Composing the Volk

This chapter looks at cultural commemorations for the anniversaries of the deaths of Ludwig van Beethoven in 1927, Franz Schubert in 1928, Walther von der Vogelweide in 1930, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in 1932. It explores how Germans and Austrians used these festivals to stage a transborder German community in the interwar period. They hoped that a focus on culture, rather than politics, would help them overcome the sociopolitical fragmentation of the interwar years. At first glance, these cultural celebrations appeared to bridge the numerous divisions running through both societies, as people from various social and political backgrounds wanted to honor these German cultural heroes. Nonetheless, political fights broke out among participants as they interpreted the lives and impact of these cultural figures according to their own divergent worldviews. By investigating these disagreements, this chapter underscores the numerous understandings of Germanness in the Weimar era.

Introduction

This introductory chapter illustrates that there were multiple understandings of Germanness during the Weimar era, hence emphasizing how the triumph of Nazi ideology after 1918 was far from certain and pointing out how historical understandings of Nazism has overlooked the vital historical relationship between Germany and Austria. It examines the state of Germany in both the nineteenth century and the immediate postwar situation, from which the more contemporary contests that emerged between republicans and their opponents over the nature of German nationalism and politics that this book studies had emerged. The chapter contextualizes the shifting boundaries of Germanness against this backdrop, at the same time highlighting the long-neglected connections between Germany and Austria and the importance of exploring the exchange of people and ideas across the Austro-German boundary.

The Search For Symbols

This chapter addresses the clash over state symbols that emerged alongside the intensive debates about the new form of government. It highlights the importance of großdeutsch nationalism in republican attempts to defend democracy and its symbolic manifestations. In the Weimar Republic, the decision by the National Assembly to replace the black-white-red imperial standard with a black-red-gold tricolor was hotly contested by those on the political right. For Austrians, the debate over state symbols focused on the national anthem. This chapter, however, moves beyond simply viewing these debates as symptoms of political fragmentation in the two countries. Through an investigation of letters and petitions sent by individuals and associations to the governments, it explores how contemporaries began self-consciously to practice what they saw as the rights and responsibilities of citizens living in democratic republics.

Conclusion

This concluding chapter discusses the subsequent Nazi appropriation of the Anschluss and briefly recounts the differences between the republican and Nazi ideas about an Anschluss and nationalism. It expands on the republican use of großdeutsch nationalism: in allowing diverse groups to participate in a national community that was compatible with a democratic and pluralistic society, großdeutsch nationalism became a critical aspect in republicans' energetic attempts to legitimize the embattled republics. While it is true that republicans on both sides of the Austro-German border were never able to convince the political right that they were loyal Germans or that parliamentary democracy was a German form of government, the chapter argues that their inability to do so does not mean that their attempts to create a democratic and peaceful großdeutsch nationalism should be dismissed.

The Nationalization of Democracy in the Weimar and First Austrian Republics

This chapter examines republicans' rhetorical defense of the republics. Countering claims by the political right that the new republics were un-German, republicans argued that parliamentary democracy and German nationalism were not at odds. To prove their point, they cited the revolution of 1848 and their support for an Anschluss, or a political union between Germany and Austria. In doing so, republicans attempted to create their own form of nationalism by contrasting their großdeutsch nationalism with right-wing alldeutsch (pan-German) nationalism and conservative nationalism. Even though republicans at times harbored prejudices, they used großdeutsch nationalism to support democratic rights and practices, to reconcile national and international allegiances, and to create a national community that cut across religious, political, and social divisions.

Anschluss before Hitler

This chapter examines the politics of the most prominent Anschluss organization of the era, the Österreichisch-Deutscher Volksbund (Austro-German People's League). Marketing itself as a “nonpartisan” association, the Volksbund included the supporters and opponents of democracy, Jews and anti-Semites, Catholics and Protestants, blue-collar workers and the middle classes. Focusing on the association's activities, this chapter investigates how these disparate groups could collaborate even as they were riven by political battles that emerged both within and about the association. It also explores the radical changes that affected the association after the 1933 Nazi seizure of power, thereby highlighting the fact that there was no straight line between 1918 and 1938.

Staging a Greater German Republic

This chapter investigates the use of cross-border visits and motifs in political commemorations and rallies. In particular, it looks at the relationship between the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold and the Republikanischer Schutzbund. Highlighting the ability of republican großdeutsch nationalism to mobilize popular support, thousands of members of the two associations traveled across the border to attend pro-republican festivities, where they received an enthusiastic reception from local populations. Yet this cross-border relationship was not without problems. The Austrian socialists' revolutionary rhetoric and attacks on their Catholic political opponents at home stirred tensions between the two republican organizations. These disagreements, however, did not simply originate within the republican coalition. Conservatives and the radical right in both states endeavored to break up the republican alliance. The political right's effort to do so was a sign of the importance of the cross-border republican partnership to the defense of democracy.

Representative Democracy

This chapter examines the efforts to create a republican holiday in each state. Although republicans in Germany were never able to declare an official state holiday, they managed to stage a de facto republican celebration that included Germans from different political, social, and religious backgrounds. In Austria, the situation regarding a holiday presented the opposite scenario. The Austrian National Assembly easily passed a law creating a holiday to commemorate the founding of the republic, but the yearly commemoration only served to reinforce the divisions between the socialist and Catholic parties in Austria. These different political contexts also explain why the Austro-German republican partnership included socialists, left liberals, and Catholics in Germany and only socialists in Austria.