Habsburg Bukovina – a Colonized Entity?

Exploring literary references to colonialism in Gregor von Rezzori’s The Snows of Yesteryear
,
Das habsburgische Kronland Bukowina im Jahr 1901
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The Habsburg crownland of Bukovina in 1901. „Die Bukowina im Jahre 1901“, Andrees Handatlas, Velhagen & Klasing, 1901, CC0 1.0
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Gregor von Rezzori achieved fame for his fictionalized representations of bygone Czernowitz. In his memoir, he reveals perspectives on postcolonial life there after the collapse of Austria-Hungary.
Unlike other leading European imperial powers such as Great Britain, France, and Spain, by the nineteenth century the territory of the Habsburg Empire was largely limited to central and south-eastern Europe. It was multi-ethnic and multilingual in character, and this status became formalized after the Dual Monarchy was established in 1867 under the rule of Franz Joseph I. However, it remains a source of discussion whether 
Austria-Hungary
deu. Österreich-Ungarn, deu. Donaumonarchie, deu. Doppelmonarchie, deu. Habsburgerreich, deu. Habsburgisches Reich, deu. Habsburgermonarchie, hun. Osztrák-Magyar Birodalom, eng. Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, eng. Austrian-Hungarian Empire

Austria-Hungary (Hungarian: Osztrák-Magyar Monarchia), also known as Imperial and Royal Hungary Monarchy, was a historical state in Central and Southeastern Europe that existed from 1867 to 1918.

Österreich-Ungarn in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
 could be considered a traditional colonial power, including with regard to its occupation and incorporation of 
Bosnia and Herzegovina
srp. Босна и Херцеговина, srp. Bosna i Hercegovina, bos. Bosna i Hercegovina, hrv. Bosna i Hercegovina, eng. Bosnia–Herzegovina, deu. Bosnien und Herzegowina

Bosnia and Herzegovina is a federal state in south-eastern Europe. The country is inhabited by around 3 million people (2022: 3.23 million) and is divided into the political sub-regions of Republika Srpska, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Brčko district. Bosnia and Herzegovina’s capital is Sarajevo. The country is part of the Balkan Peninsula and borders the Adriatic Sea. The Bosnians are the largest population group alongside the Serbs and Croats.

Geographically, the country is comprised of the historical regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, whose eventful political history is closely linked to the various historical neighboring states and their location in the Balkans. As early as the 15th century, southern Herzegovina and large parts of Bosnia belonged to the Ottoman Empire, which bordered the Christian Habsburg Empire to the north. At the end of the 19th century, both regions initially came under Austro-Hungarian financial administration, followed by the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria-Hungary in 1908, which led to a political crisis. In 1914, regional freedom movements such as „Mlada Bosna“ („Young Bosnia“) were involved in the assassination of heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand (1863–1914), which ultimately led to the outbreak of the First World War (1914–1918) and the collapse of Austria-Hungary.

From 1918, Bosnia and Herzegovina belonged to the newly established “Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes” (1918–1929), which was known as the “Kingdom of Yugoslavia” from 1929, but fell as a result of German conquest in the Second World War in 1941. From 1945, the socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of the re-established, now communist Yugoslavia. In the context of the increasingly belligerent disintegration of the country during the Yugoslav Wars (1991–2001), Bosnia-Herzegovina was only able to gain its 1992 declared independence as a result of the three-year Bosnian War (1992–1995).

Bosnien und Herzegowina in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Bosnien und Herzegowina at Google Maps
 in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.1 Using examples from an autobiographical work by the German-language author Gregor von Rezzori (1914–1998), this contribution shines the spotlight on 
Bukovina
deu. Bukowina, ukr. Буковина, ukr. Bukowyna, ron. Bucovina, deu. Buchenland

Bukovina is a historical landscape in modern Romania and Ukraine. The northern part is situated in the Ukrainian Chernivtsi Oblast, while the southern part is part of the Romanian Suceava County. The region once formed a part of the Principality of Moldavia and the Habsburg Monarchy.

