At the end of the 19^th century, French society was torn apart by the obscure events around the treason conviction of army Captain Alfred Dreyfus. The question of his guilt was probably the most debated issue in France for nearly 10 years. This discussion not only took place in private conversations, but had also an enormous presence in the press. It is a great example of the newly gained freedom of the press and shows how harsh the competition in the newspaper business must have been already back then. There were several leading newspapers in France, and with only little ad space it was up to the scandalous headlines to accomplish the necessary run. With Europeana Newspapers you can discover the whole variety of the coeval press.

On 15 October 1894 nobody could have presaged that this affaire would go down in history as a symbol of injustice, intrigues and anti-Semitism. Today, 121 years ago, Dreyfus (who had a Jewish background) was arrested for treason in all secrecy. He was accused of communicating French military secrets to the German Embassy and brought to imprisonment on Devil’s Island with a life sentence. As the main piece of evidence was a handwritten letter, the whole country turned into graphologists as Le Martin and Le Figaro published a facsimile of this letter. After five years of custody, the case of Alfred Dreyfus was brought to court-martial again in June 1899 (cf. the catholic-conservative newspaper La Croix). At this time, there could have been no more doubt about Dreyfus’ innocence. Nevertheless, he was sentenced again, this time to ten years in prison under extenuating circumstances. Shortly thereafter, he was pardoned by the President of the Republic, but only after six years he reached the annulment of the judgment of Rennes. The real culprit, Major Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, was acquitted and innocent Dreyfus was charged guilty twice. The affair did not only cause sensation in France, but was monitored critically all over Europe, for example in the Finnish Uusi Aura, the Dutch Algemeen Handelsblad, or the German Volkszeitung and Neue Hamburger Zeitung.

A lot of French intellectuals were convinced of Dreyfus’ innocence; most prominent amongst them the journalist and novelist Émile Zola. While Zola refused to get involved into political affairs at first, the increasing anti-Semitism in the public debate changed his mind. He published several articles in Le Figaro, amongst others one with the headline Le Syndicat, where he picks up on the imputation a Jewish syndicate tries to buy Dreyfus out of prison, or the article Procès-verbal, expressing his hope that the nation would reconcile and overcome the barbaric anti-Semitic resentments. Shortly after this, Le Figaro terminated the cooperation with Zola because anti-Dreyfusards and right-wing nationalists threatened to call out a boycott on the newspaper. Therefore, Zola published his next article in the newly founded literary journal L’Aurore. J’accuse was an open letter to the president of the French republic, Félix Faure, which caused an enormous scandal and was the decisive factor for the turnaround in the Dreyfus-Affair. Even today, the term “J’accuse” is a synonym for a brave public expression of opinion against the abuse of power. Émile Zola was hereupon sued for libel, as he had already expected at the end of his famous letter.

Despite such famous public advocacy, it was not until July 1906 that Alfred Dreyfus was acquitted and fully rehabilitated in the French society and also in the military service. A general pardon was enacted, that also included the accusation against Émile Zola (see debate in L’Intransigeant).

In the twelve years lasting Dreyfus-Affaire, France was confronted with intrigues, fraud, resignation and overthrow of ministers and the parliament, riots, assassinations, suicides, the attempt of a coup d’état and an alarmingly widespread anti-Semitism. The power of the media grew over the affair in a startling way. Without the contemporary coverage in the newspapers, the Dreyfus case would probably not have become a national affair, nor had intellectuals like Zola publicly taken a position. Therefore, the affair is considered by many to be the birth of the “intellectuals”, a term that was coined during that period through national, right-wing and clerical circles and used derogatory for those journalists, writers, artists and left-wing politicians who fought for Dreyfus. Out of this circle of intellectuals emerged the French Human Rights League in 1898, who in 1922 initiated the first international umbrella organisation of the human rights movement.

The rehabilitation of Dreyfus’ was an example of the long, but in the end successful fight by a democratic and humanitarian-socialist ideals group of intellectuals. The consequences of the affair were a milestone in Europe’s collective memory and sharpened the social and political consciousness.

As a Bavarian princess who enjoyed a happy and unstrained childhood, the extremely strict court life in Vienna was a burden Elisabeth never got used to. She started to travel and wrote melancholic poems, and after the tragic death of her only son Rudolf she disappeared nearly completely from the Austrian court.

