1.
Vienna
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Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
2.
Austria
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Austria, officially the Republic of Austria, is a federal republic and a landlocked country of over 8.7 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Hungary and Slovakia to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, the territory of Austria covers 83,879 km2. The terrain is mountainous, lying within the Alps, only 32% of the country is below 500 m. The majority of the population speaks local Bavarian dialects of German as their native language, other local official languages are Hungarian, Burgenland Croatian, and Slovene. The origins of modern-day Austria date back to the time of the Habsburg dynasty, from the time of the Reformation, many northern German princes, resenting the authority of the Emperor, used Protestantism as a flag of rebellion. Following Napoleons defeat, Prussia emerged as Austrias chief competitor for rule of a greater Germany, Austrias defeat by Prussia at the Battle of Königgrätz, during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, cleared the way for Prussia to assert control over the rest of Germany. In 1867, the empire was reformed into Austria-Hungary, Austria was thus the first to go to war in the July Crisis, which would ultimately escalate into World War I. The First Austrian Republic was established in 1919, in 1938 Nazi Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss. This lasted until the end of World War II in 1945, after which Germany was occupied by the Allies, in 1955, the Austrian State Treaty re-established Austria as a sovereign state, ending the occupation. In the same year, the Austrian Parliament created the Declaration of Neutrality which declared that the Second Austrian Republic would become permanently neutral, today, Austria is a parliamentary representative democracy comprising nine federal states. The capital and largest city, with a population exceeding 1.7 million, is Vienna, other major urban areas of Austria include Graz, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck. Austria is one of the richest countries in the world, with a nominal per capita GDP of $43,724, the country has developed a high standard of living and in 2014 was ranked 21st in the world for its Human Development Index. Austria has been a member of the United Nations since 1955, joined the European Union in 1995, Austria also signed the Schengen Agreement in 1995, and adopted the euro currency in 1999. The German name for Austria, Österreich, meant eastern realm in Old High German, and is cognate with the word Ostarrîchi and this word is probably a translation of Medieval Latin Marchia orientalis into a local dialect. Austria was a prefecture of Bavaria created in 976, the word Austria is a Latinisation of the German name and was first recorded in the 12th century. Accordingly, Norig would essentially mean the same as Ostarrîchi and Österreich, the Celtic name was eventually Latinised to Noricum after the Romans conquered the area that encloses most of modern-day Austria, around 15 BC. Noricum later became a Roman province in the mid-first century AD, heers hypothesis is not accepted by linguists. Settled in ancient times, the Central European land that is now Austria was occupied in pre-Roman times by various Celtic tribes, the Celtic kingdom of Noricum was later claimed by the Roman Empire and made a province
3.
Frankfurt kitchen
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It was designed in 1926 by Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky for architect Ernst Mays social housing project New Frankfurt in Frankfurt, Germany. Some 10,000 units were built in the late 1920s in Frankfurt, German cities after the end of World War I were plagued by a serious housing shortage. Various social housing projects were built in the 1920s to increase the number of rental apartments and these large-scale projects had to provide affordable apartments for a great number of typical working class families and thus were subject to tight budget constraints. As a consequence, the apartments designed were comfortable but not spacious and her design departed from the then common kitchen-cum-living room. Firstly, it is work, and secondly it is relaxing, company, — Margarethe Schütte-Lihotzky in Schlesisches Heim 8/1921 Schütte-Lihotzkys design was strongly influenced by the ideas of Taylorism, which was in vogue at the beginning of the 20th century. These ideas were received well in Germany and Austria and formed the base of German architect Erna Meyers work and were instrumental in Schütte-Lihotzkys design of the Frankfurt kitchen. The problem of rationalising the work is equally important to all classes of the society. — Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky in Das neue Frankfurt, 5/1926-1927 This quote succinctly sums up the reasons for the appeal of Taylorism at the time. On the one hand, the trend to rationalise the household was reinforced by the intention to reduce the time spent in unproductive housework, so that women had more time for factory work. On the other hand, emancipatory efforts to improve womens status, also in the home, called for rationalisation to relieve women, the Frankfurt kitchen was a narrow double-file kitchen measuring 1.9 m ×3.4 m. The entrance was located in one of the walls, opposite which was the window. Along the left side, the stove was placed, followed by a door connecting the kitchen to the dining and living room. On the right wall were cabinets and the sink, in front of the window a workspace, there was no refrigerator, but there was a foldable ironing board visible in the image folded against the left wall. The sliding door also helped minimise the distance between the kitchen and the table in the adjacent room. It was the first fitted kitchen, the wooden door and drawer fronts were painted blue because researchers had found that flies avoided blue surfaces. Lihotzky used oak wood for flour containers, because it repelled mealworms, and beech for table tops because beech is resistant to staining, acids, the seating was a revolving stool on castors for maximum flexibility. Schütte-Lihotzky actually designed three different variations of the Frankfurt kitchen, Type 1, the one described here, was the most common and least costly. She also designed Type 2 and Type 3, which were larger, had tables and these two latter types, however, did not have the impact her Type 1 model had
4.
