Beyond "The Sound of Music": The Quest for Cultural Identity in Modern Austria

Abstract

Das Fette, an dem ich wurge: Osterreich -Peter Handke2 Austria made international news repeatedly during fifteen months surrounding its 2000 parliamentary elections, with each broadcast revolving around country's most notorious politician, Jorg Haider. On February 5,2000, president, Thomas Klestil, reluctantly swore in new coalition government of center-right Christian Democrats and extreme-right Freedom Party after talks with moderate Social Democrats had broken down. new political merger was immediately denounced by European Union and United States followed by sanctions carried out by fourteen EU states against small country in center of Europe, its size that of Maine, its total population barely eight million. Austria was being punished. But why? What were reasons for intense and swift reactions against politics? What crimes or sins had Austria committed to warrant such negative international reactions? This essay addresses these questions and seeks to provide some information that may help illuminate many of problems concerning Modern Austria. I shall elaborate on topic from a socio-cultural and literary perspective, but I also venture into historical and political explorations and discussions. This becomes necessary because matters concerning culture in Austria are intimately linked to political history of Austria. Thus, quest for establishing a national identity in Modern Austria is at same time a quest for cultural identity. Modern Austria began before end of WWII, on April 27, 1945, when a provisional government comprised of Christian Democrats, Social Democrats, and communists issued a joint Declaration of Independence. It proclaimed re-establishment of a democratic republic. Quoting Moscow Declaration from October 30, 1943, in which Allied foreign ministers pronounced Austria the first free country to fall victim to Hitlerite aggression, it denounced March 1938 annexation as a military occupation imposed on country by Nazi Germany. Austria immediately began reinventing itself as a democratic nation with a national identity distinctly different from that of Germany. The myth of victim status, Opfernation, and myth of its liberation from an aggressive regime that it finally learned to hate was vital to creation of a national identity. Forgotten was what Innsbruck Historian Anton Pelinka calls Austria's bloodiest Civil War: In this war, tens of thousands of Austrians lost their lives in action or were killed indirectly [...] On one side were Austrian National Socialists who regarded military occupation [...] not as foreign intervention but as liberation and realization of anxiously awaited Anschlu[beta]. On other side were Conservative Legitimists, Catholic Austro-Fascists, Pan-German Social Democrats, and Stalinist Communists. They were united largely by a negative goal: to end National socialist rule. [...] On both sides of civil war front lines were Austrians. Austrians pronounced terror sentences in name of Fuhrer; Austrians committed murder in concentration camps; Austrians denounced their fellow Austrians; Austrian Jews, Gypsies, and Austrians said to be political opponents. The civil war was primarily conducted by two minorities. On one side were Austrian National Socialists and their families with about [...] 15 percent of adult population. On other side were those who fought against regime in an attempt to overthrow it. Yet, majority of Austrians remained uncommitted. They stood by, observing pressure and hardships and later simply called it their duty. 3 Moreover, all Austrian roots in German history became taboo during restoration years. own unique historical past was utilized for identity formation. The historian David Lowenthal analyzed historical memory and remarked: Nations and individuals habitually trace back their ancestry, institutions, culture, ideals to validate claims to power, prestige, and property, and one might add, national and cultural identity. …