German-speaking Minority Research Articles

Stories of Justification – Stories of Absolution: How Families in Liberec Came to Terms with Post-Displacement Heritage

The article focuses on how residents of the north Bohemian town of Liberec deal in their family histories with possession of post-displacement. The objects they use were confiscated from the German-speaking minority in the aftermath of World War 2. The text provides an overview of narratives of this event in the Czech public discourse and discusses how these are reflected in family stories. The study is based on three family histories collected during ethnographic fieldwork and the analytical framework is informed by memory studies and theories of hauntology.

The representation of Belgium’s German-speaking minority at federal and European level

The representation of Belgium’s German-speaking minority at federal and European level

From Proletarian Internationalism to Transnational Consciousness

Abstract Following the Treaty of Trianon, in Transylvania, which had been detached from historical Hungary and attached to Romania, besides the Romanian majority, there lived a considerable Hungarian- and German-speaking minority. Although in the last two decades of the communist dictatorship – in the 70s and 80s – as a consequence of emigration to Germany, the number of ethnic Germans decreased substantially, the number of Hungarian speakers is over one million even today. Regarding the characteristics of the post-World War II literary discourse and cultural policy, in the second half of the forties, the communist power gained control over all manifestations of community life in Romania. It regulated culture and the arts, banned, abolished, or restructured all forums that had enjoyed some kind of independence, and completely revised the literary and artistic canon. In this era, the discourse emphasizing the aspects of revolutionary transformation and radical policy change decisively builds on the enemy image; the fault-line between past and present and the necessity of continuous political struggle prevail in both poetry and prose. In order to achieve the intended social goals, this kind of communist sacrifice ethics regards the annihilation of resisters, protesters, and even of the internal opposition not only as a possibility but as an assumed necessity. This paper aims to present the ideological/political and aesthetic/poetic tendencies that determined Transylvanian Hungarian literature and cultural policy from the mid-40s until the end of 20th century.

The Fascist view of the ‘allogeni’ in the border regions

ABSTRACT The Fascist policy towards linguistic minorities has sometimes been compared to that practised in the colonies, using the categories of racism and internal colonialism. According to some interpretations, Fascism considered members of minorities as something foreign, potentially hostile, if not actually inferior, starting from a clear dividing line between who could be considered Italian and who not. It has also been argued that the ‘allogeni’ were the first targets of radical measures to exclude them from Italian citizenship, the forerunners of the later racist laws implemented against colonial subjects and Jews. This article has three aims: to verify whether severe discriminatory actions really were taken against members of linguistic minorities with regard to citizenship rights; to understand whether these persons were perceived as completely alien to the nation on the basis of clear, shared demarcation lines between those who could consider themselves Italian and those who could not; and, finally, to determine whether the view of such minorities was always radically negative and disdainful to the extent that it could justifiably be called racism. The analysis of forms of representation focuses in particular on the German-speaking population of South Tyrol, using various sources (newspapers, institutional correspondence, political speeches, literary accounts). The answer to the first question posed is negative; as regards the other two, in the first place there is a considerable degree of uncertainty on the part of the Fascists in defining the members of the German-speaking minority, who were sometimes presented as being completely outside the perimeter of Italianità, i.e. Italianness, while more often as being on the margins but undoubtedly capable of integration thanks to their unshakably Italian core. This seems to reveal a certain difficulty in defining who could be considered Italian and who could not when clearly drawing the boundaries of Italianness. Secondly, judgements were made about the South Tyroleans that were in no way characterized by a lack of appreciation or by contempt. The descriptions of the South Tyrolean peasant are, to say the least, flattering: full of exaggerated praise for his many virtues, from his religiosity to his obedience to institutions, from his strong ties to the land to his conservatism. The views regarding the Slovenian and Croatian-speaking populations of Venezia Giulia and Istria were very different, expressing and amplifying the most scornful stereotypes of anti-Slavism developed during the national struggles of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Emigration and the care of older people ‘left behind’: the changing role of neighbourhood networks, ethnicity and civil society