Bukowina in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Bukowina at Google Maps
, which was formerly the easternmost crownland of the Habsburg Empire.
In 1774, the territory of what would become the Habsburg crownland of Bukovina was annexed by the Habsburgs during one of the many Russo-Turkish wars. It was carved out of the northern part of the Ottoman-dominated 
Principality of Moldavia
deu. Fürstentum Moldau, deu. Fürstentum Moldawien, chu. Zemlya Moldavskaya, chu. Землѧ Молдавскаѧ, ron. Principatul Moldovei

The Principality of Moldova was a historical state in south-eastern Europe whose foundation dates back to the 14th century. It existed until 1859. Today, its territory is divided between Moldova (excluding Transnistria) and the parts of northern Romania and southern Ukraine to the west of Moldova. For centuries, the Principality thus lay at the intersection of the spheres interests of neighboring great powers, initially Hungary and Poland, in the later centuries above all the Habsburg Monarchy in the northwest, the Russian Empire in the northeast, and the Ottoman Empire in the south, which exercised sovereignty over the Principality from 1512.

In 1859, the Principality of Moldavia was united with the Principality of Wallachia, initially through the personal union of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuzas (1820-1873) and under the title of the “United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia”. In 1861, both were merged into the new “Principality of Romania”, from which the Kingdom of Romania would emerge twenty years later.

, and with the passing years became noteworthy for its diversity.2 Indeed, in later Habsburg times, the province had multiple official languages. These included Romanian and Ukrainian, but German was the main language of imperial administration and culture. By the early 1900s, Bukovina and its capital city of 
Černivci
ron. Cernăuţi, deu. Czernowitz, heb. צֶ׳רנוֹבִיץ, heb. Tschernowitz, yid. טשערנאָװיץ, yid. Tschernowitz, rus. Черновцы, rus. Tschernowzy, ukr. Чернівці, deu. Tschernowitz

Chernivtsi (Ukra. Чернівці) is a large city in southwestern Ukraine. The city is located on the border with Romania and is widely considered to be the capital of the historic Bukovina region. Chernivtsi was an significant place of Jewish culture. In 2017 Chernivtsi had about 62,000 inhabitants.

Due to the war in Ukraine, it is possible that this information is no longer up to date.

Černivci in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Černivci at Google Maps
 were distinguished by having no ethnic, linguistic, or religious majorities, with the resulting melting pot being a source of inspiration for many German language writers and poets.3 After the collapse of Austria-Hungary, Bukovina was later absorbed into interwar 
Kingdom of Romania
ron. Regatul României, deu. Königreich Rumänien

The Kingdom of Romania was a historical state in south-eastern Europe that existed from 1881 to 1947. Its direct predecessor was the Principality of Romania, which was formed in 1861/62 from the constituent principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, but was initially still under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire. It was not until the Russo-Turkish War of 1877/78 that the political independence of the principality was achieved and it proclaimed itself a kingdom in 1881. The first king was Charles I (1839-1914), who, like all his successors, came from the House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.

Before the First World War (1914-1918), the territory only comprised the historical landscapes of Wallachia and parts of Moldavia and Dobruja. However, as a member of the victorious powers of the First World War, the territory was massively expanded and more than doubled after the end of the war. Among other regions, Bessarabia, Bukovina, Transylvania and parts of the Banat now also fell to the kingdom. This is why Romania in the interwar period is also referred to as “Greater Romania”; the state before 1918 as the “Old Kingdom”.

With the rise of nationalist and fascist groups in the 1930s, the country became increasingly unstable. By mid-1940, despite its attempt to remain neutral in the Second World War, Romania had to hand back large parts of the territories it had gained in 1918. In the same year, a military dictatorship was established, which now effectively exercised the power of government. A short time later, the country entered the war on the side of the Axis powers and in close cooperation with National Socialist Germany. In 1944, King Michael I (1921-2017) staged a coup d'état against his own government, as a result of which the country joined the Allies and declared war on the German Reich. Only around three years later, at the end of 1947, the now ruling Romanian Communist Party forced Michael to abdicate and proclaimed the Romanian People's Republic.

, before part of it was annexed by the 
Soviet Union
deu. Union der Sozialistischen Sowjetrepubliken, deu. Sowjetunion, rus. Sovetskiy Soyuz, rus. Советский Союз, . Совет Ушем, . Советонь Соткс, rus. Sovetskij Soûz, . Советий Союз, yid. ראַטן־פֿאַרבאַנד, yid. סאוועטן פארבאנד, yid. sovətn farband, yid. sovʿtn-farband, yid. sovətn-farband, . Советтер Союзу, . Совет Союзы, deu. Советий Союз, . Советон Цæдис, . Совет Эвилели

The Soviet Union (SU or USSR) was a state in Eastern Europe, Central and Northern Asia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It emerged from the so-called Soviet Russia, the successor state of the Russian Empire. The Russian Soviet Republic formed the core of the union and at the same time its largest part, with further constituent republics added. Their number varied over time and was related to the occupation of other countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Soviet republics that existed only for a short time (Karelo-Finlandia) or the division or merger of Soviet republics. In addition, there were numerous autonomous republics or other territorial units with an autonomy status that was essentially limited to linguistic autonomy for minorities.

