Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule: A Study of the Ideals and Aspirations of the Bohemian and Slovak Peoples, as They Relate to and Are Affected by the Great European War
History
Bohemia under Hapsburg Misrule: A Study of the Ideals and Aspirations of the Bohemian and Slovak Peoples, as They Relate to and Are Affected by the Great European War
The population of Austria in 1910 was 28,571,934. Of this number the
Slavs constituted 60.65 percentage, the Germans 35.58. It is in these
figures that we must seek--and will find--the real problem of the
country. “Austria,” once declared a noted statesman in the Austrian
Parliament, “should be a German state in language and education.
German should be spoken by all persons and serve as a political bond
to all races and nationalities. All the citizens, whatever may be
their mother tongue, Bohemians, Slovaks, Poles, Ruthenes, Slovenes,
Rumuns, and Italians, should submit to the baptism of the German
school, if they desire to participate in the public affairs of the
state.” Someone answering von Kaiserfeld, for that was the name of the
distinguished statesman, “You desire to Germanize the empire; you are
not Austrians, you are Germans,” von Kaiserfeld replied angrily, “There
are no Austrians in Austria, only Germans.” Von Kaiserfeld was not the
only statesman who believed that Austria should be a German state.
That is the obsession practically of every German in the country,
from the emperor down to the meanest postman. Yet Austria is to-day
further from the realization of this dream than it ever was. The
feeling of nationalism has grown too strong among the non-Germans to be
suppressed. And this nationalism demands that people shall be allowed
to live their individual lives, to cultivate their language and racial
ideals, and to pursue both without the interference of any other people.
Much of the difficulty in the past has been directly due to the fact
that the 35 per cent. not only thought and acted for themselves,
but they also insisted on doing the thinking for the 60 per cent.,
regardless of the latter’s feelings. The result was jealousy, discord,
opposition. Even the Great War which has caused Austria to rock like a
rudderless ship, was engineered and premeditated by the 35 per cent.,
in face of the bitter, though of course futile, opposition of the 60
per cent. As a result, there is only 30 per cent. of enthusiasm and
efficiency; and in juxtaposition, 60 per cent. in disaster, defeats,
and discouragements.
The Hapsburgs have never learned, it seems, how to rule their many
nationalities successfully. There are two races in Canada, the English
and the French. If the Canadian Government had treated its citizens of
French origin in the same rough-shod manner as Vienna has treated the
Bohemians, or Budapest the Slovaks, Serbs, or Rumuns, she would have
made rebels of every one of them, instead of loyal citizens. The Swiss
Republic is the home of three races, French, German, and Italian, and
yet we hear of no racial friction among them. And when and where did
the national, state, or city government in the United States interfere
when this or that people of foreign origin desired to build a school or
establish a clubhouse?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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