Social commitment in the Greek Communities of Vienna (18th-20th century)

In the past two decades historians have paid increased attention to endowments, foundations and donations as social and religious phenomena. By acting as patrons of art, culture and education, but also by promoting social welfare, benefactors conceive their beneficiary actions as charitable works. In addition to that endowments are embedded in a religious context and can be connected to religious intentions, like the benefactors remembrance and the commemoration of his deceased soul. The archives of the two Greek Orthodox communities of Vienna, the Confraternity/Community of St. George (for Ottoman subjects, founded in 1723/26) and the Community of the Holy Trinity (for Habsburg subjects, founded in 1787), have been made accessible only through a reorganization and cataloguing, which took place between 2005 and 2010. A rich material of unedited sources concerning endowments, foundations and donations (extending from ca. 1780 to 1918) has already been identified by baseline studies that were conducted in these archives. Beside the endowments of individuals, this material includes a system of three administrative units, the poor relief fund, the church fund and the school fund. In this proposal endowments are regarded as indicators of central importance for the construction of the benefactors identity and at the same time as a pivotal strategy of social integration in the host environment used by members of diaspora communities. The long period covered offers the chance to follow continuities, as well as changes and ruptures in the beneficiary practices that are related to the socioeconomic modernization of Vienna. We propose a micro- historical approach of case studies for the analysis of the impact of the endowment practices of Greek Orthodox merchants on the welfare system of Vienna, but also on beneficiaries in the Ottoman Empire and the southeast European nation states. In addition we address via a quantifying and statistical approach of larger series of the material the investment obligations, which were imposed by the Habsburg administration in order to strengthen the local financial system, as well as the relationship between the benefactors on the one side and the organizational structure of the community, which administrated the endowments on the other. The project also focuses on the inter-confessional study of the memorial function of beneficiary practices and proposes an innovative three-dimensional perspective (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox) on endowment history of the modern era. The encounter with the Jewish and Islamic tradition is equally of fundamental importance for the project. The comparison with other ethnic or religious groups residing in the Habsburg Empire and of their beneficiary institutions is a major concern of the project, as is the appraisal of post-Byzantine and Ottoman traditions shaping the endowment practices. The central aims of the project are on the one side to foster an understanding of European endowment history, which is sensible towards intercultural requirements, and on the other side to contribute to the regional, social, economic and migration history of Vienna from the 18th to the 20th century.

The project application "Social Commitment in the Greek Communities of Vienna (18th-20th century)" emerged out of research on historical migration. The application sought innovation in combining this field with the expanding field of historical endowment and foundation studies. The purpose was to research welfare as related to Greek-Orthodox migrants in Vienna. During the project (granted for the duration of three years) we developed innovative research impulses based on an extremely rich archival material (e.g. Testaments, foundation deeds, endowment correspondences, donated objects, memorial texts and artefacts). The unpublished material has now been digitally secured and organized and is available (partly also as an online data base) for further research in the fields of philanthropy and memory in the context of migration. As innovative steps and central outcomes of research we consider: a. We were able to observe in detail both the founders will and the foundations reality (in their relation to state institutions and to the corporations entrusted with their continuous administration), further the long-time development of endowments based either on financial or on property assets (from the 18th to the early 20th century, occasionally even later). b. Through precise empirical research of Greek-Orthodox founders of Vienna (approx. 150 endowments were located and described in detail for the project data) we widened our perspective in the field of historical endowment studies, to address e.g. new instruments of welfare in a rapidly growing imperial capital of the 19th century, gender influences on philanthropic and memorial practices, the relationship of endowment as investment and endowment as memorial wish. c. We looked into the influence of religious denomination on the decisions of founders, particularly among minorities in a religious context. The comparison of orthodox and protestant founding activities (and of the corresponding minorities) in Vienna developed into an exciting object of research and allowed new perspectives, related to the questions of the changing early modern and modern European denominational landscapes and interdenominational exchanges. d. We focused on the mutual influence exercised in administrative practices between a small demographic group and central administrative institutions of an empire, e.g. on the decision process of authorities (as observed in correspondences) regarding every individual foundation and its administration. This method confirmed the hypothesis that decision making on a state level can sometimes be more precisely observed through a micro- historical vantage point (e.g. decisions about allowing funds to flow to recipients outside the confines of the empire). e. Through close readings of exemplary foundations we were able to observe and describe the influence these could exercise on different social environments, e.g. on family relations via widows networks, on transnationalrans-imperial financial networks (like the philanthropic institutions partially still existing in Epirus), on the idea of beneficence through the ongoing personalization of philanthropic activity, e.g. "named" hospital beds. As a particular success along with conference and publication activities and public outreach we consider the recognition of both post-doc team members through visiting professorships (Dr. Saracino/ University of Hamburg) and research fellowships (Dr. Saracino/Frankesche Stiftungen in Halle and Dr. Soursos/ Athens fellowship of the Austrian Academy of Sciences). The integration of international young scholars via Erasmus+ internships and short-term contracts enlarged the group of close collaborators and brought new impulses to our research. As formulated in the original application this project focused primarily on the perspective of the donors. But our working papers on the rich material have opened new vistas, which lead to a new application, shortly to be submitted, on the influence of religious denomination in forms of poverty and measures to alleviate it from the late 18th to the early 20th century Vienna.