Walter Sauer. Von Soliman zu Omofuma: Afrikanische Diaspora in Österreich 17. bis 20. Jahrhundert. Innsbruck: StudienVerlag, 2007. 269 S. EUR 29.90 (paper), ISBN 978-3-7065-4057-5; ISBN 978-3-8258-9278-4.
Reviewed by Jonathan Kwan (School of History, University of Nottingham)
Published on H-German (May, 2009)
Commissioned by Susan R. Boettcher
Austria's Black History
At the end of both act 1 and act 3 in Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Richard Strauss's archetypal Viennese opera, Der Rosenkavalier (1911), the figure of a "small negro" silently comes onto the stage to clean up after the messy love affairs of the Theresian-era aristocracy. Who inspired Hofmannsthal's imagination? Was it Angelo Soliman--servant to the Liechtensteins and a participant in a number of important delegations of the late eighteenth century--or Rustimo, the 1.3-meter-tall playmate of Franz Joseph's and Elizabeth's daughter, Archduchess Marie Valerie? Both appear in this history of Africans in Austria, a rarely investigated area of Austrian history. While black history has never occupied the center stage of Austrian history, the view from the margins--as evidenced in this book--illuminates many oft-neglected aspects of society. Beginning with the eighteenth century and continuing to the present, this set of essays attempts to go beyond the common stereotypes of victim or criminal by reconstructing African Austrian life stories. Despite the uneven quality of the essays, the book provides a solid preliminary guide to a developing field of study.
The introduction states a number of objectives for the book. Its author, Kojo Taylor of the Pan-African Forum in Austria, calls for positive examples and an assessment of their general applicability. Walter Sauer's opening essay advocates placing "black history" within the perspectives of African and global history. He specifically pleads for the application of knowledge of the past when attempting to understand the present-day situation of Africans in Austria. Thus the book emphasizes providing the maximum personal information and assessing the individual possibilities of integration. The book provides many examples of life histories. Accompanying each substantive chapter is a short primary-source extract (normally only one or two pages) that highlights the lived experiences of respective Africans and their contact with Austria. Occasionally, some problematic examples are included, especially when considering the question of integration. Visiting entertainers, occupying troops on duty, and short-term students are all covered in the book, but would have had very different expectations and experiences than long-term residents. For example, George August Bridgewater, a virtuoso violinist who collaborated with Ludwig van Beethoven on his Kreutzer Sonata (1802), receives a short description. Yet, Bridgewater's connection with Austria is slight. He was born in Poland to Caribbean and eastern European parents, was part of the Prince of Wales's entourage, and never intended to settle in Austria. Similarly, the sad case of singer Theresa Greene being refused a hotel bed in 1956 reflects the existing prejudices of many Austrians, but does not directly engage with her integration into society. In general, the explicit goals of the editor are only partly attained, since the various essays present specific areas of research without a direct engagement with the overall aims of the volume.
The first substantive essay is an attempt by Walter Sauer and Andrea Wiesböck to flesh out a collective biography of the "first generation" of Africans in Austria, mostly on slaves either from the East or West. The contribution, however, suffers from an overly schematic presentation. The opening half is a factual reproduction of forty-three biographies (often short and fragmentary), which, for me at least, lacked focus. It is difficult to generalize from such materials, and the second half can only state obvious conclusions: most were slaves and were forced to come to Austria; little difference can be found between slaves, prisoners of war, and servants; and some limited freedom and rights for such individuals were only possible after the introduction of the Codex Theresianus in 1766.
Walter Sauer addresses the strange life of Angelo Soliman and attempts to separate reality from myth. Sauer assesses the respective primary sources for Soliman's eventful life. Brought to Vienna as a slave to the Liechtensteins, Soliman won twenty gulden gambling in Frankfurt, married an Austrian woman in secret, and later became a freemason. His afterlife was just as eventful, since several people jostled to use his body for scientific purposes before it eventually ended up in the Naturhistorisches Museum as an exhibit. Sauer's scholarly and analytical approach, while admirable, lacks some coherence and is rather dry in its depiction of such a colorful life.