Margareten
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Margareten is the fifth district of Vienna. It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, Margareten is a heavily populated urban area with many workers and residential homes. The district of Margareten was formed from six suburbs, the former city of Margareten itself developed from an estate with the same name and was later built into a castle. It was destroyed in both Turkish sieges of Vienna, but rebuilt each time, nearby lay Nikolsdorf, which was systemically laid out in the period 1555-1568 and named after the convent of St. Nikolai. Matzleinsdorf emerged in 1130 and was property of the Babenberger family, the name Laurenzergrund comes from an area in Matzleindorf with the Laurenzer gully. After the closing of the convent by Emperor Joseph II, it became an independent city, Reinprechtsdorf was a village in the Middle Ages, abandoned earlier, but the name remained as a path waypoint. In 1730, residential houses were built in the area. Nearby, a lodge was built, wherefrom the suburb Hundsturm gets its name. The hunting lodge was replaced with a fort, which was taken down by 1885. Those six areas, along with a number of others, were incorporated on March 5,1850, after a long debate over the different social circumstances of the population, in 1861 the fifth district was separated. In 1873 the district lost its area to the, much larger, 10th district. Since then, the rural district has become a thickly populated urban area with many workers. Margareten is in the southwest of Vienna and is bounded to the north by the Vienna River, in the west, the Vienna River is also the border to the district Mariahilf, while the belt is the boundary of the districts Favoriten and Meidling. The eastern district boundary with Wieden runs contrary to the inner districts in the transverse rather than longitudinal. Thus, the boundary follows the streets, Kettenbrückengasse, Margaretenstraße, Kleine Neugasse, Mittersteig. Margareten is the district within the Vienna Belt which is not within the Inner City borders. The district area is part of the Katastralgemeinde Margareten, which has a hectare of the territory of the neighboring district Mariahilf, the lowest point in Margareten is nearly 174 metres in the Wiental. In the south, the land rises slightly, Margareten has no sharp altitudes, or mountains, the total height difference is approximately 30 metres
5.
Austria-Hungary
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The union was a result of the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 and came into existence on 30 March 1867. Austria-Hungary consisted of two monarchies, and one region, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia under the Hungarian crown. It was ruled by the House of Habsburg, and constituted the last phase in the evolution of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the 1867 reforms, the Austrian and the Hungarian states were co-equal, Foreign affairs and the military came under joint oversight, but all other governmental faculties were divided between respective states. Austria-Hungary was a state and one of the worlds great powers at the time. Austria-Hungary was geographically the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire, at 621,538 km2, the Empire built up the fourth-largest machine building industry of the world, after the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. After 1878, Bosnia and Herzegovina was under Austro-Hungarian military and civilian rule until it was annexed in 1908. The annexation of Bosnia also led to Islam being recognized as a state religion due to Bosnias Muslim population. Austria-Hungary was one of the Central Powers in World War I and it was already effectively dissolved by the time the military authorities signed the armistice of Villa Giusti on 3 November 1918. The realms full, official name was The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council, each enjoyed considerable sovereignty with only a few joint affairs. Certain regions, such as Polish Galicia within Cisleithania and Croatia within Transleithania, enjoyed autonomous status, the division between Austria and Hungary was so marked that there was no common citizenship, one was either an Austrian citizen or a Hungarian citizen, never both. This also meant that there were always separate Austrian and Hungarian passports, however, neither Austrian nor Hungarian passports were used in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia-Dalmatia. Instead, the Kingdom issued its own passports which were written in Croatian and French and it is not known what kind of passports were used in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which was under the control of both Austria and Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary had always maintained a separate parliament, the Diet of Hungary, the administration and government of the Kingdom of Hungary remained largely untouched by the government structure of the overarching Austrian Empire. Hungarys central government structures remained well separated from the Austrian imperial government, the country was governed by the Council of Lieutenancy of Hungary – located in Pressburg and later in Pest – and by the Hungarian Royal Court Chancellery in Vienna. The Hungarian government and Hungarian parliament were suspended after the Hungarian revolution of 1848, despite Austria and Hungary sharing a common currency, they were fiscally sovereign and independent entities. Since the beginnings of the union, the government of the Kingdom of Hungary could preserve its separated. After the revolution of 1848–1849, the Hungarian budget was amalgamated with the Austrian, from 1527 to 1851, the Kingdom of Hungary maintained its own customs controls, which separated her from the other parts of the Habsburg-ruled territories
6.
