The Reception of Herder in Central Europe: Idealization and Exaggeration

Abstract

Herder' s reception in the Slavic countries presents a delicate chapter in the history of German cultural influence in East Central Europe. Herder's various deliberations on the history and future of the Slavic nations barely exceed a dozen pages; yet since the early nineteenth century, these segments, particularly in the Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit (1784-91) and the Journal meiner Reise aus 1769, have inspired a variety of responses ranging from works of Romantic poetry to treatises in regional historiography and passionate manifestos of patriotism. Overwhelming as the list of studies concerning Herder' s geopolitical views and their regional impact appears (Cf. Drews, Dybek, Gesemann, Otto Mann, Sundhausen, Keyser, Ziegengeist), there have been few inquiries that seek to sustain their findings by applying Herder's general principles of historiography. This is particularly true of studies written in languages other than German, including English. This article investigates a number of representative excerpts from Herder's regional reception in the early nineteenth century; then it proceeds to compare the main assertions of these excerpts with Herder' s own observations on East and Central European history. For the following reasons, the investigation will focus on Herder' s influence on the Slavic cultures of the Hapsburg Monarchy: first, Slavic peoples of the multinational empire (particularly the Czechs and Slovaks) showed extraordinary receptivity toward any West European encouragement of their self-determination. Second, because of its passionate tone and ideological orientation, the AustroSlavic response presents a particularly complex case of Central European intercultural communication. Third, the primary wave of reception in the AustroSlavic cultures has set the tone for Herder' s general evaluation in East Central Europe to the present day. Herder's rise to prominence in Germany's Eastern neighbours coincided with the efforts of the Hapsburgs directed at a cultural and linguistic integration of the Monarchy. As a result of Maria Theresa' s and Josephs II's initiatives, Latin was