Page - 277 - in Österreich-Ungarns imperiale Herausforderungen - Nationalismen und Rivalitäten im Habsburgerreich um 1900

© 2020, V&R unipress GmbH, Göttingen ISBN Print: 9783847110606 – ISBN E-Lib: 9783737010603 Vaterland explicitly referred toAustria as adynastic entity supposed to infuse patriotismtoeveryone.8 Consideringthatmostterritorieswerecrownlandswithhistoricalrightsand representation (diets) the Empire could indeed foster national definition to- getherwithdynastic loyalty; furthermoreitrecognizedotherpeoplesmakingof theconceptofnationhoodanelementofidentificationthatwasnotincompatible withAustrianpatriotism.Moreoverthenewformofconstitutionalimperialrule found its justification in the ability to promote the development of the con- stituentnations.9Adialoguewas thus established thatgaveeachof theprotag- onists theircoherence. The cities were the places where these activities came to being: schools, associations, libraries, theatre and press became increasingly multicultural whichmeansthattheofferwasnomorecenteredonthelanguageofthemajority and/or dominant group. The identificationwith the territorywas increasingly challenged by the identification to a nationality thatwent beyond it. Here the differencebetweenAustriaandHungaryisofaparticularrelevance:Austriawas conceivedasadynastical statemadeof territories ‘belonging’ to it;Hungaryon the contrarywas from itsmedieval origins on a centralized state that did not recognizeprovincialautonomyexceptfortheKingdomofCroatia-Slavoniawith whichitwasunitedsince1102andforTransylvania thatwasconsideredpartof theHungariankingdombut composedof threenations representedat thediet (Hungarians,Sz8kely,Saxons).ThisexplainspartlywhytheHungarianshadless difficulty defining and imposing theHungarian identity to thewhole country, thantheAustrianswhose identitywassubsumedinthedynastic loyalty.10Many cities acquiredanational symbolic signification foroneof its componentsand this lednaturally tocompetitionandconflict inthepublicspace.Butpolyethnic cities were more or less spared this identification as shows the example of Czernowitz.11 MulticulturalismintheHabsburgcitiesisalsoverymuchlinkedtodiscourses ofidentity.Wewilltry todetermineifthecitizens,perceivingindeedtheircityas multicultural, identifiedthemselveswithoneormorecultures.Perceptionsand receptionarethemostdifficultelements tobedefinedbyhistoriansbecausewe lackenoughsourcestodeterminehowthepeopleperceivedthemessagessendby 8 Sigmund Schneider (ed.), MeinÖsterreich,meinHeimatland. Illustrierte Volks- undVa- terlandskundedesÖsterreichischenKaiserstaates,Wien1914. 9 Judson,TheHabsburgEmpire (seenote2),p. 270. 10 On themeaning of the allegories of ‘Austria’, see SelmaKrasa-Florian, Die Allegorie der Austria. Die Entstehung des Gesamtstaatsgedankens in der österreichisch-ungarischen MonarchieunddiebildendeKunst,Wien2007. 11 HaraldHeppner,Hauptstadt imsüdöstlichenEuropa.EineZusammenfassung in: id. (ed.), HauptstädtezwischenSave,BosporusundDnjepr,Wien1998,p. 217. ImperialChallenges inAustro-HungarianMulticulturalCities 277