German resistance to Nazism
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German resistance to Nazism was the opposition by individuals and groups in Germany to the National Socialist regime between 1933 and 1945. Some of these engaged in plans to remove Adolf Hitler from power. The German resistance consisted of small and usually isolated groups and they were unable to mobilize political opposition. Approximately 77,000 German citizens were killed for one or another form of resistance by Special Courts, courts-martial, Peoples Court, the resistance in Germany included German citizens of non-German ethnicity, such as members of the Polish minority who formed resistance groups like Olimp. The Foreign Office and the Abwehr also provided support to the movement. But many of those in the military who ultimately chose to seek to overthrow Hitler had initially supported the regime, the Resistance members were motivated by such factors as the mistreatment of Jews, harassment of the churches, and the harsh actions of Himmler and the Gestapo. One strand was the networks of the banned Social Democrats and Communists, such as the SPD activist Julius Leber. There was also resistance from the anarcho-syndicalist union, the Freie Arbeiter Union that distributed anti-Nazi propaganda, another group, the Red Orchestra, consisted of anti-fascists, communists, and an American woman. The individuals in this group began to assist their Jewish friends as early as 1933, another strand was resistance coming from members of the Christian churches, Catholic and Protestant. Most notably, these included a significant number of Germans who helped Jews survive the Nazi Holocaust by hiding them, more than 300 Germans have been recognised for this. Finally, there was the network within the German Army, the Foreign Office and the Abwehr. These groups hatched conspiracies against Hitler in 1938 and again in 1939, active resisters in this group were frequently drawn from members of the Prussian aristocracy. Almost every community in Germany had members taken away to concentration camps, as early as 1935 there were jingles warning, Dear Lord God, keep me quiet, so that I dont end up in Dachau. Dachau refers to the Dachau concentration camp and this is a parody of a common German childrens prayer, Lieber Gott mach mich fromm, daß ich in den Himmel komm. There was almost no organized resistance to Hitler’s regime in the period between his appointment as chancellor in January 1933 and the crisis over Czechoslovakia in 1938. By July 1933 all other parties and the trade unions had been suppressed, the press and radio brought under state control. The July 1933 Concordat between Germany and the Holy See ended any possibility of resistance by the Catholic Church. The largest Protestant church, the German Evangelical Church, was generally pro-Nazi, all sources agree that Hitler’s regime was overwhelmingly popular with the German people during this period
7.
Bourgeoisie
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A legally defined class of the Middle Ages to the end of the Ancien Régime in France, that of inhabitants having the rights of citizenship and political rights in a city. This bourgeoisie destroyed aristocratic privilege and established civic equality after the French monarchy collapsed, the aristocracy crumbled because it refused to reform institutions and financial systems. An affluent and often opulent stratum of the class who stand opposite the proletariat class. In English, bourgeoisie identified a social class oriented to economic materialism and hedonism, hence, since the 19th century, the term bourgeoisie usually is politically and sociologically synonymous with the ruling upper class of a capitalist society. The 18th century saw a partial rehabilitation of bourgeois values in such as the drame bourgeois and bourgeois tragedy. The bourgeoisie emerged as a historical and political phenomenon in the 11th century when the bourgs of Central and this urban expansion was possible thanks to economic concentration due to the appearance of protective self-organisation into guilds. Guilds arose when individual businessmen conflicted with their feudal landlords who demanded greater rents than previously agreed. In English, the bourgeoisie is often used to denote the middle classes. In fact, the French term encompasses both the upper and middle classes, a misunderstanding which has occurred in other languages as well. The bourgeoisie in France and many French-speaking countries consists of four evolving social layers, petite bourgeoisie, moyenne bourgeoisie, grande bourgeoisie, the petite bourgeoisie consists of people who have experienced a brief ascension in social mobility for one or two generations. It usually starts with a trade or craft, and by the second and third generation, the petite bourgeois would belong to the British lower middle class and would be American middle income. They are distinguished mainly by their mentality, and would differentiate themselves from the proletariat or working class and this class would include artisans, small traders, shopkeepers, and small farm owners. They are not employed, but may not be able to afford employees themselves, the moyenne bourgeoisie or middle bourgeoisie contains people who have solid incomes and assets, but not the aura of those who have become established at a higher level. They tend to belong to a family that has been bourgeois for three or more generations, some members of this class may have relatives from similar backgrounds, or may even have aristocratic connections. The moyenne bourgeoisie is the equivalent of the British and American upper-middle classes, the grande bourgeoisie are families that have been bourgeois since the 19th century, or for at least four or five generations. Members of these tend to marry with the aristocracy or make other advantageous marriages. This bourgeoisie family has acquired an established historical and cultural heritage over the decades, the names of these families are generally known in the city where they reside, and their ancestors have often contributed to the regions history. These families are respected and revered and they belong to the upper class, and in the British class system are considered part of the gentry
8.
