“Humanitarian” provocation. Who benefits from it?

On October 21, a leftist weekly Austrian magazine Profil published an article by journalist Christa Zoechling with a headline “Jews, Bloodsuckers” (Juden, Blutsauger), in which she stated that Franko was an ardent anti-Semite. The author refers to the “evidence” provided by Emil Langermann, Jew of Ukrainian descent, who migrated to Austria with his family back in the 1970s. It should be noted that earlier Langermann became famous for his accusations of Ukrainian writer Oleksandr Havrosh that the latter propagated intolerance towards Transcarpathian ethnic groups at a literary evening in Vienna. Langermann translated into German and submitted to the Vienna City Council the “anti-Semitic” quotes from Franko’s works and urged the Council take down the memorial plaque off the wall of the Vienna University. Here are a few quotes:

“Franko was the then radical nationalist and a fervent anti-Semite. In his poems, he opposed Ukrainian peasants to ‘greedy’ Jewish shopkeepers.”

“But Communists loved Franko. When Stalin was reigning, Franko’s works were interpreted as ‘revolutionary’ [translation from German by Liubomyr Petrenko. – Ed.].” The author is quoting out of context and presents separate phrases in an absolutely different light.

When Ukrainian service Deutsche Welle called the author and asked why he would initiate the demolition of memorial signs now, Langermann said that he learned about the plaque’s existence accidentally at the end of 2009, because he had no relation to this university. In his opinion, “wide Jewish circles” know about Franko’s anti-Semitism. Langermann’s initiative was supported by a few organizations, like the Jewish Religious Community of Vienna (IKG) and the Austrian Mauthausen Committee (MKO).

We called the Vienna City Council to find out about the details of the case. The culture department affirmed they had received an appeal from Langermann, but were still waiting for a decision by the Vienna University experts, because “the scientists’ opinion is very important to them.” The press service had no information on the date when a decision might be made. Let us remind that a scientific symposium “Ivan Franko and the Jewish Question in Galicia” took place at the Vienna University on October 24 and 25. Deputy head of the Department of Slavonic Studies, professor Alois Woldan said that the accusations against Franko are “significantly exaggerated.” Let us note that the Scientific Council of the Ivan Franko Lviv National University wrote an appeal to the Vienna City Council and the administration of the Vienna University.

The Day addressed the experts about the discussion which stirred up both Ukrainian and Austrian societies:

“I AM WILLING TO WRITE A LETTER IN FRANKO’S DEFENSE AND EXPOSE THE SLANDERING OF HISTORICAL EVENTS”

Josef ZISSELS, vice-president of the World Jewish Congress, Jewish public figure of Ukraine:

“The article and the appeal by Emil Langermann are of provocative nature, and I do not think they can really affect anything. Since he is not an opinion leader of any sort. I am a theoretical physicist, not a humanitarian scholar, so I cannot provide a professional evaluation of Franko. But let us take a wider look. A lot of writers and poets of the late 19th and early 20th centuries are ambiguous and complex. If we are to view them from Langermann’s perspective, we will be able to find plenty of quotations on the level of the cultural code defined by the Christian consciousness of that time, which included bits of anti-Semitism. They are justified by the politics of the tsarist rule, imperial forces, the mythical confrontation between Jews and Christians, etc. A lot of writers were captivated by this idea, Shevchenko and Dostoevsky among them. However, these are outstanding humanists, poets and writers who cannot be characterized by using only these cultural codes.

“The artistic heritage which brought these people to the top of humanitarian and intellectual thought of their time remains the most important. Talks about Franko as an anti-Semite are mere speculations. It is quite possible that some people of that time did speak in that way. So what? All they have done during their lives for the shaping of intellectual environment and bringing humanitarian values to people is much more important than a few separate phrases. So, should I stop respecting Dostoevsky now, since he displayed a negative attitude towards Jews in his everyday life and partially in his works? This is absurd.

