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Facultatea de Istorie şi Geografie
Universitatea "Ştefan cel Mare" Suceava
Str. Universităţii nr. 13, 720 229
Suceava, România,
Tel centrală: +40 230 216 147,
Tel centrală: +40 330 101 130,
Tel centrală: +40 230 522 978,
Interior facultate: 566,
Fax:+40 230 523742
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Project Title: THE BEGINNINGS OF THE GERMAN-LANGUAGE PRESS IN THE HISTORICAL BUCOVINA: MULTINATIONAL STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL UNDER THE "DOUBLE EAGLE" (1848-1914)
Project leader: Dr. Cristina Spinei (Faculty of History and Geography)
Postdoctoral advisor: Prof. Dr. Stefan Purici (Faculty of History and Geography)
Project: Human Resources; code: PN-II-RU-PD-2011-3-0280
Realization period: 24 months, 26 October 2011 - 25 October 2013
Total funding: 152650 RON
Description of the research project
The fact that an impressive number of periodicals were printed in Bukovina between 1848 and 1914 - according to the most modern standards in Romanian, Ukrainian, German, Polish and Yiddish language - reveals a cultural reality unique to this part of the continent. In order to be able to reconstruct this singular cultural model, the beginnings of the press 'products' will be examined particularly within the dynamic historical process of modernization initiated and controlled by the Habsburg authorities in Bukovina, where the chronic economic underdevelopment characterizing the dominant rural civilization had already been increasingly challenged since the beginning of the 19th century by the urban enclaves, above all the new regional capital Czernowitz/Chernivtsi, emerging as products of Western social and cultural mobility in sharp contrast to the conservative inertness of the local traditional culture. The preferential treatment given to the German language, the lingua franca not only of the public servants but also of Bukovina's bourgeoisie and intelligentsia regardless of its ethnic background, by the journalistic and publishing undertakings that started in the second half of the 19th century, is thus by no means incidental; until 1914 the German-language press surpassed in quantity and even quality the newspapers written in other languages of the province and it remained influential even after the incorporation of Bukovina to Romania. The aim of the project reveals the special relationship, sustained by a multidirectional communication network, of the local urban population with the Central European cultural dimension in a broad sense. Taking into account the population number in Bukovina, the existing journals and periodicals reveal an unusual high density of communication media in comparison with other European regions. Moreover, they convey the levels on which the process of social modernization unfolded itself, from functional differentiation and socio-communicative rationalization to the specific relation between the Centre and the peripheries, between the metropolis and the province in the traditional territorial sphere of influence of Habsburg and post-Habsburg Vienna.
A survey of the research studies dedicated to the history of the press in Bukovina reveals disappointing results. A booklet of 63 pages by Erich Prokopowitsch: Die Entwicklung des Pressewesens in der Bukowina, Vienna 1962, which proves to be full of errors, is used even nowadays as an introduction by those interested in the subject. Gross partiality and bias characterize likewise the articles on the press in the volumes by Hugo Gold (ed.): Geschichte der Juden in der Bukowina, vol. 1, 2, Tel Aviv 1958, 1960 and Franz Lang (ed.): Buchenland. 150 Jahre Deutschtum in der Bukowina, Munchen 1961, also regarded as reference materials for a long time. It was the literary history that drew attention to the fact that the phenomenon of the German-language press in Bukovina was tantamount to a formative factor of considerable significance in the emergence of at least two, generations of German-language poets. These were the generations of Alfred Margul Sperber and Paul Celans subsequently, both acknowledged by the severe aesthetic canon of the German post-war literature. A great exhibition entitled In der Sprache der Morder. Eine Literatur aus Czernowitz. Bukowina organized in 1993 by the House of Literature-in Berlin embraced the same view: its catalogue (ed. by Ernest Wichner, Herbert Wiesner, Berlin, 1993), supported the thesis that a relevant debate on the origins of a poetic work such as Paul Celan's cannot take place by ignoring its cultural background; the direct result was the-editing in 1997 by the same institution and with the collaboration of the University in Iasi of a reprint (the first of this kind for a Bukovina publication) of the Expressionist magazine Der Nerv, published in Chernivtsi from 1919 onwards: Der Nerv. Nachdruck einer expressionistischen Czernowitzer Kultur- und Literaturzeitschrift des Jahres 1919, mit einem Nachwort von Andrei Corbea-Hoisie, hg. von Ernest Wichner und Herbert Wiesner, Berlin 1997.
