benefited the Polish ruling elites. portray themselves as the rightful and The conservatives had mobilized the au natural leaders of Galicia. Polish nobles tonomous Galician institutions to control and intellectuals often defined Rutheni most aspects of the visit. Vienna's main ans as Polish peasants who spoke an east German liberal newspapers, usually crit ern dialect of Polish. The most impor ical of Polish participation in the lron tant Ruthenian organisations, though di Ring, praised Polish commitment to a vided by many issues, were united on one: strong imperial state. The Vienna govern Ruthenians were not Poles. In an attack ment acknowledged its dependence on the on Polish hegemony, the same Ruthe Poles, fortifying the political position of nian institutions that had produced a the Polish conservatives in the Reichsrat reception for the emperor in September and in Galicia. convened an all-party Ruthenian Meet There were, however, limits to the con ing in the National House in Lemberg, servatives' success. In the months follow in conjunction with commemorations of ing the inspection tour, Polish and Ruthe the 100 th anniversary of the ascension nian factions organized pu blic celebra of Joseph II to the throne. On Novem th tions that directly challenged the Polish ber 29 , the day Polish democrats cel elites. At the same time that the upcom ebrated an uprising for Polish indepen ing imperial visit had been announced in dence, Ruthenians honored the emperor-

286 ÖZG 9/1998/2 Forum,269-293 liberator who had freed the Ukrainian make effective propaganda in the politi serfs from the clutches of Polish overlords cal context of 1894. and praised Franz Joseph as the heir to Joseph Il's alleged pro-Ruthenian sympa The 1898 and 1908 Imperial Jubilees thies. The Ruthenian reception for Franz Orchestrated expressions of patriotism Joseph, the Joseph II commemorations, and popular participation in Habsburg and the subsequent Ruthenian Meeting imperial celebrations reached their apogee proclaimed to the Poles and public opin in the great jubilee years of 1898 and ion in the monarchy as a whole that Gali 1908. In the late 19 th century the rul cia was not, and could never be, a purely ing houses of Europe competed to pro Polish province. duce impressive displays of monarchical In 1894, Franz Joseph visited the Gali splendor. At the same time, many dynas cian Exhibition in Lemberg. Once again, ties, including the Habsburgs, strove to cheering crowds, censored speeches, and instill loyalty in the politicized population government and conservative newspapers through public celebrations. underscored the attachment of Galicia In 1898, inspired by Queen Victoria's and its elites to the emperor and the state 1887 and 1897 Jubilees in Britain, the he embodied. By 1894, however, the con Habsburg court itself planned massive vergence of factors which led to the suc festivities for November and December. cess of the 1880 tour had broken down. Previously, Franz Joseph had insisted Although peasants and Bürger continued that money not be wasted on celebrations to line the streets and cheer the emperor, in honor of the imperial family. In 1888, outside of the festivities themselves the for example, the emperor had prevented Polish elites could no langer unify soci official celebrations of his fortieth J u bilee ety behind their vision of Polish iden apart from the long-planned unveiling of tity and imperial loyalty. Ever !arger sec the Maria Theresia Monument between tions of Galician society organized into the new Court Museums across the Ring political groupings which were no langer from the Hofburg. 1898, however, was content to seek fulfillment of their inter to be different. Although eventually can ests through the mediation of the con celed due to the September 10 assassina servative elites. New Polish peasant, so tion of Empress Elisabeth, the court fes cialist, and Ukrainian nationalist organ tivities were to have included a gala the isations defined their programs in direct ater performance, church services in Vi opposition to the ruling elites and their enna's Stephansdom, and a "Homage of narrative of Galician unity and state loy the Peoples" ( Huldigung der Völker) in alty. Although the personal popularity of the Winter Riding School. The planned Franz Joseph increased in the last decades court celebrations offered imperial loy of the 19 th century, the contrast between alty as a means to overcome the ethnic the secure and legitimate hierarchy of or and partisan strife that had paralyzed ders presented during imperial rituals and the Reichsrat. Perhaps the clearest exam ceremonies and the reality of Galician ple was the planned gala theater perfor interest group politics was too great to mance. The Festspiel was to depict scenes