When Elisabeth was sixty years old, she followed an invitation from the Rothschild family to Geneva. Together with her lady-in-waiting, the Hungarian Countess Irma Sztáray, she walked the short distance between the hotel and the pier without her entourage, despite warnings of possible assassination attempts.

Luigi Lucheni, a poor man full of rage for the upper nobility, ran towards them as they walked by on the promenade and stabbed Elisabeth directly into her heart with a self-made weapon composed of a small sharp file. But neither the empress nor her lady-in-waiting realised what really happened. Thinking of a robbery attempt, they went on boarding the ship. A few minutes later, Elisabeth lost consciousness and died.

Needless to say, the public, especially in Austria and Hungary, was shocked and in deep mourning.  A lot of newspapers were published with a black mourning border, like Der Burggräfler or Meraner Zeitung. There were long extra issues about the life and death of Empress Elisabeth, for example this broadly illustrated Österreichische Illustrierte Zeitung. Some followed Elisabeth’s passion for poetry and wrote own poems like Die Bombe or Pusterthaler Bote, the Weltblatt just published her last picture (it shows her in her early thirties, she wanted to be remembered young and beautiful, so she refused to sit for any portraits or photographs later on). Less emotional and without huge headlines were the reactions in Prussia, where Berliner Tageblatt newspaper articles focused on the assassin Lucheni and detailed descriptions of the events in the Neue Hamburger Zeitung. The European press also covered the news extensively, just find some examples in French La Croix and Le Martin, La Unión Católica in Spain, the Allgemeen Handelsblad in the Netherlands and  also overseas colonial newspapers reported, like Sumatra-courant.

Elisabeth’s body was brought back to Vienna, where her funeral cortege followed her on 17 September 1898 to the tomb of the Capuchins (get an impression at Österreichische Illustrierte Zeitung). Her assassin Lucheni was caught and confessed immediately. He was brought to Geneva court on 11 November 1898, where he was incarcerated for life, what Luigi regretted a lot, as a death penalty would have had been much more catchpenny. During his process Lucheni declared that he came to the decision to “murder the first high-born person” that he would meet in Geneva (e.g. Hamburger Anzeiger, 12 November 1898), it was just a coincidence that he found out about Elisabeth.

Elisabeth of Austria was one of the first true European citizens, not so much because she was Empress of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Queen consort of Croatia and Bohemia, but because she spent most of her life travelling and deeply loved all the miscellaneous peoples and cultures. She seemed to be a fairy-tale princess, with the undivided love of her husband Emperor Franz-Josef and a paradigm for beauty. Yet this was not the life she was born to live and she tried to break out of her golden cage her whole lifetime.

A few weeks later, the Spartacist uprising led to the end of the November Revolution in Germany. The uprising was terminated on 15 January 1919 with the assassinations of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg by German militaries.

The huge headline of Berliner Tageblatt on 16 January 1919 announces the killing of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht after they had been arrested. The article reports that Liebknecht had been shot while trying to escape and that Luxemburg had been beaten up by an angry crowd before she was also shot in a car. We now know that Rosa Luxemburg was knocked down by a soldier, pulled unconscious into the car, shot, and her body was thrown into a river by German military. The car was later hijacked by unknowns. When it was found the next day, it did not contain Luxemburg’s body. What the article does not speak about is that Liebknecht was also forced out of his car so he could be shot in the back.

The Berliner Tageblatt was a twice-daily Berlin newspaper founded in 1872. It evolved from an advertising paper into one of the two most influential newspapers in the German capital. The newspaper, which also had considerable influence abroad, was a social-liberal paper with a top run of 300,000 copies per issue. It was known for high quality journalism, not connected to a political party and thus was seen as open-minded. The target audience was intellectual and well educated. In the 1920s, famous authors like Kurt Tucholsky, Erich Kästner and Alfred Kerr regularly wrote for the paper.

Chief editor Theodor Wolff is still regarded as a highly liberal, independent and well-considered journalist in Germany. Wolff had to flee the country after his severe criticism of the Reichstag fire in 1933. Shortly afterwards, the newspaper was forced into Gleichschaltung by the Nazi regime and the publication was finally given up in 1939.

The article about the death of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg was published the day after the incident occurred, taking up the whole front page and also parts of the second page. This shows that the event was of great interest to the public.

