Shifting Memories - Manifest Monuments

The project Shifting Memories - Manifest Monuments. Memories of "Turks" and Other "Enemies" aims at providing a new approach to a specific group of monuments, monuments that to a singular degree have been the subject of political propaganda and a source of conflict: memorials and monuments commemorating the Turkish invasions. The image of the Turkish enemy turned out to be susceptible to appropriation for the most diverse ends. Derogatory constructs made the "Turk" the epitome of diverse inimical clichés, variously depicting "Enlighteners", "Bolsheviks" and "National Socialists". The proposed project intends to undertake a systematic reappraisal of the history of these monuments; more precisely, by means of these monuments it seeks to chart the history of the seizure of public space by the authorities. The project proposes to analyse - based primarily on archival sources - the circumstances and conditions surrounding the erection of various monuments of the Turks, the diverse recoding that the memorials have undergone over time and the festivities related to them, above all on the occasion of anniversaries (1783, 1883, 1933, 1983). The chief area of investigation are the regions that were affected by Turkish invasions (the so-called Türkeneinfälle), in Austria, today`s Vienna, Burgenland, Styria and Lower Austria. The time span being investigated is primarily the period of the "cult of monuments", the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The complexity of the endeavour necessitates a trans-disciplinary research design as reflected by various forms of cooperation. The project is being organised and will be hosted by the Research Unit for Social Anthropology and by the Commission for Culture Studies and the History of Theatre of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. The proposed project is innovative in that the analysis transcends the level of the monuments` appropriation in the past, which should enable critical, distanced reflection. It aims at cooling rather than igniting. Reflection in this sense means that the project aims at precluding the uncritical reproduction of images of the "enemy" and at revealing the conditions that made the emergence of such images possible. The project should contribute to the deconstruction of these depreciative stereotypes. Monuments serve both inclusive and exclusive functions. They have an identity-producing and identity-preserving effect. The theoretical points of departure for the project are new theoretical frameworks that enable us to perceive the dynamic shifts typical of monuments` functions in public life. An example of this is the Viennese monument of the City Mayor Liebenberg, in office at the time of the Turkish siege of 1683, and erected by the liberal Viennese city administration and patriciate in 1890. It was used in 1933 by the National Socialists to celebrate one of their adherents who was a descendant of the famous mayor. Such instrumentalizing will be analysed primarily based on archival sources, relevant institutions, the biographies of protagonists as well as discourses, using three methodological tools: comparative examination, historical discourse analysis and network analysis. Comparison allows us to recognise deviations and shifts diachronically. Historical discourse analysis shows us who was entitled to speak under which conditions, and how protagonists were able to modify and influence these conditions. Network analysis clarifies the interplay of cooperation and rivalry between the different forces seeking to appropriate the "Turks" and the memory of the Turks for their own purposes. In disposing of the monuments` past function to guide critical behaviour in the present, the significance of the project is twofold: on one hand, it can direct present dealings with "unloved" monuments (e.g. those commemorating dictatorships) and on the other, it is directly relevant to recent discussions concerning Turkey`s membership in the European Union.

Researches in the course of the project were concentrated on memorials and monuments commemorating the invasions of the Ottomans (commonly called Turks). The intentions of the financiers and of the people who supplied ideas for the monuments, intentions which found their expression in the monuments, proved to be promising objects of investigations. Similarly, commemorative festivities preferably held near the monuments were investigated as providing opportunities for political and ecclesiastical elites to communicate their ideas and to exercise a certain control by mediating the contents they wanted to impart to their audience on a special place. Research showed that events of a remote past can only be remembered if we are reminded of them by someone who has effective media at his disposal to reach the public. To fulfill its function, the memory of the Turks had to be adapted over time to fit its special purposes. At least in eastern Austria these purposes were the construction of menaces and, equally important, to announce a hope of victory over the menacing enemy. The memory of the Turks thus became an ideal tool for the maintenance of clear boundaries to actual enemies over time (Liberals, Conservatives, Bolsheviks, National Socialists, to name just some of them). At the same time, the memory of the Turks was and is used to maintain a strong group-feeling among the people addressed.For this use, the memory of the Turks had to be stripped largely of the actual facts of 1683, it had to be reduced to transform it for the use as a foil for other, actual enemies. This use of the Turks started against the very end of the 18th century, when it had become evident that the Ottomans were no direct menace any more. Until today, this ever adapted and actualized use of the Turks emerges especially at times of political elections: Members of families who migrated from Turkey to Austria even if they are Austrian citizens are brought into direct relation or are identified with the Turks of 1683 and are thus made into a menace.A question arises from all that: why did the Turks play the part of a foil for other alleged menaces, but no other enemies like the Swedes, or the French? The memory of the menace exacted by the Swedes during the Thirty Years War was still active in the second half of the 19th century, but lost its function completely since then. The use of a malleable idea of an enemy (Feindbild) as a tool necessitates the construction of simple differences which can easily be explained. The Turks own this quality through the fact that they are Muslims. Additionally, not only menaces can be construed using them, but a victory can be announced. The other enemies mentioned above lack these qualities.The intention of the project was to clarify the motifs behind the past and present Feindbild that the Turks represent in parts of the Austrian population. Today, Turks are in many cases seen as the others par excellence in Austria, and additionally as the representatives of Islam. By showing the intentions of political actors in the past and by research into the function of a much used foil for other actual enemies, the project provides a first step to deliberate and critical behavior in the present.