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Pride in Production: The Jubilee Exhibition of 1891 and Economic Competition between Czechs and Germans in Bohemia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2009

Catherine Albrecht
Catherine Albrecht
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of History, University of Baltimore, Baltimore, MD 21201–5779
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Extract

Adistinctive Feature of nineteenth-century Czech nationalism was its consistent promotion of Czech business and economic interests. Since the 1850s, Czech national leaders had argued that economic prosperity was a prerequisite for eventual political power and provincial autonomy within the Habsburg monarchy. They demanded equality for Czechs and for the Czech language not just in schools, courts, and the bureaucracy, but also in the business world, and they gradually established a wide network of cooperatives and voluntary associations to support Czech business.

Type
Articles
Information
Austrian History Yearbook , Volume 24 , January 1993 , pp. 101 - 118
Copyright
Copyright © Center for Austrian Studies, University of Minnesota 1993

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References

1 For further information on the Czech national economic program, see Albrecht, Catherine, “National Economy or Economic Nationalism in the Bohemian Crownlands,” in Labyrinth of Nationalism / Complexities of Diplomacy: Essays in Honor of Barbara and Charles Jelavich ed. Frucht, Richard (Columbus, Ohio, 1992), 69–83Google Scholar.

2 Jaworski, Rudolf, Handel und Gewerbe im Nationalitäten Kampf. Studien zur Wirtschaftsgesinnung der Polen in der Provinz Posen, 1871–1914 (Göttingen, 1986), 10–11Google Scholar.

3 Kronbauer, Rudolf Jaroslav, Naše jubilejní výstava (Our jubilee exhibition) (Prague, 1892), 7Google Scholar.

4 Praha: Denní list výstavní (Prague: Daily exhibition paper), 05 15, 1891Google Scholar.

5 See, for example, Národní Listy (National news), February 11, 1890, and February 19, 1890.

6 Utz Haltern, “Die ‘Welt als Schaustellung’. Zur Funktion und Bedeutung der internationalen Industrieausstellung im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert,” Vierteljahrschrift für Social-und Wirtschaftsgeschichte 60/1 (1973): 1–40.

7 Beutler, Christian, Weltausstellungen im 19. Jahrhundert (Munich, 1973)Google Scholar. Of the ten world's fairs held between 1851 and 1900, the Chicago fair of 1893 showed the greatest profit, 16 million francs, and the Vienna fair of 1873 suffered the greatest loss, 48 million francs.

8 Jaroslav E. Salaba, “Doba světových výstav, 1851–1900” (The era of world exhibitions, 1851–1900), Obzor Národohospodářský (National-economic review) (1901): 201–13. Six million people visited the British exhibit of 1851; 50 million attended the Paris fair of 1900. Salaba notes that each world's fair was organized as much for political as for economic aims.

9 Ibid.

10 Haltern, “Die ‘Welt als Schaustellung.’”

11 A small display organized at the National Library in Prague to honor the two hundredth anniversary of the exhibit of 1791 included a textile display book, showing patterns of linen cloth from north Bohemian manufacturers, and a few glass items.

12 The earliest reference I uncovered was to a letter from the Průmyslová jednota to the Prague city council in July 1882. Pamětní spis v přičině zřizení stálé výstavní budovy v parku Bubenčském pro průmyslové a zemědělské výstavy odborné se zvláštním zřetelem k případnému pořádáni všeobecné zemské výstavy v Praze (Memorandum concerning the establishment of a permanent exhibition building in Bubenický Park for industrial and agricultural exhibitions, with special reference to organizing a general provincial exhibition in Prague) (Prague, 1887), 18. Hereafter, Pamětni spis.

13 Pamětní spis. This memorandum is reprinted, along with other documents, in František Křižík, Naše jubilejní výstava v Praze 1891 (Our jubilee exhibition in Prague, 1891) (Prague, 1933).

14 For a transcript of the debate, see Křižík, Naše jubilejní výstava, 33–38; for a summary, see Křižík, František, Paměti (Memoirs) (Prague, 1952), 110–38Google Scholar.

15 The following account is based on Křižík, Paměti, 110–38.

16 According to Křižík's memoirs, Thun emphasized this point so strongly that Nekvasil regretted having invited him to the meeting.

17 The original members of the exhibit's executive committee were Křrižík, Nekvasil, Leon Bondy, Jan Otto, and Richard Jahn. Karl Max Zedtwitz accepted the post of honorary chairman of the committee.

18 Statní ústřední archiv (State Central Archive; hereafter, SÚA), PP (1888–92), P 83/6 (carton 1167). Letter to the Bohemian governor's office of December 3, 1889, reporting that German Bohemian parties viewed the diet's 100,000 gulden subvention for the exhibit as excessive.

