On our journey there, we passed by one of the most memorable graffiti pieces that I have seen here. It was on what we think is the cement block containing the transformers for the trams, and it said “capitalism kills.” So, naturally, we got a couple of pictures of Jordan holding his money and talking on his iPhone next to it. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
I enjoyed thinking about it because I have not seen any significant amount of anti-capitalist street art back in the States, but I have seen many pieces here that vilify capitalism. This is interesting to me for a few reasons, chiefly among them because it exposes a more European attitude towards American economic dynamism. Many of the Austrians that we have talked to have commented about how consumer-oriented American culture is, with our country responsible for a much larger per capita portion of the world’s pollution. Secondly, what I feel should be noted is that the idea of capitalism not only came out of Europe but was also most heavily practiced in Europe. Adam Smith, a native of England, argued in his 1776 treatise “The Wealth of Nations” that the pursuit of individual wealth would benefit the general populace because the ‘invisible hand’ of laissez-faire economics would allow governments to accrue wealth along with its private citizens. Once the Industrial revolution came around in the early 19th century England was the world-leader in industry, followed by France, Spain, and many other European countries. It seems that a larger proportion of Europeans are ready to move away from capitalism, while Americans embrace it much more and even allow it to increase its hold on our culture (and thus the world).Anyway, on to the museum we go. The museum is housed in one of many buildings called the Arsenal, which was built between 1850-1856 as the Imperial Army garrison and armory. One gets this impression because of the rows of old canons that line either side of the front entrance.
Once inside, we started our tour of over 400 years of Austrian military history. Our first destination was upstairs, to the section devoted to the 30 Year’s War, the Ottomans, and Prince Eugene of Savoy. Going into the museum, I must confess, I knew very little about the 30 Years’ War (1618-1648). Looking at the many battle standards displayed and the many names of militias that participated taught me that this was really the first world war! There is no clear goal that each faction had, which makes it hard to describe exactly how/why the war started. It was initially a result of the fighting between Protestants and Catholics who each wanted religious dominance over the lands, but it eventually escalated to involve the Habsburgs who were opposed to the Bourbon rule in France. According to the hand-outs and the audio guide the soldiers in the war did not fight for countries, but instead fought for private militias. Previous to the 17th century many of the soldiers that made up armies were only hired for the duration of a specific campaign, but this war necessitated the formation of a permanent military presence for each power group (in many cases, soldiers were granted tax exemption in order to encourage people to enlist). The war was so all-inclusive that there were multiple peace treaties, just like in the World Wars. In class we learned that the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 stopped the war, but the hand-outs in the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum identify the peace treaties of Osnabruck and Munster as ending the conflict. Among the consequences of the war was religious freedom for the German provinces. Of interest to me were the different ways that painters in the Habsburg territories portrayed the Turks who tried to invade Vienna. Well, to be honest, I was not interested in this at first because I was waiting for the sections on the World Wars. But since it was assigned, I did it. I actually found it an enjoyable intellectual exercise; thanks public education! Anyway, much of the display of the Turks was in the section on the 30 Years’ War and when they tried to invade Vienna in 1529 and again in 1683. Common to almost all of the paintings of battles, the Turks were portrayed as dark barbarians. These images of the enemy as less than human is a common ploy in wartime in order to bolster support for the war effort and to frighten the citizens into compliance with whatever wartime agenda takes form. I see parallels between these images and the ones produced under the Nazi regime where the Jews looked more animal-like than human. This practice is almost universal to wartime, and displays the nasty human tendency towards hatred and misunderstanding. I suppose that this lesson was an appropriate one to learn in a museum of military history.
Next we were on to the section of the museum that had been in the back of my mind all day: the section that held the actual car that Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, was assassinated in, the uniform that he was wearing, and the couch on which he was pronounced dead. This was a seminal event in European/world history because it ignited the powder-keg that was Europe in 1914, directly leading to WWI. Once I got to this section, I really did not know what to think. On one hand, it looked like any car, any uniform, and any couch in that time period.
Had I not known about their significance, I would not have cared. And yet, that fact made them have more impact on me. I can’t exactly describe the feeling of staring at these plain objects that were the stage of one of the most pivotal moments in our history as a species, especially to someone who is obsessed with the history of war, but I can say that it was a marvel to see that things so simple can become so important to our narrative. Anyone who is a war-buff, or just interested in history in general, NEEDS to see these objects for themselves. After a few speechless minutes, we moved into the exhibit on WWII. I have to be honest; I was not impressed with this display. There was little to no information on the Austrian involvement in the War! The exhibit was designed to vilify the Nazis and Hitler in every shape and form. In a museum that espouses itself to be a bastion of historical information, they chose to put in a weird art exhibit featuring Hitler as a wolf instead of providing much REAL fact on one of the most important times in world history. The section on the Austrian Navy was more informative than the WWII exhibit! Austria today is a COMPLETELY LAND-LOCKED COUNTRY! I can only assume that the move to present Austria as juxtaposed to the Nazi agenda instead a part of it is just another method of coping with the ghastly past that was the Nazi annexation. Yet, pointing at this part of the past and making it seem evil does not change the fact that Austria was intertwined with the German war effort. To what degree, as Father Clemens remarked earlier in the week, we will probably never know. There were certainly Nazi sympathizers, but the numbers were so distorted by the Nazi party that it is hard to say how invested in the Third Reich the common Austrian was. Still, I wish that they could present the information to the best of their accurate knowledge and let us judge for ourselves instead of hide it away. Then again, I have seen very little in museums in America about our involvement in the genocide of the Native Americans during our colonial period. I suppose we both have things to learn.
Later during that day Jan organized a trip for a few of us to go to one of the largest cemeteries in Vienna, which happened to be really close to our apartments. It was an eye-opening experience to be sure. Of special note were the graves of such musical luminaries as (look this up!). Sadly, Jan could not find the burial site of Falco, a popular European pop artist (I think). Some of the more prominent families could afford to decorate the graves of their family and loved ones with ornate pillars, granite edifices, and impressive obelisks. As we journeyed deeper into the cemetery, however, we got to the most interesting and haunting portion: the Jewish section. Rows upon rows of gravesites were completely run over with weeds and grass.
There were scarcely any Jewish graves that dated after the mid 1930s, which helps explain why these graves are allowed to be in a state of such disregard. After the Third Reich took power during this time period, many Jews were corralled into concentration and/or extermination camps. This process was effective enough to leave a Jewish presence in Vienna that is small enough to allow the graves of family and friends to be retaken by tall grass and weeds. At the end of one row there was a pile of broken grave stones which were the fragments left-over from a time when the cemetery was bombed. The whole scene, from an objective stand-point, is easy enough to understand. You decimate a certain population, there is little voice left to prevent graves from becoming forgotten. Yet as a person actually walking around and seeing the graves of Christians as works of art while some portions of the Jewish section have been untouched in decades it was an eerie feeling. These people had lives, stories, families, and histories. It is a shame that war can even now take all of these things away from people. Additionally, it was an odd coincidence that earlier in the day I was engaged in an intellectual pursuit of the history of war and later I was walking through the still very emotional aftermath. It’s as if seeing the graves was the ultimate and final exhibit on military history.
To all those souls who have their last earthly holdings overgrown by nature, you will not be forgotten.
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