The amount of studies in the field of social history, including those of social history of literature, that dealt, especially in the last ten years, with the Central-European region, having addressed several issues concerning the identity profile of the bourgeoisie as the main driving force behind the modernization process covered somewhat superficially the significance of the German-language newspapers within this process of great complexity. The few research titles concerning this specific topic (Edith Walter: Osterreichische Tageszeitungen der Jahrhundertwende, Vienna 1994; Sigurd Paul Scheichl, Wolfgang Duchkowitsch (ed.): Zeitungen im Wiener Fin de siecle, Vienna 1997; Gabriela Melischek, Josef Seethaler: Presse und Modernisierung in der Habsburgermonarchie, in: Helmut Rumpler, Peter Urbanitsch (ed.): Die Habsburgermonarchie, Vol. VIII, Part II, Vienna 2006; p. 1535-1714) focus mainly on the Vienna newspapers and include only partially the regional press in their documentary body. Furthermore, the latter is examined mainly from a literary and artistic perspective such as in the books by Derek Pal (ed.): Lesebuch der ungarischen Avantgarde-Literatur 1915-1930, Vienna 1996 or Walter Schmitz, Ludger Udolph (ed.): Tripolis Praga. Prager Moderne um 1900, Dresden 2001. It should be noted again that from the side of literary history there were actually undertaken some thorough studies on major periodicals of the time such as Die Fackel or Der Brenner. Only in recent years and due to a growing interest for the German-language press printed outside the native German-speaking region, more studies were published dealing with this category of periodicals; besides a few scattered papers (some concerning journals printed in Transylvania or Banat), among the most representative titles are worth mentioning the books by Joerg Riecke, Britt-Marie Schuster (ed.): Deutschsprachige Zeitungen in Mittel- und Osteuropa, Sprachliche Gestalt, historische Einbettung und kulturelle Traditionen, Berlin 2005, Mira Miladinovic Zalaznik, Peter Motzan, Stefan Sienerth (ed.): Benachrichtigen und vermitteln. Deutschsprachige Presse und Literatur in Ostmittel- und Sudosteuropa im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Munchen 2007 and Vlad Obad (ed.): Regionalpresse Osterreich-Ungarns und die urbane Kultur, Vienna 2007. As an international association of the scholars in the field, the Research Group The Press of Chemivtsi proposed for the first time a comprehensive plan to scan and digitize the major periodicals in the German language published in Bukovina until 1940 (see Susanne Marten-Finnis, Markus Winkler, Quelle und Diskurs: Czernowitzer Pressefeld 1918-1940. Ein Werkstattbericht des Arbeitskreises Czernowitzerpresse zur Digitalisierung von Czernowitzer Zeitungen 1918-40, in: medien & zeit. Kommunikation in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, 2 (2003), p. 40-50).
This analysis is at the crossroads of German, Cultural Studies and social history, and it will thus attach great importance to the reference works regarding the history of the German-language culture, literature and press from the Central Europe area and especially from historical Bukovina between 1848 and 1914, as well as those works referring to the social and cultural history of the Habsburg Empire and Romania. After reviewing the necessary information available on the documentary corpus of the German written publications from Bukovina that can be found in the libraries and archives in Suceava (the State Archives), the researches will be carried out further at the Austrian National Library of Vienna and at the University Library of Vienna.