The main article is written in a rather neutral tone, though it contains false information that was probably spread to many journalists. For example, it states that the soldiers tried to protect the prisoners by all means, while in fact the soldiers murdered the prisoners. The truth about the assassinations of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg was not revealed until several decades later.

A comment about the life and impact of the two politicians paints a clear picture: Liebknecht was seen as a lunatic without any political instinct. Luxemburg on the other hand was described as a very intelligent and charismatic woman, who made some bad decisions but who acted for the right reasons. Her assumed lynching by the crowd is condemned harshly by the newspaper.

Even though the article follows the false information that was spread at the time, the Berliner Tageblatt was in general an open-minded newspaper aiming to provide a considerate political view without being influenced by the authorities. In this spirit also fits the probably most famous quote from Rosa Luxemburg: “Freedom is always the freedom of the one who is thinking differently”.

Thanks to Sandra Kobel of the Statsbibliothek zu Berlin for writing this article.

Today we see the significance of the Locarno Treaties in the light of the historic context. We know the new peace in Europe didn’t last long. But how did people judge this important step for an emerging Europe back then? A vivid impression can be found by looking at historic newspapers.

In the Europeana Newspapers Browser, 25 libraries from 23 countries provide digitised historic newspapers. Thanks to the full-text search, it is easy to find articles about any interesting topic. Soon there will be around 30 million newspaper pages to browse through online.

We can read what people thought about the signing of the Locarno Treaties 89 years ago. For example, the Berliner Tageblatt dreamt about a peaceful Europe in the future: “On the day of the opening of the Locarno conference we want to draw hope from the magic of Lago Maggiore, that it will have a charitable effect on the gathered figures to make them restore some harmony to the blocked Europe.”

The Locarno Treaties offered new hope for Europe. Austen Chamberlain, British foreign minister, said that in the future there won’t be conquerors nor conquered. Chamberlain, Briand and Stresemann were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1926 for their support of the European idea. “In Locarno, everything was about mutual trust. After all those years of bitterness, everything was breathing a new vigour.” wrote special correspondent Erich Dombrowski in the Berliner Tageblatt.

But not everybody appreciated the efforts for a peaceful and harmonic Europe. In Germany, the conservative governing coalition broke over the signing of the Locarno Treaties as the right-wing national party resigned. Nevertheless, on 23 November 1925 Chancellor Hans Luther called the Treaties “a distinctive step forward” and “a beginning, not an end” and emphasized: “The meaning of the Treaties can be no other than to build a new and better fundament for the peaceful development of Europe.” (Berliner Tageblatt). Another German newspaper, Hamburger Anzeiger, put a different accent on the speech and quoted: “The occupation of Germany is losing its justification” and “Now there is no basis any more for the politics of dictation and ultimatums.”

On the day of the signing in London, Hamburger Anzeiger admitted his dichotomy and wrote: “If Locarno really can be the peace work as that it will be praised today and tomorrow, seems to be a rather political and philosophical question which is tedious to discuss.” The tenor remains the same; the Treaties are “the confession that the collar burst that took away Germany’s air to breath and freedom of action.”

The Locarno treaties were discussed extensively in many countries all over Europe. A special interest lies in the French press. “Tout á la paix…” (Everything for peace) was Gaulois comment on the signing in London. Detailled news coverage can also be found in Le Siècle, Le Temps, L’action française, Le Petit Journal and Le Martin. The same holds true for South Tyrolean press as Meraner Zeitung,  Burggräfler, Der Landsmann – Tagblatt der Deutschen südlich des Brenners and Bozener Nachrichten.

Suppose one is fluent in Estonian, one could also read about the events in Wirumaa Teataja or Eesti Kirik. In Latvian language there is Kursemes Wahrds, for Spain El Sol or El siglo de futuro. Luxemburger Tageblatt covers the news in both German and French.

Sometimes it is all about the small details which are interesting and revealing. For example, Heraldo de Madrid illustrated its article about the signing in London with a picture of Cologne in order to emphasize the importance of the demilitarization in the Rhineland. Also interesting is the description of the dinner at Chamberlains on the night of the signing and the informal negotiation of the troop withdrawal (Berliner Tageblatt).

So if you are curious about this historic event – or anything else – there is nothing quite comparable to reading through the original sources and listening to the numerous voices of coevals. The so far hidden treasures are certainly not only for historians to discover.

