Reviews 199 andoften collided.One exampleinquestionis 1898, theyearoftheassassination ofEmpress Elisabethin Genevaand theyearin whichStanislaw Przybyszewski arrived in Cracowfrom Berlinandtookovertheliterary journalZyciein a spirit offull-throttled, uninhibited, alcoholic findesi ècledecadence. Thatyearwasalso one ofmultiple commemorations in Galicia,creating occasionsto reflect upon thehistory and identity oftheprovince: itsawthehundredth birthday ofAdam Mickiewicz forPoles,theliterary centennial ofUkrainianas a literary language forRuthenians (EneyidabyIvanKotliarevsky waspublished in 1798), thefiftieth anniversary oftheemancipation ofGalicianserfs in1848, andwasalsothefiftieth jubileeyearofthereign ofEmperor FranzJoseph (seeWolff, p. 296). Onedoesnothavetoagreewith every aspectofthebook(andWolffs insistence on reminding his readersofthesexualconnotations of Sacher-Masoch 's name whenusingtheauthor's childhood memories topainta picture oflifein Vormärz Galiciais onefeature thatI findthoroughly annoying) tonoticewhatan assured and stimulating bookthisis. A translation intoGermanwouldbe desirable to counterbalance theprevailing Austro-centric biasinmuch recent German-speaking cultural andliterary scholarship (deBergincluded). Forsucha translation, butalso for anynewEnglish edition, a separate, perhaps chronological orsystematic listing ofprimary sources, and a time-line withnotonlythemajorpoliticalevents, but alsotheillustrative detailsfrom cultural history, theanniversaries, thepublication datesof seminalworksof literature and pamphletism etc,wouldimprove the usability ofthevolume evenfurther. Galiciawillcontinue tointrigue historians of a wider, multicultural , complex Europeand,from nowon,Wolffs bookwillhave tobeontheir listofessential reading. National Universityof Ireland Maynooth Florian Krobb NS-Euthanasieim Burgenland. 'In eine der DirektionnichtgenannteAnstalt übersetzt'. By Herbert Brettl and Michael Hess. Wissenschaftliche Arbeiten aus demBurgenland (WAB) 136.Eisenstadt: AmtderburgenländischenLandesregierung , Landesmuseum Eisenstadt. 2010.84 pp.€9.00.isbn 3-85405-179-4. Austria's easternmost provinceis usuallybypassedor completely neglected in historical writing onNationalSocialism. Andso isoneofAustria's mostforgotten victim groups ofthetime- the(so-called)disabled.Undertheguiseoftheterm 'euthanasia', morethan100,000peoplebrandedas handicapped weremurdered bytheNaziregime. Amongthem, togivea conservative figure, atleast350people from Burgenland. This persecution was based on a racially motivated, 'eugenic* decision to'free' theGerman 'race'from hereditarily diseasedoffspring {erbkranker Nachwuchs), andoneconomic considerations, namely a desiretoreducethecosts ofmedicalandnursing care.NS-Euthanasie imBurgenland presents an insightful engagement withthislong-neglected history. Thebookisuniqueinanother respect, as itistheacademiccompanion volume to a travelling exhibition thattouredtheprovince between2010and 2011.This genre posesa number ofchallenges for academic writing: itshouldexpress complex 200 Reviews scholarly ideasin understandable, butnuancedlanguage;itshouldestablish new knowledge; anditshouldideallyraiseawareness ofthecontinuities between past and present patterns ofprejudice. NS-Euthanasie imBurgenland meetsall these challenges. The book begins by showingthe historicalcontextsof the Euthanasia' programme and the conceptsof disability used duringNazi rule (pp. 7-14). Disabledpeople, theauthors outline, included notonlythementally andphysically handicapped, but also thoseclassedas eithereconomically unproductive (the so-calledAsoziale)or members of an alien race (artfremde Rasse) (p. 7). The elaboration ontheintellectual precursors, suchas racialhygiene andeugenics, and on thedemandsofpopulation growth and a hard-pressed economy thatabetted theEuthanasia' practices, constitutes a worthwhile orientation for general readers. Thisisfollowed bya discussion offorced sterilization (pp.18-26), thedelineation of theactualEuthanasia' programme (theso-calledТ4-АШ0П between 1939 and1941) andthelesssystematic murders during thephaseofwilde Euthanasie from 1941 (pp. 27-68).Allthesepartscontain discussions ofthelegalandmedicalbackground to thedifferent phasesofmassmurder andbiographical sketches ofthevictims that areofparticular value.Thevolume closesbynoting theprimarily RomanCatholic resistance totheprogramme, andwith a rather unconventional conclusion relating theimplications of Nazi violations of patients' rights to bioethicsand genetic research today. Whereas thediscussion ofthelegalandmedicalbackground totheEuthanasia' programme doesnotproduce anynewknowledge, thelocalfocus ontheBurgenland victims does. Drawingon archivaland interview research, thebookpresents a compelling insight intothecomplex andoften arbitrary nature oftheNazipolitics ofraceanddisability ina province thatwas(andstillis) heavily characterized by racialand cultural pluralism. The focuson Romany victims - often overlooked in standard volumeson thesubject- provides an especially usefulexampleof howlocal histories can add a fresh perspective to broaderhistorical narratives. Perceptions ofdisability and race,thisvolumecogently argues, wereintersecting instruments inNazipolitics andtheconception ofGerman nationhood. Therearea few points ofcriticism, however. Thefirst relates totheinconsistent use of vocabulary relating to race and ethnicity, respectively. While theterm Rasseis usually, butnotalways, apostrophized, theterm Rassismus is also putin inverted commaswhenappliedtotheperception ofhereditarily diseased'people as inferior (pp.8,13), suggesting thateugenicthinking wouldnothavebeenpart ofracistdiscourse. A reference to theNationalSocialists'visionofa population thatwas Ethnischhomogen'(p. 8) is similarly misleading, as Nazi ideology promulgated a racially yetnotnecessarily ethnically homogeneous population, allowing for a cultural diversification within theGerman race.Another flawisthe relative absenceofdiscussionofperpetrators in Burgenland whowereinvolved in Nazi Euthanasia'. The scantmention ofa fewmedicalprofessionals, and the Landespflegeheim Neudörfl nursing home,involved inthedeportation ofdisabled people, doesnotallowa broader historical understanding oftheperpetrators. Onthewhole, however, thevolume iscarefully written, establishing newinsights Reviews 201 and including theRomany people,and shouldproveinformative forgeneral and scholarly audiences alike.Itshowsthatlocalhistories offer important approaches tostudying Austria's Nazipast. Universityof Edinburgh Oliver Haag AlbanBerg andHisWorld. Ed.byChristopherHailey. Princeton, NJ andOxford: Princeton University Press, 2010.361pp.£20.95. isbn978-0-691-14856-4. As Leon Botsteinremarks in the concludingessayof thisveryfinevolume, AlbanBerghasbeenposthumously privileged in...
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