Die große Reise durch das ehemaliges Österreich -Ungarn
Once upon a time Austria-Hungary was one realm. It was before it was split between the East and West and between different political regimes and ideologies. People of that realm did not have one nationality or spoke one single language. They were more likely to be multilingual and multinational.
I have decided to write some of my insights while traveling around capitals of former Austro-Hungarian Empire. I will be looking into the history with overlap of contemporary politics.
Austro-Hungarian Empire and German Empire caused all together two world wars.
Once the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed already after the WWI it caused many injustices and while some people think that this feeling of grievance is long gone, they might be as well completely wrong.
My position is simple. I see myself as a western-educated person who can speak multiple languages and see perspectives uneducated or brainwashed people cannot see.
I see and I try not to judge, sometimes I will be biased, ou yeah, baby! On the other hand, I simply try to think what would be the best for us all, when history would have taken a different course.
Do not forget you can learn in multiple ways. Schools are full of biased national bullshit. The history is written by the victors, not by losers. The best way to find out it always to travel, talk to people and learn directly from them.
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🇨🇿 Czechs and 🇩🇪 Germans
Newly created Czechoslovakia between the WWI and WWII was very anti-Austrian. This is given by the fact that Czechs did not have their independence since 1620. It feels to me as my ancestors feared German language and influence. It also feels to me as they were trying to protect the future generations from something they feared, but I (as a current generation) fear not. Czechs and Germans lived next to each other quite peacefully until uncle Adolf came in to the power.
Now to understand why uncle Adolf was elected we have to look further back in history and by that I mean even before the WWI.
Around 1850’ Germans came with the ideology called Pan-Germanismus. As you might know, after the collapse of Holy Roman Empire was Germany scattered in small independent states. Pan-Germans wanted to unite all Germans in one single state. Austrian Kaiser Franz Josef I. was thought to lead all hunted Germans, but the problem was the Austria-Hungarian Empire itself. As you might have notice Hungary quite does not fit into this brilliant idea from a linguistic perspective. Unfortunately, the Austrian Kaiser was not willing t lose Hungary for the idea of united Germany. In the end no Pan-Germany was ever created and everybody carried on with their own business as usual.
Around the same time some brainy fuckin’ Bohemians came with the ideo of Pan-Slavism. I mean look at Russia today. It was an utter bullshit but boys sobered up quickly after their vodka tea party.
As Germany and Austria lost WWI. the treaty of Triaton strictly prohibited merge of Germany and Austria. Austrian MPs even voted in 1919 for favour of merging Austria with Germany.
Well it could not happen until the uncle Adolf, who was supposed to be an artist, entered the politics. With Anschlus der Österreich uncle Adolf only had only finished the vision of Great united Germany from 1850.’
Now when one wants something which belongs to somebody else there is usually a conflict. After so many years of being imprisoned by Czech nationalistic interpretation of history I’m finally able to see what was going on.
As a part of creating united Great Pan-Germany uncle Adolf wanted the border areas in Czechoslovakia referred to simply as "Sudetenland."
The biggest problem of Sudetenland was simple: the borders of ancient Bohemian Kingdom did not exactly copy the map of ethnically speaking Czech and Germans. In the other words, within the borders of Czechoslovakia lived roughly 3 mil Germans.
How come they were there? Charles IV. started to invite Germans settlers in mountainous regions of Bohemian Kingdom already in 14th century. Those mountainous regions would be later on referred as Sudetenland. Reason? Intention to collect more taxes. But some sources say that the Sudetenland Germans lived in the border areas with Germany since ever (by that they mean the presence of German tribes on the territory of today's Czech Rep., they were called Marcomani and Quadi).
There is an old Czech saying and it goes roughly like this: Germans are like willows, wherever you sow their seeds, they will take the roots and flourish.
But back to the politics. Now we have two clashing ideologies: Pan-Germanismus and the historic borders of what used to be the Czech Kingdom.
The first Czechoslovakian president had a different vision when it comes to multinationalism. He saw Czechoslovakia as the future Switzerland, where people speak Czech, German, Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Ukrainian and they just get along. It is a beautiful vision and I’m sad it could not have been fulfilled.
In the meantime uncle Adolf says he wants a slice of Czechoslovakia and starts a vicious cycle which escalated the hatred on both sides. Czechs are ready to fight but realise that the odds are against them. Bang! They surrender, Prague remains mostly intact (in the case of the war it would probably looked like Warsaw, which means completely flattened out, not flattered out).
First of all, Czech had to pack their shit and move away from Sudetenland inlands. After the WWII Czechs drove the Germans out. Here are some interesting facts Czech history books do not speak about. In Sudetenland it is said to be living about 3 mil. Germans. Czechs managed to move out about 2,5 mil. of them. 0,5 mil. stayed. Czech history books state that all Germans were moved out which is a blatant lie. I spoke with some of those witnesses... 😁
If you ask a Czech person about Sudetenland Germans they are likely to be silent. To me it appears as a scene from Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Czechs are silent, they feel embarrassed by what they have done to Germans. They know it was not fair, that they did not have to do it, but they did it anyway.