Chernivtsi
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Chernivtsi is a city in western Ukraine, situated on the upper course of the River Prut. Chernivtsi is the center of Chernivtsi Oblast – the northern. At the time of the 2001 Ukrainian Census, the population of the city was 240,600, Chernivtsi is currently viewed as one of Western Ukraines main cultural centers. The city is considered one of Ukraines important educational and architectural sites. Historically a cosmopolitan community, Chernivtsi was once dubbed Little Vienna, Chernivtsi is currently twinned with seven other cities around the world. The city is a regional rail and road transportation hub. In the times of Halych-Volyn Principality the citys name was Chern, archeological evidence discovered in the area surrounding Chernivtsi indicates that a population inhabited it since the Neolithic era. Later settlements included those of the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture, the Corded Ware culture, artifacts from the Bronze and Iron Ages were also found in the city. A fortified settlement located on the shore of the Prut dates back to the time of the Principality of Halych and is thought to have been built by Grand Prince Yaroslav Osmomysl. Legendary accounts refer to this fortress-city as Chern, or Black city, it is said to owe its name to the color of the city walls. This early stronghold was destroyed during the Mongol invasion of Europe by Boroldai in 1259, however, the remaining ramparts of the fortress were still used for defense purposes, in the 17th century they were augmented with several bastions, one of which is still extant. Following the destruction of the fortress, later settlements in the centered on the right shore of the Prut River, at a more strategically advantageous. It was part of a group of three fortifications, the two being the fortress of Hotin on the Dniester to the east, and a fort on the Kolachin River. The name Cernăuţi/Chernivtsi is first attested in a document by Alexandru cel Bun on 8 October 1408, in Ottoman sources, the city was mentioned as Çernovi, a phonetic transliteration of a Latin cognomen meaning new castle see French Castelnau or Welsh Carno. In 1775, the part of the territory of Moldavia was annexed by the Habsburg Empire. The city became the capital, which in 1849 was raised in status and became known as the Duchy of Bukovina. The city began to flourish in 1778 when Knight Karl von Enzenberg was appointed the chief of the Military Administration and he invited many merchants, craftsmen and entrepreneurs to help develop trade and other businesses. Saint Peters Fairs had given a new vibrant impulse to the development from 1786
9.
