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Building a Regional Identity:The Burgenland, 1921–1938

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Peter Haslinger
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Extract

Although the literature on nation building is truly vast, scholars have paid relatively little attention to the formation of regional identities. This is in large part because those who specialize in regionalism have argued that state and region form an essentially contradictory relationship. This article analyzes one example of how a hitherto indistinct geographical entity was fashioned into a federal province and how its political elite complied with a constant need to popularize and entrench the concept of the region. The new regional identity was thus designed to counteract two challenges to its very existence as a federal province: one from the former mother state, Hungary, and the other from Austria, where consideration was given to dividing the newly created entity between two neighboring federal provinces. The outcome of this attempt was the creation of a regional identity, albeit one mostly defined in negative terms.

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Articles
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 32 , January 2001 , pp. 105 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 2001

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References

1 For some examples to the contrary, see Alon, Confino, The Nation as a Local Metaphor: Wtirttemberg, Imperial Germany, and National Memory, 1871–1918 (Chapel Hill, N.C., 1997);Google ScholarIrina, Livezeanu, Cultural Politics in Greater Romania: Regionalism, Nation Building, and Ethnic Struggle, 1918–1930 (Ithaca, N.Y., 1995);Google Scholar and Celia, Applegate, A Nation of Provincials: The German Idea of Heimat (Berkeley, Calif., 1990).Google Scholar

2 In the case of the Carpatho–Ukraine, a nominally autonomous body worked as a de facto regional branch of the national government. For an analysis of the administrative structure of Czechoslovakia in the interwar period, see Ladislav, Lipscher, Verfassung und politische Verwaltung in der Tschechoslowakei (1918–1939) (Munich, 1979).Google Scholar On the history of the Ukrainians (or Rusyns) of Subcarpathian Ukraine and Slovakia, see also Magocsi, Paul Robert, The Rusyns of Slovakia: An Historical Survey, East European monographs 381 (New York, 1993),Google Scholar and The Rusyn–Ukrainians of Czechoslovakia: An Historical Survey (Vienna, 1983);Google Scholar and Peter, Švorc, Zakliata krajina:Podkarpatská Rus, 1918–1946 (Cursed land: Subcarpathian Ukraine, 1918–1946) (Prešov, 1996).Google Scholar

3 On this aspect, see Franz, Artner, “Die Landesgesetzgebung in Burgenland. Verfassung und politische Wirklichkeit” (Ph.D. diss., University of Vienna, 1986).Google Scholar

4 As the experience of the federal province of Vorarlberg has shown, this served as a ground for the development and popularization of a kind of regional identity, which could function as a switch–identity between “Austrian,” “Alleman,” and “German.” Markus, Barnay, Die Erfindung des Vorarlbergers: Ethnizitatsbildung und Landesbewufitsein im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert (Bregenz, 1988).Google Scholar

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7 For the most part, however, proposals like the one Viennese teacher Joseph Patry made in 1906 for the surrender of Bosnia–Herzegovina to Hungary in exchange for the cession of western Hungary up to the river Rába to Austria were rare and did not elicit widespread support from the Germans of western Hungary. August, Ernst, Geschichte des Burgenlandes (Vienna, 1991).Google Scholar

8 According to the census that the Austrian administration had already taken in 1923, there were 226,995 Germans, 42,000 Croats, and 15,254 Hungarians among the 286,176 inhabitants of the Burgenland. The number of minorities dropped until 1939, when the official census recorded 241,326 Germans, 40,500 Croats, and 10,442 Hungarians. Ernst, Geschichte des Burgenlandes, 237.

9 Holger, Fischer, Oszkár Jászi und Mihály Károlyi: Ein Beitrag zur Nationalitätenpolitik der bürgerlich–demokratischen Opposition in Ungarn von 1900 bis 1918 und ihre Venvirklichung in der bürgerlich–demokratischen Regierung von 1918 bis 1919 (Munich, 1978);Google ScholarJanos, Hauszmann, Bürgerlicher Radikalismus und demokratisches Denken im Ungarn des 20. Jahrhunderts: Der Jászi–Kreis um “Huszadik Század” (1900–1949) (Frankfurt am Main, 1988);Google ScholarPeter, Haslinger, Arad, November 1918: Oszkár Jászi und die Rumänen und Ungarn 1900 bis 1918 (Vienna, 1993).Google Scholar

