Die Landschaft Bukowina

Bucovina was an integral part of Habsburg Empire since 1775. Starting from a pure political construction on the European map of power at the end of 18th century this small area developed into a well integrated Austrian crown land. A crown land, which succeeded to form a certain regional identity – conform to the Habsburg state ideology. Till the outbreak of First World War national rivalries played a certain role for regional politics in the county but were moderate in general. Especially this situation was grounded in a direct liaison of this small province situated on the Eastern slopes of Carpathians with Vienna as imperial centre. A development which aimed towards steadily improving inner consolidation and balance in comparison with the other crown lands of the Empire. Only the outcome of the First World War, as Bucovina became part of the Romanian kingdom, loosing its geo strategic position as a bridge between East and West, showed in its consequences the former importance of this organic exchange with Vienna, shaping the provinces society and cultural landscape. The genesis of Bucovina region at the periphery of a European Empire from the end of 18th up to the beginning of 20th century as well as the structural persistence of the cultural landscape’s characteristics is centrally focussed in this study. The analyses of spatial processes as well as their genesis, shaped by a changing geopolitical situation, were of main interest for the research. Since the midst of 19th century a serious and existential national tension within the Bucovina was growing which could only partially be influenced by the province politics itself. A tension in between a search for a distinguished political position, the new idea of nation state and a overall-covering ideology of Commonness, a tension between growing regional identity, of beeing Bucovina and increasing national claims. The study tries to draw a knew, integral and less known picture of this variously shaped cultural landscape – apart from common nationalistic and segmented analyses.Die Bukowina, seit 1775 zu den Ländern der Habsburgermonarchie gehörend, entwickelte sich ausgehend von einem politischen Konstrukt auf der Landkarte Europas im letzten Drittel des 18. Jh. hin zu einem durchaus selbstbewussten Kronland, dem es bis 1914 gelungen war, eine (staatskonforme) regionale Identität aufzubauen. Bis zum Ausbruch des Ersten Weltkrieges spielten nationale Rivalitäten eine gewisse Rolle, waren in ihren Forderungen jedoch als moderat einzuschätzen. Besonders die direkte Abhängigkeit dieses kleinen Landstrichs am Ostabhang der Karpaten von Wien als Reichshauptstadt legte den wesentlichen Baustein zu dieser Entwicklung. Eine Entwicklung, die v. a. auf innere Konsolidierung und Angleichung an die übrigen Kronländer der Monarchie gerichtet war. Erst die Folgen des Ersten Weltkrieges mit der Angliederung der Bukowina an das Königreich Rumänien legten die tatsächliche Bedeutung dieses so mit dem Zentrum der Monarchie verflochtenen Kronlandes, das von seiner Brückenstellung profitiert hatte, offen. Das Werden der Region Bukowina an der Peripherie eines europäischen Großreiches vom ausgehenden 18. bis zum beginnenden 20. Jahrhundert und die strukturelle Persistenz kulturlandschaftlicher Charaktereigenschaften sind zentraler Gegenstand dieser Arbeit. Der Brennpunkt liegt dabei in der Analyse raumwirksamer Gestaltungsprozesse sowie ihrer Genese – ausgelöst durch eine sich wandelnde geopolitische Situation. Spätestens seit der Mitte des 19. Jh. erwuchs für die Bukowina eine existentielle Spannung zwischen dessen eigener Positionsfindung, neuer Nationalstaatlichkeit und übergeordneter Ideologie des Gemeinsamen, dem Aufbau regionaler Identitäten, eigenständigem Landesbewusstsein und nationalen Forderungen. Die vorliegende Studie versucht insgesamt – abseits jener über weite Strecken des 20. Jh. bestimmenden Vorgaben national segmentierter Erkenntnisgerichtetheit – ein in der bisherigen Beschäftigung mit der Bukowina weniger bekanntes, auf eigenen Forschungen beruhendes Bild einer im Inneren vielgestaltigen Kulturlandschaft und ihre Genese zu zeichnen

"Harmonische Landschaften" - Bevölkerung und Kulturlandschaft in der deutschprachigen Geographie am Beispiel der Region Südtirol-Trentino