ABSTRACT Rapid population ageing and international migration are demographic trends which intersect and contribute to far-reaching transformations of local networks and communities. Academic literature has often focused on the impact of migration on receiving communities or narrowly on ‘left behind’ individuals and households. Less consideration has been given to impacts on wider neighbourhood networks and social relationships in sending countries, or the agency of non-migrants in transforming and re-creating networks disrupted by emigration. This article draws on qualitative interviews among a German-speaking minority in Romania which experienced dramatic outmigration to Germany in 1990. The evidence shows that local networks adjusted to outmigration by bringing in new actors previously not involved in support provision; in this case, neighbours belonging to different ethnic groups with whom relations were previously distant. In addition, existing civil society institutions, such as the church, intensified and extended their role to offer practical support and physical care. By examining these transformations through the prism of care in later life, the depth of social transformations ensuant on migration can be brought into sharp relief.

Formulating Germanness in the Banat: ‘Minority making’ among the Swabians from Dualist Hungary to interwar Romania

ABSTRACT This article examines the shaping of a dominant discourse on Germanness among the Banat Swabians, a German-speaking minority community, over a long period of upheaval. Particularly following WWI, debates over what it meant to be German gained significance as a means of political contestation and a way of mobilizing the Swabian community vis-à-vis the Romanian state. While appeals to belonging within a broader German nation were popularized, the symbols developed to convey this affiliation showed particular local and regional understandings of Banat Swabian Germanness—a trend that only began to change in the 1930s, as these symbols were appropriated by new challengers.

An Insiders' Outside Perspective on the Flemish-Walloon Conflict: The Role of Identification and Disidentification for the German-Speaking Minority.

In this study we analyzed the opinions of citizens of the German-speaking minority in Belgium on the linguistic conflict between the Walloons and the Flemish, as well as their attitudes towards these linguistic communities. We were especially interested in the effects of identification with the local community and disidentification with Belgium. We distributed a survey questionnaire in Eupen, the capital of the German-speaking community, and received replies from 129 inhabitants. Results showed that identification with the German-speaking community was associated with positive attitudes towards the German-speaking community and with demands for more autonomy of the community within the federal Belgian state. Disidentification with Belgium was not positively correlated with these constructive and positive outcomes, but with negative perceptions of all three Belgian communities, the perception of strong conflicts among these communities, and demands for the separation of the Belgian federal state into independent regions. The results are in line with previous research on these processes and point to unique, positive aspects of a strong local identity.

Transnational families and the circulation of care: a Romanian–German case study

ABSTRACTThis article contributes to our understanding of transnational family relationships and the circulation of care. We are interested in understanding how large-scale emigration affects the support and care of older people in the origin country. Using in-depth interviews and participant observation, we examine the significance of transnational family support for older people, and the ways in which migrant children and other kin care for elderly relatives from afar. Our case study is of the Transylvanian Saxons, a German-speaking minority in Romania, who experienced mass-exodus to Germany following the end of socialism in 1990. The lapse of time since the exodus allows us to examine how transnational family practices evolve, and what the challenges are to maintaining family-hood over time and distance. Contrary to expectations, we find that material family support from Germany to Romania is not significant and has declined. Care, by contrast, remains an important part of what most transnational families provide, although practices of ‘caring about’ are more prevalent than hands-on ‘caring for’. Counter to optimistic accounts of transnational family care in the literature, we argue that the difficulties and challenges for older people of being cared for by distant family members are fundamental, and strong transnational family ties are not an inevitable outcome of migration.

