The High Civil Service Corps in the Last Period of the Multi-Ethnic Empire between National and Imperial Loyalties

Abstract

The target of this study is constituted by leading civil officials mainly of the Ministry of Interior (Section leaders and ministerial counselors) as well as members of the local political authority (court counselors, 'Land' presidents and state representatives) in the Cisleithanian part of the Austro Hungarian Monarchy. The research is based on samples of those occupying these positions between 1900 and 1910; in some cases information is given dating back to the 1880ies. The survey extends over geographical extraction, family background, educational path and career of all those in the sample. The official activities of these civil servants are scrutinized following questions raised in the title of the paper. Obviously enough they were above all commit ted to the imperial state. Still there is a number of indicators that they did not remain unaffected - though to variable degrees - by their regional and national connections. These indicators should be thoroughly researched in concrete terms, together with additional references to the final political options of mem bers of our target group after the end of the Habsburg Monarchy. Well, Your Excellency, being a Civil Servant it seems that you have only the choice between being an anarchist or an idiot.1 It may well be that this satirical phrase coined by the eminent writer Arthur Schnitzler can be used with some justification for one or the other individual member among the great number of higher officials serving the Emperor Francis Joseph in the late Habsburg Mon archy. Yet there can be no doubt whatsoever that the High Civil Service as a whole and as a group distinct from others must be regarded as one of the elite groups within the society of the Habsburg Monarchy. It is common knowledge that the power-elite of the High Civil Service - together with the person of the Emperor himself and with the army - formed the very pillar and backbone of