Starting from an ordering according to typological criteria (newspaper, magazine, calendar, other type of periodical publication), thematic criteria (generalist, cultural, confessional, entertainment; economic, sports publication etc.), ideological criteria (where applicable), typographical criteria (format, print, letter etc.), a selection of the most representative journals will be undertaken. Special attention will he paid to the column traditionally known in the German press as Feuilleton, where the focus will be on the signatures that in time became reference names both literarily and culturally; the fact that even literature, including poetry was published in generalist periodicals, must be taken into consideration under special attention: In the following stage information from sources exterior to the press regarding the economic, social and political reality of Bukovina during the studied period will be introduced into the documentary assembly, the legal base functioning of the press institutions on the background of the Austrian (1848-1918) legislation, the formal and informal relation of the local press of Bukovina and its protagonists - with the Viennese journalistic environments and those of the other provincial metropolises of the Habsburg monarchy (especially Prague, Budapest; Lemberg/Lvov), and the bio-bibliographical elements related to the active personalities of the German journalism written in Bukovina.
A first moment of the analysis focuses and is characterized by the appearance of Bukowinaer Rundschau and of Bukowinaer Nachrichten (1885-1888), whereas Der Patriot acted as 'Kampfblatt' against the provincial government. This point in time has often been compared with was used to be the occasional press, where the provincialism and the ambiguity were obvious. A new type of informational journal oriented towards the requirements of the people in Bukovina and mostly in Czernowitz/Chernivtsi is now being introduced. Here the emphasis will be placed on the readers, on the ones that advocated a democratic liberal formula where the rights of the bourgeoisie should be recognized. Considering the fact that information and the urge for obtaining the information, is a clear sign of modernity, this period reflects a social headway and illustrates a qualitative shift also in the press. In the following years the population begins to enter the political science, and so the press becomes a witness and at the same a participant of these social movements. This intermingling between the societal fluctuations and their reflection in the press will be followed and analysed.
The second stage is the period 1902-1903, where it takes place a technical synchronization with the significant prototypes of the Centre, with the journals in Vienna. A further level in the urbanizations process is being reached and the capital Czernowitz/Chernivtsi is concentrated on the urban civilization. The newspapers become complex, offer extensive information, they resort to correspondents for many aspects. This change of mentality corroborated with the improvement of the technical and informational offering from the press will concern at this point of the investigation.
The third phase will follow the powerful development of the political newspapers (in the light of such moment as the 'Ausgleich' from 1909) and the opponent ideological considerations inherent to the various political parties and the differing nationalities.
Technical discussions will be performed with the Romanian colleagues specialized in lexicography of the team of "Alexandru Philippide" Institute of the Romanian Academy of Sciences (Remus Zastroiu), with Romanian colleagues specialized in history of Bukovina of the team of "A.D. Xenopol" Institute of the Romanian Academy of Sciences (Mihai Stefan Ceau?u) and with foreign colleagues from the Institute of German History and Culture of South-eastern Europe in Munich, from Bukowina Institute in Augsburg. A significant cooperation will be the one with the team at the University in Iasi, where a lexicographical undertaking, aiming at covering the list of periodical publications until 1940, is planned.
Impact, relevance and applications
By covering the research deficits that signalized to this point, this study on the beginnings of the German-language press in Bukovina will have the goal of fulfilling the expectations regarding a clearer representation of the way this phenomenon - unique in Central Europe and consisting in the proliferation of the German written press in Bukovina - that was in the same time subject and ferment of the modernization. Such a monograph will be an important part in the scientific literature concerning the German speaking Central Europe, both for Cultural, German Studies, and for historiography, preparing the path for future editions, synthesis, and special researches on regional diversity. One of the targets will be the surpassing of the main difficulty which persists - following the overthrowing and overturning in the region in the last century - in the documentary reconstitution of the publications that are to be found in libraries and archives in Suceava and Vienna.
A second important benefit that this monograph brings to the future researches consists in the precise identification of the editors, owners and main contributors of each publication and in its exact setting in the political and cultural configuration of the time. Another aspect consists in the description of the structure and headings of the publications taken into consideration. One will also refer to the print, circulation, spreading, subscriptions an the economical state of the publications, where the recovering of published or unpublished archive information is possible. This approach, which is essential in the interdisciplinary investigations on the complex represented by Central Europe, may facilitate - in a following stage - a more accurate definition of the concept of provincial metropolis to which the history of Czernowitz/Chernivtsy before and after the First World War may be associated doubtlessly. The relation between the central, Viennese or Bucharest press with the local press through the network of correspondents as well as through the release channels, opinions regarding the rhetoric of the published texts from which interesting conclusions may be drawn as regards the contacts/conflicts that arise at this level between the different social and national categories reached by the message intended by the editors, the extent to which the communication in German represented in Bukovina - in different periods of time - an advantage on the local and regional market of communication; the relations with the Romanian, Ukrainian, Polish etc, publications are issues that can be elucidated only indirectly through the information gathered by each publication separately.
