Los-of-Rome Movement
The Los von Rom movement was a largely politically motivated movement in Austria around 1900, which aimed to promote the change of denomination from the Catholic to the Protestant or Old Catholic denomination. It was carried by German national forces. The slogan Los von Rome was coined by the medical student Theodor Georg Rakus (later Theodor Georg Rakus, doctor and royal Swedish vice-consul in Salzburg), a companion of Georg von Schönerer .
The background: Greater German and German-national ideas
Since the times of the Counter Reformation under the Habsburgs , Austria has been an almost exclusively Catholic country. The Protestants made up only a tiny minority. Only a few crypto-Protestant communities had survived the centuries of the Counter Reformation. Only with the tolerance patent of Emperor Joseph II in 1781 were Reformed and Lutherans allowed to practice their religion again by the state.
After the founding of the German Empire in 1871 and the resulting " small German solution ", i. H. After the unification of Germany under the leadership of Prussia to the exclusion of Austria, many Austrians remained connected to “ Greater German ” ideas. The German Nationals sought a close political connection to the German Empire and in some cases even the complete dissolution of the Habsburg Monarchy and the connection of the parts settled by Germans to the German Empire. A leading representative of this political direction was Georg Ritter von Schönerer. In Linz Program of 1882, the German National introduced the slogan "not liberal, not clerical, but national" and turned back against both the Jews and against the political and social influence of the Catholic Church, which long been an essential pillar of since Habsburg rule was was.
The trigger: the Baden language regulations
| year | Conversions between churches | |
|---|---|---|
| from catholic to evangelical |
from Protestant to Catholic |
|
| 1899 | 6,047 | 675 |
| 1900 | 4,699 | 705 |
| 1901 | 6,299 | 830 |
| 1902 | 4,247 | 928 |
| Together | 21,292 | 3.138 |
The break with the Catholic Church was encouraged by the language ordinances issued by Prime Minister Count Badeni in 1897 . These provided that all civil servants in the crown lands of Bohemia and Moravia should be bilingual ( German / Czech ). This regulation was fiercely opposed by the German nationalists, but found the support of the Austrian " Catholic People's Party " as well as many Czech Catholic clergy. A "German People's Day" held by the German Nationals in Vienna then called on people to leave the Catholic Church, and Schönerer and his like-minded people coined the slogan Los von Rom! The conversion movement was supported by Protestant organizations from Germany, in particular the Gustav-Adolf-Verein and the Evangelical Federation (until support was discontinued in 1905).
From January 1898 to March 1900, more than 10,000 Austrians left the Catholic Church, and by the beginning of the World War in 1914, 65,000 conversions to the Protestant denomination and more than 20,000 conversions to the Old Catholic Church had been registered, so that many new Protestant parish offices had to be set up. The main area of the movement was Bohemia, with the transition communities Saaz , Turn (today part of Teplitz , 2000 transfers), Komotau , Trautenau , Karbitz , Klostergrab , Dux , Trebnitz , Haida , etc. a. m.
Certainly, not all of the conversions were due to the “Los from Rome” campaign, but there was also dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church in general. The countermeasures of the Catholic Church began hesitantly; It was not until 1902 that large-scale press campaigns and administrative measures were carried out to curb the conversion movement.
The conversion movement also took hold in the neighboring German Empire, where there was a significant increase in the number of converts to the Evangelical Church. This trend was particularly pronounced in the Kingdom of Saxony.
The Los-von-Rom movement also resulted in the Protestant Church in Austria taking on a certain German national influence. Before that, many Austrian Protestants had orientated themselves strongly towards the Protestant-Prussian dominated German Empire. This tendency was reinforced by the conversion movement.
See also
- Kulturkampf (Germany)
- Kulturkampf in Switzerland
literature
- Brigitte Hamann : Hitler's Vienna. Apprenticeship as a dictator. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1996/2001, ISBN 3-492-03598-1 , Chapter 8: Political Concepts.
- Karl-Reinhart Trauner: The Los-von-Rom-Movement. Sociopolitical and ecclesiastical currents in the outgoing Habsburg monarchy. Szentendre 1999, ISBN 963-229-575-7 ; 2nd edition 2006, ISBN 963-550-774-7 .