With thanks to the author: Sandra Kobel from the Berlin State Library

Heute schätzt man die Bedeutung dieser Verträge nach ihrem historischen Kontext ein, vor allem im Wissen darum, dass der neue Frieden nur von kurzer Dauer war. Doch wie beurteilten die Menschen damals diesen entscheidenden Schritt für das Zusammenwachsen Europas? Am anschaulichsten kann dies an Hand der damaligen Presse nachverfolgt werden.

Im Europeana Newspapers Browser stellen 25 Bibliotheken aus 23 Ländern digitalisierte historische Zeitungen zur Verfügung. Durch die Volltextsuche ist es ein Leichtes dort Artikel zu einem bestimmten Thema zu finden. Bald werden es ca. 30 Millionen Zeitungsseiten sein durch die man online stöbern kann.

So kann man nachlesen wie über die Vertragsunterzeichnung vor 89 Jahren gedacht wurde. Das Berliner Tageblatt zum Beispiel träumte von der Zukunft in einem friedlichen Europa: „An dem Tage, an dem in Locarno die Konferenz beginnt, wollen wir die Hoffnung aussprechen, dass der Zauber des Lago Maggiore nur wohltätig auf die dort versammelten Goetheschen Gestalten wirken und sie dazu führen wird, in das gründlich verbaute Europa wieder einige Harmonie zu bringen.“

Die Verträge von Locarno stellten eine neue Hoffnung für Europa dar. Der britische Außenminister Chamberlain sprach davon, dass es fortan weder Sieger noch Besiegte geben werde. Für die Unterstützung der europäischen Idee erhielten Stresemann, Briand und Chamberlain den Friedensnobelpreis 1926.  „Alles war von vornherein in Locarno auf gegenseitiges Vertrauen gestellt. Alles atmete, nach Jahren der Er- und Verbitterung, einen neuen Geist.“, schwärmte der Sonderkorrespondent Erich Dombrowski im Berliner Tageblatt.

Doch die Bemühungen um ein friedliches und harmonisches Europa wurden nicht überall goutiert. Die bürgerliche Regierungskoalition in Deutschland unter Reichskanzler Hans Luther zerbrach nach der Unterzeichnung des Locarno-Paktes durch den Austritt der rechtsnationalen DNVP. Dennoch nannte der Kanzler in einer Rede am 23. November 1925 die Verträge „ein unverkennbarer Schritt nach oben“ und „ein Anfang, kein Ende“ und betonte: „Der Sinn dieses Vertragswerkes kann kein anderer sein als der, neue und bessere Grundlagen für die friedliche Weiterentwicklung aller Länder Europas zu schaffen.“ (Berliner Tageblatt). Der Hamburger Anzeiger akzentuierte dieselbe Rede etwas anders und zitierte den Kanzler mit den folgenden Worten: „Die Besetzung deutschen Landes verliert ihre innere Begründung“ und „Der Politik der Diktate und Ultimaten ist der Boden entzogen“.

Am Tag der Vertragsunterzeichnung in London bekannte sich der Hamburger Anzeiger zum Zwiespalt und sinnierte: „Die Frage, ob Locarno wirklich das Werk des Friedens, als das man es heute und morgen preisen wird, sein wird, erscheint uns daher heute als politische, mehr noch, als geschichtsphilosophische Spekulation, deren Erörterung müßig ist.“ Der Grundtenor blieb dennoch der gleiche, die Verträge seien „das Eingeständnis, daß der Ring gesprengt ist, der solange Deutschland die Luft zum Atmen und die Freiheit zum Handeln nahm.“

Natürlich wurden die Verträge auch in vielen anderen europäischen Ländern ausgiebig diskutiert. Besonders interessant ist hier die Berichterstattung der Presse Frankreichs. „Tout á la paix…“(alles für den Frieden) kommentierte der französische Gaulois die Vertragsunterzeichnung am 01. Dezember 1925 in London. Ausführliche Berichterstattung findet sich ebenso in Le Siècle, Le Temps, L’action française, Le Petit Journal oder Le Martin.

Auch die Meraner Zeitung, der Burggräfler, Der Landsmann – Tagblatt der Deutschen südlich des Brenners und die Bozener Nachrichten berichteten detailliert über den Entwurf des Sicherheitspakts.