19 SÚA, Zemský sněm (Provincial diet) (1883–1941), inv. no. 188, report of November 21, 1889, from the Budget Committe.

20 The program was published in Národní Listy, February 5, 1890.

21 SÚA/JPP (1889–92), sig. XII (Jubilejní zemská výstava [Provincial jubilee exhibition], 1890–92), carton 84. Letter of January 14, 1890, from the executive committee to the Industrial Union announcing the upcoming exhibit.

22 A short survey of German attitudes to the exhibit is found in Lothar Höbelt, “Ausgleich und Ausstellung. Wirtschaft und Politik in Böhmen urn 1890,” Bohemia 29/1 (1988): 141–47. See also Menger, Max, Der Böhmische Ausgleich (Stuttgart, 1891), 193–95Google Scholar.

23 “Aus der Reichenberger Handels-und Gewerbekammer. Die Frage der Beschickung der Landesausstellung,” Reichenberger Zeitung, February 13, 1890; and “Protokoll der ausserordentliche, öffentliche Sitzung der Reichenberger Handels- und Gewerbekammer am 30. Juli 1890,” Reichenberger Zeitung, August 1, 1890.

24 Hlas Národa (Voice of the nation), January 29, 1890.

25 Národní Listy, February 7, 1890, and February 11, 1890. In general, Národní Listy provided less information on—and more critical analysis of—the negotiations in February and March 1890 than did the Old Czech paper, Hlas Národa.

26 Bohemia, February 13, 1890.

27 Hlas Národa, February 18, 1890.

28 “Die erste Gewerbe-Ausstellung,” Bohemia, February 25, 1890; for a Czech response, see Národní Listy, February 26, 1890.

29 For a sample of Czech responses, see Hlas Národa, February 11, 1890; Národní Listy, February 14, 1890; Hlas Národa, February 15, 1890; and Bohemia, February 15, 1890.

30 Křižík, Paměti, 119.

31 Hlas Národa, February 20, 1890; and Národní Listy, February 20, 1890.

32 Křižík, Paměti, 120; and Hlas Nřroda, March 2, 1890. The official stationery printed by the executive committee in April 1890 emphasized the anniversary by printing the words “na oslavu jubilae (to celebrate the jubilee)” in bold face: “Všeobecnř zemskř výstava v Praze 1891 NA OSLAVU JUBILAE první průmyslové výstavy v Praze 1791.” SÚA/PP (1888–92), fasc. A-1713.

33 Bohemia, March 6, 1890.

34 Hlas Národa, May 13, 1890.

35 Hlas Národa reported each new commitment to the exhibition. See, for example, “Ku práci” (To work), Hlas Národa, April 3, 1890.

36 Höbelt, “Ausgleich und Ausstellung.”

37 Hlas Národa, March 9, 1890.

38 Národní Listy, March 10, 1890.

39 Hlds Národa, April 15, 1890.

40 Hlas Národa, June 2, 1890. The Czechs later regretted that they had accepted the German demand for separate committees in Reichenberg and Eger. They complained that these two committees would not relinquish money that had been collected to support the exhibit and that the committees pressured north Bohemian firms and individuals into withdrawing their support from the exhibit after the general German withdrawal in November 1890. Hlas Národa, December 2, 1890; and Národní Listy, December 4, 1890.

41 “Protokoll der ausserordentliche, öffentliche Sitzung der Reichenberger Handels-und Gewerbekammer am 30. Juli 1890,” Reichenberger Zeitung, August 1, 1890.

42 “Prohlřšení němcu o volbě Heinrichové; a o výstavě” (The German declaration on the election of Heinrich and on the Exhibition), Hlas Nřroda, July 28, 1890.

43 “Němcu, Bez” (Without the Germans), Nřrodni Listy, 07 23, 1890Google Scholar; see also Nřrodni Listy, July 29, 1890. Nřrodní Listy had also recommended changing the character of the exhibit by including Slovakia and creating a “Českoslovanskř výstava” (Czechoslav exhibition); Hlas Nřroda, July 31, 1890.

44 Nřrodní Listy, July 30, 1890.

45 “výstava, Vlada a zemskř” (The government and the provincial exhibition), Nřrodní Listy, 07 22, 1890Google Scholar. Viennese papers were already warning that the provincial exhibit would become a center for Pan-Slavic demonstrations; Hlas Nřroda, July 31, 1890.

46 “Die deutschen Böhmens und die Landesausstellung,” Bohemia, November 28, 1890”. Bohemia May 14, 1891.

48 SÚA, Zemský vybor (Provincial council), inv. no. 9237.

49 The Museum hlřvniho města Prahy (Museum of the Capital City of Prague) organized a small exhibit in 1991 showing the evolution of Prague's tram system from 1891 to the present.