Mit dem Beitritt Österreichs zur Europäischen Union 1995 sowie der 1992 vorangegangenen Streitbeilegungserklärung zwischen Österreich und Italien hätte die seit dem Ausgang des Ersten Weltkrieges anhängige politische Zugehörigkeits‐ und Grenzdiskussion um Südtirol endgültig beendet werden sollen. Ein 2002 zwischen der Landesregierung in Bozen und dem Südtiroler Alpenverein in Angriff genommenes groß angelegtes Projekt, das eine einheitliche Beschilderung und Digitalisierung des fast 16.000 km langen Wegenetzes der Provinz vorsah, musste 2009 nach einer heftig geführten Mediendiskussion um die Zweisprachigkeit der Toponyme zwischen Alpenverein, Club Alpino Italiano und den Tageszeitungen Alto Adige sowie Dolomiten vorläufig eingestellt werden. Seither ist die Frage nach einer Lösung der Beschriftung der mehr als 70.000 Schilder politisch anhängig. Diese Situation war jedoch keineswegs aus dem Nichts entstanden. Die Diskussion um die nationale Zugehörigkeit dieses Teils der Ostalpen reicht bis ins ausgehende 19. Jahrhundert zurück und weist zahlreiche, je nach zeitlichem Zugriff unterschiedlich ausgestaltete Diskursstränge auf. Bei der Konstruktion des Kulturraumes 'Tirol-Südtirol' als Teil der 'Deutschen Alpen', dessen nationaler Aufladung und Tradition bis in die Gegenwart herauf kommt Geographen deutscher wie österreichischer Universitäten eine entscheidende, in der Öffentlichkeit zumeist in ihrer Bedeutung kaum wahrgenommene Rolle zu. Die kritische Diskussion derartiger Raumnarrative innerhalb der Geographie ist allerdings wenig ausgeprägt und wurde in den letzten Jahren vorwiegend von außerhalb geführt.The political discussion on the borders of South Tyrol and where it belongs to had been going on since the end of the First World War. It should have been settled once and for all when Austria joined the European Union in 1995 and Austria and Italy proclaimed the settlement to their dispute in 1992. Unfortunately, a major project in 2002 launched by the state government in Bozen and the Südtiroler Alpenverein for providing uniform signs and digitising the network of paths stretching almost 16,000 km in this province had to be temporarily stopped in 2009. The cause was a vehement discussion in the media having to do with the bilingualism of the toponymes between Alpenverein, Club Alpino Italiano and the dailies Alto Adige and Dolomiten. Since this time, the issue of finding a solution to lettering more than 70,000 signs has been on the political agenda. However, this situation did not just come out of nowhere. The discussion of where this part of the Eastern Alps belongs goes back as far as the end of the 19th century and has a wide range of differently formed discursive skeins depending upon the temporal framework. Although their significance is hardly recognised in the public sphere, geographers at German and Austrian universities have a decisive role to play in constructing the cultural sphere of "Tyrol-South Tyrol" as a component of the 'German Alps' whose national charging and tradition have been coming up right into the present. The critical discussion of these spatial narratives within geography is hardly developed and in the last few years it has been largely carried out from outside

The Case of Gorizia/Gorica: A Sequence of Missed Geo-political and Geo-economic Opportunities

The town was founded in a unique position, having the possibility during the centuries of taking advantage of a set of favourable circumstances. In the last century it developed in a particular way, being today difficult to be described following a twin city schema, or better that of a divided town, or of a multipolar pattern. Today the situation of the town may be considered stagnant, or even regressing, in any sense (politically and economically), giving the impression that the city as a whole is not capable of taking advantage of the geopolitics offered to i

The Case of Gorizia/Gorica: A Sequence of Missed Geo-political and Geo-economic Opportunities

The town was founded in a unique position, having the possibility during the centuries of taking advantage of a set of favourable circumstances. In the last century it developed in a particular way, being today difficult to be described following a twin city schema, or better that of a divided town, or of a multipolar pattern. Today the situation of the town may be considered stagnant, or even regressing, in any sense (politically and economically), giving the impression that the city as a whole is not capable of taking advantage of the geopolitics offered to it

After Sochi 2014:costs and impacts of Russia’s Olympic Games

This paper assesses the outcomes of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, examining the costs and economic impacts of the event, the prospects for the long-term use of venues and infrastructure, and the attitudes of the global and the Russian population. Total costs were USD 55 billion, having increased 4.5 times from USD 12 billion at the time of the bid. Of this total, about USD 16 billion were sports-related costs. After accounting for inflation, this makes Sochi the second-most expensive Olympics ever in terms of sports-related costs and the most expensive Olympics in terms of cost per event. With a public share of 96.5 percent of funding, the Sochi Games had the highest proportion of public money for any Olympic Games on record. The benefit from this high cost, however, is limited. Extensive construction led to hotel overcapacities, investors defaulted on state-backed loans, and there is no coherent plan for the after use of venues and some of the largest infrastructure projects. As a consequence, the Sochi Olympics will continue to be a burden for the Russian state, with expenses for operation, maintenance, and foregone interest and tax revenue in the order of USD 1.2 billion per year. The event also did not manage to improve the image of Russia in the world. Among the domestic population, support dropped over the seven years of its implementation, most notably among the local population