Before its formal dissolution, the USSR consisted of 15 Soviet republics with a population of approximately 290 million people. At around 22.4 million km², it was the largest territorial state in the world at the time. The Soviet Union was a socialist soviet republic with a one-party system and an absence of separation of powers.

Sowjetunion in the Online Encyclopedia of the Culture and History of the Germans in Eastern Europe (German)
Sowjetunion at Google Maps
 during World War Two. The lands comprising the former crownland are now divided between Romania and Ukraine.

Gregor von Rezzori and "The Snows of Yesteryear"

Gregor von Rezzori (1914–1998), Autor von Blumen im Schnee
Gregor von Rezzori (1914–1998), Autor von Blumen im Schnee
Gregor von Rezzori (1914–1998), author of The Snows of Yesteryear. Klaus Morgenstern / Deutsche Fotothek, Free access - no reuse
Gregor von Rezzori (1914–1998), author of The Snows of Yesteryear. Klaus Morgenstern / Deutsche Fotothek, Free access - no reuse
Among these distinguished literary figures was the author Gregor von Rezzori, who was the scion of a line of distinguished Habsburg administrators. He was born in Bukovina in the summer of 1914, just a few weeks before the outbreak of World War One. With his parents having elected to remain in Bukovina following its incorporation into the Kingdom of Romania after World War One, the 1989 autobiographical work which chronicles his childhood in interwar Czernowitz, Blumen im Schnee4 (The Snows of Yesteryear), is filled with his memories of a vanished past. Rather than following a traditional chronological format, von Rezzori’s reminiscences are viewed through the lens of detailed portraits of family members and his much-loved governess. The book was also translated into English by H.F. Broch de Rothermann in 1989 (the same year as the original appeared), and this translation was reissued in a new edition by Penguin in 2010.5
Das Cover der englischen Übersetzung der Ausgabe 2010 von Blumen im Schnee
Das Cover der englischen Übersetzung der Ausgabe 2010 von Blumen im Schnee
The cover of the English translation of the 2010 edition of Blumen im Schnee. Penguin Books, Free access - no reuse
The cover of the English translation of the 2010 edition of Blumen im Schnee. Penguin Books, Free access - no reuse
As with much of his fictional prose, the memoir also provides an insight into how the German-speaking von Rezzori family dealt with the loss of the empire they had served. As noted elsewhere,6 the removal of the once-privileged status accorded to them as ethnic Germans in the easternmost crownland and the disintegration of the highly stratified social and linguistic structures that had characterized Habsburg society led to the interwar notion of the ‘Bukovina German’. Von Rezzori seems to include his younger self and his eccentric family in this designation, noting that “we considered ourselves as former Austrians in a province with a predominantly Austrian coloring” (p. 35).7 Indeed, many of their troubles can be read as representative of those of a whole generation, as he mentions that “we lived the years 1919-1939 in the illusion of having a pseudo-feudal position in the world” (p. 35).

Bukovina as a colony in "The Snows of Yesteryear"