10 For the political history of the creation of the Burgenland, see Mária, Ormos, From Padua to the Trianon, 1918–1920, East European Monographs 298 (Budapest, 1990);Google ScholarKatalin, Soós, Burgenland az európai politik´ban 1918–1921 (The Burgenland in European politics) (Budapest, 1971);Google ScholarEduard, Hochenbichler, Republik im Schatten der Monarchie: Das Burgenland, ein europäisches Problem (Vienna, 1971);Google ScholarLajos, Kerekes, Von St. Germain bis Genf: Österreich und seine Nachbarn 1918–1922 (Budapest, 1979);Google Scholar and Tibor, Zsiga, Burgenland, vagy Nyugat–Magyarorszáag? (Burgenland or western Hungary?) (Oberwart, 1991).Google Scholar

11 Reports by the Austrian representative at the plebiscite commission as well as by the Ödenburger Heimtdienst, a propaganda committee set up in Austria for influencing public opinion in Sopron/Ödenburg, stated that numerous Germans known for their pro–Austrian background were excluded from voting by intimidation or violation of the voting regulations; at the same time, plebiscite records reveal ballots cast by voters who were either totally unknown or already deceased or who had moved to Sopron only recently (like the students of the mining school, which had been transferred from Banská Štiavnica/Selmecb´nya to Sopron a couple of weeks before the plebiscite). The critical Austrian accounts were already published in a smaller volume in 1922 Victor Miltschinsky, Das Verbrechen von Ödenburg [Vienna, 1922]; more recent studies on the Sopron/Ödenburg questions are László Fogarassy, “Die Volksabstimmung in Ödenburg und die Festsetzung der Österreichisch–ungarischen Grenze im Lichte der ungarischen Quellen und Literatur,” Südostforschungen 35 (1976): 150–82; and László Fogarassy, “A soproni népszavazás” (The Sopron plebiscite), Soproni Szemle 23 (1971)–47.

12 Peter, Haslinger, Der ungarische Revisionisms und das Burgenland 1922–1932 (Frankfurt am Main, 1994), 42–43.Google Scholar

13 Josef, Reiter, “Geschichte der Verwaltungsstelle für das Burgenland” (Ph.D. diss., University of Vienna, 1992).Google Scholar

14 Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Neues Politisches Archiv, Karton 237, Liasse 2/18, 658/1B, Budapest, Feb. 10,1922.

15 Ibid., 658/1B, Budapest, Feb. 10,1922, and 1020/1B, Vienna, Mar. 10,1922.

16 For the development of the foreign political views of István Bethlen and his relationship to the revisionist movement, see Ignác, Romsics, István Bethlen. Politikai életrajz (István Bethlen: A political biography) (Budapest, 1991);Google Scholar and Anikó, Kovács-Bertrand, Der ungarische Revisionismus nach dent Ersten Weltkrieg: Der publizistische Kampf gegen den Friedensvertrag von Trianon (1918–1931) (Munich, 1997).Google Scholar For developments in the field of foreign policy, see Ormos, , From Padua to the Trianon, 1918–1920õ , Nemes, A Bethlen–kormány külvolitikája 1927–1931–ben: Az “aktiv külpolitika” kifejlődése és kudarca (The foreign policy of the Bethlen government, 1927–1931: Development and failure of the “active policy”) (Budapest, 1964);Google Scholar and Gyula, Juhász, Hungarian Foreign Policy, 1919–1945 (Budapest, 1979).Google Scholar On the late 1930s, see especially Sakmyster, Thomas L., Hungary, the Great Powers, and the Danubian Crisis, 1936–1939 (Athens, Ga., 1980);Google Scholar and Hoensch, Jörg K., Der ungarische Revisionisms und die Zerschlagung der Tschechoslowakei (Tübingen, 1967).Google Scholar

17 Haslinger, Revisionismus; Pál, Pritz, “Revízi´s törekvések a Magyar külpolitikában” (Revisionist efforts in Hungarian foreign policy), in Magyar diplomácia a két világháború között: Tanulmányok (Hungarian diplomacy between the two world wars: contributions) (Budapest, 1995);Google Scholar and Anikó, Kovács-Bertrand, Der ungarische Revisionismus nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg. Der publizistische Kampf gegen den Friedensvertrag von Trianon (1918–1931) (Munich, 1997).Google Scholar

18 On June 21, 1927, the British press baron Harold Sidney Harmsworth, Lord Rothermere, published a lengthy article in his paper, Daily Mail, advocating that Hungary's borders be redrawn along ethnic lines. Although this was followed by a series of similar articles in the British conservative press, the campaign failed to arouse interest or support from the British government, while discomforting a Hungarian government that was still determined to regain all territories lost in 1918–20. It did, however, lead to the founding of the Revisionist League in Hungary, which quickly developed into a mass organization that devoted itself to subtle criticism of Bethlen's foreign policy. Although the visit of Rothermere's son–in–law in May 1928 led to debates on whether to accept a member of the Rothermere family as heir to the Hungarian throne, a subsequent meeting in Venice between Rothermere and Bethlen (September 6,1930) ended without any kind of an agreement. Haslinger, Revisionism, 18–33.

