Two post-war paths: popular violence in the Bohemian lands and in Austria in the aftermath of World War I

Abstract

The study explores the phenomenon of popular violence in the first months and years after the end of World War I on the basis of a comparison between the Bohemian lands, forming the central part of the newly established Czechoslovakia, and Austria, as another successor state to the former Habsburg monarchy. Aside from the continuities, new forms of violence increasingly emerged in the first years after the end of the war, and also the “language” of violence was transformed. While in Czechoslovakia, the framework within which people were learning to understand the new world was shaped by the national and republican discourse oriented to the future, in Austria the collective identities and mentalities were being formed along the lines of particular party political blocks. In both cases, the nationalization and politicization of violence respectively contributed to the emergence of new forms of popular violence; but at the same time they could also be used for its de-escalation, necessary for the re-integration of society disrupted by the wartime experience. However, even if both countries went out from the war on different paths, the violence stayed part of their political culture and it could be mobilized again.

Keywords:

• popular violence
• World War I
• post-war period
• Czechoslovakia
• Austria

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Rudolf Kučera and Václav Šmidrkal for their valuable comments.

Notes

1. NAČR, Ministerstvo spravedlnosti, k. 918.

2. Besides the classic work by Theweleit (1987, 1989); see also Reichardt (2002); Gerwarth and Horne (2012).

3. Bartov and Weitz (2013); Eichenberg and Newman (2010) – and convincingly, with an emphasis on the region of Eastern Europe, Böhler (2014).

4. This was probably the case during demonstrations in Šternberk, Mladějovice, and Komárno in February 1919. NAČR, Ministerstvo spravedlnosti, k. 917.

5. NAČR, PMV-oddělení N, k. 161.

6. ÖStA, AdR, BKA-Inneres, k. 5066.

7. ÖStA, AdR, BKA-Inneres, k. 5067.

8. NÖLA-P, k. 766.

9. The fence was dismantled in November 1919 by children, who had returned after having a meal provided by American food aid. ÖStA, AdR, BKA-Inneres, 5067.

10. On 7 June 1920, the outrage caused by the high price of cherries at the local marketplace in Graz culminated in extensive demonstrations and looting in the whole city, in which several hundred people took part. In the evening, the gendarmes eventually opened fire on the crowd, killing 16. “Die Toten von Graz.” Arbeiterzeitung, 9 June 1920.

11. NAČR, Zemské četnické velitelství, k. 284.

12. ÖStA, AdR, BKA-Inneres, k. 5066. Cf. also “Eine Schlacht in Groß-Gerungs.” Reichspost, 4 December 1918, 10.

13. NAČR, Zemské četnické velitelství, k. 286.

14. NAČR, Zemské četnické velitelství, k. 284.

15. “Das Bandenunwesen in der Südbahngegend.” Reichspost, 6 February 1919, 8.

16. NÖLA-P, k. 765.

17. The stay of the invalids in the castle was approved at the highest level. On 15 April 1919, the Cabinet Council (Kabinettsrat) made a commitment to examine the possibilities of accommodating the invalids in former Habsburg castles Schönbrunn, Hetzendorf, and Laxenburg. (Kabinettsratsprotokoll Nr. 61, ÖStA, AdR, BKA-KRP, k. 7).

18. ÖStA, AdR, BKA-Inneres, k. 5067.

19. Cf. ÖStA, AdR, BKA-Inneres, k. 5067, 5068.

20. Stimmungsberichte, Juni–Oktober 1919, 4. Juni 1919, Archiv der Landespolizeidirektion Wien, Fond Jahreskartons.

21. Mission militaire française auprès de la République Tchécoslovaque 1919–1939: édition documentaire. Praha: Vojenský historický ústav, 1999.Series I., Vol. 2A, Dok. No. 13.

22. NAČR, Ministerstvo vnitra I – prezidium, Praha, k. 179.

23. NAČR, Ministerstvo vnitra I – prezidium, Praha, k. 179.

24. ÖStA, AdR, BKA-Inneres, k. 5068.

25. ÖStA, AdR, BKA-Inneres, k. 4861.

26. ÖStA, AdR–BKA-Inneres, k. 5067.

27. ÖStA, AdR–BKA-Inneres, k. 5068.

28. Cf. “Antisemitische Studentendemonstrationen.” Arbeiterzeitung, 27 April 1920, 5; also Taschwer (2015).

29. For more on sharp political and violent conflicts between the radical and moderate left in 1920 in Czechoslovakia, see Kárník (2000, 142–147).

30. NAČR, Presidium Policejního ředitelství Praha I, k. 3014.

31. NAČR, Zemské četnické velitelství, k. 290.

32. Anti-German and anti-Jewish riots erupted in Prague in early March 1919 in connection with the rumor that Jews and Germans were holding protest meetings against the closing down of the German magazine Bohemia. Cf. NAČR, Ministerstvo vnitra I –presidium, Praha k. 165.

33. NAČR, Ministerstvo spravedlnosti, k. 917; NAČR, PMV, oddělení N, k. 161.

34. NAČR, Ministerstvo spravedlnosti, k. 917; synoptically Frankl and Szabó (2016).

35. NAČR, Pražské místodržitelství, k. 5043.

36. “In Graz wird wieder geschossen.” Arbeiterzeitung, 7 June 1920, 3; “Schwere Ausschreitungen in Graz.” Neues Grazer Abendblatt, 8 June 1920, 4–5.

37. ÖStA, AdR–BKA-Inneres, k. 5067. Cf. “Die Ereignisse in Traisen.” Rote Fahne, 30 November 1919, 3.

38. ÖStA, AdR–BKA-Inneres, k. 5066.

Additional information

Funding

This work was written in the course of the project “Violence in Central Europe During and in the Aftermath of the First World War” that has been supported by the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR 14-14612S).