F o r u m , 269-293 ÖZG 9/1998/2 287 from the heroic Habsburg pa.st, culmina.t In 1898, Mayor Ka.rl Lueger's Chris ing in the "Apotheosis" of Fra.nz Joseph. tian Socia.ls were the only ma.jor Germa.n The pla.y portra.yed Fra.nz Joseph a.s the Austria.n pa.rty tha.t did not a.ttempt most ill ustrious descenda.nt of a. glorious to da.im the ma.ntle of the revolution fa.mily, who a.lone united the diverse pop a.ries of 1848 / 1849 by sending a. dele ula.tion of the mona.rchy in pea.ce, ha.r ga.tion to the Tomb of the Fa.Ben . ln mony a.nd prosperity.11 The 1908 court stea.d, Lueger chose to juxta.pose socia.l festivities revived the 1898 progra.m, with democra.tic a.nd Germa.n na.tiona.list a.do the a.ddition of a. visit by Wilhelm II. a.nd ra.tion of the revol utiona.ries with his most of Germa.ny's princes to pa.y homa.ge pa.rty's celebra.tion of the dyna.sty. The to the Habsburg ruler. Christian Socia.l Pa.rty could not com The government, a.rmy, Church, a.nd pete with the Socia.l Democra.ts' sponta. imperial fa.mily a.cted to bolster dyna.stic neous demonstra.tions in support of uni loya.lty. Government newspa.pers height versal suffra.ge or with the a.nnua.l Ma.y ened the importa.nce of the Jubilees by da.y ra.llies. However, Lueger could a.nd printing da.ily notices a.bout heroic events did use the Vienna. city government to in Habsburg history. Millions of mem crea.te displa.ys of orga.nized pa.triotism. In bers of the a.rmed forces a.nd govern both J u bilee yea.rs, Lueger orchestra.ted ment ministries received commemora.tive a. Procession of the Children. In 1898, meda.ls in officia.l ceremonies throughout 70.000 school children ma.rched a.round the mona.rchy. In 1898, the Ministry of the Ring to the glory of the emperor Wa.r issued a. brochure to remind a.11 mem - a.nd of Lueger. In 1908, Lueger's city bers of the a.rmed forces of their per council conveyed 80.000 children on the sonal fea.lty to the emperor, juxta.posing expa.nded city tra.nsporta.tion system to a.n idea.l, ethnica.lly neutral a.nd kaisertreu Schönbrunn. In the pa.la.ce ga.rdens, a.c a.rmy with the irresponsible dema.gogy tresses from the Burgtheater portra.yed of na.tiona.list politicia.ns. The Ca.tholic Vindobona a.nd Austria a.nd 1.000 chil Church a.ppea.led to imperial loya.lty a.s dren sa.ng music written for the occa. a. cure-a.11 for the socia.l a.nd ethnic prob sion, while the other 79.000 children lems confronting the sta.te with a. specia.l cheered the tea.ry-eyed emperor. All pa.r Hirtenbrief to be rea.d from a.11 pulpits ticipa.nts received commemora.tive meda.ls in November, 1898. The episcopa.te de a.nd pa.mphlets. In their pa.rty newspa. nounced na.tiona.lism a.nd offered a. Christ pers Socia.l Democra.ts fiercely denounced like Fra.nz Joseph a.s a. model for a.11 Lueger's use of the imperial cult, a.nd good Austria.ns. 12 Members of the im Schönerer's na.tiona.lists denied the pos perial fa.mily sponsored the prod uction sibility of a. Germa.n-Austria.n sta.te pa. of bea.utiful commemora.tive books filled triotism, proving themselves enemies of with a.rticles on culture, economy, ethnog sta.bility a.nd opponents of the sta.te. The ra.phy, the a.rmy, a.nd the imperial fa.mily Christian Socia.ls used the J ubilees to a.s written by schola.rs, a.ristocra.ts a.nd mil sert tha.t only their pa.rty could defend the ita.ry officers, a.nd illustra.ted in pen a.nd middle-cla.sses a.ga.inst socia.l democra.cy, ink by prominent a.rtists.13 a.nd tha.t only the Christian Socia.ls stood

