Page - 349 - 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 Bras‚ov: themajority asminority Themost intriguing of the threemodels is, however, the last, the one that de- veloped in Bras‚ov around 1910. It was undeniably the outcome of the pecu- liarities of the city and the Saxon inhabited area. The political and economic systemofthedualismfavoredtheSaxonsjustasmuchastheHungarians,andthe local Saxon leaders were less concerned about the emergence of a Romanian middle class as were their peers in Sibiu (Nagyszeben, Herrmannstadt). The social andpoliticalhierarchyof thecitywasstale throughout thedualism,with the Saxon financial system resolving most of the problems of the import of capital, and the informal compromise between the government and the Saxon People’s Party in 1890 ensured political support from Budapest, too.53 The Saxonswere able to finance their own development plansmostly without the supportof thegovernment;what theyneededwasadministrativegoodwill and tolerance, and they recieved it in exchange for political support in the parlia- ment. The embodiment of this political compromise in Bras‚ov was a local electoral pact between the Saxon party and theHungarian elite in 1900, who dividedamongthemthefourelectoralconstituenciesofthecountyandtheseats in the county congregation.Threeof theparliamentary seatswere accorded to SaxonMembers of Parliament, and one, the city of Bras‚ov, was accorded to a Hungarian.As thepredominantmajorityof the electoratewereHungariansor Saxonstheycouldcomfortablycountontofendoffanyelectoralchallengefrom Romaniancandidatesand fromrogueSaxonsandHungarians, too.54 Butthefallof theanti-Tiszacoalitiongovernmenthaditsreverberationshere aswell.The localHungarianpoliticianspreviouslysupportedthecoalition,and even in thedisastrous1910 elections theycouldhaveelected to theparliament Jjzsef Szter8nyi, amoderateoppositionMemberofParliamentandstate secre- tary intheMinistryofCommerceof thecoalitiongovernment.Still, theyhadto relyontheresourceschanneledbythestate.ThenewLordLieutenantcamefrom Tisza’spartyandheannouncedtheestablishmentofa localchapterof theParty ofNationalWork.55 53 G#borEgry,EinandererAusgleich,Einiges zurVorgeschichtedesSachsentages1890,Zeit- schrift für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde 100 (2006), p. 51–61; Egry, Nemzeti v8dg#t (see note39). 54 G#borEgry, Trad&cij 8s alkalmazkod#s: az erd8lyi sz#szokpolitikai kultfflr#ja a dualizmus idej8n, in:Mfflltunk48/2 (2003), p. 112–158; Eniko˝D#cz,Aufder Spur interethnischerBe- ziehungenindreisiebenbürgischenZeitungenamAnfangdes20. Jahrhunderts, in:Donau- InstitutWorkingPaperNr.6 (2013);National Sz8ch8nyi Library, Ap#thy Istv#nhagyat8k, Quart.Hung. 2456Zakari#s J#nos to Istv#nAp#thy, 7. January1918. 55 B8laSzele,Gondolkozzunk!, in:BrassjiLapok69(27.03.1910),p. 1.;AV8grehajtjBizotts#g ül8se1910.m#rcius29-8n, in:Brassji Lapok72 (30.03.1910),p. 3.;B8keamagyars#gkör- 8ben, in: Brassji Lapok 74 (01.04.1910), p. 3.; Dr.W[eisz] I[gn#c], A brassjimagyars#g RegionalElites,NationalistPolitics, LocalAccommodations 349