On Transnational Sites of Memory in Central Europe
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Jacques Le Rider Sommer, Moritz CsÖ¡ky, Monika, Hrsg.. Transnationale GedÖ¤chtnisorte in Zentraleuropa. Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2002. 208 pp. EUR 22.00, paper, ISBN 978-3-7065-1809-3. Reviewed by Nancy Wingfield Published on HABSBURG (July, 2003) On Transnational Sites of Memory in Central emplifies changing political symbols in Hungary Europe since 1989/1990.[2] Its fuid meanings reflect the The goal of this collection is ambitious: both process of reconstruction of national symbols, to expand upon and to provide a corrective to the which some people have attempted to locate in a path-breaking "memory work" of Pierre Nora, larger European context. Pribersky considers this Mario Isnenghi, Etienne François, and Hagen attempt to connect national history with Euro‐ Schultze, which concentrates on the question of pean history part of an ongoing process of (west‐ the construction of national identity. Among the ern) European integration. Reinterpretation of the questions the eleven contributions from aca‐ meaning of the Crown of St. Stephen, reflecting demics throughout Europe in this volume[1] ad‐ the connection between tradition and modernity dress is the issue of transnational sites of memo‐ embodied in the crown, is also found in popular ry--and if they can serve as mediators between culture. The most significant example is perhaps national identity and European identity from a the 1983 rock opera István a király (King wide variety of perspectives, some of which I will Stephen), a re-examination of the Hungarian discuss in detail below. foundation myth. Andreas Pribersky makes a useful contribu‐ Since 1989, the Crown of St. Stephen has occu‐ tion to the growing literature on renewed or re‐ pied a central position in the construction of state constructed symbols and sites of memory in the symbolism. In the case of the crown, however, at‐ former satellite countries in his insightful essay, tempts to connect historical symbols and myths to "Eine Krone für die 3. Ungarische Republik? contemporary political positions have revealed a Geschichte als Archiv der Gedächtnispolitik." The dual, ambivalent interpretation. On the one hand, author focuses on the Crown of St. Stephen, which the Hungarian government, employing the crown appears fxed in Hungarian popular memory as both as representative of the nation (state and the traditional symbol of the state, but which ex‐ people) and of the (western) Christianizing of the H-Net Reviews entire people by St. Stephen, thus shares some heroes, who could have an integrative effect be‐ characteristics of European right populism. This yond a particular language group. right populism is reflected in other elements of Ressel would also be honored with a memori‐ the government's political rhetoric, especially in al tablet in his birthplace and streets named for the demarcation of the national "We" versus him in Laibach/Ljubljana, Prague, and Vienna (a "They" groups within the population. This "Other‐ statue of Ressel was also unveiled in Chrudim, ing" has been most noticeable vis-à-vis Hungary's Czechoslovakia, in 1924). Bruckmüller maintains Jews.[3] On the other hand, this same symbolism that these manifestations served to anchor the attempts to represent modernization politics. This habsbergtreu Ressel in the collective memory of modernizing aspect is symbolically equated with the Austro-Germans, Czechs, and Slovenes. In‐ westernizing tendencies and gains legitimacy deed, Ressel remained a stable fgure in the mem‐ through contemporary political developments, in‐ ory of all three groups. A more detailed discussion cluding entry into the European Union and NATO. of these assertions might improve this essay, be‐ Pribersky astutely concludes that the Western Eu‐ cause as recent research, for example, the work of ropean understanding of the process of "Western‐ historian Jeremy King, has demonstrated, nation‐ ization" and the "process of Europeanization" may al identity as a social construct is fuid and be opposed to the renewed political tradition of changes over time.[4] Does Ressel, who represents conservative modernization. a triple claim as a civil, engineering, and national In "Josef Ressel: ein gemeinsamer 'lieu de mé‐ hero, constitute a shared lieu de mémoire or does moire' Mitteleuropas?," Ernst Bruckmüller dis‐ he occupy three parallel universes of collective cusses the claims made by three groups--Austro- memory? I am not sure. German, Czech, and Slovenian speakers--to Ressel Some of the essays in this volume capture the (1793-1857), a Habsburg civil servant and inven‐ imagination. One of them is Pierre Burlaud's tor. The son of a German-speaking father and wide-ranging contribution, "Gespenster und Czech-speaking mother, Ressel was born in Bo‐ Gedächtnislücken. Geschichte, Erinnerungen, hemia, and educated there and in Vienna. Ressel, Vergessenheit an der Donau. Ein literarischer Es‐ who had knowledge of Italian and Slovene, spent say," which explicitly builds upon Pierre Nora's much of his career in Istria and Slovenia where, discussion of