Wer des Estnischen mächtig ist kann die Ereignisse auch in den estnischen Zeitungen Wirumaa Teataja oder Eesti Kirik nachlesen. Aus Lettland finden sich Artikel im Kursemes Wahrds, aus Spanien in El Sol, El siglo de futuro oder El Heraldo de Madrid. Das Luxemburger Tageblatt berichtete zweisprachig von den Ereignissen, auf Deutsch und Französisch.

Manchmal sind es die kleinen Kuriositäten oder Randerscheinung, die besonders interessant und aufschlussreich sind. So illustrierte zum Beispiel der Heraldo de Madrid den Artikel zur Unterzeichnung der Locarno Verträge mit einer Darstellung Kölns, da die Entmilitarisierung des Rheinlandes als besondere Voraussetzung eines europäischen Friedens galt. Auch die Schilderung des Abendessens am Abend der Vertragsunterzeichnung im Hause Chamberlain zeigt auf, wie dort im informellen Rahmen eine beschleunigte Räumung des Rheinlandes verhandelt werden konnte (Berliner Tageblatt).

Wer sich für dieses historisch bedeutsame Ereignis – oder für ein beliebiges anderes – interessiert, für den gibt es nichts Geeigneteres als die Recherche in den originalen Quellen der Zeit – zu sichten, zu vergleichen, sich die unterschiedlichsten Stimmen der Zeitgenossen anzuhören. In den bislang oft schwer zugänglichen Dokumenten lassen sich bequem online nicht nur für Historiker ungeahnte Schätze finden.

Autor: Sandra Kobel, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin

When the political right became dominant in Thuringia after regional elections in 1924, the politically leftist Bauhaus teachers with their international and puristic modern philosophy like Lyonel Feininger, Oskar Schlemmer, Wassily Kandinsky, Johannes Itten, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy or Mies van der Rohe had lost any support in Weimar. The Mayor of the city of Dessau in Anhalt, Fritz Hesse, and the head of the department of arts and culture, Ludwig Grote, offered Walter Gropius to relocate the Bauhaus to Dessau. So the buildings could be raised there in 1925-1926 according to Gropius‘ plans.

On 7th December, the Hamburger Anzeiger reported on the inauguration ceremony. The author seemed to be impressed by Gropius‘ creative determination to get things accomplished in his way. He claimed to build and design objects as diversified as possible with maximum typification.

Fritz Stahl, too, commented very favourably on the opening in the Berliner Tageblatt the same day.

The central building of the Bauhaus was the school building famous for its avantgardistic glass facade. The Hamburger Anzeiger referred to this building two days later in its article about the „problematic glass house“. On the one hand, the author admires the radical and stringent realisation of the puristic Bauhaus style, on the other hand, he voices discomfort over a typical German vice: a theoretical bias, overestimated doctrines and ideologies. And he mentions protest of civic associations in Dessau against the „un-German“ architectural style.

The „Meisterhäuser“ where the Bauhaus teachers and artists lived were commonly praised as showcases of modern architecture and interior decoration.

60 workmen’s houses of 70 square metres each were erected in Dessau-Törten as examples of low-budget building activities encompassing complete interior fitting and kitchen equipment.

The pilot function of Bauhaus style was controversial as well as readily accepted by the public. In the women’s supplement to the Hamburger Anzeiger on 3rd March 1927 Annette Robody praised the progressive components in Bauhaus design helping German housewives to overcome their lack of modernity.

Only a few years later the Bauhaus episode in Dessau came to an end. The National Socialists had gained a majority in the Dessau City Council, and they decided to close the Bauhaus Hochschule für Gestaltung immediately on 22nd August 1932. Under the direction of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe the Bauhaus School continued working as a private institution in Berlin-Lankwitz for ten months, before it was closed down by the Nazi government who claimed that it was a centre of communist intellectualism.

Der Hamburger Anzeiger berichtete am 7. Dezember von der Eröffnungsveranstaltung und zeigte sich beeindruckt von Gropius‘ nüchternen Gestaltungswillen, der „bei größtmöglicher Typisierung größtmögliche Abwechslung“ erreichen wolle.

Auch im Berliner Tageblatt kommentierte Fritz Stahl die Eröffnung am 7. Dezember 1926 sehr positiv.

Zentrum des Bauhauses Dessau war das Schulgebäude mit seiner avantgardistischen Glasvorhangfassade.