50 For detailed descriptions of the exhibition, see the official catalogs of the exhibit: Hlřvní katalog výstavní (Main exhibition catalog) (Prague, 1891); Sto let práce: Zprřva o Všeobecné zemské výstavě v Praze 1891 (One hundred years of work: Report on the general provincial exhibition in Prague, 1891), 3 vols. (Prague, 1893–95). Among other contemporary accounts, see Kron-bauer, Naše jubilejní výstava. For more recent studies of the exhibition, see Hlavačka, Milan and Kolřr, František, Jubilejní výstava 1891 (Jubilee exhibition, 1891)Google Scholar, Slovo k historii, number 28 (Prague, 1891); Pavel Augusta and František Honzřk, Sto let Jubilejní (One hundred years of the jubilee) (Prague, 1991); and Hlavačka, Milan, Jubilejní výstava 1891 (Jubilee exhibition, 1891) (Prague, 1991)Google Scholar.

51 Both the fountain and the tram were the work of František Kŕižík.

52 Historian Josef Šusta visited the fair as a young man and noted in his memoirs that the art and antiquities exhibits impressed him the most. Susta, Mladř leta učňovská a vandrovní: Praha— Videń—Řim. Vzpominky 11 (Young years of apprenticeship and wandering: Prague—Vienna—Rome. Remembrances II) (Prague, 1963), 15.

53 All of the official visits from Vienna were sensitive because of the German boycott of the exhibition. Thus, on May 14, 1891, Bohemia welcomed Archduke Karl Ludwig and Archduchess Maria Theresa cordially, while lambasting the exhibition.

54 On Franz Joseph's visit, see Praha: Denní list výstavni, September 26–27, 1891; Křižík, Paměti; and other descriptions of the exhibition.

55 Křižík, Paměti, 126.

56 SÚA/PP (1888–92), fasc. A-1713. According to one police report, Nřrodní Listy published on November 14, 1891, a speech made in Reichsrat by Josef Sokol in which Sokol claimed that a fifteen-year-old boy had been arrested at the exhibition for shouting “vive la France” and had been imprisoned for three days, during which time he had received only dry bread. The police investigatedSokol's charges and concluded that it was a sixteen-year-old boy who had insistentlycalled “Slřva Francie.” He was placed in one of the best rooms in the prison, with only one other prisoner. The boy was in the custody of the police only fifteen hours and did not receive hard, dry bread.

57 See Praha: Denní list výstavni for reports of theseevents. I would like to thank Cathleen M. Giustino for lending me the entire run of the newspaper.

58 In his correspondence with Prime Minister Taaffe, Governor Thun criticized the German attitude to the exhibit and negative reports in the German press. Thun noted that many individual Germans attended the exhibit, but did not participate in any corporate way. Of course, Slavic friendship was emphasized under such circumstances. Even in Budapest in 1885 there were similar singing fests and demonstrations. Křižík, Paměti.

59 Praha, June 5, 1891.

60 The executive committee did consider how to include workers in the exhibition. Křižík proposed adding a section on hygiene and society. Hlas Nřroda, February 18, 1890.

61 Praha, June 14, 1891.

62 Praha, September 20, 1891.

63 SÚA/JPP (1889–92), sig. XII, carton 84. The Industrial Union also provided small stipends to enable artisans to send their goods to be displayed.

64 Cathleen M. Giustino, “Moderní civilizace a českř veřejnost” (Modern civilization and the Czech public) (unpublished paper presented at the Plzeňské symposium, 1991).

65 SÚA, Zemský výbor, inv. no. 9237. The provincial executive committee argued that since they had been built as temporary structures, the pavilions were not suited for long-term use.

66 Praha, June 14, 1891.

67 “ O hospodřřském vyznřmu zemské výstavy” (On the economic significance of the provincial exhibition), Praha, August 4–8, 1891; “Zkušenosti z jubilejní výstavy a praktické pokyny pro prumyslnictvo a źivnostnictvo ćeské” (The experience of the jubilee exhibition and practical suggestions for Czech industry and crafts), Hlas Nřroda, October 10, 1891; “Organisujme se ve směru hmotném” (Let us organize materially), Hlas Nřroda, October 21, 1891; “Některé naše národohospodřřské nedostatky” (Some of our economic insufficiencies), Hlas Nřroda, October 31, 1891; and “Nová práce vlasteneckř” (New patriotic work), Hlas Nřroda, November 8, 1891.

68 The Českř společnost národohospodářská (Czech Economic Society) was founded in 1896 as a result of organization efforts begun during the Národopisná výstava of 1895. SÚA/PP-V (1900–1907), inv. no. 21–28.

69 “Založme si česky vývozni spolek” (Let us found a Czech export society), Praha, August 19, 1891, and August 20, 1891; “Otázka vývozní” (The export question), Hlas Národa, October 12, 1891; Praha, September 10, 1891; and Hlas Národa, October 26, 1891. For further information on the activities of the Výoozni spolek český (Czech export society), see SÚAřPP-V (1888–92), inv. no. 45/19.