Czechs also know that they were profiting for hundreds of years from German influence. I mean look at Balkans, is today’s Czech Rep. even close to Balkan's morale? I would not say so. Germans gave Czechs purpose, skills and the most importantly: the order.
When you look on Sudetenland today, you see there isn’t something quite right. Czechs decide to move in the empty buildings after the Germans former prisoners and Gypsies. Many chateaus and castles are still empty and abandoned up to this day. Entire villages vanished completely. What used to be rich industrious area turned into a 3rd world country and that really pisses me off. To be hones, it makes me really pissed off to see that Czechs are incapable of maintaining those beautiful historical buildings. I am pissed off that many Czechs even deny that this German part of history is also a part of our history and that one would have not existed without the Germans. I am also pissed off that English is promoted as the most important foreign language in the Czech Rep. even though it should be German.
You can notice even in the name of “Český” Krumlov how Czechs were scarred to lose this place in the past. Originally it was called simply Krumlov / Krumau, which is a German term for oxbow shape of a river.
There is some really interesting history related to Sudetenland Germans. Pre-WWII Krumau was predominantly German. The odds were 2/3 Germans, 1/3 Czechs. If there were Czechs, they also spoke fluent German.
There was a Czech man who has fallen in love with German girl. She become pregnant, but on the end of the WWII all Germans had to leave Czechoslovakia unless they got married to a native Czech person. Well, after some consideration, she has decided to follow her family and leave Czechoslovakia.
The first thing which happened when arrived somewhere near Stuttgart was that she got blamed for the outbreak of WWII. As you can see Sudetenland Deutsche weren’t welcomed back in Deutsches Vatherland. They weren’t even considered to be a proper Germans, they were seen as mongrels… Something in between.
He stayed in Czechoslovakia, found another wife, the Czech one this time and had bunch of babies. He stayed in touch with his ex-girlfriend who also gave a birth to his child and they both continued to exchange letters. In 1948 Czechoslovakia has become a communist country. The iron curtain was lifted and it meant no visits between Czechoslovakia and West Germany, except of the letters.
The first time they could visit each other was in 1967, when communist regime is Czechoslovakia has become slightly more relaxed just before the Russian Occupation on 1968. After 68 no more visits were possible until 1990’.
Wars and political ideologies had aimed to bring people together. But on the end of the day, they just split families, lovers, partners, friend and destroyed everything.
This is the true story, told by real witnesses. I bet they don’t tell you this in school.
I have noticed that Slovaks are even funnier than Czechs, but even less self-confident. They have this complex of small nation. Somehow I do not blame them, but I do tend have a very little respect for people who do not respect themselves.
When I look at Bratislava (the Slovakian capital) I see nothing but disgrace. We say that Germans were evil for destroying Jewish synagogs, but Slovaks were capable of agreeing with demolition of the entire Jewish quarter in the Old town of Bratislava and laying down a highway. This happened in 1960’.
When I asked if there are plans for the restoration of the entire quarter I was told it does not make sense.
In that moment I doubted the ability of Slovaks to think properly. They just do not give a shit. Quite contrary Hungarians are attempting to restore everything what was destroyed during WWII in Budapest, which I consider to be right attitude.
I mean one can notice there is a plenty of construction going on in Bratislava and the city keeps growing and flourishing, but Slovakian indifference to historical sites in their city makes me sick and really angry.
Another moment when I got flabbergasted was when Slovakians were saying how proud are they on their industry, which was bulit thanks to commies. In times of Czechoslovakia the Czech part of the country was always more industrialised and developed than the Slovak part. This relation ship was like the one between England and Wales.
The sad truth is that Slovakians do not own much of the above mentioned industry. We talk especially about automotive factories like VW, Porsche, Audi etc. I see Slovakia as a proud assembly line. They work, profits go to Germany. Is that something I would be proud of? Probably not…
Hungary was one of the most interesting learning curves on my journey. The rest of the world perceives Hungary as a fascist country. I have met many Hungarians myself and it felt to me as they were not so keen to be a part of the EU. They simply aren’t buying what Germans are selling to the rest of the Europe. When I asked them about Viktor Orbán, many did not hesitate to put their right hand on their heart and say their are his supporters.
From what I have seen in Budapest it appears to me as Viktor Orbán is taking a good care of his nation.
As I have learnt, Hungary was basically fucked by French and its neighbourhood countries after the WWI. They have lost 2/3 of their former territory and that makes Hungarians very angry. Contrary to the today’s Czech Rep., which is ethnically one single homogenous nation and was fully restored within its historical borders, there are still many Hungarians living abroad… In Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and Slovakia. This is the heritage of Peace Treaty in Trianon. Many Hungarians do not understand this evil behaviour up to this day and I guess they want it back.
