Re: [Cz-L] Otto von Habsburg in Czernovitz

My two cents.

Like most on this list, I appreciate the Habsburg era in the Bukovina,
as my father was born there late in the enlightened reign of Kaiser
Franz Joseph.

My knowledge of Otto's history is limited. But I did meet him in
October 2004, when he was the commencement speaker for my Executive
MBA diploma ceremony at the IMADEC university in Vienna, where I lived
for seven years. My recollection of his speech, however, was not very
positive. And what sticks out most in my memory were his comments
tinged with subtle racist allusions that attributed America's
competitive weakness to its social diversity. Anyone who has spent
time in Austria will appreciate that such statements are not out of
character in modern-day Austria, where newspaper headlines by the
right-wing Krone Zeitung's regularly refer to "Schwarzafrikaner" drug
dealers (see http://www.krone.at/Oesterreich/Razzia_Polizei_verhaftet_50_Schwarzafrikaner-Guertel_abgesperrt-Story-30665),
rather than specifying their Kenyan or Ghanaian nationality. There
was a time when Jews were similarly vilified in Vienna, but I doubt
that Otto would have recognized the prejudice implicit in his
analysis.

So whatever his accomplishments, and I suspect they were commendable,
my own limited experience was that Otto also had his shortcomings.

On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 7:33 AM, HARDY BREIER <HARDY3_at_bezeqint.net> wrote:
> Our loyalty to the House of Habsburg is unlimited and unconditional.
> We will therefore deny any slander or rumor trying to undermine this.
>  Like the alleged Otto - Franco collusion that we deny even before
> we know the facts.
>  On this we stand  Viribus Unitis that is with united forces- our Kaisers
> motto.
>    Hardy
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "yosi-jerry" <eshet1_at_netvision.net.il>
> To: "cornel fleming" <cornel.fleming_at_virgin.net>; "'Hedwig Brenner'"
> <hedbren_at_zahav.net.il>; "'HARDY BREIER'" <HARDY3_at_bezeqint.net>;
> <Czernowitz-L_at_cornell.edu>
> Sent: Friday, July 22, 2011 12:00 PM
> Subject: Re: [Cz-L] Otto von Habsburg in Czernovitz
>
>
>> Hi Cornell
>> I never denied that Otto Habsburg has many good deeds to his credit, but
>> he also was the most prominent member of the Habsburg family and as such -
>> no matter how much he resented it - he had obligations towards the family
>> which many of its members lived in Spain. Therefore he cooperated with
>> Franco and his regime, same as the US and others.
>> Yosef (Jerry) Eshet, Raanana, Israel
>
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Received on 2011-07-22 11:26:25