Rezension über: Ivan Pfaff, Francie a Čechy v Evropě

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Olšáková, Doubravka: Rezension über: Ivan Pfaff, Francie a Čechy v
Evropě národních států. Francouzská politika F. L. Riegra
1867-1878, Praha: Euroslavica, 2013, in: Jahrbücher für Geschichte
Osteuropas / jgo.e-reviews, JGO 63 (2015), 2, S. 299-300,
heruntergeladen über recensio.net
First published:
http://www.oei-dokumente.de/JGO/Rez/Olsakova_Pfaff_Franci...
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Rezensionen
299
and banish them as illegal organizations.
On the other hand, the author seeks to
demonstrate that for some Scots there were always opportunities for a successful assimilation
in the Polish-Lithuanian society. Bajer focuses in
particular on the chances for Scots to enter the
ranks of the nobility. More specifically he examines instruments through which Scottish migrants became members of the noble class such
as ennoblement and naturalization. The author
pays special attention to military service as an
important pre-condition which facilitated to
Scots the acquisition of the noble status.
To sum up the Bajer’s book is a very important historical study which makes a fundamental
contribution to the history of emigration and
migrants’ experience in early modern Eastern
Europe.
Juriy Zazuliak, L’viv
IVAN PFAFF: Francie a Čechy v Evropě národních
států. Francouzská politika F. L. Riegra 1867–
1878. [France and Bohemia in the Europe of National States: F. L. Rieger’s French Policy 1867–
1878.] Praha: Euroslavica, 2013. 260 S., Abb.
ISBN: 978-80-87825-01-3.
topic. A closer look reveals that he had reworked
and expanded two chapters of the original book,
namely Česká pouť do Moskvy r. 1867 [Czech Pilgrimage to Moscow, 1867] and Riegrova francouzská politika, 1867–1877 [Rieger’s French Policy,
1867–1877].
The aim of Pfaff ’s more recent publication
seems to be to rethink old problems from a new
perspective. Unfortunately, he is only sporadically
successful. The intention is clearly demonstrated
in his treatment of German history (e.g., pp.
124–126, 140) but elsewhere, especially in the
Czech or French context, this has little impact
and hardly any change is in evidence.
The key question, however, remains. It is the
issue of the start, the point zero of an independent Czech foreign policy, which is traditionally
identified with F. L. Rieger’s 1867 travel to
France, where this politician sought to gain political support from the West. Ivan Pfaff accepts
that this indeed was a turning point and clearly
formulates this in his final essay (pp. 210–224).
The history of Czech-French relations in the 19 th
century and Czech francophilia are then interpreted as a proof of the political emancipation
of the Czech nation.
Since 1989, this subject has been studied by
numerous historians but Ivan Pfaff is right in
emphasising the importance of Rieger’s journey
to France in 1875, which remains somewhat underestimated in contemporary historiography.
Rieger’s second ‘political’ trip to France was important because it demonstrated that the Czech
elite learned how to set up the agenda of foreign
policy and Rieger was able to reach a consensus
about it with his colleagues (this contrasts with
his 1867 journey which he undertook more or
East European francophilia and the ‘French card’
in the politics of Central and Eastern Europe in
the 19th and 20th century is a highly important
subject of contemporary historiography. It offers
a different perspective on European and East
European politics especially if we take into account the strong influence of German and Austrian historiography and their interpretations of
key factors challenging the nation-building process.
Small non-state nations have been attempting
to define and implement an independent foreign
policy since 1848. Given the specific situation of
Eastern Europe, their main aim was to counteract the German and Austrian dominance of the
region. The attempts of the small nations were
usually based on the simple assumption that ‘my
enemy’s enemy is my friend’. Their dream of a
French Central and Eastern Europe, however,
came true only after 1918, when it took the form
of the ‘Petite-Entente’.
The author of the reviewed book has been researching this and related topics for a long time.
In this publication, Ivan Pfaff returns to his ‘old’
research and seventeen years after he published
“Česká přináležitost k západu v letech 1815–
1878: Francouzská politika F. L. Riegra 1867–
1878” [Czech Sense of Belonging to the West in
1815–1878: F. L. Rieger’s French Policy 1867–
1878], he produces another book on the same
Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 63 (2015), H. 2 © Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart/Germany
300
Rezensionen
less on his own, without any real support of
Czech politicians). It was a crucial milestone in
learning how to develop a foreign policy at all.
