Europe’s other? The Turks and shifting borders of memory

Abstract

Since the fifteenth century, the ‘Turks’ have represented the paradigmatic other of Europe. Even in times without violent conflict, the ‘Turks’ delimited the mental border of Europe towards the ‘Orient’ and served for identity-building in East Central Europe. In that region, the commemoration of the Turkish menace substantiated claims of being part of Europe over the last 200 years. Societies in peripheral regions could thereby redraw Europe’s frontiers in their favour. A comparison across Eastern European countries demonstrates how attempts at an inner homogenization through instrumentalization of an imagined external enemy contradict the plurality of interpretations of the past.

Keywords:

• Turks
• East Central Europe
• enemy image
• bulwark
• European Memory

Notes

1. For the long-term perspective of the relationship between Europe and Islam see Tolan et al., Europe and the Islamic World.

2. Tolan, Saracens.

3. Wrede, Das Reich und seine Feinde, 72–80, 92–9.

4. Grothaus, “Türkenbild,” 64.

5. Kramp, “Mythos, Mode, Maskerade.” For the era of romanticism see, for example, Cavaliero, Ottomania.

6. Paweł Bystrowski, "Bronię pomysłu" (= Czytelnicy do “Gazety”), Gazeta Wyborcza, September 17, 2008, 2.

7. Marek Bartosik, "Sobieski pod Wiedniem, Turcjo, marsz do Unii," Gazeta Wyborcza, September 12, 2008, 13.

8. "Okrągłe 325 lat minęło," Gazeta Wyborcza, September 13, 2008, 3.

9. Berwick, 2083.

10. A Polish-Italian film production from the year 2012 draws the same line between the historic conflict more than 300 years ago and current Islamic terrorism by choosing the title September Eleven 1683. See "Vernichtende Kritiken für ‘September Eleven 1683’," DiePresse.com, October 17, 2012, http://diepresse.com/home/kultur/film/1302224/Vernichtende-Kritiken-fuer-September-Eleven-1683 (accessed May 22, 2016).

11. FPÖ, Sagen aus Österreich.

12. FPÖ, Sagen aus Wien.

13. Walter Müller, "‘Bollwerk’ gegen Türkei-Beitritt," derstandard.at, July 15, 2005, http://derstandard.at/2097522 (accessed January 26, 2016).

14. “Krenn: ‘Die dritte Türkenbelagerung’,” derstandard.at, October 19, 2002, http://derstandard.at/1044208 (accessed January 26, 2016).

15. Prole, "Erinnerung als Bedrohung," 321f.

16. Ibid.; Jansen, "‘Why Do They Hate Us?,’" 218.

17. Makuljević, "Public Monuments," 36f.

18. Narodna Odbrana, Izdanje Stredisnog Odbora Narodne Odbrane. Quoted from "Austro-Hungarian Red Book," 350.

19. See the article by Daniela Mehler in this special issue.

20. Popović, Die Mythologisierung des Alltags, 136f.

21. Höpken, "History Education," 117.

22. For an overview of various ideas of their own country as an antemurale christianitatis see, for example, Srodecki, "Antemurale Christianitatis"; in particular about Croatia see Žanić, "The Symbolic Identity of Croatia in the Triangle Crossroads-Bulwark-Bridge."

23. See Hadler, "Der Kriegsort Mogersdorf/St. Gotthard," 415–7.

24. Todorova, "The Ottoman Menace," 146.

25. Trumbić, "Elaborat o hrvatskom pitanju." Quoted from Patterson, "The Futile Crescent?," 130.

26. See Hadler and Feichtinger, "Feinde zu Gegnern und Gegner zu Feinden," 270.

27. Helfert, Bosnisches, 201.

28. Zimmermann, 1664–1964, 32.

29. "Landeshauptmann Bögl, Mahnung aus der Vergangenheit," Burgenländische Freiheit, August 1, 1964.

30. "Eine Mahnung zur Einheit an die Völker Europas," Kleine Zeitung, August 4, 1964.

31. "Mogersdorf als Symbol für Europa," Wiener Zeitung, August 4, 1964.

32. "Die Türken marschieren gegen Graz," Sonntagspost, August 2, 1964.

33. See, for example, Mertens, "Funktionen und Überlieferungen lateinischer Türkenreden."

34. Blaschke, "Ein Zweites Konfessionelles Zeitalter?"

35. See, for example, Perkins, Christendom and European Identity, 255–82.

36. See for instance Casanova, "Religion, European Secular Identities, and European Integration."

37. See for instance Riesebrodt, Die Rückkehr der Religionen; Graf, Die Wiederkehr der Götter.

38. Sierżęga, "Centralny komitet," 87–8.

39. Nowa Reforma, August 19, 1883, 1.

40. "Korespondencya ‘Nowej Reformy’," Nowa Reforma, September 9, 1883.

41. "Przegląd Polityczny," Czas, September 11, 1883.

42. Sierżęga, "Centralny komitet," 88f.

43. Klopp, Das Jahr 1683.

44. Dabrowski, Commemorations, 53; Sierżęga, Obchody 200, 30. Also the priest and member of the Austrian Imperial Council, Jan Chełmecki, responded with a reply to Klopp's publication. His comments appeared in German, Polish and Italian. Chełmecki, König Johann Sobieski.

45. About Piłsudski’s attempt to construct a personal continuity between Polish rulers or heroes and himself see Hein, Der Piłsudski-Kult, 286–90.

46. "‘Times’ o oswobodzeniu Wiednia przez króla Sobieskiego," Czas, September 13, 1933.

47. "Rok 1683 i 1920," Czas, September 14, 1933.

48. Wöller, "Die Türken zitterten," 267.

49. in the Habsburg Empire Ukrainians were named Ruthenians (Ruthenen).

50. Qtd. Wöller, Bollwerk-Mythos, 269.

51. Ibid., 278.

52. Forgó, "Überlegungen zum Wandel des Osmanenbildes," 86.

53. Von Kállay, "Ungarn an den Grenzen des Orients und des Occidents," 489; see also Spannenberger and Őze, "‘Wir brauchen Mohács!,’" 335–7.

54. Ágoston, "The Image of the Ottomans in Hungarian Historiography," 16.

55. Balogh, "Ungarische Erinnerungsmuster und ihre Wendepunkte," 132.

56. "Unsere Türken von heute," Neues Wiener Tagblatt, September 11, 1890.

57. "Das päpstliche Sendschreiben über die Säcularfeier," Neue Freie Presse (Morgenblatt), September 12, 1883: ‘Also nowadays, the Church is fiercely targeted, although by other enemies and by other means. Not so much external as internal enemies point their arms at the Catholic cause in a bloodless, but sharp and disastrous struggle.’

58. Deckert, Türkennoth und Judenherrschaft, 17.

59. Suppanz, "An der ‘Kulturfront des Abendlandes,’" 181.

60. Allgemeiner Deutscher Katholikentag, 18.

61. See, for example, Isom-Verhaaren, Allies with the Infidel.