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Austria-Hungary trip April 2016Arrived in Vienna to be met by our guide and went by coach to the hotel. The hotel was close to the Belvedere Palace and so after a quick lunch in the Botanical gardens we went for a tour. The palace contained the world’s largest Klimt collection, including the Kiss. There were also works by Egon Shiele and Oskar Kokoschka. The works of Klimt are iconic and were recently the subject of the film called ‘Woman in Gold’ starring Helen Mirren. Our guide who it soon became apparent had many forthright opinions explained that of course it was correct that the paintings were restored to their original owners but that the Austrian government could have bought them back for the collection but refused. This is a contentious issue based around the emotions evoked by the Holocaust and naturally Austrians are on the defensive. My opinion is that the Holocaust was an historical event of great significance and importance and should be studied as such. Knowledge of its horrors should be taught as a lesson of where racism and fascism can lead to. However that is not the same as the promotion of the Holocaust as a moral absolute which has become the fashion for various reasons since the 1970s. (See Peter Novick, ‘The Holocaust and Collective Memory’ for a good summary) The restoration of the paintings to the descendants of the pre-war owners ignores post war settlements and attempts to revive memory of the Holocaust for a contemporary audience. In my view the paintings should have remained in the Belvedere on public view with some indication as to their history and how they were stolen from their Jewish owners by the Nazi authorities. Day 2 and we are off to the Danube Valley and the Benedictine Monastery of Melk. It was a beautiful setting and was interesting as I had just read the work ‘Inventing the Individual, The origins of western liberalism’ by Larry Siedentrop. He shows that the genesis of western liberalism emerged out of the Christian religion. He believes that Christianity was instrumental in transforming society from a society based around the family and Patriarchy and slavery towards a society a society which recognised at least in the abstract the liberty of all souls. Each individual could seek eternal life and was treated equally. In this transformation the Monasteries helped to create a new respect for labour and study and so helping in the slow move away from slavery. When you visit Melk you get a sense of that with the Benedictine emphasis on work, study and prayer. The regularity of the life and the meaning ascribed to it helped to promote a new way of looking at things which would eventually have repercussions in wider society. When you visit the library you get a sense of how the Monastery had helped to protect the knowledge of the past. Melk is also a wonderful setting up above the Danube.On day 3 we set off for a tour of Vienna. I was particularly interested in seeing the Ringstrasse. The city did not disappoint and you could still imagine you were there at the height of the Hapsburg Empire under Emperor Franz Joseph. It was the intellectual capital; a world best conjured up by Stefan Zweig’s work ‘The World of Yesterday’. I had just finished reading the great 2oth century novel by Robert Musil ‘The Man without Qualities’ described as a novel of ideas and could imagine his great protagonist Ulrich in that world of discussion and premonition in Vienna just before the cataclysm of World War One.We visited the Sigmund Freud Museum and the Mayerling Hunting Lodge in the Vienna Woods. The Sigmund Freud Museum from where Freud had fled the Nazis in 1939 was similar to the museum in London without the artefacts. The exhibition about Anna Freud and Psychoanalysis seemed to be similar the one that had run in London and so I made my way to the bookshop and read some extracts from ‘Civilisation and its discontents’. Later we went out of Vienna to the Vienna Woods. Reminded me of the play that we saw in 2003. (See the review from the Evening Standard)The Blue Danube waltz runs like a little trickle through Tales from the Vienna Woods, Odon von Horvath's panoramic 1931 Austrian play about a group of Viennese shopkeepers and girlfriends. Except that the playing of it has no real joy, even though a small band of musicians in Tyrolean hats and lederhosen are always on hand to remind us where we are. For this is Austria in 1930 with the world about to change, and not for the better. The National presented this play a quarter of a century ago in a glorious, luxuriant production by Maximillian Schell (a fairly unknown cast included Stephen Rea, Kate Nelligan, Toyah Willcox and Brenda Blethyn). Now, on the same vast Olivier stage, director Richard Jones, our most brilliant and dedicated Expressionist, shows what can be done with minimal scenic resources. Just a few overblown postcards, in fact. A butcher's fiancé, Marianne (Nicola Walker) goes off with the local wastrel Alfred (Joe Duttine). Valerie, an alcoholic widow - beautifully played by the luscious Frances Barber - seduces a 20-year-old student (Paul Chequer) who is soon wearing a swastika on his arm; he gives himself orders when drunk. There are scenes of domestic intimacy and group outings to bathe in the Danube, or see the show at Maxim's. But the spectacle is muted and Marianne's nude appearance in a theatrical tableau drives Valerie to a screeching outburst of unhappiness. This is a strange, compelling revival of a truly great play.The Mayerling Hunting Lodge commemorated the suicide of Prince Rudolph the heir to the Hapsburg throne in 1889. I found it of interest that the Prince had been educated by Carl Menger.In 1876 Menger began tutoring Archduke Rudolf von Habsburg, the Crown Prince of Austria in political economy and statistics. For two years Menger accompanied the prince in his travels, first through continental Europe and then later through the British Isles.