For the months to come the writing of the monograph and of the other articles that result from participating in conferences and symposia so far are planned. In the remained time the project leader will focus on outlining the third stage of the project and afterwards putting together all the necessary elements for the monograph. The results obtained from achieving the research objectives of the first two research stages were disseminated in their quality as scientific results of the project at this stage, as follows:
2013: Gregor von Rezzori. Auf der Suche nach einer grosseren Heimat.Grenzuberschreitungen [Contributii iesene la Germanistica XVII]. Iasi/ Konstanz: Editura Universitatii/ Hartung-Gorre-Verlag (together with Andrei Corbea-Hoisie), in print. 2012: Guillaume Durand: Carpates et Danube. Une Geographie Historique de la Roumanie. Braila: Editura Academiei Romane - Editura Istros, 543 p. 2012: Patrick J. Geary: Writing History: Identity, Conflict, and Memory in the Middle Ages. Bucuresti-Braila: Editura Academiei Romane - Editura Istros (together with Florin Curta), 325 p.
2013: Jewish and German-Jewish Cultural-Social Dimensions in the Historical Bukovina. In: Danubius (in print). 2013: Die Infragestellung des Mannlichen vor sexualsozialen Widerspruchlichkeiten: Zum erotischen Diskurs in Der Garten der Erkenntnis. In a volume edited by Mariana Lazarescu (in print). 2013: Gregor von Rezzoris Reprasentationen der bukowinischen Topographie als "Text": Einige Ansatze zu einer Poetik des Raumes. In: Andrei Corbea-Hoisie, Cristina Spinei (ed.): Gregor von Rezzori. Auf der Suche nach einer grosseren Heimat. Grenzuberschreitungen [Contributii iesene la Germanistica XVII]. Iasi/ Konstanz: Editura Universitatii/ Hartung-Gorre-Verlag (in print). 2012: Bukowinisch-europaische Zeitschriften als Vehikel plurikultureller und transnationaler Wahrnehmung. In: Istros, XVIII, 2012, p. 391-405. 2012: Traumbuhne und dunkle Schatten oder literarische Verwandlungsmoglichkeiten in Gregor von Rezzoris Bukowina-Texten. In: Arnulf Knafl (Hg.): Traum und Trauma. Kulturelle Figurationen in der osterreichischen Literatur. Wien: Praesens Verlag, p. 102-113. 2012: Zum Reprasentationscharakter der autobiographischen Erinnerung. Bilder des Gedachtnisses und des Erfindungsgeistes. In: Zoltan Szendi (Hg.): Wechselwirkungen II. Deutschsprachige Literatur und Kultur im regionalen und internationalen Kontext. Wien: Praesens Verlag, p. 11-23. 2012: Das Bukowina-Bild als Gedachtnisort bei Gregor von Rezzori. In: Andras Balogh und Christoph Leitgeb (Hg.): Mehrsprachigkeit in Zentraleuropa. Zur Geschichte einer literarischen und kulturellen Chance. Wien: Praesens Verlag, p. 257-271. 2012: Despre viata culturala si literara a Bucovinei in "Bukowinaer Post" (1893-1914). In: Andrei Corbea-Hoisie, Ion Lihaciu si Markus Winkler (ed.): Prolegomene la un dictionar al presei de limba germana din Bucovina istorica (1848-1940). Iasi: Editura Universitatii "Alexandru Ioan Cuza", p. 55-65. 2012: Monographic study of BUKOWINAER FORTUNA. Fachorgan fur finanzielle und volkswirtschaftliche Interessen Galiziens, der Bukowina und Nachbarlander. Authentischer Verlosungs-Anzeiger aller osterreichisch-ungarischen und auslandischen Lotterie-Effecten und Obligationen. In: Andrei Corbea-Hoisie, Ion Lihaciu si Markus Winkler (ed.): Prolegomene la un dictionar al presei de limba germana din Bucovina istorica (1848-1940). Iasi: Editura Universitatii "Alexandru Ioan Cuza", p. 219-221. 2012: Monographic study of BUKOWINAER LANDWIRTHSCHAFTLICHE BLATTER. In: Andrei Corbea-Hoisie, Ion Lihaciu si Markus Winkler (ed.): Prolegomene la un dictionar al presei de limba germana din Bucovina istorica (1848-1940). Iasi: Editura Universitatii "Alexandru Ioan Cuza", p. 221-224. 2012: Monographic study of BUKOWINAER POST. In: Andrei Corbea-Hoisie, Ion Lihaciu si Markus Winkler (ed.): Prolegomene la un dictionar al presei de limba germana din Bucovina istorica (1848-1940). Iasi: Editura Universitatii "Alexandru Ioan Cuza", p. 224-232.