19 For the economic basis of the landowners in the Burgenland, see Eddie, Scott M., “A földbirtokos elit Burgenlandban és Nyugat–Magyarországon 1893–1935 között” (The landownerś elite in the Burgenland and western Hungary, 1893–1935), Történelmi Szemle 60 (1998): 43–59,Google Scholar and Eddie, , Historisches Verzeichnis der Grundbesitzer des Burgenlandes 1893–1930 (Eisenstadt, 1999).Google Scholar

20 Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Neues Politisches Archiv, Karton 802, Liasse Ungarn 4/5,1922–1B–2478, Sauerbrunn, July 21,1922.

21 Ibid., Liasse Ungarn 2/12, Karton 799,1922–1B–835; for the southern Burgenland, there are similar examples to be found in Johann Temmel, “Ohne Szombathely können wir nicht leben! Der AnschluG des Burgenlandes an Österreich mit besonderer Berücksichtigung der Grenzziehung im unteren Pinkatal” (Ph.D. diss., University of Vienna, 1993); further studies are included in Traude Horvath and Eva Müllner, eds., Hart an der Grenze. Burgenland und Westungarn (Vienna, 1992).

22 Still relevant for domestic politics and political polarization in the Burgenland is Charlotte Heidrich, Burgenlándische Politik in der Ersten Republik. Deutschnationale Parteien und Verbánde im Burgenland vom Zerfall der Habsburgermonarchie bis zum Beginn des autoritiiren Regimes (1918–1933) (Munich, 1982).

23 Burgenlándisches Landesarchiv Eisenstadt, Akten der Landesregierung, Abteilung 4/5,11–1923, Mattersdorf, Oct. 1,1923.

24 Stenographisches Protokoll, 11. Sitzung der I. Wahlperiode des burgenlandischen Landtages, Nov. 24,1922.

25 The only railway line completed out of a series of projects, namely, the Pinkafeld–Friedberg connection, was opened in 1926; in the months after that the administration witnessed a drop of pro–Hungarian activities in the environs of Pinkafeld. Burgenlandisches Landesarchiv Eisenstadt, Akten der Landesregierung, Abteilung 3, 6–1926, Lageberichte, Oberwart o.D.

26 Ósterreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Neues Politisches Archiv, Karton 799, Liasse Ungarn 2/12, o.A. Oberpullendorf, Jan. 22,1927.

27 Stenographisches Protokoll, 5. Sitzung der 2. Wahlperiode des burgenlándischen Landtages, Mar. 14,1924.

28 See, for example, the article by Karl Gottfried Hugelmann in Burgenländisches Volksblatt, Mar. 16,1924.

29 Out of all teachers who had remained in the Burgenland until February 1922, 8.7 percentwere found to be unfit for conducting their teaching in the German language. The rest, however, passed the language test, which had to be taken in 1922 and 1923, although school inspectors during the 1920s kept complaining about the lack of adequate language skills of at leastone–quarter of all teachers. Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Allgemeines Verwalrungsarchiv, Faszikel 4325, 5307–2–1922, Feb. 17, 1922, and Faszikel 4328, 9800–o.Z., Feb. 28,1925.

30 Ibid., Faszikel 4327,5307–3–1922, Feb. 17,1922, and Faszikel 4328,23168– 3–8, Oct. 15,1922, and 9800–o.Z., Feb. 28, 1925. On the educational system of the Burgenland in the 1920s and 1930s, see among other works Harald, Wendelin, “Bete und arbeite, aber alles zu seiner Zeit”. “Die Lehrer und Lehrerinnen an den konfessionellen Schulen des Burgenlandes” (University of Vienna final thesis, 1993).Google Scholar

31 Burgenländische Freiheit, Aug. 11,1929, and Sept. 11,1929.

32 Stenographisches Protokoll, 11. Sitzung der I. Wahlperiode des burgenländischen Landtages, Jan. 30,1923.

33 Burgenlándische Heimat, Mar. 16,1924.

34 For the politics toward the Burgenland Croats, see, among others, Reiterer, Albert F., “Die Schlüssel zum Himmelreich. Religion und Politik bei den Burgenlandkroaten,” in Trendwende? Sprache und Ethnizitä im Burgenland, ed. Werner, Holzer and Rainer, Münz (Vienna, 1993), 191–206;Google Scholar and Stefan, Geositz, ed., Die burgenländischen Kroaten im Wandel der Zeiten (Vienna, 1986).Google Scholar

