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Civil Wars

Press conference
Thursday, 5 February 2009

CIVIL WARS
February 12 – March 26, 2009

In 2009, this country observes the 75th anniversary of the Austrian Civil War of February 1934. This is a fitting occasion to scrutinize the historical traces of these events – and not only in Linz. Civil wars have had serious and persistent consequences in numerous European countries. The “Civil War” project takes a comparative perspective to examining how recent historical conflicts have influenced various European societies and how they have gone about dealing with their historical legacy.

On the 75th Anniversary: What Remains of February 1934?
Date/Time: February 12, 2009, 8 PM
Location: Kepler Salon, Rathausgasse 5, Linz

Austria's first civil war left behind deep traces in the consciousness prevailing in the country’s two major political camps. After 1945, one of the preconditions for cooperation between the ÖVP-Austrian People’s Party and the SPÖ-Socialdemocratic Party of Austria was to steer clear of any discussions of what had occurred from 1934 to 1938.
Why has a social consensus about Austro-fascism still not emerged?

Panel discussion with:
Birgit Kirchmayr, historian, Linz
Georg Starhemberg, businessman, Eferding
Helmut Wagner, publisher, Linz
Doron Rabinovici, author and historian, Vienna
Josef Weidenholzer (Univ. Prof., Representative SPÖ)
Bernhard Baier (Representative ÖVP)

Moderation: Florian Wenninger


The Shadows of War
Contemporary Spain’s public process of coming to terms with the Spanish Civil War
Date/Time: February 19, 2009, 6 PM
Location: Kepler Salon, Rathausgasse 5, Linz

The Spanish Civil War (1936-39) resulted in the deaths of about 500,000 people. Following the end of the Franco regime in 1975, all of Spain’s political parties agreed to a pacto de silencio that was to enable the country to make a clean break with the past and to facilitate the transition to democracy. Since it was founded in 2000, ARMH–Association to Recover Historical Memory has been sponsoring highly publicized initiatives to come to terms with the events of the Spanish Civil War, whereby its activities have triggered heated public debates.

Panel discussion with:
Santiago Macías, vice president of ARMH, Madrid
Sören Brinkmann, historian, Erlangen-Nürnberg

Moderator: Christian Klösch


Civil War and Regional Remembrance from Santa Cruz to Ennsleiten.
An Austrian-Spanish comparison.
Date/Time: February 26, 2009, 6 PM
Location: Museum Arbeitswelt, Wehrgrabengasse 7, Steyr

Günter Schweiger’s film “Der Mord von Santa Cruz” (The Murder of Santa Cruz) deals with how a massacre committed by Franco’s forces has been dealt with by the inhabitants of a small Spanish town that still bears the scars of these past events. Heated emotions were evoked in Upper Austria’s Hausruckviertel region in 2005 by performances of local author Franzobel’s play “Hunt or The Total February.” This gathering is an attempt to scrutinize what’s been set in motion in Santa Cruz as an approach to understand the long-term consequences of events that took place in Steyr during the Austrian Civil War.

Screening of the film “Der Mord von Santa Cruz” (Spanish with German subtitles) followed by a question & answer session with:
Franzobel, author, Vienna
Günter Schwaiger, ethnologist and filmmaker, Salzburg-Madrid
Erich Hackl, author, Vienna-Madrid

Moderator: Florian Wenninger


Ora e sempre – Resistenza?
Italy and the complex legacy of resistance
Date/Time: March 5, 2009, 6 PM
Location: Kepler Salon, Rathausgasse 5, Linz

When Italy surrendered to the Allies in September 1943, the Wehrmacht occupied large parts of the country, which triggered a two-year guerilla war against the German troops. After 1945, the Resistenza became the central founding myth of the re-established republic. To this day, however, it is still taboo to point out that the resistance was not only a struggle for national liberation but also a bloody civil war between anti-fascist forces and supporters of Mussolini. One attempt to violate this taboo was Guido Chiesa’s highly regarded 2000 film “Partigiano Johnny,” an account of the experiences of a young intellectual in the resistance.

Screening of the film “Partigiano Johnny” (Italian with English subtitles) followed by an audience Q&A session with:
Guido Chiesa, director, Rome (invited)
Marzia Gigli, historian, Marzabotto

Moderator: Florian Wenninger

In cooperation with the Italian Cultural Institute in Vienna.
The language of this event will be English.


The Power of the (Poet’s) Word versus the Apocalypse.
Stevan Tontič and the Civil War in Former Yugoslavia.
Date/Time: March 12, 2009, 6 PM
Location: Kepler Salon, Rathausgasse 5, Linz

“When I was in that hell,” wrote Bosnian poet Stevan Tontič, “poetry became (…) a part of the power that I acquired to my surprise and that brought me healing amidst the helplessness.” He dealt with what transpired in that inferno, the civil war in former Yugoslavia that he personally experienced in besieged Sarajevo, in poems that he wrote while those battles were raging, during his time in exile in Germany (1992-2001) and following the return to his homeland. His writing (poetry, essays, short stories) is full of ironic-sarcastic humor and possesses a revelatory power.

Reading and audience Q&A session with Stevan Tontič

Moderator: Shinichi Suzuki


“Homeland is Where Freedom Resides”
Civil War Refugees from Former Yugoslavia in Upper Austria
Date/Time: March 19, 2009, 6 PM
Location: Kepler Salon, Rathausgasse 5, Linz

Of all the conflicts that have taken place in Europe in recent decades, the civil war in former Yugoslavia most powerfully affected Austrian society. Approximately 53,000 former Yugoslavs live in Upper Austria today. They still feel the consequences of the civil wars that raged in their respective ethnic homelands—the political and cultural impacts; the concrete effects manifested in their own families—and have had to learn to deal with them. How have the survivors of that civil war learned to live with the past and how are they perceived by Austrians today?

Nenad Vukosavljevic, Serb, conscientious objector, refugee, member of the staff of Belgrade’s Center for Non-violent Action since 1997
Ruzica Milicevic, Bosnian Croat, coordinator of the Volkshilfe’s Integration Bureau in Bad Ischl

Moderator: Christian Klösch


From Civil Wars to Civil Peace
Lessons from civil wars?
Date/Time: March 26, 2009, 6 PM
Location: Kepler Salon, Rathausgasse 5, Linz

An opportunity for recapitulation and analysis of the entire series: What conclusions can historians, legal scholars and researchers in the field of peace and conflict studies draw from the events of these civil wars? How do societies deal with the legacy of civil war? Can we identify recurring patterns in the way people come to terms with these events? What can societies from different countries learn from one another?

Monika Flacke, historian, Berlin
Hannes Tretter, professor of civil rights and human rights, Vienna

Moderator: Christian Klösch