Page - 290 - 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 thecompetitionwithLembergwheretheuniversitywasconsideredtoserveonly onecommunity.As stated inthecommemorativebrochure: “Significant parts of the population of the East make this need [German language] obvious. First of all the German, Ruthenian andRomanian inhabitants of Bucovina wouldhavetogotoofarawaytoViennaortheevenlessappropriateLembergandthatis whytheydemandedalocalinstitutionofhighereducation.Inthesamesituationarethe Germanslivingdispersedbut ingreatnumberalloverGaliciatogetherwiththeJewish populationwho expressed the samenecessity forGerman teaching.Finally the same thoughtanimatedtheRutheniannationalityinGaliciawhoacceptswithsatisfactionthe transmissionof science throughGerman languageand literature.”47 AgainthecelebrationtookplaceonthesymbolicdateofFrancisJosephaccessto the throne,December 2nd. It hadof course a transnational charactermoreover duetothefactthatthemainhallbeingtoosmall,theceremonywasperformedin the new residence of theOrthodoxbishop.48Governor BaronBourguignon as wellastheministerforCultsandpublicInstructionWilhelmvonHartelwerethe leadingpersonalitiesofthecelebrationtogetherwithBishopRepta.TheGerman, RomanianandRussianconsuls attended the festivities.Amasswasheldat the Catholic as well as at the Orthodox cathedrals. The religious authorities un- derlinedat thisoccasionthe“ecumenical” spiritof theuniversity.49 TheheritageofHabsburggovernancewas transmitted after theFirstWorld Warbyaconsiderableamountofliteraryworksstressingthemulticulturalismof Czernowitz; they created themyth of peaceful coexistence between the com- munities andminimized the conflicts. Itwas largely a retrospective view even accentuated after the traumatic experiences of the SecondWorldWar. Never- theless themythwas already present in the discourse of the contemporaries. Behind the ‘construction’ of themyth laid anundeniable intention of the au- thorities to representBucovina as a success ofHabsburg enlightened rulepre- servingthebalancebetweenthevariouscomponents.50Theconceptofcivilizing missionwas thebasisof state ideology inBucovinaand itwasdeeply rooted in thementalitiesof the local elitedespite thenational struggle. The same project characterized the Austro-Hungarian administration in BosniaandHerzegovinabuttheresultisfarfrombeingcomparable.Thecolonial 47 DieFranz-JosephsUniversität inCzernowitz imerstenVierteljahrhundert ihresBestandes (seenote37),p.XXIV. 48 RudolfWagner(ed.),AlmaMaterFranciscoJosephina.DiedeutschsprachigeNationalitäten- Universität in Czernowitz. Festschrift zum100. Jahrestag ihrer Eröffnung 1875,München 1979,p. 78. 49 Ekkehart Lebouton, Der ökumenische Geist an der Czernowitzer Universität, in:Wagner (ed.),AlmaMaterFrancisco Josephina(seenote48),p. 136–144. 50 Asimilardiscussionunfolds inLarryWolff’s latest book,The IdeaofGalicia.History and Fantasy inHabsburgPoliticalCulture, Stanford2010. CatherineHorel290