REGIONALIZATION IN DENMARK IN THE LIGHT OF POLITICAL TRANSFORMATIONS IN EUROPE (EXEMPLIFIED BY CHANGES IN THE LEGAL STATUS OF AUTONOMIES IN GREENLAND AND THE FAROE ISLANDS)

Introduction . Of all Nordic countries, only Denmark and Finland have their own national-territorial autonomies. In other Nordic countries, there are non-territorial national autonomies of the Sami people, who are entitled to form their own representative bodies (the Sametings). The southern part of Denmark on the border with Germany (in the Northern Holstein) is home to German-speaking minority, the existence of which can be attributed to a national-cultural autonomy. However, it is not entitled to form its own parliament (contrary to the Greenlandic and Faroe people) but enjoys guaranteed representation in the Danish Parliament – the Folketing. In order to guarantee the rights of the German-speaking national minorities Denmark has become the member of the Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities since February 1, 1998, and the member of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1992 since January 1, 2001. Materials and methods . The methodological basis of the article is formed by general scientific and special methods of investigation into legal phenomena such as systematic and structural analysis, the synthesis of social and legal studies, formal logical and comparative legal methods. The results of the research : The analysis of the legal status of Greenland and the Faroe Islands leads to the conclusion that the two Danish autonomies are to a very large extent independent in their relations with the central authorities. They are entitled to enter into international treaties, decide on membership in international organisations and unions separately from the central government. Legal changes in the status of both Danish autonomies indicate the process of regionalization which has been taking place over recent years in Denmark. Discussion and conclusions . The article justifies legislative changes in the relationship between Danish and self-government authorities, reviews the merits and demerits thereof, and allows the secession of the autonomies together with the declaration of their sovereignty.

When language becomes law: the methodology and criteria adopted by the South Tyrolean terminology commission for the standardisation of German and Italian translation equivalents

South Tyrol is a part of Northern Italy where a large German-speaking minority lives. In 1972 the local population was granted the right to use the minority language with the public administration, in court and in all realms of public life (DPR 672/1972). An urgent need for a clear and consistent German legal language that faithfully reflected the Italian legal system ensued. The task of responding to such terminological emergency was assigned to a commission of six legal experts and translators (DPR574/1988), who were to officially validate (i.e. standardise) the German language equivalents to the existing legal and administrative Italian terms. The use of the newly standardised terminology is mandatory for all public bodies. After about 20 years of activity, the proposed paper aims at analysing the results obtained and difficulties faced by the Commission during their daunting task of creating a German language terminology to express the concepts of Italian law with a constant view to the neighbouring well-established German speaking legal systems. The paper will illustrate the decision-making process, term selection criteria and strategies of neologyas well as discuss the procedural problems and terminological inconsistencies on the basis of real examples.

Az k horkemu konci: Prazske nemecke divadlo 1845-1945. By Jitka Ludvova.

In Prague there are three extant theatres of great historical and cultural significance. The oldest is the Estates Theatre (1783), the memorable venue for the world premieres of Don Giovanni and La clemenza di Tito. For a century it remained the only stone-built theatre in Prague, but in 1881 the Czech National Theatre was erected by public subscription (it accidentally burnt down almost immediately but was rebuilt by 1883). And in response to the resplendent Czech Theatre an equally resplendent German Theatre opened in 1888. It is no longer known by this title. After the mass expulsion of the German population of Prague in 1945, it was taken over by the Czechs and continually renamed (Grand Opera of the Fifth of May; Smetana Theatre; State Opera, Prague), its connection with the other theatres varying from independence to secondary stage according to the political vagaries of the time. As the main venue for the German-speaking minority in Prague, the German Theatre was an opera house of world importance mostly through its distinguished roster of conductors (Mahler, Klemperer, Zemlinsky, Kleiber, Steinberg, Széll, Rankl). While the Czech National Theatre and the Estates Theatre have had countless monographs devoted to them over the years (a token of how much theatre and opera has mattered to Czech national aspirations), information on the Prague German Theatre has been much harder to come by. This is partly because most of its archives had disappeared by 1945 but also because of chauvinistic Czechs who wanted to write the German cultural contribution out of the script, a process encouraged by the post-war Communist administration through political censorship and restrictions on archives. It was only after an international conference in 1963 that one of the luminaries of Prague German culture, Franz Kafka, was reluctantly accorded persona grata status, and with it followed the surprising discovery for much of the younger generation that there had been a vibrant German cultural scene before the war. ‘Normalization’ of the 1970s brought with it more censorship and bureaucratic blocking of archives—this changed only with the fall of the Communists in 1989. Since then there has been great interest in German theatre in Prague, most of it uncritical. Jitka Ludvová’s magnificent book, written under the auspices of the Theatre Institute (an important centre of theatre research in Prague that for decades has sponsored the publication of many essential surveys of operatic activities) is the first serious and substantial evaluation of the German theatre culture in Prague, embodied in its chief venue. Ludvová has been working in this field for some forty years and the book is the culmination of her life’s work. It will now be an essential starting point for anyone working in music and theatre in Prague during this period.