[2] He is also thought to have assisted the crown prince in the composition of a pamphlet, published anonymously in 1878, which was highly critical of the higher Austrian aristocracy.In the evening we went to the Prater to see the wheel made famous in the 1949 film of the Third Man.On Day 4 we travelled by Catamaran to Bratislava. The interesting aspect was the obvious cultural differences between our two guides. Our Austrian guide was critical of the Slovakian guide for making light about the refugee crisis (refugees don’t want to stay in Slovakia because it is too poor for them). This was an example of western cultural imperialism whereby the superior west mocks the backward and un pc East in my opinion. Interesting to hear the clash at first hand.In the evening we went to the Schonbrunn Palace to listen to a Mozart and Strauss Concert. Reminiscent of the New Years Day concerts celebrating Strauss. We had a rousing rendition of the Radetsky March to commemorate. Day 5 and we were off to Hungary and Budapest. En route we visited the border crossing where in 1989 a ‘Pan Europa Picnic’ was held when the border was opened for East Germans and the events that led to the collapse of the Berlin Wall had begun. Tragic that instead of European unity including Russia we now have new divisions and war in the Ukraine and are ruled by an unaccountable bureaucracy in Brussels. Afterwards we went to Esterhazy Palace for a guided tour. The success of the family arose from the steady accumulation of land, and loyalty both to the Roman Catholic Church and to the Habsburg Emperor. The latter factor was perhaps the most important. A consistent theme of Hungarian history was an ardent and sometimes violent wish to become free of Austrian rule, a wish that was finally fulfilled at the end of the First World War. The Esterházy princes were consistently loyal to the Habsburg monarchy, and on several occasions rendered vital services to it in times of crisis. These included the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, and the outright occupation of Vienna by Napoleon in 1809.The family acquired its property in three principal ways: redistribution of land taken from Protestants in the Counter-Reformation, redistribution of land conquered from the Turks, and felicitous marriages.[6] Most of these lands were situated in present-day Austria, Slovakia and Hungary. The family ultimately became the largest landowners in the Habsburg Empire, and their income sometimes exceeded that of the Emperor.We also visited the border town of Sopron for lunch. There was an interesting statue of their national poet Petofi who died during the fighting of the 1848 revolution.Rise Up, MagyarRise up, Magyar, the country calls!It's 'now or never' what fate befalls...Shall we live as slaves or free men?That's the question - choose your `Amen'!God of Hungarians,we swear unto Thee,We swear unto Thee - that slaves we shallno longer be!Day 6 and we were off on a tour of Budapest. We started on the Pest side and visited St Stephens Basilica. In the afternoon we went to the Buda side and had a guided tour of the Parliament building. It was neo Gothic and modelled on the British parliament but noticeably in better condition.The day concluded with a visit to Heroes Square which was laid out in 1896 to mark the thousandth anniversary of Hungary. The guide also showed us the memorial to the 1956 uprising which was nearby. Her own mother had been locked up as a result of the uprising.Day 7 and off for a full day excursion to the Danube Bend. This is a huge region from Esztergom where the Danube River starts bending all the way down to Vac. We visited Visegrad where we went on a tour of the restored Museum Palace of King Matthias which dated back to Roman times.The Danube marked the border of the Roman Empire.In the evening we had a farewell dinner and managed to get into conversation about the forthcoming EU referendum. Some wine was consumed.The next day was a free day so we had to decide for ourselves where to go. We decided on the House of Terror which was nearby and told the story of totalitarian rule from the Nazis to the Stalinist Regime. There were graphic scenes from the 1956 uprising. In fact the main emphasis was on an anti communist narrative rather than seeing the period in historical context. Put simply World War One was cataclysmic for Hungary. They lost a great deal of territory and were always under the influence of Austria and more importantly Germany. Admiral Horthy who ruled as Regent was a right wing reactionary who could not keep Hungary out of the war.The period from 1914 (start of World War One) to 1989 (end of the Cold War) was a disaster for Hungary leading to war, depression and dictatorship. We did manage to visit some interesting cafes before getting ready for the flight home. ................
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