Borderlines and nation-building: Bukowina 1848 to 1947

The current drawing up of (internal and external) frontiers on the territory of theBukowina is the result of the idea of the nation state in the 19th century. The external bordersof the former Austrian crown land emerged when this territory still was in a pre-nationalperiod. They were exclusively based on political and strategic considerations. State conceptsfraught with national ideas, although the Habsburg Empire tried to avoid them right to itsdisintegration, began to gradually split the cultural landscape. It developed in more than 100years of political and social continuity. There was a deliberate attempt to repress the grownregional identity by restructuring borders. Even the Soviet Union, which claimed to besupranational, was not able to emerge fully from the shadow of the Russian Empire. In theend, in this case too, national ‘liberation claims’ were the driving force behind territorialgreed.In the area of Upper Moldavia the longue durée of political structures has remainedparticularly obvious to this day, even though the appearance has radically changed. First, theHabsburg and Russian Empires filled the power vacuum of political instability left by theOttoman Empire. Both tried to consolidate the territory in different ways by exercising thepower of a centralised state and to offer a new structure. Finally, the development of aregional identity, which had started in the late 19th century, in the course of the radicalisationof national claims during World War I, turned out to be too weak to act as a sufficientcounterbalance to the latter.For both Ukraine and Romania, the striving for national union and demarcation has been aconstant and dominant factor to this day. The repeated major revisions of the frontiers of theBukowina in the first half of the 20th century are the result of this. The artificial dividing linesbetween the ethnic groups, which were drawn up on the basis of the nation state ideology,became manifest in the changing territorial structure of the Bukowina after 1918.At the moment, it is unforeseeable whether in view of this situation the historical Bukowinawill be able to develop a common regional identity beyond national claims, which is supportedby a majority (for instance in the Euro region Upper Pruth). Moreover, this will to a largeextent depends on future European integration. Projecting national ideas of the 19th centuryand at the same time establishing programmatic guidelines for the future, as Ion Nistor did, isobviously not in the interest of a European spirit. It tries to overcome the nation state idea withits frontiers und promote identities that are linked to a cultural landscape.The Bukowina is certainly a Europe en miniature in both the positive and the negativesense. The overcoming of the political nation state concept in this peripheral area of Europethus might become an indicator of the seriousness of a new supranational Europe. Thefollowing probably applies to the cultural landscape of the Bukowina more than to any otherEuropean region: “Territory is not; it becomes, for territory itself is passive, and it is humanbeliefs and actions that give territory meaning.”</p

Der griechisch-orientalische Religionsfonds der Bukowina 1783-1949

In the course of the Josephinian reforms, monasteries were dissolved and church property was fundamentally transformed. At that time, Bukovina was still a young province of the Habsburg Empire. The Orthodox Church dominated denominationally. As early as 1783, a Greek-Oriental religious fund was created based on the church property. This institution was fundamentally different from Catholic funds, since it was regionally anchored from the start. As the largest landowner of Bukovina, this institution developed into a factor that shaped the region and society significantly until it was dissolved in 1949. The analysis of the Bukovinian Religious Fund in its importance for the design, development and nationalization of the region as part of the Habsburg monarchy as well as Greater Romania is the subject of the monograph. It offers a surprisingly new insight into a neglected research field, far beyond the region

Der griechisch-orientalische Religionsfonds der Bukowina 1783-1949

In the course of the Josephinian reforms, monasteries were dissolved and church property was fundamentally transformed. At that time, Bukovina was still a young province of the Habsburg Empire. The Orthodox Church dominated denominationally. As early as 1783, a Greek-Oriental religious fund was created based on the church property. This institution was fundamentally different from Catholic funds, since it was regionally anchored from the start. As the largest landowner of Bukovina, this institution developed into a factor that shaped the region and society significantly until it was dissolved in 1949. The analysis of the Bukovinian Religious Fund in its importance for the design, development and nationalization of the region as part of the Habsburg monarchy as well as Greater Romania is the subject of the monograph. It offers a surprisingly new insight into a neglected research field, far beyond the region

Die Landschaft Bukowina

Bucovina was an integral part of Habsburg Empire since 1775. Starting from a pure political construction on the European map of power at the end of 18th century this small area developed into a well integrated Austrian crown land. A crown land, which succeeded to form a certain regional identity – conform to the Habsburg state ideology. Till the outbreak of First World War national rivalries played a certain role for regional politics in the county but were moderate in general. Especially this situation was grounded in a direct liaison of this small province situated on the Eastern slopes of Carpathians with Vienna as imperial centre. A development which aimed towards steadily improving inner consolidation and balance in comparison with the other crown lands of the Empire. Only the outcome of the First World War, as Bucovina became part of the Romanian kingdom, loosing its geo strategic position as a bridge between East and West, showed in its consequences the former importance of this organic exchange with Vienna, shaping the provinces society and cultural landscape. The genesis of Bucovina region at the periphery of a European Empire from the end of 18th up to the beginning of 20th century as well as the structural persistence of the cultural landscape’s characteristics is centrally focussed in this study. The analyses of spatial processes as well as their genesis, shaped by a changing geopolitical situation, were of main interest for the research. Since the midst of 19th century a serious and existential national tension within the Bucovina was growing which could only partially be influenced by the province politics itself. A tension in between a search for a distinguished political position, the new idea of nation state and a overall-covering ideology of Commonness, a tension between growing regional identity, of beeing Bucovina and increasing national claims. The study tries to draw a knew, integral and less known picture of this variously shaped cultural landscape – apart from common nationalistic and segmented analyses