Pacifism
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Pacifism is opposition to war, militarism, or violence. The word pacifism was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud, a related term is ahimsa, which is a core philosophy in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. While modern connotations are recent, having been explicated since the 19th century, in Christianity, Jesus Christs injunction to love your enemies and asking for forgiveness for his crucifiers for they know not what they do have been interpreted as calling for pacifism. In modern times, interest was revived by Leo Tolstoy in his late works, Mohandas Gandhi propounded the practice of steadfast nonviolent opposition which he called satyagraha, instrumental in its role in the Indian Independence Movement. Its effectiveness served as inspiration to Martin Luther King Jr. James Lawson, James Bevel, Thich Nhat Hanh and many others in the Civil Rights Movement. Pacifism was widely associated with the much publicized image of Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 with the Tank Man, historians of pacifism Peter Brock and Thomas Paul Socknat define pacifism in the sense generally accepted in English-speaking areas as an unconditional rejection of all forms of warfare. Philosopher Jenny Teichman defines the form of pacifism as anti-warism. Teichmans beliefs have been summarized by Brian Orend as, a pacifist rejects war and believes there are no moral grounds which can justify resorting to war. War, for the pacifist, is always wrong, in a sense the philosophy is based on the idea that the ends do not justify the means. Pacifism may be based on moral principles or pragmatism, principled pacifism holds that at some point along the spectrum from war to interpersonal physical violence, such violence becomes morally wrong. Pragmatic pacifism holds that the costs of war and interpersonal violence are so substantial that better ways of resolving disputes must be found, some pacifists follow principles of nonviolence, believing that nonviolent action is morally superior and/or most effective. Some however, support physical violence for emergency defence of self or others, by no means is all nonviolent resistance based on a fundamental rejection of all violence in all circumstances. Many leaders and participants in such movements, while recognizing the importance of using non-violent methods in particular circumstances, have not been absolute pacifists, sometimes, as with the civil rights movements march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, they have called for armed protection. The interconnections between civil resistance and factors of force are numerous and complex, the principle is described as difficult to abide by consistently, due to violence not being available as a tool to aid a person who is being harmed or killed. It is further claimed that such a pacifist could logically argue that violence leads to undesirable results than non-violence. Although all pacifists are opposed to war between states, there have been occasions where pacifists have supported military conflict in the case of civil war or revolution. Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, French pacifist René Gérin urged support for the Spanish Republic, Gérin argued that the Spanish Nationalists were comparable to an individual enemy and the Republics war effort was equivalent to the action of a domestic police force suppressing crime. Advocacy of pacifism can be found far back in history and literature, during the Warring States period, the pacifist Mohist School opposed aggressive war between the feudal states
10.
Republic
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It is a government where the head of state is not a monarch. Both modern and ancient republics vary widely in their ideology, composition, in the classical and medieval period of Europe, many states were fashioned on the Roman Republic, which referred to the governance of the city of Rome, between it having kings and emperors. The Italian medieval and Renaissance political tradition, today referred to as humanism, is sometimes considered to derive directly from Roman republicans such as Sallust. Republics were not equated with classical democracies such as Athens, but had a democratic aspect, Republics became more common in the Western world starting in the late 18th century, eventually displacing absolute monarchy as the most common form of government in Europe. In modern republics, the executive is legitimized both by a constitution and by popular suffrage, for instance, Article IV of the United States Constitution guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government. The term originates as the Latin translation of Greek word politeia, cicero, among other Latin writers, translated politeia as res publica and it was in turn translated by Renaissance scholars as republic. The term politeia can be translated as form of government, polity, or regime, and is therefore not always a word for a specific type of regime as the modern word republic is. And also amongst classical Latin, the term republic can be used in a way to refer to any regime. In medieval Northern Italy, a number of city states had commune or signoria based governments, in the late Middle Ages, writers, such as Giovanni Villani, began writing about the nature of these states and the differences from other types of regime. They used terms such as libertas populi, a free people, the terminology changed in the 15th century as the renewed interest in the writings of Ancient Rome caused writers to prefer using classical terminology. To describe non-monarchical states writers, most importantly Leonardo Bruni, adopted the Latin phrase res publica. While Bruni and Machiavelli used the term to describe the states of Northern Italy, which were not monarchies, the term can quite literally be translated as public matter. It was most often used by Roman writers to refer to the state and government, in subsequent centuries, the English word commonwealth came to be used as a translation of res publica, and its use in English was comparable to how the Romans used the term res publica. Notably, during The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell the word commonwealth was the most common term to call the new monarchless state, likewise, in Polish, the term was translated as rzeczpospolita, although the translation is now only used with respect to Poland. Presently, the term republic commonly means a system of government which derives its power from the rather than from another basis. After the classical period, during the Middle Ages, many cities developed again. The modern type of itself is different from any type of state found in the classical world. Nevertheless, there are a number of states of the era that are today still called republics
11.
