Die Grenzen der Gemeinsamkeit. Deutsche, Letten, Russen und Juden in Riga 1860-1914 by Ulrike von Hirschhausen (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 731 Hirschhausen, Ulrike von. Die GrenzenderGemeinsamkeit. Deutsche,Letten, Russen undjuden inRiga 1860-1gi4. Kritische Studien zurGeschichtswissenschaft, 172. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Gottingen, 2006. 430 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Indexes. 49.90 (paperback). In focusing explicitly on themulti-ethnic nature of society inpre-World War One Riga, Hirschhausen offers a valuable corrective to the trend in Baltic history towards 'privileging' national history (p. 21), that is to say thewriting of separate histories of Germans, Latvians, Russians, Jews and so on. First, the changes wrought by the rapid expansion ofRiga between i860 and 1914 are considered. At the outset Baltic Germans constituted 67 per cent of the city's population, compared with 15per cent forLatvians and n per cent for Russians. The remainder was made up of other ethnic groups. By 1913 Germans and Latvians each had a 28 per cent share of the city's popu lation,Russians and Jews 16per cent each and Poles 5 per cent. The surge in the city's population between these two dates reflected among other things poor employment prospects in the stillfeudal-like countryside, the growth of factories and business inRiga, its attraction as a cultural centre and finally greater opportunities forpolitical involvement. Visitors stillhad the impression around 1900 of a city of predominantly German character despite all four quarters of the city being multi-ethnic. Significantly, the long dominant Baltic Germans were not enthusiastic about numerical measurements of population, stressing language and culture in their definition of 'nationality'. In doing so they looked to benefit from the accul turation of many Latvians to German. Thus the 1913 census recorded 80,823 Riga citizens as German speaking, whereas only 68,775 were recorded as of German origin. Russian acculturation to Germans was rarer. Interestingly, a small percentage of English entered the Baltic German milieu ? helping to transfer technical advances toRiga's industry and injecting a greater liberal element. The overall trend of course was towards Latvianization, with 40 per cent ofRiga Latvian-speaking by the timewar came. Despite this, themulti ethnic nature of the city was a major factor in its successful growth as a centre of industry and business, even though ethnic lines persisted in some areas, notably banking. Hirschhausen's examination of the formation of ethnic milieus in the second part of the book is conducted by way of a series of case studies of representative individuals drawn fromGerman, Russian, Jewish and Latvian groups. The Germans are represented by two mayors of Riga, Robert Btingner and George Armitstead (ofEnglish origin) and the liberal and char ismatic Paul Schiemann. Latvians considered include Fricis Veinbergs, founder of the Rigas Avize newspaper. Because of theHolocaust the source situation for theJews inRiga is poor. Nevertheless, the discussion ofJewish attitudes through the eyes of Emma Michelson and Paul Mintz isparticularly interesting. The volume then undertakes a painstaking examination of communal poli tics and their impact on the corporate traditions ofRiga, ultimately arguing that 'even from corporate society the way led to modern civil society' (p. 194). There follows an analysis of the extraordinarily high number of societies, clubs 732 SEER, 86, 4, OCTOBER 2008 and other organizations inRiga, aiming to show both the realization of such a civil society as well as its limits.The final and fifth part of the study considers the competing effortsof the different ethnic groups not only tomaintain their own milieus, but also to attract rivals to them. It isprecisely the interweaving of cultures ? resulting from the competing claims not only of Germans, Latvians, Russians and Jews, but of central government and region ? that convinces Hirschhausen of the wider interest of her Riga case study. She righdy insists that thehistoriographical preoccupa tionwith thenation state as the agent ofmodernization has meant far too little attention being devoted to 'the extent and impact of competing offersof inte gration' as a catalyst for change and reform. 'A look at multiethnic areas within Europe can contribute to overcoming thisnarrowness and to attracting renewed attention to alternatives to the Nation.' This is a timelymessage indeed for today's Europe. Bradford and Glasgow Universities JohnHiden Patrikeeff, Felix and Shukman, Harold. Railways and the Russo-JapaneseWar: Transporting War. Cass Military Studies. Routledge, London and New York, 2007. vii...