Auf dieses Gebäude bezog sich die Kultur-Schlagzeile im Hamburger Anzeiger zwei Tage später, 9.12.1926: „Das problematische Glashaus“. Zum Ausdruck kommt die Ambivalenz zwischen Bewunderung für die Radikalität und Stringenz des modernen Bauhausstils  und seines Raumbewusstseins einerseits und einem Unbehagen an einer deutschen „Untugend …: Ueberschätzung der Theorie, der Lehrmeinung, des Weltanschaulichen, des Gesinnungskämpferischen, der Doktrin.“ Auch liefen schon Dessauer Bürgervereine gegen die „undeutsche“ Bauweise Sturm.

Bewunderung fanden die von Gropius für die Bauhaus-Lehrer konzipierten und von den Bewohnern durchaus unterschiedlich eingerichteten „Meisterhäuser“ wie auch seine 60 Arbeiterhäuser zu Niedrigpreisen in Dessau-Törten mit 70 Quadratmetern Wohnfläche, kompletter Mustereinrichtung samt Küchen als Beispielen für rationelle Wirtschaftsführung.

Das Vorbild machte Schule, wie ein Artikel „Hauswirtschaftliches aus dem Bauhaus“ am 3. März 1927 in der Beilage „Für unsere Frauen“ des Hamburger Anzeigers unter dem Leitsatz „Die Frau hat manches nachzuholen“ detailliert zeigte. Darin wird erläutert, wo der durchschnittliche deutsche Haushalt dem Entwicklungstempo moderner Technik und Einrichtung hinterherhinkt. „Die konsequente Arbeit und der vorbildliche Typ, der dort [in Dessau] geschaffen wurde, ist eine Tat und wird – hoffentlich – Schule machen,“ so die Autorin Annette Robody.

Doch die Geschichte des Bauhauses in Dessau war bereits wenige Jahre später beendet. Mit der Gemeinderatsmehrheit der Nationalsozialisten wurde am 22. August 1932 die Auflösung in Dessau beschlossen. Von Ludwig Mies van der Rohe wurde das Bauhaus noch bis 1933 als Privatinstitut in Berlin-Lankwitz weitergeführt, ehe es dann im Nationalsozialismus dort endgültig schließen musste.

But the circumstances of his ascension to the throne were everything but simple, because in the course of the so-called March Revolution of 1848 the court had to leave Vienna and settled over to Olomouc in Moravia. In a manifest, published in the ‘Wiener Abendzeitung’, Emperor Ferdinand I. sees the reason in “the bloody events that convert … our capital Vienna into a site of anarchistic disturbances.” Only a few weeks later, on December 2^nd, Ferdinand I announced “to renounce the Austrian throne” and since his brother Archduke Francis Carl did the same “our ascension to the throne taking the name Francis Joseph the first” was announced “to all peoples of the monarchy.” At least this is what we can read in the official documents that were published in the evening edition of the ‘Wiener Zeitung’. In the following days other newspapers of the Habsburg Monarchy re-printed them, for example the ‘Presse’ or the ‘Klagenfurter Zeitung’.

These developments were of course widely discussed and commented. The above mentioned daily ‘die Presse’ – founded in the revolutionary year 1848 and at the time only six months in business – shows how little Ferdinand’s abdication was anticipated: “Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria has abdicated. His nephew Archduke Francis Joseph ascends the throne. The news of this change has taken the inhabitants of Vienna completely by surprise. The ‘Kais. Kön. Priv. Bothe für Tirol und Vorarlberg’ reports similarly: “It is impossible to describe which feelings the news produced here [in Vienna]. One is not really able to grasp the impressions oneself.”

The hope tied to the new ruler are expressed in an article in ‘Der Humorist’ in which a line from Francis Joseph to Joseph II is drawn: “What great Joseph, full of philanthropic ideas, intended, can now be fulfilled by Francis Joseph.”

Such an event was of course also covered in other parts of Europe. By using the Europeana Newspaper Browser it is easy to find different contemporary voices from all over Europe, like articles in the ‘Nederlandsche Staats-Courant’ or ‘Le Siècle’.