Interestingly enough, the USA did not ratify the Peace Treaty of Trianon, because they knew it was an utter bullshit? 🤔
Hungary lost Transylvania (die 7 Bürgen auf Deutsch 🏰) - Dracula land, whaaa! 🧛♂️ I am actually so interested in this issue that I want to visit Transylvania this summer. In Transylvania there is still about 1,4 mil. Hungarian speaking people. Many cities, playing the major part in Hungarian history (e.g. Arad) are not part of the country anymore. Which is kind of fucked up when you think about that.
While I do not agree with returning any of the territory on the account of Slovakia I think that Transylvania is disputable and I would prefer to see it under Hungarian influence than Romanian one.
Similarly as Vienna, Budapest was badly damaged in WWII and about 40% of the city was destroyed. This included many beautiful historical buildings and the pride of the nation. Commies had no interest is properly restoring damaged cultural heritage. Hungarian politicians had to find an excuses in order to restore many historical monuments and palaces in the communist era. Their excuses to Bolsheviks went like this: Buda castle was before the communism only for the nobility, we want to restored it and give it back to people. Bolsheviks turned Buda castle into a nationally gallery, form the outside it looks ok, but the interiors are closer to a soviet nuclear bunker than to a palce for nobility. It is because nobody was bothered to restore it properly.
1956 Revolt against Bolsheviks
Then I spoke to somebody who lived through Hungarian revolt against Bolsheviks in 1956. I mean I saw Hungarians as kind of uncivilised and savage nation, but they lived throughout very similar history and for that they have my sincere admiration. On the end of the day we all know that Bolsheviks are inherently bad people.
I also did not see almost any Ukrainian flags 🇺🇦 in Budapest (I saw 1 to be precise). Hungarian perception is that Ukraine is oppressing the Hungarian minorities living in Ukraine. Zelensky also did not appeared to be a popular guy in Hungary. He was seen more as a comedian who likes to comment on everything while not knowing when to shut the fuck up.
I understand why Hungarians abstain from Russian-Ukrainian war. Hungarians did not allow any transfer of weapons or financial means through their own country. They had dealt with Bolsheviks before and they understand it is better to be patient and wait.
Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. If I am there, I feel alive. There is a beautiful architecture, nice cafés and especially, the culture. As I walked though the city I stared to see familiar names such as Palais Schwarzenber, Palais Windisch-graetz, Palais Lobkowiz, Plais Lichtenstein and so on.
In times of Austria-Hungarian Empire was Vienna a Central European melting pot. It gave birth to new artisan styles, political and intellectual ideologies. It is even said that at one time lived Franz Joseph I., Sigmund Freud, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin and uncle Adolf next to each other (obviously in different neighbourhoods).
I am interested in this city so deeply, manily because my own ancestors were seeking their luck and education in Vienna. But they did not stay and moved back to Bohemia.
Der Kaiser and Votivkirche
It appears to me that Franz Joseph I. grew from one of the toughest emperors in Europe in the most benevolent one by the end of his rein.
There were countless attempts to assassinate him (I think 7 at least). His wifey, Sissy, succumbed to an attack of an Italian revolutionary many years later.
Well one day, der Kaiser went for a stroll and a Hungarian revolutionary tried to slay his throat. His name was János and he witnessed a mass execution of Hungarian leaders in the city of Arad (which is today located in Romania - you see? Hungarians speak about their history and it is not even a part of their country anymore).
Der Kaiser survived, János was executed and in tribute fot the Godly protection der Kaiser build Votivekirche ⛪️ on the ground of attempted assassination.
Czechs say that Franz Josef I. was evil, but he donated Czechs loads of money to build a National Theatre and National Museum in Prague and many other buildings as well. As you look at it, all of those buildings are conspicuously similar to buildings in Vienna.
When I am in Vienna, it feels like sophisticated and developed Prague. I have one more remark. Vienna looks simply more noble and royal. 👑 Kind of like a place I am supposed to be at. 🤔 Maybe I’m going to move there one day.
The monument of unknown soldier in Vienna
Was bulit to celebrate the Soviet liberation of Vienna. There are countless monuments commemorating an “unknown soldier” across whole of Europe. There is one in Prague, another one in Paris etc.
I would like to state that Soviets did not liberate any country in WWII. Old saying goes: “There is no such a thing as a free lunch.” Soviets as their thanks imposed great bolshevik plague on liberated countries. Which meant 40 years of brainwashing, gulags and denigration of local population.
The way I see it? The WWII was bad, it was 6 years of carnage… But then you compare it to 40 years of communism any you eventually come to the conclusion that Nazies and Commies are not that much different, they are the same pigs. The only difference is that communism lasted 40 years and it completely changed how people think and act.
Conclusion of my journey:
On this journey I have seen and learnt a lot. I tried not to be weighed down by my national perspective. It seems as certain countries do not like to teach their children everything. They tell them the one-sided truth without the option to comprehend the truth of others. I see it as and attempt of our ancestors to protect us, because then even we might see they were right and at the same time weren’t.
On the end of the day: “It is what it is,” as Dan Peña says. I expect the map of Europe to change many times in the future. Territories are like women, they do not belong to the counties, it is just their turn.
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