Page - 353 - in Der griechisch-orientalische Religionsfonds der Bukowina 1783–1949 - Kontinuitäten und Brüche einer prägenden Institution des Josephinismus

Zusammenfassungen 353 visaged form. The complicated process of agrarian reform lasted into the Second World War. The Bukovina, and the newly acquired areas of the kingdom, were more strongly af- fected by these measures than old Romania. One explanation for this is the structurally more favourable situation in the Bukovina, where cadastres and land registers existed, as well as the Religious Fund. This is especially true of the Fund estates, less so for the lands of other large land owners in the Bukovina. Even so, the state did not in the end achieve its aim of redistributing the land even on Fund estates. Similarly to before 1918, the state, now as the Bucharest government, used the eco- nomic controlling powers of the Fund for the region and now also beyond. Evidence for this is, for instance, the construction of the new Romanian cultural palace in Chernivtsi. Other continuities exist. State attempts at agrarian reform, whether pre-1918 or later, always had to face manorial reaction, usually opposed to the reform plans or at least aimed at weakening or slowing down any measures.12 The Religious Fund, as an insti- tution that acted as land owner, but with strong ties to Vienna (and Bucharest) through its internal structure, offered a partial break from this obstructive conflict of interests. In methodological terms we can study this institution to identify the shearing forces emerging from the clash of different social concepts in the Bukovina. With the start of the war in 1939/40, state regulation of the economy intensified and damaged the already weakened economic position of the Religious Fund further. This existential crisis hit the Fund after a decade of precarious economic circumstances. Now the delayed reform of the structural deficits and the constant political intervention in the inner matters of the institution began to show. In addition, the clear state interven- tion in the prices of products and services supplied by the Religious Fund weakened its economic base further. As far as the nation is concerned, after 1918 the point of reference moved from Vi- enna to Bucharest. This situation eventually also affected the economy. In the Bukovina we can clearly observe the phenomenon of phantom borders13 after 1918. The personal conflict between I. Flondor and I. Nistor  – or, at Church level, the fight of the metropol- itan for Church autonomy vis-à-vis Bucharest  – and their divergent expectations weak- ened the Fund and the national Church in the long run. Both institutions were let down in their efforts by a centralist national state of increasing rigidity and declining demo- cratic stance. During the inter-war period neither Church nor Fund were able to avoid the gradual political influence and its economic and social consequences. This perma- nently damaged the institutional credibility of Church and Fund, which had been a fun- damental permanent factor for both. Weakened by the political struggle, the Fund as an 12 Giordano 2003, Vielfalt, 126. 13 Müller 2015, Geschichtsregionen ; here on the example of Transylvania.