288 ÖZG 9/1998/2 Forum , 269 - 293 for the unity of Austro-German identity, tary bands paraded through the streets of state loyalty, stability, and dynastic patri !arger towns, waking the population be otism. fore dawn with the imperial hymn and The most elaborate single J ubilee event the Radetzky March. Church bells sum of either year was Vienna's 1908 Kaiser moned millions to special religious ser Huldigungs-Festzug. Over 12.000 marched vices. Town governments, voluntary or around the Ring in this colorful extrav ganisations, academic institutions, and aganza. The first part of the procession military veterans' associations sponsored depicted scenes from Habsburg history, Volksfeste, founded charitable institu with characters often portrayed by their tions, self-help organisations, and in direct descendants. Delegations from each surance funds, and built Franz-Joseph province of Cisleithania, dressed in dec Jubilee schools, hospitals, churches, and orative versions of peasant and national synagogues. In Galicia, hundreds of thou costumes and many riding horses or pos sands of peasants bought inexpensive por ing on lavishly adorned wagons, par traits of the emperor to hang in their ticipated in the 'ethnographic' section. windows during the ubiquitous illumina The Galician and the Bosnian delega tions held on December 2. In Bohemia tions elicited the most enthusiastic re and elsewhere, dozens of local commu sponse from the crowds. The message nities unveiled statues and monuments was clear: all the peoples of the monar to the ruler. In Vienna, among hundreds chy could enjoy the security to develop of small-scale celebrations, in 1898 the their national cultures under the watch Nicotine Society of Vienna held a Kaiser ful eye of the Prince of Peace, Franz smoke-in, while the Christian Women's Joseph. Financial deficit, a boycott by the Association sponsored what can only be Czechs, and some controversies surround described as a combination dynastic fes ing the delegations from Galicia marred tival and anti-Semitic rally. what was otherwise a great triumph for The Jubilees also furnished opportu the dynastic ideal. 300.000-500.000 wit nities for enterprising businesses to cash nessed the Festzug, 14 thousands drawn in on the image of the popular em to Vienna from all parts of the monar peror. Publishing houses produced books chy by advertisements in provincial news and brochures praising the emperor in papers offering Ringstraße views of the the hope of receiving the official recom Festzug and hotel rooms at discount mendation of the Ministry of Education rates. Programs, brochures, commemo for the use of their publications in the rative books, and souvenirs were pro school system. Kaiser-Jubilee-Exhibitions duced and sold throughout the monar showcased the development of everything chy. Provincial newspapers spread details from the fine arts to rabbit-breeding dur about this and other events to millions ing Franz Joseph's reign. Manufacturers outside the Cisleithanian capital. produced scores low-cost, including mass Though the events in Vienna were the produced portraits, busts, and statues of most grandiose, millions celebrated the the emperor, as weil as postcards and Jubilees throughout Cisleithania. Mili- medals. Many, perhaps hoping to use im-

F o r u m • 269 - 293 ÖZG 9/1998/2 289 perial approval as a marketing tool, sent merely important but in some odd fash requests to the court to have their prod ion connected with the way the world is ucts accepted as gifts for the emperor. built".15 Under Franz Joseph, the Habs At the same time, the court and gov burg court endeavored to reassert the ernment attempted to channel interpre charisma of the emperor, to symbolically tations of the Jubilee and to protect return him to the "center of things" from the honor of the imperial family. The where he had been banished by revolu Interior Ministry issued rules for ac tion. The renewal of court ceremony reaf cepting and rejecting requests to name firmed the sacred nature of the political buildings, foundations, and products af authority wielded by the pious emperor ter Franz Joseph. Makers of Kaiser cakes, whose right to rule had been acknowl Kaiser cigarettes, and other "unworthy" edged by God and Church. Imperial ritu products did not receive permission to als and celebrations were opportunities to use the imperial name, while hundreds reinforce imperial loyalty and to commu of