Josef Hoffmann
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Josef Hoffmann was an Austrian architect and designer of consumer goods. Hoffmann was born in Pirnitz / Brtnice, Moravia, Austria-Hungary and he studied at the Higher State Crafts School in Brno / Brünn beginning in 1887 and then worked with the local military planning authority in Würzburg, Germany. Thereafter he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer and Otto Wagner, in Wagners office, he met Joseph Maria Olbrich, and together they founded the Vienna Secession in 1897 along with artists Gustav Klimt, and Koloman Moser. Beginning of 1899, he taught at the Kunstgewerbeschule, now University of Applied Arts Vienna, with the Secession, Hoffmann developed strong connections with other artists. He designed installation spaces for Secession exhibitions and a house for Moser which was built from 1901-1903, with the banker Fritz Wärndorfer and the artist Koloman Moser he established the Wiener Werkstätte, which was to last until 1932. Hoffmanns style eventually became sober and abstract and it was limited increasingly to functional structures. In 1906, Hoffmann built his first great work on the outskirts of Vienna, compared to the Moser House, with its rusticated vernacular roof, this was a great advancement towards abstraction and a move away from traditional Arts and Crafts and historicism. This project served as a precedent and inspiration for the modern architecture that would develop in the first half of the 20th century. It had the clarity, simplicity, and logic that foreshadowed Neue Sachlichkeit and this masterpiece of Secession Style, was an example of Gesamtkunstwerk, replete with murals in the dining room by Klimt and four copper figures on the tower by Franz Metzner. In 1907, Hoffmann was co-founder of the Deutscher Werkbund, after World War II, he took on official tasks, that of an Austrian general commissioner with the Venice Biennale and a membership in the art senate. Some of Hoffmanns domestic designs can still be found in production today, originally produced in silver the range is now produced in high quality stainless steel. Another example of Hoffmann’s strict geometrical lines and the theme is the iconic Kubus Armchair. Designed in 1910, it was presented at the International Exhibition held in Buenos Aires on the centennial of Argentinean Independence known as May Revolution, Hoffmanns constant use of squares and cubes earned him the nickname Quadratl-Hoffmann. Although he said little to his students, Hoffmann was an esteemed and admired teacher. He tried to bring out the best in each member of his class by means of challenging assignments, and Gladys Aschermann and Louise Brigham. German designer Anni Schaad was another of his students, Le Corbusier was offered a job in his office, Schiele was helped financially and Kokoschka was given work in the Wiener Werkstätte. Hoffmann had voted for the union of Austria with Germany and, following its use by the British Government from 1945 to 1955 it was demolished. Hoffmann died in Vienna, aged 85, the critical reception of Hoffmann’s oeuvre has faithfully mirrored the changing tastes and ideologies in the history of 20th-century architecture
12.
Oskar Kokoschka
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Oskar Kokoschka was an Austrian artist, poet and playwright best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes. He was born in Pöchlarn, second child to Gustav Josef Kokoschka, a Czech goldsmith and his older brother died in infancy in 1887, he had a sister, Berta and a brother, Bohuslav. Oskar had a belief in omens, spurred by a story of a fire breaking out in Pöchlarn shortly after his mother gave birth to him. Kokoschkas life was not easy due to a lack of financial help from his father. They constantly moved into flats, farther and farther from the thriving center of the town. Concluding that his father was inadequate, Kokoschka drew closer to his mother, he felt that he was the head of the household, Kokoschka entered secondary school at Realschule, where emphasis was placed on the study of modern subjects such as science and language. Kokoschka was not interested in subjects, as he found he only excelled in art. This education of classic literature is said to have influenced his artwork, one of Kokoschkas professors suggested he pursue a career in fine art. Against his fathers will, Kokoschka applied to Kunstgewerbeschule in Vienna, Kunstgewerbeschule was an extremely progressive school that focused mainly on architecture, furniture, crafts and modern design. Unlike the more prestigious and traditional Academy of Fine Art in Vienna, Kokoschka studied there from 1904 to 1909, and was influenced by his professor Carl Otto Czeschka in developing an original style. Among Kokoschkas early works were drawings of children, which portrayed them as awkward. Kokoschka had no training in painting and so approached the medium without regard to the traditional or correct way to paint. The teachers at Kunstgewerbeschule helped Kokoschka gain opportunities through the Wiener Werkstätte or Viennese Workshops, Kokoschkas first commissions were postcards and drawings for children. Kokoschka said that it gave him the basis of artistic training and his early career was marked by portraits of Viennese celebrities, painted in a nervously animated style. Kokoschka had a passionate, often stormy affair with Alma Mahler and it began in 1912, shortly after the death of her four-year-old daughter Maria Mahler and her affair with Walter Gropius. After several years together, Alma rejected him, explaining that she was afraid of being too overcome with passion and he continued to love her his entire life, and one of his greatest works, The Bride of the Wind, is a tribute to her. The poet Georg Trakl visited the studio while Kokoschka was painting this masterpiece, Kokoschkas poem Allos Makar was inspired by this relationship. He volunteered for service as a cavalryman in the Austrian army in World War I, at the hospital, the doctors decided that he was mentally unstable
Media related to Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky at Wikimedia Commons