“The thing is that Franko had a profound impact on Ukrainian national consciousness, which I treat with enormous respect. Even if you can tear out of his huge collection of works some separate phrases that characterize Jews negatively, I am not going to do this. Franko remains an outstanding Ukrainian, who promoted the creation and strengthening of the Ukrainian nation. I am not sure whether the Jewish community should react to such silly publications. If the case goes far and starts gaining momentum, I am sure that a part of the Jewish community will speak up. We have points to argue about. I am ready to write a letter on behalf of our organizations in defense of Franko and expose various insinuations and slander of historical nature. But I do not think Vienna authorities will allow to take down the memorial signs dedicated to Ivan Franko. I do not believe this process can end with such a shame for the civilized Europe.”

“WE WILL BE ABLE TO REMOVE ALL QUESTIONS ABOUT ANTI-SEMITISM AFTER WE READ THE POEM MOSES”

Mykola LEHKY, head of the Franko studies department, senior researcher at the Ivan Franko Institute, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine:

“There is no doubt that this article is provocative. Why didn’t Langermann express his suspicions about Ivan Franko’s so-called ‘anti-Semitism’ in 1993, when the memorial plaque was installed, or in 1999, when a monument to the Ukrainian writer was erected in Vienna? Why did he have to pop up with this article right now, just before the signing of the Association Agreement in Vilnius? To cast a shadow of anti-Semitism and xenophobia on Ukraine and one of its spiritual leaders again. This article, as well as Langermann’s deliberations, are based on a complete ignorance of Franko’s works and on phrases that were pulled out of context. It was written to stir up the community.

“Firstly, I have not found the expression ‘Jews, bloodsuckers’ (as in the headline of the article) in any of Franko’s works. Franko did not even express such thoughts through his characters’ words.

“Secondly, I am deeply convinced (and not only me), that the supreme idea of Franko’s works is philanthropy, that is, love for people. People hurt by life situations, wrecked people, who need some help despite their nationality. And Franko treats many Jews with this attitude.

“We will be able to remove all questions about anti-Semitism after we read Franko’s poem Moses. He saw Moses as an example of a people’s leader. Franko looked at the international relations in Galicia between Ukrainians and Jews, Ukrainians and Poles, Poles and Jews much deeper, he was trying to understand the essence of each individual person, even society as a whole. He evaluated them from the point of view of interpersonal relations, as well as intersocial ones. It was extremely important for Franko to show a person in some specific circumstances, regardless of their national identity. This is clearly seen thanks to the character of Franko’s novel Boa Constrictor Herman Goldkramer.

“There are no grounds to accuse Franko of anti-Semitism.”

“EVEN 120 YEARS AFTER IVAN FRANKO GOT HIS DOCTORATE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF VIENNA, ONLY A SMALL PART OF HIS WORKS HAS BEEN TRANSLATED INTO GERMAN”

Wolf Dietrich HEIM, Ambassador of the Austrian Republic to Ukraine:

“The Department of Slavonic Studies at the University of Vienna, together with interdisciplinary doctorate collegium ‘Austrian Galicia and its historical heritage’ organized a high-level academic conference ‘Ivan Franko and the Jewish question in Galicia’ on October 24, 2013. The invited participants included historians, linguists, historians of literature from Europe, North America, Israel, as well as several scholars from Ukraine.

“The conference explored, from a scientific perspective, the complex and vast heritage left by Ivan Franko, with all its inconsistencies and individual fragments which deserve criticism, and in its coherence with the historical context. I consider it even more important because even now, 120 years after Ivan Franko got his doctorate from the University of Vienna, only a small part of his works has been translated into German or English.

“As far as the abovementioned article in the Austrian weekly Profil is concerned, I would like also to mention that Austria, just like Ukraine, enjoys the freedom of the press. So the matter of taking over a certain theme by a certain periodical (in this case Mr. Langermann’s complaint to the Vienna City Council) and the methods to do it depend exclusively on the editorial staff of this periodical. Of course, all critically-minded readers have a possibility to voice their ideas and criticism about this or another material: for instance, on Reader’s Opinion pages or in a letter to the editors. Should the material go beyond the limits defined by law, the reader can certainly always file a suit in any of the independent Austrian courts of law.”