Ein Zerrbild von den "Banater Schwaben". Kritische Betrachtungen eines Zeitzeugen und Historikers

This article deals with the controversial issue of the role the German in Vojvodina played during the time of German occupation in Yugoslavia beginning in 1941. The author opposes with historian Thomas Casagrande's assessment of this role expressed in both his book Volksdeutsche SS-Division 'Prinz Eugen' – Die Banater Schwaben und die nationalsozialistischen Kriegsverbrechen (The 'Volksdeutsche' SS-division 'Prince Eugen' – The Banat Swabians and the National Socialist war crimes), published in 2003, and a paper on the disappearance of the German-speaking minority in Yugoslavia, presented in March 2012 at an international historical conference in Bad Radkersburg (Steiermark, Austria). The author consciously presents the perspective not only of a historian, but also of a contemporary witness and comes to the conclusion that Casagrande's assessments are unjust, one-sided and far from reality.

”Doch hat auch Teutschland dich zur Bürgerin erkohren”

”Doch hat auch Teutschland dich zur Bürgerin erkohren” (“Still, Germany has made you a citizen”): Sophia Elisabet Brenner, Occasional Poet with Contacts Far and Near
 On her father’s side, Sophia Elisabet Brenner was a member of Stockholm’s important German-speaking minority and was bilingual as a writer. In this article, I suggest that the German congregation in Stockholm provided important opportunities for contacts and was a culturally stimulating cultural environment; both aspects are on view in her poetry. As a poet and learned woman, Brenner was well-known outside Sweden; the fact of her being commissioned to write a memorial poem on Peter the Great, the czar who had been Sweden’s sworn enemy and who had died in 1725, bears eloquent witness to her international fame. A portion of the poem deals with the excellent communications of the times with letters and learned reviews as important means of contact, often composed in international languages such as Latin and German. At the same time, interesting glimpses are given of the working-habits of an occasional poet.

Living Apart in the Same Room: Analysis of the Management of Linguistic Diversity in Bolzano

This contribution analyzes the arrangements used to manage the German-speaking minority of Bolzano, Italy. Traditionally, the literature on language policies has focused on the cohesion of the state, the well-being of individuals, the protection of linguistic groups, and the maintenance of language diversity. In contrast, this case study shows that, in discussing language policies, it is necessary to consider the impact on relations among linguistic groups. I argue that language in and of itself is not an element of division; rather, I consider language as a mind-set, which becomes an issue in a specific structural context. Language policies should aim at addressing this mental status that maintains language as a divisive factor within a population. As this case study will demonstrate, Bolzano arrangements form a parting-regime, which, by keeping separate its inhabitants and impeding mixed use and contamination between majority and minority idioms, does not counter the understanding of language as an element of division; rather the arrangements reinforce the idea that language relations are competitive.