35 According to the official census, the number of Magyars dropped from 24,867 (8.4 percent) in 1920 to 15,254 (5.3 percent) in 1923, which meant a loss of 41.1 percent. For the detailed figures as well as a critique of the census, see Gerhard, Baumgartner, “‘Idevalosi vagyok’–‘Einer, der hierher gehört’. Zur Identität der ungarischen Sprachgruppe des Burgenlandes,” in Identität und Lebenszvelt. Ethnische, religiöse und kulturelle Vielfalt im Burgenland, ed. Gerhard, Baumgartner, Eva, Mülliner, AND Rainer, Münz (Eisenstadt, 1989), 69–84;Google Scholar and Gerhard, Baumgartner, “Prolegomena zum Sprachverhalten ungarischsprachiger Burgenländer,” in Trendwende? ed. Holzer and Münz, 215–35.Google Scholar

36 Burgenländisches Landesarchiv Eisenstadt, Akten der Landesregierung, Abteilung 3, 6–1926, Lageberichte, Oberwart o.D.

37 The same applies to Slovakia, where the phenomenon played a similar role in regional identity politics.

38 Burgenlälndisches Landesarchiv Eisenstadt, Akten der Landesregierung, Abteilung 3,132–1926, Eisenstadt, Feb. 4, 1926. For more on the definition and group cohesion of the “Magyarones,” see the previously cited works by Gerhard Baumgartner, and Peter, Haslinger, “Grenzgänger zwischen Nationalkulturen: Die Magyaronen im Burgenland der Zwischenkriegszeit,” in Grenzgänger zwischen Kulturen, ed. Monika, Fludernik and Hans–Joachim, Gehrke, Identitäten und Alteritaten 1 (Wiirzburg, 1999), 289–304.Google Scholar

39 Der Freie Burgenlander, July 22,1922.

40 Burgenländisches Landesarchiv Eisenstadt, Akten der Landesregierung, Abteilung 3, 6–1926, Situationsberichte, Strem o.D.

41 Burgenländische Freiheit, Apr. 29,1931.

42 Stenographisches Protokoll, 10. Sitzung der 2. Wahlperiode des burgenländischen Landtages, Apr. 28,1924.

43 Ibid

44 Burgenländisches Landesarchiv Eisenstadt, Akten der Landesregierung, Abteilung 3, 74/1927, Neusiedl am See, Mar. 8,1927.

45 Stenographisches Protokoll, 42. Sitzung der 2. Wahlperiode des burgenländischen Landtages, Jan. 15,1926.

46 Burgenländisches Landesarchiv Eisenstadt, Akten der Landesregierung, Abteilung 3, 132– 1926, Eisenstadt, July 19,1926.

47 Peter, Haslinger, Hundert Jahre Nachbarschaft. Die Beziehungen zwischen Österreich und Ungarn 1895–1994 (Frankfurt am Main, 1996), 222.Google Scholar

48 This is reflected in a memorandum entitled “The National Danger to Certain Districts of the Burgenland,” Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Neues Politisches Archiv, Karton 799, Liasse 2/12, o.A. Vienna, June 1933.

49 Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Bundeskanzleramt, Generaldirektion für die Öffentliche Sicherheit, Abteilung 22,166.073–1933, Eisenstadt, May 27,1933.

50 Ibid., 221.301–1933, Eisenstadt, Oct. 6,1933.

51 Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Gesandtschaftsarchiv Budapest, Karton 3,174/Pol., Budapest, Oct. 20,1934.

52 Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Archiv der Republik, Neues Politisches Archiv, Karton 819, Liasse Ungarn 19/1, 88/Pol., Budapest, May 7,1937.

53 Horst, Haselsteiner, “Ungarn, der Anschlufi und die Burgenlandfrage,” in Burgenland 1938: Vorträge des Symposions “Die Auflösung des Burgenlandes vor 50 Jahren,” ed. Hans, Chmelar (Eisenstadt, 1989), 14–37.Google Scholar

54 Regarding the partition of the Burgenland, see studies from various authors in Chmelar, ed., Burgenland 1938.

55 Burghardt, Andrew F., Borderland: A Historical and Geographical Study of Burgenland, Austria (Madison, Wis., 1962), 275.Google Scholar