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own country, and the demise of this multicultural and multi-ethnic state
cannot be laid at Germany's door. But every prejudice the Serbs ever
held against the Germans has been reinforced. Through its reckless ac–
tions during the 1991-1992 Yugoslav crisis, Germany has reinforced anti–
German sentiment in the Serb part of the Balkans.
Patrick
Kelly: Thank you. Now, to Marta Halpert.
Marta Halpert:
The vital decision about which road Austria should
take into the next century was substantially influenced by the legendary
Viennese potato salad. More precisely, by the semantic difference in the
German and Austrian expressions for this rich side-dish, which is served
with the Viennese
Schnitzel.
What may at first seem like a joke was in
fact an essential factor in the referendum on whether Austria should be–
come a member of the European Union.
This time the Austrian government read its voters correctly: The slo–
gan "Erdapfelsalat bleibt Erdapfelsalat," meaning "Potato salad is still
potato salad," carried the soothing message, "You, Austrian citizen, one
of eight million inhabitants, will not have to change your habits - for
example, calling your beloved 'Erdapfelsalat' instead 'Kartoffelsalat' -
just because eighty million Germans do so." In June 1994, more than
two-thirds, exactly sixty-seven percent of Austrians voted in favor of EU
membership, the highest endorsement of EU membership by any Euro–
pean country.
The fear of "Germanization," namely of losing the singular Austrian
touch in language, culture and especially the
savoir vivre
was evident. No
other partner in the EU could be a bigger threat to Austrian identity,
especially cultural identity and self-esteem. The Italians could become
competitors on the wine market, the French probably win the fight for
gourmet cheese. But only German publishers would claim successful Aus–
trian writers - like Peter Handke - as their own, by presenting them as
German authors in their catalogues.
This is neither petty chauvinism nor modern-style nationalism on the
part of Austria. There are two genuine reasons for this feeling: the peo–
ple's memory of numerous painful stretches in German-Austrian history,
and the enormous efforts to establish unmistakaeble identity for this small
country, whose viability had been put into question in 1918. This led to
a complex and extremely ambivalent relationship.
I will divide my remarks into three sections by examining the close
link between the German and Austrian economies; recalling the his–
torical events responsible for the mutual perception and opinionated