Unfortunately, Pfaff ’s book in many ways remains outside the mainstream of current discussions about the nature of Czech-French relations
and many recently published works are not reflected in either the text or the bibliography. That
is the weakest point of the publication. Recent
books and journal articles published after 1990
are reflected only rarely and publications of the
last ten years are barely taken into account at all.
This is a significant shortcoming since during this
period, a whole generation of historians dealing
with this subject had appeared in Paris and in
Prague and they produced numerous works that
deserve our attention. For example, Stephane
Reznikow in his articles and his highly important
book Francophilie et identité tchèque 1848–1914 (Paris
2002) analyses in detail various questions and issues which Ivan Pfaff claims to be still untreated
in the Czech and French historiography. Antoine
Marès has also been publishing new materials
and, in general, there is a growing number of
Czech historians who focus on Czech-French relations.
Ivan Pfaff in his book analyses the international policy and possibilities as well as limitations
of an independent foreign policy of a small
Central European non-state nation. Unfortunately, his recent publication is based on two
chapters of his older book which are expanded
but not really updated, as the failure to include recent publications and authors reveals. The final
essay is a rare exception: it brings an interesting
insight into his way of rethinking European
policy of the nineteenth century and shows that
it is possible and challenging to rethink old problems in a new way. The chapter itself, however, is
not fully in line with previous parts of the book
and its impact thus necessarily remains limited.
Doubravka Olšáková, Prague
ULRIKE PLATH: Esten und Deutsche in den baltischen Provinzen Russlands. Fremdheitskonstruktionen, Lebenswelten, Kolonialphantasien 1750–
1850. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2011. 360 S. =
Veröffentlichungen des Nordost-Instituts, 11.
ISBN: 978-3-447-05839-1.
meisten Neuerungen eingeführt wurden, was besonders in der Institution des baltischen Pfarrhauses als einem „widersprüchlichen Ort zwischen Modernisierung und Assimilierung“
(S. 101) zum Ausdruck kam. Die deutsche Wahrnehmung der gesellschaftlichen Realität im Baltikum war demnach gespalten, indem einerseits die
Isolation der Ständegesellschaft beklagt, andererseits die „künstliche Aufheizung harmloser Ständekonflikte“ (S. 104) beanstandet wurde.
Nach einem einleitenden Überblick über den
Forschungsstand der deutschbaltischen wie auch
der estnischen Historiografie und einer knappen
Quellenbeschreibung gibt die Verfasserin im ersten Teil einen historischen Einblick in den baltischen Landesstaat, vor allem in die Migrationsgeschichte des 18. Jahrhunderts einschließlich der
spezifischen Probleme dieser Region. Im zweiten
Abschnitt Zwischen Stereotyp und Lebenswelt behandelt sie nicht nur die Esten in der historischen
Wahrnehmung, sondern auch Aspekte der Integration und der Interaktion. Den Strukturen der
Fremdwahrnehmung wendet sie sich im dritten Abschnitt zu mit den diskursiven Darstellungen von
positiven und negativen Emotionen, Verfremdungsmustern und Kolonialvergleichen.
In der aktualisierten Fassung ihrer bereits 2006 an
der Universität Mainz verteidigten Dissertation
sieht die Verfasserin die baltische Geschichte generell als Teil der deutschen Migrations- und Ideengeschichte und damit als eine „Geschichte der
kulturellen Verknüpfungen und Verwebungen“
(S. 9–10). Dabei kontrastiert sie vor allem die Migrationserfahrungen mit der Lebenswirklichkeit
während der baltischen Aufklärungszeit. Denn
zahlreiche Berichte aus dieser Epochenschwelle
zwischen Ständesystem und beginnender Moderne verweisen auf die Sogkraft des damaligen baltischen Ständewesens als Pull-Faktor der Migration, wobei die Abgrenzung von den Nichtdeutschen und die provinzielle Abgeschiedenheit unterschiedlich auf jene wirkten, die als
„Hofmeister“ (Hauslehrer) in die baltische Region kamen. Die erhebliche Bedeutung der bürgerlichen Migration zeigt sich darin, dass von ihr die
Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas 63 (2015), H. 2 © Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH, Stuttgart/Germany