Doch die Umstände seiner Thronbesteigung waren alles andere als einfach, denn im Zuge der sogenannten Märzrevolution 1848 musste der Hof Wien verlassen und übersiedelte Anfang Oktober ins mährische Olmütz/Olomouc. In einem, in der „Wiener Abendzeitung“ vom 21. Oktober 1848 veröffentlichten Manifest, sieht Kaiser Ferdinand I. den Grund in den „blutigen Ereignisse[n], welche … Unsere Haupt- und Residenzstadt Wien in einem Schauplatz anarchischer Wirren umgewandelt haben.“ Nur wenige Wochen später, am 2. Dezember, gibt Ferdinand I. bekannt „dem österreichischen Kaiserthrone zu entsagen“ und da sein Bruder Erzherzog Franz Carl ebenfalls auf den Thron verzichtete, wurde „allen Völkern der Monarchie Unsere Thronbesteigung unter dem Nahmen [sic] Franz Joseph des Ersten“ verkündet. So jedenfalls ist es in den offiziellen Dokumenten zu lesen, welche in der Abendausgabe des 3. Dezember 1848 der „Wiener Zeitung“ erstmals veröffentlicht wurden. In den folgenden Tagen wurden diese auch in anderen Zeitungen der Habsburger Monarchie abgedruckt wie beispielsweise in der „Presse“ oder der „Klagenfurter Zeitung“

Natürlich wurden diese Ereignisse auch diskutiert und kommentiert. Die erwähnte Zeitung „Die Presse“, im Revolutionsjahr 1848 gegründet und zum Zeitpunkt der Thronbesteigung gerade einmal sechs Monate alt, zeigt wie wenig die Abdankung Ferdinands erwartet wurde: „Der Kaiser Ferdinand I. von Österreich hat abgedankt. Sein Neffe der Erzherzog Franz Joseph besteigt den Thron. Die Nachricht von diesem Wechsel hat die Bevölkerung Wien’s [sic] auf das Erschütterndste überrascht.“ Ähnlich auch der „Kais. Kön. Priv. Bothe für Tirol und Vorarlberg“: „Was es für eine Sensation hier [in Wien] Machte, kann man eigentlich nicht sagen, man ist sich des Eindruckes selbst nicht recht bewußt.“

Die mit dem neuen Herrscher verbundene Hoffnung drückt ein Artikel in „Der Humorist“ aus, indem eine Linie von Franz Joseph zu Joseph II. gezogen wird: „Was der große Joseph, erfüllt von den menschenfreundlichen Ideen, beabsichtigte, kann Franz Joseph, wie es die jetzigen Zeitverhältnisse erheischen, in Ausführung bringen.“

Ein derartiges Ereignis blieb natürlich auch in anderen Teilen Europas nicht unerwähnt. Über den Europeana Newspapers Browser ist es einfach, weitere zeitgenössische Stimmen aus Europa zu finden, wie jene im „Nederlandsche Staats-Courant“ oder im „Le Siècle“.

Que dit le titre ?

Cet “article” est plutôt une publicité pour la marque de cacao en poudre Phoscao. Le texte explicatif promet un petit-déjeuner “idéal” pour tous. Il nous explique aussi, que, là où le thé et le café donne un simple “coup de fouet” au buveur, le Phoscao “nourrit, fortifie et stimule sans fatiguer l’estomac” !

De quel journal est tiré cet article ? 

Cette publicité est tirée du quotidien L’Ouest-Eclair (édition de Nantes). Il a été créé en 1899 et s’est arrêté en 1944. D’origine bretonne, ce quotidien a été créé sur des bases chrétiennes et sur une sensibilité républicaine et sociale. L’Ouest-Eclair est l’ancêtre d’Ouest-France.

Cet article décrit-il cet évènement tel que nous le connaissons aujourd’hui ?

Non, bien évidement. De nos jours, plus personne n’oserait dire que le chocolat chaud est plus digeste que le café ou le thé, mieux encore, se déclamer, en tant que cacao en poudre le “plus parfait régulateur des fonctions digestives” !

Si vous le souhaitez, vous pouvez ajouter autre chose au sujet de cet article ou de ce journal.

Ce qui m’a beaucoup étonnée est la proposition de la marque d’envoyer un échantillon gratuit aux particuliers, chose improbable aujourd’hui.

On remarque aussi que cela diffère des publicités actuelles : on voit plus le texte (très) explicatif sur la marque, que l’image montrée. On ne voit pas beaucoup de relations entre l’illustration et l’écrit.

The English version of this blog article is available here.

Merci a Asia Vincent-Coffin, au nom de BnF, 13 ans, future journaliste.