Rilke's 'left-handed lyre': Multilingualism and the Poetics of Possibility

This article traces the development of Rainer Maria Rilke's French verse in the context of his perceptions of language and translation and his emerging 'lyrische Zweisprachigkeit'. This is considered both in terms of his biographical trajectory, from the confines of the German-speaking minority in Prague, via the 'offene Welt' of Paris, to the neutral and multilingual environment of his last 'Schweizer Jahre', and in terms of an emerging 'poetics of absence' which leads to a search for new poetic possibilities and a quest for a tentative new beginning, both of which can be detected in his latest, French, poetry.

Un système de « proportionnelle ethnique » : le secteur public du Trentin-Haut Adige

<titre>An &#8220;Ethnic Proportional&#8221; Representation System&#160;: the Public Sector in Trentino-South Tyrol </titre> In Trentino-South Tyrol, and notably the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, public sector jobs are divided up in proportion to the size of the three language groups (German, Italian and Ladin). This special system for the collective protection of minorities, which is described as being an &#8220;ethnic proportional&#8221; representation system, results from specific historical circumstances and the need to protect the German-speaking minority. However, it raises certain difficulties of a theoretical nature, above all regarding the danger of incompatibility with constitutional rules and EU regulations, and of a practical nature, notably owing to its negative effects in terms of impartiality and effective administration. Although the situation is potentially explosive, it is subject to almost total political and social consensus.

German minorities in Europe: ethnic identity and cultural belonging

Chapter 1. Culture, Identity, and Distinction: Ethnic Minorities between Scylla and Charybdis W. Bergem Chapter 2. A National Minority with a Transethnic Identity: The German Minority in Denmark K. M. Pedersen Chapter 3. The German Speaking Minority of Belgium B. Donaldson Chapter 4. The Ethnolinguistic Vitality of Alsatian-Speakers in Southern Alsace J. Broadbridge Chapter 5. South Tyrol: Re-Thinking Ethnolinguistic Vitality A. Schweigkofler Chapter 6. Poland's German Minority K. Cordell Chapter 7. The Carpathian Germans L. P. Marcus Chapter 8. The Ethnolinguistic Vitality of German-speaking Communities in Central Europe P. Stevenson Chapter 9. Bilingualism among Ethnic Germans in Hungary P. H. Nelde Chapter 10. The Unfortunate Minority Group: Yugoslavia's Banat Germans R. Wagner Chapter 11. Ethnic Germans in Russia and the Former Soviet Union G. Stricker Chapter 12. Changing Priorities or Changing Opportunities? German External Minority Policy, 1919-1998 S. Wolff Chapter 13. The Status of German Minorities in Bilateral Agreements of the Federal Republic H.-J. Heintze Chapter 14. German Minorities in East and West: A Comparative Overview and Outlook S. Wolff Notes on Contributors Bibliography Index

South Tyrol: German and Italian in a Changing World

In South Tyrol the Italian and German languages have coexisted for centuries. After a problematic development in the first half of the 20th century the situation has stabilised through an intense programme to protect the German-speaking minority living there. Though these protective measures were introduced primarily to keep the linguistic identity of the Italian and German language groups stable, they have led to a considerable degree of individual bilingualism, especially with the speakers of German. At the same time certain means were introduced to facilitate the use of German in the legal and administrative context of Italy. So these steps at the end have led to an intensified contact between the languages, and there is a growing awareness of the advantages of speaking more than one language. With the opening towards Europe and with general trends in society like globalisation and individualisation, a new model of a bilingual identity is developing which takes into consideration its usefulness in modern transcultural interaction as well as its value for regional self-identification. This development also leads to a higher degree of linguistic variation in the society of South Tyrol.

L'emploi des langues en matières judiciaires et administratives dans le royaume de Belgique

The transformation of the federal state of the Austrian Netherlands into a modern unified state was to create a major linguistic problem. It was through a century and a half long struggle about the use of languages that the Flemish and Walloon communities established themselves. Indeed, the Belgian Revolution of 1830 was followed by a francization of civil service and justice in Flemish- speaking parts. This francization was never fully completed, and by 1870, there started an opposite evolution. Between the two wars, Dutch unilinguism was decreed in Flanders. The tiny German-speaking minority received a similar statute after World War II.