Noting discussions on colonialism in the Central and Eastern European context, it is interesting that von Rezzori’s book makes several references to Bukovina as having been a ‘colony’. For example, outlining his own varied ancestry, he writes that “neither my father nor my mother belonged to the indigenous populations [Bodenständigen]. Each in his or her own way lived in a kind of exile: they had both ended up in a colony [Kolonialland] deserted by its colonial masters [Kolonialherren]. Hardly anything remained of the former social world they had inhabited […] Those who remained in Romania and did not return to the shrunken remains of the Austrian republic or emigrate elsewhere split into groups determined by nationality” (p. 65).
Eine Postkarte aus dem Jahr 1912 zeigt einige der wichtigsten Sehenswürdigkeiten des habsburgischen Czernowitz
Eine Postkarte aus dem Jahr 1912 zeigt einige der wichtigsten Sehenswürdigkeiten des habsburgischen Czernowitz
A 1912 postcard showing some of the main sights of Habsburg Czernowitz. Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0
A 1912 postcard showing some of the main sights of Habsburg Czernowitz. Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0
The author’s awareness of a “colonial” heritage also features in von Rezzori’s descriptions of his restless father, a man of idiosyncratic politics, views, and behavior who in his early years sought to “realize adventurous pioneer aspirations” (p. 157) in the then newly occupied lands of Habsburg Herzegovina. Indeed, von Rezzori writes that “the Austrian monarchy in those days stretched all the way to the southeastern corners of Europe: a colonial empire whose colonies happened to be located contiguously on the same continent” (p. 157). Yet, after later leaving Bukovina amid several run-ins with the Romanian bureaucracy, von Rezzori observes that his “father blossomed in Transylvania. […] Here he no longer had to play the role of the leftover colonial master” (p. 180); the essence here being that “the world of the [Transylvanian] Saxonians seemed to give reliable support for all his psychic needs” (p. 180). Indeed, von Rezzori writes that these “Transylvanian Saxonians” [„Siebenbürger Sachsen“] were “absolutely sure of their unequivocally defined identity. They were first of all Transylvanians, German in origin and language but completely independent and themselves almost aboriginal to the region: deeply rooted in a country they had inhabited for almost a thousand years” (p. 180).
This can be contrasted, by way of example, with von Rezzori’s characterization of the “pseudo-feudal” position of the Bukovina Germans,8 a “strange make-believe, challenged by no-one, [which] was promoted by the leftovers of the colonial gentry in which we were left, powerless relics, at the end of the Dual Monarchy” (p. 35). He goes on to describe those remnants of the former Habsburg elite as being “like those British colonials who remained in India after the end of the Raj” (p. 35). Colonial India was commonly viewed as the jewel in the crown of Britain’s many overseas possessions;9 therefore, von Rezzori’s comparison between the circumstances of those British people who remained in post-partition India with the situation of the former German elite in Bukovina serves to highlight the radical nature of the social, cultural, and political changes that the region underwent during that time.

Reflections on Bukovina as a colony

As mentioned previously, The Snows of Yesteryear was published in 1989, both in its German original and in English translation. Accordingly, in writing about the happenings of over six decades previously, von Rezzori’s work is to be viewed in the light of the numerous events of the mid- to late twentieth century which profoundly affected Central and Eastern Europe. These included the rise of the Third Reich, the horrors of the Second World War, and the rise of Communist regimes and the Warsaw Pact. With regard to the colonial context, the passing decades had also witnessed the disintegration of the vast overseas empires of countries such as Britain, France, and Portugal. And, with the fall of Communist regimes across the nations of Central and Eastern Europe, the momentous year of 1989 must also be highlighted as the year that the Soviet sphere of influence receded. Indeed, the loss of its immense power across the region served as a prelude to the ultimate disintegration of the USSR; as such, perhaps this perspective could have potentially influenced von Rezzori’s decision to refer to Bukovina as a “colony” in the book. 
Panorama der Silhouette von Czernowitz im Jahr 1917
Panorama der Silhouette von Czernowitz im Jahr 1917
Panorama of Czernowitz’s skyline in 1917. Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0
Panorama of Czernowitz’s skyline in 1917. Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0
As it takes place after the changes of 1989, the epilogue to The Snows of Yesteryear could perhaps be presupposed to bring the reader up to date with contemporary events. Originally published as a separate postscript in 1990,10 it therefore does not appear in the original German first edition, although it was intended to be a capstone to the whole work.11 Here, von Rezzori visits his birthplace of Czernowitz (now Chernivtsi in Ukraine) for the first time since 1936. Yet, rather than reflecting on postcolonial aspects, von Rezzori’s coda rather represents an account of the author’s personal journey, an attempt to revisit and reconcile with a place that no longer exists save as a “mythical topos” (p. 277). Yet, this trip indeed represents “a fall into the unreal” where he “could no longer trust [his] senses”, with von Rezzori observing that the “present-day Chernovtsy was a repudiation both of the interwar Cernăuți and of the imperial Austrian Czernowitz” (p. 281), thus highlighting the deep contrast he experiences vis-à-vis the modern-day Soviet/Ukrainian city when compared with its past under Romanian and Habsburg rule.