history and memory. In his effort to as a forest administrator, he was also responsible locate the Danube and Central Europe in the fuid for surveying forests and improving agricultural public imagination of the region, Burlaud notes production. the central role the Danube has played historical‐ Ressel is a fascinating historic fgure and an ly as both a trade route and a border. Indeed, this inspired choice for analysis as a site of memory. border was porous: sometimes there was trade After plans to honor Ressel posthumously with a across it, as between the Romans and the "barbar‐ statue in Trieste fell through, one was instead un‐ ians." Moreover, the author asserts, the river is veiled in 1863 before the Technical University in not only a site of memory, but it also contains Vienna, where it stands today in Ressel Park. The along its banks many historic sites. Burlaud, in‐ Latin-language inscription honored the "Austrian" deed, describes the interaction of numerous liter‐ Ressel as the inventor of the ship propeller. The ary fgures with the Danube (Peter Esterhazy and statue of Ressel worked well in mid-nineteenth- Panait Istrati, for instance), but his essay ranges century Vienna: the unitary and theoretically far wider than just kaleidoscopic literary repre‐ transnational state urgently needed transnational sentations in its consideration of human interac‐ tion with this European river. In the 1990s, when 2 H-Net Reviews there was freedom all along the Danube, it was to in the title. These criticisms aside, this is a col‐ variously designated the river of memory, of mis‐ lection well worth reading. understanding, and of forgetting. Notes: In his speculative Conclusion, Burlaud rhetor‐ [1]. Contributors to this volume are Rudolf Ja‐ ically asks if it is an exaggeration to assert that the worski (Kiel), Thomas Serrier (Paris), Christoph continual intervention of the Great Powers has Boyer (Dresden), Andreas Pribersky (Vienna), An‐ given the impression of the Danube region as a drei Corbea-Hoisie (Iasi), Ernst Bruckmüller (Vien‐ victim of history rather than a maker of the same? na), Michel Espagne (Paris), Daniel Baric (Paris), He provides examples ranging from the Turkish Jacques Le Rider (Paris), Sylvie Arlaud (Paris), and occupation of southeastern Europe through the Pierre Burlaud (Montlucon). destruction of Serbia by the international commu‐ [2]. On changing interpretations of another nity and the European Union's recent sanctions Hungarian symbol, March 15, see Alice Freifeld, against Austria. He concludes with a positive eval‐ "The Cult of March 15: Sustaining the Hungarian uation of the EU's influence on the region: it con‐ Myth of Revolution, 1849-1999, " in Staging the siders foreigners the bearers of potential enrich‐ Past: The Politics of Commemoration in Habsburg ment rather than as a potential threat. Central Europe, 1848 to the Present, ed. by Maria This collection contains some of the faws Bucur and Nancy M. Wingfield (West Lafayette: common to many such publications: diacriticals Purdue University Press, 2001), pp. 255-85; on are inconsistently employed; there is neither a changing symbols in the region more generally, bibliography nor an index. The volume also lacks see Richard S. Esbenshade, "Remembering to For‐ a descriptive list of contributors. The clearly re‐ get: Memory, History, National Identity in Postwar produced illustrations like those in the essays by East-Central Europe." Representations 49 (Winter Rudolf Jaworski and Thomas Serrier are of great 1995): pp. 72-96; and Katherine Verdery, The Polit‐ value, because they help the reader visualize ical Lives of Dead Bodies: Reburial and Postso‐ some of the sites of memory under discussion. cialist Change (New York: Columbia University This reviewer would have appreciated similar il‐ Press, 1999). lustrations throughout. [3]. On the "Other," see Vilho Harle, "On the The inclusion of essays in this conference col‐ Concepts of the 'Other' and the 'Enemy,'" History lection that focus on areas from Dresden and of European Ideas 19/nos. 1-3 (1994), pp. 27-34. Leipzig to Czernowitz raises the question: which [4]. In his article, "The Nationalization of East Central Europe? The construction of Central Eu‐ Central Europe: Ethnicism, Ethnicity, and Be‐ rope is a topic Burlaud briefly discusses, but the yond," in Staging the Past, pp. 112-52, Jeremy King editors do not. This is important, not least because discusses conflicting Czech and German claims to of the changing self-perceptions of the very re‐ the memory of imperial royal Shipmaster Adal‐ gions under discussion. Defining terms is just one bert/Vojtech Lanna in Budweis/Ceske Budejovice. of the issues that the thoughtful, but brief, de‐ See also Jeremy King, Budweisers into Czechs and scriptive introduction missed a chance to address. Germans: A Local History of Bohemian Politics, In addition, the editors might have taken the op‐ 1848-1948 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, portunity to make greater thematic sense of this 2002). volume, which remains more a group of interest‐ ing, and often innovative, essays loosely bound by Copyright 2003 by H-Net, all rights reserved.