Hermann Oberth: Leben, Werk und Auswirkung auf die spätere Raumfahrt-entwicklung by Hans Barth

334 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE it may serve as a helpful guide for both scholars and laypersons to an important but much neglected area. Barton C. Hacker Dr. Hacker teaches history of technology and military history at Oregon State University. His book, The Dragon's Tail: Radiation Safety in the Manhattan Project, 1942— 1946, was published in 1987, and he is working on a sequel covering the period since the war. Hermann Oberth: Leben, Werk und Auswirkung aufdie spatere Raumfahrtentwicklung . By Hans Barth. Feucht: Uni-Verlag, 1985. Pp. 415; illustrations, bibliography, appendixes. DM 30.00. Available from Hermann-Oberth-Museum, Pfinzingstrasse 10, 8501 Feucht, West Germany. Three names are usually linked as the fathers of spaceflight: Kon­ stantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard, and Hermann Oberth. Hans Barth’s biography makes a reasonable case for the primacy of Oberth (1894— ) in the origins of modern astronautics. While Goddard men­ tioned the possibility of a moon shot in 1919 and launched the world’s first liquid-fuel rocket in 1926, he was very secretive after the sensationalization of his 1919 paper. And although Tsiolkovsky published farsighted speculations about the realization of spaceflight through the rocket as early as 1903, he was virtually unknown before Oberth published his pathbreaking Die Rakete zu den Planetenraume in 1923. As Barth shows, it was Oberth’s book that more than anything else launched the international astronautics movement in the 1920s, and Oberth may fairly claim priority in working out the fundamental equations of rocket flight and in proposing many solutions to seeming­ ly insoluble technical problems. Barth also claims that, as the intel­ lectual father of the movement and of Wernher von Braun’s “rocket team,” the “effectiveness” of Oberth’s contribution to the realization of the dream of spaceflight was much greater than that of the other two. The author often reveals more bias than is already the case for biographers (he is a close friend of Oberth), and he displays the local pride ofa fellow son ofthe German-speaking minority ofTransylvania (since 1918 part of Romania); nonetheless, if one ignores occasional exaggerations, the case Barth makes is a good one. The book also makes a useful contribution to the literature as the first biography ofOberth based on the full exploration ofthe pioneer’s correspondence, papers, and publications. All previous efforts have been popularly written and superficially researched. Unfortunately, Barth’s scholarly apparatus of notes and bibliography do not measure up to the standards of professional historians (he is an engineer, like Oberth), though this does not unduly detract from the work. The German prose is very readable, and the selection of illustrations and TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 335 quotations is often excellent. The greatest flaw in this book is weak organization. Some chapters unnecessarily repeat information given earlier or someone is introduced after previously being mentioned in passing. The later chapters seem to lose the thread of Oberth’s life and are often self-contained units whose relevance to the biography is unclear. Annoying errors (such as incorrect dates for the beginning of World War II and D day) are also too prevalent. Clearly, this is a book that could have used a stronger editorial hand. Finally, more information on Oberth’s political opinions would have been illuminating. The 1958 biography by Hans Hard makes much of Oberth’s German nationalism and lack of enthusiasm for Romania, which might help explain Oberth’s willingness to work for Nazi Ger­ many after 1938. The Barth book seems politically sanitized, perhaps because it was originally written in Romania (an earlier version was published in Bucharest in 1974). But all of these defects are merely distracting; they do not undermine the book’s essential contribution. Michael J. Neufeld Dr. Neufeld is visiting assistant professor of history at Colgate University. He has published an article entitled “German Artisans and Political Repression” in Journal of Social History and is revising for publication his dissertation on the Nuremberg skilled metalworkers in the 19th century. Currently he is working on the political, social, and intellectual contexts of the rocketry and spaceflight craze in Germany and Austria, 1923-33. Public History: An Introduction. Edited by Barbara J. Howe and Emory L...