Raphaela Kitzmantel: Die jiddische Welt von Gestern. Josef Burg und Czernowitz. Documentation. Wien: Mandelbaum 2012 (in: Spiegelungen, Heft 1, 8 (62) Jahrgang 2013, Munchen).
II. THE PROJECT LEADER has participated
in national and international conferences, both with a report, as well as a panel moderator, or organizer:
German Press in the Historical Bukovina (German-Jewish Culture in Galicia: Influence, Diffusion and Transformation, Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, June 11-13, 2013) Is the "other" the "enemy"? Perceptions of the Jewish population in Bukovina (The 2nd International Conference - Holocaust Museums and Memorial Places in Post - communist Countries: Challenges and Opportunities, Latvian Academy of Sciences, May 27-28, 2013) Reisen zwischen Welten. Milo Dors Osterreich- und Jugoslawien-Bild(er) in Belletristik und Reiseberichten (Franz-Werfel-Tagung: "Reise und Raum. Ortsbestimmungen der osterreichischen Literatur", University of Vienna, Institute for German Philology, April 26-27, 2013) Milo Dor. Mehr als eine Geschichte (Authentizitat, Varietat oder Verballhornung. Germanistische Streifzuge durch Literatur, Kultur und Sprache im globalisierten Raum, XVI. Internationale Tagung der Kronstadter Germanistik, Universitatea Transilvania Brasov, 4-6 April 2013). Diskurse des Nationalen in der Bukowiner deutschsprachigen Presse (Medialisierung des Zerfalls der Doppelmonarchie in deutschsprachigen Regionalperiodika, Universitat Pecs, 8-10 March 2013). (Inter)nationalismen in "Bukowinaer Post" und "Bukowinaer Rundschau" (StadtBildText. Gemeinsame Narrative in Mitteleuropa. Internationale Tagung der Gesellschaft fur europaisch-judische Literaturstudien, Zentrum fur Deutschsprachig Judische Kultur Mitteleuropas an der Eotvos Lorand Universitat Budapest, 3-5 February 2013). Czernowitz. Kultur in der Nussschale. Inserate in der "Bukowinaer Post" (Die deutsche Literatur der Bukowina und Galiziens, Bildungs - und Begegnungsstatte "Der Heiligenhof" in Bad Kissingen, 4-8 November 2012). Bukowinisches Zeitungswesen im habsburgischen Kulturkreis: Mobilitat, kulturelles Gedachtnis und Aufklarung (IX. Internationaler Kongress der Germanisten Rumaniens, Universitatea din Bucuresti, 4-7 June 2012). Czernowitz wieder lesen. Zur 'Stadtsemiotik' bei Gregor von Rezzori (Internationale Tagung "Gregor von Rezzori. Auf der Suche nach einer grosseren Heimat. Grenzuberschreitungen", Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" Iasi, 2-5 May 2012). Panel moderator (Internationale Tagung "Gregor von Rezzori. Auf der Suche nach einer grosseren Heimat. Grenzuberschreitungen", Universitatea "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" Iasi, 2-5 May 2012). Public reading - translation into Romanian from Franz Werfel's oeuvre - "Ein Versuch uber das Kaisertum Osterreich" (Franz-Werfel-Tagung: "Franz Werfel. Werk und Wirkung", Institut fur Germanistik der Universitat Wien, 23-24 March 2012). "Bukowinaer Post". Bukowinisch-europaische Zeitschrift als Vehikel plurikultureller und transnationaler Wahrnehmung (VII. Internationaler Germanisten-Kongress, Universitat Sevilla, Spanien, 