Christine Sulzbacher's essay on nineteenth-century immigrants convincingly links the cultural and physical differences of Africans to their functions in society. Through detailed case studies, Sulzbacher's essay postulates the effect of ideology on concrete social outcomes, providing a framework for understanding nineteenth-century African Austrian experience. Sulzbacher identifies three major employment categories for Africans in Austrian society: as servants, as entertainers (including circus performers and simple exotic exhibits), and as members of religious orders. Her example of Nicola Olivieri's missionary work in Africa and its subsequent, sad conclusion in the Ursuline School of Klagenfurt is a sobering case of religious zeal, European condescension, and forced displacement.
Marcel Chahrour examines different generations of Egyptian students in Austria from 1830 to 1945 and his conclusions are less wide-ranging. Most Egyptian students came to obtain expert knowledge, then returned home to fill important roles in their home countries. Relatively few, such as Anton Hassan, a respected linguist and teacher of Arabic whose life is sketched by Chahrour, stayed in Austria.
Herwig Czech's essay addresses the crucial question of Africans during the era of National Socialism and presents the rough outlines of the period. Of course, negative stereotypes predominated, including the accusation that black Africans were instruments of the Jews; however, rather surprisingly, many denunciations of black and mixed-race people were made on non-racial grounds. Racial policy prevented any relations between members of different groups, and official discrimination was practiced at all levels. Many children of mixed race were subjected to intrusive anthropological investigations (sponsored by the venerable Akademie der Wissenschaften) in order to legitimize Nazi race policies. At the start of the essay, Czech apologizes for the fragmentary nature of his essay and it is a pity that the sections on Mauthausen, health and social welfare treatment, and the Racial Political Office in Vienna could not have been better integrated with the other sections. In addition, the specific Austrian case is not explicitly contrasted with Germany. Were there any differences? What was the role of the Catholic Church? What of Africans who emigrated? The field is vast and invites further research.
Looking at the post-1945 Second Austrian Republic, Hamid Lechhab's contribution on the unwanted children of Moroccan troops in immediate post-World War II Vorarlberg unfortunately does not delve particularly deeply into this "taboo" theme. Hardly any concrete life stories are incorporated, and the conclusions are rather generalized. Walter Sauer's final essay brings the book up to the present date. As in his other essays in this volume, Sauer isolates different aspects of Afro-Austrian life and deals with them separately, thus losing some coherence and connectivity between topics. The first section of the essay looks at different migration scenarios--from students to diplomats to newspaper vendors. The second section focuses on the realities of discrimination, poverty, partial integration, and community life. Unfortunately, Sauer refrains from any substantial conclusions as to the present circumstances of African Austrians; a balanced summary of this controversial topic would have been welcome.
The book ends with a speech given on May 12, 1999 calling for, amongst other points, an independent investigation into the death of Marcus Omofuma, a refugee who died on a deportation flight from Vienna to Bulgaria. No more details are given about Omofuma and an essay outlining the genesis, events, and consequences of this controversial case would have been welcome. A political dissident from Nigeria, Omofuma first sought asylum in Germany before illegally entering Austria. He stayed in the notorious Traiskirchen camp while his application for asylum was processed and subsequently refused. Omofuma only boarded the plane after significant resistance and was eventually restrained with masking tape across his chest, mouth, and nose. He died from asphyxiation on the plane while in the care of the Austrian government. For months afterwards there were mass demonstrations, pressure on the interior minister, numerous newspaper editorials, and even a parliamentary disturbance. In 2002, the three policemen responsible for the death were found guilty and received sentences of eight months each. Since they had been in detention for the last three years, they had already served these sentences and were allowed to continue working as police bureaucrats. An in-depth essay on the Omofuma case would have allowed a detailed discussion of the present situation for Africans in Austria, a notable lacuna in Sauer's essay on the Second Republic.
This book demonstrates that there is a long "black history" in Austria. It provides an entry point into the field, but is by no means the final word. Only Sulzbacher's essay attempts to provide an explanatory framework for the African experience in Austria. Given the current high level of interest in the topic, however, the volume's lack of an overall thesis will not deter students of both history and current affairs.
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Citation:
Jonathan Kwan. Review of Sauer, Walter, Von Soliman zu Omofuma: Afrikanische Diaspora in Österreich 17. bis 20. Jahrhundert.
H-German, H-Net Reviews.
May, 2009.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=24163
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