Heinrich Friedjung

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Heinrich Friedjung (born January 18, 1851 in Roschtin , Moravia , † July 14, 1920 in Vienna ) was an Austrian historian , publicist , journalist and liberal politician .

Heinrich Friedjung

Life

Heinrich Friedjung came from a German-Austrian, Jewish merchant family from Moravia. He attended the Schottengymnasium in Vienna and studied history at the universities in Prague and Berlin , among others with Theodor Mommsen and Leopold von Ranke . In 1867 he became a member of the Germania Prague fraternity . From 1873 to 1879 he taught history and German at the Vienna Commercial Academy , but was dismissed there for political reasons and because of his open opposition to the occupation of Bosnia by the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Friedjung had also published a study in 1877 under the title: The Compromise with Hungary , which saw three editions within a year and had a major impact on the public discussion of the political agreements reached with Hungary in 1867 . These had to be resolved anew every ten years, so that Friedjung's writing was particularly relevant in 1877. In it he attacked the agreements violently because, in his opinion, it damaged the Cisleithan half of the empire even more than the lost battle at Königgrätz :

“ In 1866 we were defeated by our own compatriots; what one part of Germany lost, the other gained. On the other hand, in 1867 we submitted to a people who were deeply below us in terms of education and economic sense, to whom we granted hegemony in the political sense and the right to dispose of our military budget, so that in fact there is a tribute obligation to the Hungarian state. "

This polemic against his own government, which was widespread in the media, led to his dismissal as a teacher at the commercial college.

From 1880 Friedjung was politically active. Together with Victor Adler , he wrote the program for the formation of a German People's Party (1880), from which the so-called Linz Program of the German Nationals arose in 1882 . From 1883 to 1886 he was editor of Deutsche Wochenschrift and from 1886 to 1887 editor-in-chief of Deutsche Zeitung , the official party organ of the “German Club” of the Vienna Reichsrat. Soon afterwards Friedjung left the German National Movement because of the anti-Austrian politics and the increasing anti-Semitic tendencies and became a member of the Vienna City Council from 1891 to 1895. He continued to advocate a liberal, centralist, German-oriented policy, which was also reflected in his works. In 1891 Friedjung also joined the Viennese social politicians, who campaigned for a compromise with the Czechs and the expansion of the right to vote.

In 1909 there was a high-profile trial in which Friedjung was accused and publicly exposed of having used, in good faith, forged documents and sources that had been given to him by Foreign Minister Count Aehrenthal .

On this basis, Friedjung, on behalf of the minister, justified the Austrian-Hungarian invasion of Serbia in the leading article in the morning edition of the Neue Freie Presse on March 25, 1909, but this did not take place. A veritable international scandal was the result of this action by the Foreign Minister; Friedjung then became a journalist in Vienna. a. heavily criticized as a warmonger by the satirist Karl Kraus .

During the First World War , Friedjung was one of the most prominent advocates of Greater German Central Europe ( memorandum from German Austria ) , alongside Richard von Kralik , Rudolf von Scala , Hans Uebersberger , Eugen von Philippovich and Michael Hainisch . After 1918 he advocated a "connection" solution to the German Reich, but also lamented the downfall of the Austrian monarchy and the multi-ethnic state. The definition of the period from 1881 to the First World War as the “age of imperialism ” goes back to him. Heinrich Friedjung died at the age of 69 on July 14, 1920 in Vienna. He was a corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences as well as an honorary doctorate from the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg .

Fonts (selection)

  • Emperor Karl IV. A. his share in the spiritual life of his time , Vienna 1876.
  • The balance with Hungary. Political study on the relationship between Austria and Hungary and Germany , Leipzig 1876/77 (3 editions).
  • A piece of newspaper history , Vienna 1887.
  • The struggle for supremacy in Germany 1859 to 1866 , Stuttgart-Berlin 1897–1917 (10 editions).
  • (Ed.): Benedeks postponed papers , Leipzig 1901.
  • The Crimean War and Austrian Politics , Stuttgart-Berlin 1911.
  • Austria from 1848 to 1860 , Berlin 1908.
  • Memorandum from German Austria , Vienna 1915.
  • Custoza and Lissa . Insel Verlag, Leipzig 1915 (= Austrian Library , Volume 3).
  • The Age of Imperialism 1884 to 1914 , 3 volumes, Berlin 1919–1923.
  • Historical essays , Stuttgart-Berlin 1917–1919 (2 editions).

literature

  • Friedjung Heinrich. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 1, Publishing House of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1957, p. 362 f. (Direct links on p. 362 , p. 363 ).
  • Robert A. Kann :  Friedjung, Heinrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 451 ( digitized version ).
  • Günther Ramhardter: History and Patriotism. Austrian historian in World War 1914–1918. Publishing house for history and politics, Vienna 1973.
  • Karl Glaubauf : Bismarck and the rise of the German Empire as portrayed by Heinrich Friedjungs, Eduard von Wertheimer and Ottokar Lorenz. Dissertation, University of Vienna 1979.
  • Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 2: F-H. Winter, Heidelberg 1999, ISBN 3-8253-0809-X , p. 76 f.
  • Pablo H. Vivanco: Friedjungs Wien. Liberal politics, public opinion and culture in Vienna, 1861–1880 . Dissertation, University of Vienna 2015.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Heinrich Friedjung: The settlement with Hungary . Vienna 1877, p. 4.
  2. ↑ Article  in:  Neue Freie Presse , March 25, 1909, p. 2 (online at ANNO ). Template: ANNO / Maintenance / nfp.
  3. ^ Gregor Schöllgen , Friedrich Kießling : The Age of Imperialism (= Oldenbourg floor plan of history , volume 15). Munich 2009, p. 1.
personal data
SURNAME Friedjung, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian historian and publicist
DATE OF BIRTH January 18, 1851
PLACE OF BIRTH Roschtin, Moravia
DATE OF DEATH July 14, 1920
Place of death Vienna