19-21 December 2011). Panel moderator (VII. Internationaler Germanisten-Kongress, Universitat Sevilla, Spanien, 19-21 December 2011). Bukowinische Zeitungen als Indikator mitteleuropaischer Demokratietendenzen in der Zeit des habsburgischen Modernisieungsprozesses (Internationale Tagung: "Germanistische Forschungswege in und zwischen den Kulturen", Universitatea "Lucian Blaga" din Sibiu, 17-19 November 2011). Panel moderator (Internationale Tagung: "Germanistische Forschungswege in und zwischen den Kulturen", Universitat "Lucian Blaga" din Sibiu, 17-19 November 2011). Organizer (together with Andrei Corbea-Hoisie) of the international conference "Gregor von Rezzori. Auf der Suche nach einer grosseren Heimat. Grenzuberschreitungen", financed by Osterreichisches Kulturforum Bukarest, DAAD, Mitteleuropa Zentrum Dresden and Universite Toulouse 2 - Le Mirail, at the "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi, 2.-5. May 2012.
III. THE PROJECT LEADER has also
become member in the project entitled "Medialisierung des Zerfalls der Doppelmonarchie in deutschsprachigen Regionalperiodika zwischen 1880 und 1914" (eng. "Media coverage of the collapse of the Dual Monarchy in German regional periodicals 1880-1914"), at the University of Pecs, Hungary
IV. Furthermore, THE PROJECT LEADER
has attended and respectively become member of other mobility projects:
ODaF-Tagung: "ANDERS lehren - lernen - werten", Vienna, 8-9 December 2012 Non-Formal Learning in Adult Education (Education and Culture. Lifelong learning programme GRUNDTVIG), Adiyaman, Turkey, 3-10 September 2012 Cooperation project with Bildungs - und Begegnungsstatte "Der Heiligenhof", Bad Kissingen, established for students of German Studies Departments in Central and Eastern Europe
V. THE POSTDOCTORAL ADVISOR
has supported the work of the project leader, guided and assisted her with competent advice.
VI. THE POSTDOCTORAL ADVISOR has published:
Istoria Basarabiei. Note de curs, Bucuresti, Editura Semne, 2011, 195 p.
Kultur und Politik in der Zeitschrift Iconar (1935-1938), in Markus Winkler (hrsg.), Presselandschaft in der Bukowina und den Nachbarregionen: Akteure - Inhalte - Ereignisse (1900-1945), Munchen: IKGS Verlag, 2011 (Wissenschaftliche Reihe: Literatur- und Sprachgeschichte. Bd. 121), S. 185-192. Nordul Bucovinei in anii 1944-1947, in Vasile Grajdian, Serhii Hakman, Olga Lukacs (eds.), Culturi si religii in Bucovina istorica. Retrospectiva si perspective ale dezvoltarii, Cluj-Napoca, Presa Universitara Clujeana, 2011, p. 237-247.
Bucovina 1774-1918: abandonarea paradisului sau evadarea din infern?, in Petru Bejinariu, Istorie si identitate, Suceava, Editura Universitatii, 2011. Labirintul istoriei: Mazepa si romanii, in "Analele Bucovinei", Radauti-Bucuresti, anul XVIII, nr. 1 (36), ianuarie-iunie 2011, p. 269-272.
Prefata, in Petru Bejinariu, Istorie si identitate, Suceava, Editura Universitatii, 2011, p. 3-5. Reconstructia imagistica a trecutului, in Nicolai Oprea, Judetul Suceava cu capitala la Radaseni. Cronica ilustrata, Botosani, Editura AXA, 2011, p. 7-8.
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