schools, charitable foundations, newly nicate ideas about the unity of the state built churches, synagogues, and other in via the promotion of the imperial image. stitutions did. Government newspapers In the first decades of his rule, the court throughout the monarchy attempted to and government allowed relatively little define and heighten the importance of the public competition to define the symbol of Jubilees by printing daily notices about the emperor. Censorship and police con heroic events in Habsburg history. The trols limited the development of a pub Ministry of Education issued instructions lic sphere and retarded the growth of po for schools to hold pageants, plays, assem litical movements. The print media cele blies, and parades. In the end, however, brated the youthful emperor whose strong though few political parties and voluntary hand guaranteed order and peace. After organisations ignored the Jubilees, they the institution of constitutional govern often defined the significance of the sym ment, the dynasty had to confront the bol of the emperor in terms contradicting increasing political mobilisation of soci the message conveyed in official publica ety. Both the Liberals and the dynasty tions. claimed to control the fate of the monar chy and to exercise the power to ensure its Preliminary Conclusions unity and stabili ty. U nder Taaffe, faced My project is a study of the reassertion of with the rise of national movements, the Habsburg charisma under Franz Joseph. court and government presented impe Clifford Geertz defines charisma as "a rial loyalty as complementary with, rather sign of involvement with the animating than as an alternative to, ethnic identity. centers of society", and argues that rulers This vision meshed weil with the goals and political elites use mythic histories, of the Polish elites, and in many ways "ceremonies, insignia, formalities, and ap the imperial inspection tour to Galicia pu rtenances ( ... ) crowns and coronations" in 1880 represented the ideal monarchy to "mark the center as center and give Taaffe's system sought to create: a work what goes on there its aura of being not ing political system based on the mutual

290 ÖZG 9/1998/2 F o r u m , 269 - 293 interests of the dyna.sty, its government, cialist challenge. By supporting and us and of provincial elites secure in their own ing the imperial cult, these regional rul power. However, this ideal political sys ing groups legitimized their own power tem never existed in practice. Facing con and demonstrated their reliability to the stant pressure from below to deliver on court and the central government. national and social demands, the Polish At the same time, pea.sant, national conservatives used the presence of the em ist, and socialist leaders increa.singly feit peror to symbolically confirm their own compelled to offer competing interpreta political authority. With the increa.sing tions of imperial celebrations, incorporat political mobilisation of society and the ing Habsburg or other heroes into alter expansion of the electoral franchise, the native narratives of the monarchy's pa.st, dissemination ofthe image ofthe emperor present, and future. In 1898, for example, as a symbol of unity became less tied to in Vienna, Schönerer's German nation the actions of the provincial ruling elites alists denied the possibility of German and more open to competing interpreta Austrian imperial loyalty and publicly de tions. clared their refusal to participate in patri During the great Jubilee celebrations otic manifestations. N ationalists, social the court, government, church, and army ists, and liberals praised the revolutionar presented narratives a.ssociating Franz ies of 1848 rather than Franz Joseph, the Joseph, and through him the state, with beneficiary of the conservative reaction. the fulfillment of all social and ethnic in In Galicia, Ruthenian and Polish factions terests and the maintenance of peace. Im tried to convince pea.sants to purcha.se perial propaganda empha.sized the moral only those portraits of the emperor pro and quietly heroic qualities of Franz duced by their respective groups, turning Joseph, the tireless and self-sacrificing Fa imperial loyalty into a plebiscite on na ther of all the