Closing remarks

In adding to scholarly discussions on colonialism, occupation, and domination in Central and Eastern Europe, The Snows of Yesteryear provides a chronicle of the complex intersection of the various social, cultural, and political factors that marked Bukovina immediately after the fall of the Habsburg Empire. By sharing von Rezzori’s observations on that vanished past, the book serves to demonstrate – at least in the eyes of one of its premier literary exponents – that members of the former elite still viewed interwar Bukovina through a distinctly colonial lens. In addition, the book documents a world, an empire, and society that has now faded from living memory, demonstrating the impermanence of the ethnic German elite presence within the dominant hierarchies of the region. As such, through the well-articulated memories of a childhood and adolescence spent in a vanished Czernowitz, exploration of Gregor von Rezzori’s memoir provides further impetus for work on literary portrayals of colonialism in the Central and East European context and elsewhere.
Anthony Hoyte-West
Antony Hoyte-West
Go to author biography

Footnotes
1.
Křížová, Markéta/Malečková, Jitka: Central Europe and the “Non-European Others”. A conceptual framework. In: Křížová, Markéta/Malečková, Jitka (eds.): Central Europe and the Non-European World in the Long 19th Century. 2022, p. 12.
2.
Stambrook, Fred: National and other identities in Bukovina in late Austrian times, in: Austrian History Yearbook. 2004.
3.
van Drunen, H. F.: A sanguine bunch. Regional identification in Habsburg Bukovina, 1774–1919. [Doctoral dissertation]. University of Amsterdam, 2013, p. ix.
4.
Rezzori, Gregor von: Blumen im Schnee. Porträtstudien zu einer Autobiographie, die ich nie schreiben werde: auch Versuch der Erzählweise eines gleicherweise nie geschriebenen Bildungsromans. München 1989.
5.
Rezzori, Gregor von: The Snows of Yesteryear. Portraits for an Autobiography. Translated by H.F. Broch de Rothermann. London/New York 2010.
6.
Hoyte-West, Antony: The twilight of a Habsburg idyll. Portraits of privilege in Gregor von Rezzori’s "The Snows of Yesteryear". in: Balkanistic Forum. 2023.
7.
All quotations in English are taken from the 2010 Penguin edition of the 1989 American English translation by H.F. Broch de Rothermann. For more information, see von Rezzori, 2010 (1989).
8.
Röger, Maren/Weidle, Alexander (eds.): Bukowina-Deutsche. Erfindungen, Erfahrungen und Erzählungen einer (imaginierten) Gemeinschaft seit 1775. Berlin 2020, sowie Petersen, Hans-Christian: M. Röger u.a. (Hrsg.): Bukowina-Deutsche, in: H-Soz-Kult. 2022.
9.
Cohn, Bernard S.: Colonialism and its forms of knowledge. The British in India. In: Howe, Stephen (eds.): The New Imperial Histories Reader. 2020.
10.
Rezzori, Gregor von: Blumen im Schnee. Porträtstudien zu einer Autobiographie, die ich nie schreiben werde: auch Versuch der Erzählweise eines gleicherweise nie geschriebenen Bildungsromans. München 1989.
11.
Spinei, Cristina: Über die Zentralität des Peripheren. Auf den Spuren von Gregor von Rezzori. Berlin 2011, p. 182.

Literature
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  • Hoyte-West, Antony: The twilight of a Habsburg idyll. Portraits of privilege in Gregor von Rezzori’s "The Snows of Yesteryear". 2023. Internet address: https://doi.org/10.37708/bf.swu.v32i2.15 (last access: 2024-06-28)
  • Křížová, Markéta/Malečková, Jitka: Central Europe and the “Non-European Others”. A conceptual framework. In: Křížová, Markéta/Malečková, Jitka (eds.): Central Europe and the Non-European World in the Long 19th Century. 2022. Internet address: https://doi.org/10.26530/20.500.12657/57705 (last access: 2024-06-28)
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Citation
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  • Antony Hoyte-West (2024-09-18): Habsburg Bukovina – a Colonized Entity? Exploring literary references to colonialism in Gregor von Rezzori’s The Snows of Yesteryear. In: Copernico. History and Cultural Heritage in Eastern Europe. URL: https://www.copernico.eu/en/link/667e75c7cf75d2.73492035 (2025-05-24)
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