Armut und Reichtum in der Geschichte Österreichs is a collection of nine essays from a 2007 history conference sponsored by the Institut für Österreichkunde on the history of wealth and poverty in Austrian history. Taken together, they provide a broad overview of how these concepts changed between the late Middle Ages and twenty-first century. As such, this volume would primarily be of interest to a “historically interested public,” (113) rather than “highly specialized” scholars. It would also be particularly useful as an assigned reading in a German-language undergraduate survey of Austrian or Central European history.
The volume's strength clearly lies in its ability to describe succinctly the evolution of wealth and poverty in Austrian history. Of particular interest in this respect is Gerhard Jaritz's “‘Armut’ im Spätmittelalter,” which describes how poverty was a condition that affected “a variety of people and groups” (15). To this end, poverty meant a lack of material objects and was frequently accompanied by a loss of one's social status. Because poverty was something that could affect people from any social class, Jaritz argues that society also had a larger obligation to care for the impoverished. In making his argument, Jaritz frequently references a series of fifteen images that show how poverty was visually depicted in medieval Austria. These images effectively illustrate Jaritz's larger points.
Despite its claim to survey the evolution of poverty and wealth in Austrian history, the volume provides an unequal treatment of the way in which these concepts evolved, as its clear focus is poverty. Of the nine essays, only three focus on wealth and the changing status of the Austrian nobility. Even then, these essays only assess the changing nature of wealth in Austria after the late nineteenth century. An additional contribution on wealth in early modern Austria would have provided greater balance for a general audience. At the same time, the absence of a contribution that discusses changes in poverty during the late nineteenth century is especially glaring in the wake of Sabine Veits-Falk's thoughtful essay on poverty during the late eighteenth century. Veits-Falk notes that the age of industrialization is essential to understanding the evolution of poverty in Austria because providers of relief distinguished between so-called deserving and undeserving poor in order to determine where they directed the aid. When combined with the emerging science of eugenics during the late nineteenth century, this distinction led to the emergence of a biological understanding of poverty and deviance in other industrialized European countries. An additional contribution that focused on this relationship in Austria would have been particularly valuable given the deeply Catholic character of Austrian society.
Furthermore, specialists will also find that the essays in this volume tend to raise more questions than they answer. For example, Gerhard Melinz notes in his essay on Austrian poverty in the First Republic that communities invoked the Heimatrecht in order to deny assistance to minority populations. Specifically, he notes that communities frequently refused to assist people they identified as “Hebrew” and “Ostjuden.” At the same time, Austrian communities also demonstrated a strong “anti-Czech” bias (150). An important observation, it is the only time any of the contributions discuss poverty among non-German-speaking minorities. Both specialists and general readers will likely ask how non-German-speakers’ experiences with poverty differed from those of the general population. To this end, a contribution that addresses this question directly would also have helped to provide a more complete understanding of poverty.
For this reviewer, however, the most concerning omission was the absence of any essay dealing exclusively with the time period from 1938–1945. Only Gudula Walterskirchen, who examines wealth and poverty among Austrian nobles during the twentieth century, discusses the period at any length. Even then, however, the section on the Nazi occupation is only slightly more than one page. Given that the volume already includes two contributions on the period of the First Republic and one on Austria after 1945, the lack of an essay on Austria under Nazi leadership is all the more glaring. At the very least, the reviewer would have found it helpful if the introduction addressed the absence and explained why none of the essays addressed one of the most important and controversial moments in modern Austrian history.
Ultimately, Armut und Reichtum in der Geschichte Österreichs will be of limited interest to specialists in the field. Although it provides a good introduction to the topic for a general audience, it will also leave readers with many questions. Therefore, if assigned in class, it is best used in conjunction with additional sources.