monarchy's ethnic and so tional identity. In Bohemia, German com cial groups. Official celebrations and pub munities often unveiled busts of the em lications presented both his larger-than peror in public spaces in elaborate cere life ceremonial persona and his hard monies in order to counter the threat of working and simple nature to reconfirm Czech encroachment on what they viewed the central im portance of the dynasty. Lo a.s German prerogatives and territory. cal and provincial elites also sought polit The decision in 1898 to break with ical . advantage, cultivating the image of the emperor's own reticence and appeal the emperor to bolster their own posi directly to the population for imperial tions. The Christian Social party, for ex loyalty reflected the perceived danger of ample, used imperial celebrations to de ethnic tensions. Official publications did fine German identity within a context not denounce national culture and iden of dynastic loyalty. The Polish conserva tity, but offered respect and loyalty for tives and Lueger's party claimed tobe the the em peror a.s a means of fulfilling le loyalist representatives of their respecti ve gitimate ethnic interests and ameliorating ethnic groups and defenders against the national conflicts. The outpouring of vol threats of radical nationalism and the so- untary expressions of imperial loyalty all

F o r u m • 269 - 293 ÖZG 9/1998/2 291 over Cisleithania suggests that much of remained essentially unchanged from 1867 to the population hoped that national ten 1918, guaranteeing the political domination sions could be overcome. National move of the Hungarian nobility. Because I am inter ested in the assertion of imperial power and ments had to acknowledge the contin prestige in the context of increasing democ ued popularity of the emperor and of the racy, Hungary remains outside the scope of state he symbolized. Those who prayed my research. for the emperor's health on his birthday, 2 Eric Hobsbawm, Mass-Producing Tradi traveled many miles to witness the im tions. Europe, 1870-1914, in: Eric Hobsbawm perial visage passing by on a train, do and Terence Ranger, eds., The Invention of nated money to build churches and fund Tradition, Cambridge 1983, 263-307. charitable institutions in the name of the 3 Examples include Richard Wortman, Sce narios of Power. Myth and Ceremony in ruler, bought postcards, cups, pamphlets, Russian Monarchy, Princeton 1995; Thomas portraits, and stamps on the occasion of Richards, The Commodity Culture of Vic imperial Jubilees, also constituted the po torian England. Advertising and Spectacle, tential base of all the monarchy's national 1851-1914, Stanford 1990. movements and the constituencies of all 4 Studies of Habsburg imperial celebra the parties represented in the Reichsrat. tions include Andrea Blöchl, Die Kaiserge The organisation of national politics was denktage. Die Feste und Feiern zu den Regierungsjubiläen und runden Geburtsta often couched in the language of dynas gen Kaiser Franz Josephs, in: Emil Brix tic loyalty, the same language dissemi and Hannes Stekl, Hg., Der Kampf um das nated in countless editorials in govern Gedächtnis. Öffentliche Gedenktage in Mit ment newspapers, school texts, and ser teleuropa, Wien 1997, 117-144; Elisabeth mons delivered by thousands of clergy Grossegger, Der Kaiser-Huldigungs-Festzug men. Although the constitutional gov Wien 1908, Wien 1992; James Shedel, Em ernment, court, church, and army could peror, Church, and People. Religion and Dy nastie Loyalty during the Golden Jubilee of no longer monopolize pu blic discussion Franz Joseph, in: Catholic Historical Review, of the importance of the dynasty, impe 76 (1990). 