Competitive Civilizing Missions: Hungarian Germans, Modernization, and Ethnographic Descriptions of theZigeunerbefore World War I

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines writings on theZigeuner(“Gypsies”) by three prominent Hungarian-German scholars—Johann Schwicker, Anton Herrmann, and Heinrich von Wlislocki—as responses to Magyarization pressures, which divided Hungarian-Germans by threatening the traditional privileges of some while offering others opportunities for social advancement. Hungarian and German elites alike castZigeuneras primitiveNaturvölkerin an effort to legitimize reform efforts. By writing about theZigeuner, scholars asserted competing Magyar and German models for modernization and reform. Passionate German nationalist Johann Schwicker called for theZigeunerto assimilate into Hungarian and Romanian culture, arguing that Germanization was beyond their reach, thereby asserting German culture's supposedly superior status as an elite culture. By contrast, Hungarian nationalist Anton Herrmann urged the Magyarization of theZigeunerto strengthen the Hungarian nation-state, denigrating the role of German and Romanian culture. Finally, Heinrich Wlislocki rejected all nationalist modernizing efforts, presenting theZigeuneras a romantic symbol of the premodern age. In all three cases, Schwicker's, Herrmann's, and Wlislocki'sZigeunerbore very limited resemblance to Romani lived experience. Collectively, the writings of these three scholars illustrate both the range of Hungarian-German responses to nationalist modernization, as well as the role of national disputes in shapingZigeunerkunde(“Gypsy Studies”).