Hitler's
Vienna
A dictator's apprencticeship
by Brigitte Hamann
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The battle for the
Komensky schools |
In their effort to make
Vienna a bilingual city, the Czech-nationals leaned on clause nineteen
of the national basic law of 1867 : "The State acknowledges the
equality of all traditional languages in schools, public offices"
and public life."
All nationalities had the right to raise their
children in their mother tongue with the government's support.
Furthermore "the languages
of all minorities who had a share of more than 25 percent of the
population were legally recognized as "traditional languages" which
gave these minorities a number of rights "for example" the right
to form their own parties" to nominate their own city councilmen"
and to keep their own schools.
Yet due to Lueger's Germanization
campaign" at the 1910 census, officially the Czechs in Vienna had
only 6.5 percent.
The sensitive
topic of schools kindled harsh conflicts.
Since 1883 the Czech school
association Komensky had administered a Czech private school in
Vienna's district of Favoriten which greatly bothered the German-nationals.
Komenksy teachers were constantly harassed by the Viennese authorities
and were frequently checked and spied on.
A retired teacher lost
his Viennese civil rights because he taught in the Komsenky school.
The reason given was that this was "not only infamous treason against
his hometown" which fed him and bestowed a post and honors on him,
but also a violation of the Viennese citizens" oath."
Under the
headline "Only German Teachers for Viennese Children" the Deutsches
Volksblatt said that during the last census a district teacher"
who was mentioned by name" had indicated "Czech" as his everyday
language.
He should be rigorously dismissed: "The people no longer
abide the City of Vienna. ..hiring a Slav" who is always an enemy
of the people.
...We finally have to set an example!" |
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During the riots about the
trip on the Danube" violent acts were committed in protest against
a garden party of the Komensky club in the Simmering labor district
in August 1909. There was brawling. People threw beer mugs. The
compartments of a streetcar were seized" Czech- speaking passengers
were insulted. Traffic was stopped.
Mounted police had a very
difficult time keeping the approximately two thousand Czech "defense
fighters" who fled from the overpowering crowd in fear. For lack
of the real victims" the demonstrators then attacked the police
with canes" and threw rocks and beer mugs at the police horses.
Finally they withdrew" "singing folkish songs" marched through the
city in rows of eight" and sang" bareheaded" the "Wacht am Rhein"
and the Bismarck song at Schwarzenberg Square" in front of the French
embassy" of all places. The final speech culminated in the demand
that the empire"s capital, Vienna" be German and remain German.
The tension was exacerbated
by more and more hectic collections for the various national school
associations. In 1909" the year of crisis, the Czech School Association's
collection brought in 1.4 million kronen" which was more than the
simultaneous collections by the Polish and the German school associations.
Thus Lower Austria and Vienna had enough money for Czech schools.
Czechs as well as Germans quoted an official number of 22.513 Czech
pupils in Vienna-with the former pointing out the significant lack
of school yards for Czech children and the latter painting the grisly
picture of the "Slavization of Vienna" on the wall. The German-national
parties and the Christian Socials thus tried harder than ever to
push through the "lex Kolisko" a proposal for making German the
only language in all the schools of Lower Austria and Vienna" independent
of the size of their national minorities. This was in contradiction
to clause nineteen, and the Social Democrats cautioned that this
would be dangerous: "You are not serving. ..national peace but are
throwing a burning torch into all states and state parliaments"
whipping up the individual parties to fight for every school."
The situation became worse
for the German minorities in the Slavic regions. In Galicia "for
instance" where the German minority demanded the same as the Czechs
demanded in Vienna " Vienna's school policy served as an excuse
to reject the demands. The Polish newspaper Nowa Reforma wrote
in 1909 : "In all of Galicia there are fewer Germans than Czechs
in Vienna. If the Czechs in Vienna are not recognized as a people
and their language not regarded as "traditional," then there is
much more justification in adopting this view to the Germans in
Galicia. ...At any rate, by supporting the lex Kolisko the Germans
have lost every right to make any demands in Galicia."
In 1909 the Emperor tried
to pour oil on the waters by making a compromise. He signed the
"lex Kolisko," but only partially" granting German as the obligatory
language of instruction only in schools for teachers and technical
high schools in Lower Austria" but not in public and middle-class
schools {which after all were the main issue). This exacerbated
the indignation on both sides.
Lueger "on the other hand"
received enthusiastic national applause when during the Vienna residents'
oath he once again confirmed: "This oath now possesses heightened
significance" because there are attempts to give our city a bilingual
character. If Vienna becomes bilingual" then it loses the significance
it has had until now. For Vienna can only be the Empire's capital
and imperial residence if it is monolingual. For if one wanted to
draw a conclusion from bilingualism" Vienna would not be bilingual
but become mono- or multilingual-a situation which would be downright
intolerable. "Alluding to the Komensky schools" he added: "I will
strictly see to it that there is only one German school here in
my hometown of Vienna" and not any other."
The state "which found itself
obliged to protect the basic laws, including the rights of the minorities"
was once again confronted with Lueger's policy of Germanization.
The "people of Vienna" was clearly on Lueger's side, in opposition
to the government and the emperor.
In 1911 the riots spread over
to Vienna's second Czech school" which was being established in
the Third District. The situation was confused because the authorities
could not come to an agreement: The ministry of education allowed
the school to be run until further notice, but the state education
council ordered that the school be closed. The situation deteriorated
all the more as the Czech National Socialists interfered vehemently,
which turned the anger even of moderate people in Vienna against
the Czechs.
The daily struggle for power
was carried on the backs of the pupils. The City of Vienna closed
the new building because of alleged flaws in sanitary facilities-the
flaws consisting of coat hooks that were too low. The federal authorities
ordered the school to be reopened. New harassments followed, and
it was closed again. Allegedly the building was too narrow for the
alleyway, plus the barking of the dogs in the nearby School of Veterinary
Medicine interfered with instruction, and so forth. There was no
end to the back-and-forth about the Komensky schools.
Toward the end of September
1911 the police sealed off the gates of the Czech schools, locking
the students out. People were very bitter" particularly because
these disturbances coincided with the unrest about inflation. The
Czech National Socialists took up their Viennese compatriots' cause:
on October 5, 1911, they took the Komensky pupils and their parents
into Parliament, which led to brawls between German and Czech deputies
in the parliament building's columned hall. On November 3, 1912.
Four thousand Viennese rallied" shouting the slogan: "Down with
the Czech school!" The problem remained unresolved until 1918.
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