71-92; Zbigniew Fras discusses the rial celebrations grounded the dynasty in emperor's trips to Galicia in Mit dobrego the natural order of things and seemed Cesarza, in: Polskie mity polityczne XIX i to confirm, at least for a moment, the XX Wieku, Wroclaw 1988 and Podroze ce existence of an imagined community of sarza FranciszkaJozefa I do Galicji, in: Marek "Austria" .16 Czaplinski, ed., Z dziejow Galicji, Slaska, Pol ski i Niemiec, Wroclaw 1994. The most com prehensive overview of the Habsburg court structure remains Ivan Zolger, Der Hofstaat Notes: des Hauses Österreich, Wien 1917. Recent 1 I exclude the Hungarian half of the monar studies of Franz Joseph briefly consider im chy (Transleithania) for several reasons. perial celebrations: Steven Seiler, Francis First, Franz Joseph was officially crowned Joseph, London and New York 1996; Stanis King of Hungary in 1867 and the Hungarian law Grodziski, Franciszek Jozef 1., Wroclaw noble elites viewed imperial Jubilees as holi 1990; Jean-Paul Bled, Franz Joseph, Oxford days in a neighbouring country. In addition, 1987. On the role of the military as the though Cisleithania moved toward universal school of patriotism, see Laurence Cole, Vom male suffrage, the franchise in Transleithania

292 ÖZG 9/1998/2 Forum,269-293 Glanz der Montur. Zum dynastischen Kult bridge (Mass.) 1982; Stanislaw Grodziski, W der Habsburger und seiner Vermittlung durch Krolestwie Galicji I Lodomerii, Krakow 1976. militärische Vorbilder im 19. Jahrhundert. 9 On the Polish conservatives, see Lawrence Ein Bericht über 'work in progress,' in: ÖZG Orton, The Stanczyk Portfolio and the Pol 7 (1996), 577-590; Istvan Deak, Beyond Na itics of Galician Loyalism, in: The Polish tionalism. A Social History of the Habsburg Review 27 (1982); J. Forst-Battaglia, Die Officer Corps, Oxford 1990. polnischen Konservativen Galiziens und die 5 Elisabeth Kovacs, Kirchliches Zeremoniell Slawen 1866- 1879, phil. Diss. , Universität am Wiener Hof des 18. Jahrhunderts im Wan Wien 1975; Kazimierz Wyka, Teka Stanczyka del von Mentalität und Gesellschaft, in: Mit na tle historii Galicji w latach 1849-1869, teilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchives Wroclaw 1951; Wilhelm Feldman, Stronnicwa 32 (1979), 109-142; Hubert Ch. Ehalt, Aus I Programy polityczne w Galicyi, 1846- 1906, drucksformen absolutistischer Herrschaft. Krakow 1907. Der Wiener Hof im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert, 10 Kriegsarchiv, GA 1880/82/15 (Statthal Wien 1980. ter Alfred Potocki to Minister ?resident Ed 6 Anna Coreth, Pietas Austriaca. Österrei• uard Taaffe, August 18, 1880) . chische Frömmigkeit im Barock, 2. Aufl., 11 Christiane Thun-Salm, Des Kaisers Wien 1982. Traum, Wien 1898. The play was canceled 7 The Habsburg government officially termed in 1898 and performed as part of the court the "Ukrainians" of Galicia "Ruthenians" celebrations in 1908. (Ruthenen). Galician "Ukrainians" also gen 12 Gedenkschrift für die Soldaten anläßlich erally referred to themselves as Rutheni des SO-jährigen Regierungs-Jubiläums S. M. ans (rusyny) prior to 1900. "Ukraine" and des Kaisers Franz Joseph l., Wien 1898; "Ukrainian" usually designated lands and Wiener Diöcesanblatt, Nr. 22 (1898). populations across the border in the Rus 13 Among the most important of these lg sian empire. See John-Paul Himka, Gali naz Schnitzer, ed., Franz Joseph und Seine cian Villagers and the Ukrainian National Zeit. Cultur-historischer Rückblick auf die Movement in the Nineteenth Century, Ed francisco-josephinische Epoche, Wien 1898; monton 1988; John-Paul Himka, Socialism Max Herzig, ed. Viribus Unitis. Das Buch in Galicia. The Emergence of Polish Social vom Kaiser, Wien u . Budapest 1898. Democracy and Ukrainian Radicalism (1860- 14 Grossegger, Kaiser-Huldigungs-Festzug, 1890), Cambridge 1983; Paul R. Magocsi, see note 4, 89 . Old Ruthenianism and Russophilism. A New 15 Clifford Geertz, Centers, Kings, and Conceptual Framework for Analyzing Na Charisma. Reflections on the Symbolics of tional ldeologies in the late 19th Century Power, in: Local Knowledge. Further Essays Eastern Galicia, in: Paul Debreczenv, ed., in Interpretative Anthropology, New York American Contribution to the Ninth Inter 1983, 124. national Congress of Slavists, vol. II, 1983. 16 Benedict Anderson, lmagined Communi 8 On Habsburg Galicia, see Christoph Frei ties. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of herr Marschall von Bieberstein, Freiheit in Nationalism, London 1983. der Unfreiheit. Die nationale Autonomie der Polen in Galizien nach dem Österreichisch• ungarischen Ausgleich von 1867, Wiesbaden 1993; Andrei Markovits and Frank E. Sysyn, eds., Nationbuilding and the Politics of Na tionalism. Essays on Austrian Galicia, Cam-

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