Lecture: The Emperor's view of Bukovina - How (invisible) was the imperial periphery in Vienna?

Date: July 24, 2025, 14:15

Location: University of Regensburg, Campus Sammelgebäude, Room 214

Speaker: Jana Osterkamp (University of Augsburg)

Organizer: Chair of History of Southeast and Eastern Europe at the University of Regensburg, Leibniz Institute for East and Southeast European Studies, Regensburg in cooperation with the Graduate School for East and Southeast European Studies, the Leibniz ScienceCampus “Europe and America in the Modern World” and the Center for Interdisciplinary Ukrainian Studies “Think Space Ukraine”, funded by the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) with funds from the German Federal Foreign Office (AA)

Language: German

Jana Osterkamp

Jana Osterkamp has a degree in law and is a qualified historian. She has been Professor of the History of Germany's Relations with Eastern Europe at the University of Augsburg since 2023. She also heads the Bukovina Institute there. Her habilitation "Vielfalt ordnen. Das föderale Europa der Habsburgermonarchie (Vormärz bis 1918)" will be published by Oxford University Press in 2026. Osterkamp is currently planning an initiative on administrative and imperial history "Die Bukowina auf dem Schreibtisch des Kaisers" (Bukovina on the Emperor's Desk), which will resume a project that she is working on together with Peter Becker (University of Vienna) with the research group "Der Schreibtisch des Kaisers. Ein Ort politischen Entscheidens? Franz Joseph I. und seine Kabinettskanzlei". A second of her book projects deals with the political history of Karlovy Vary in the 20th century.

Abstract

The lecture brings together the administration of the Habsburg Monarchy from the "desk of Emperor" Franz Joseph I (time of reign - 1848-1916) with the history of one of the most remote, poorest, smallest and yet "laborious" crown lands in the Austrian half of the monarchy - Bukovina. Emperor Franz Joseph was strongly supported in his day-to-day government work by a so-called Cabinet Chancellery, which registered around 250,000 transactions during his reign and processed them in so-called papers. The initial results of the "Desk of the Emperor" project are based on the statistical analysis of this bureaucracy to make the government activities of the Habsburg Monarchy visible for the first time and to examine them according to policy areas. The interplay between state and non-state actors is also of interest. In the context of this general analysis, Bukovina accounts for only a small part, with around 8,000 speeches and memoranda. By showing some typical sources for Bukovina, the aim is to provide initial theses on the role this easternmost crown land of Austria played on the Emperor's desk. 

The lecture is part of the research colloquium “History and Social Anthropology of Southeastern and Eastern Europe”. You can find the program of the colloquium under the link.

Photo: University of Augsburg