The Third Man

August 23rd

The Movie The Third Man was an interesting piece of film to watch, primarily because the settings were so familiar in our beautiful city of Vienna. My favorite character was the British officer Calloway, who I thought did an excellent job of portraying the fine line that needs to be toed as an officer in a split zone of occupation. His dealings with the Russian officers seemed to be indicative of the difficulties that arise from trying to protect one’s national interests while at the same time trying to work with another nation to ensure proper security. The best example of this in my opinion was Calloway’s willingness to deal with Russian incursions on his investigation in order to gain a little bit more leeway with his dealing with Martins in his relentless pursuit to get to the bottom of the case.

The area of the city that I recognized first was the path that runs parallel to the Hofburg, where Harry Lime was supposedly killed and Martins first goes to meet him. It was not entirely clear that this was the area because they did not offer any sweeping panoramic views of the area, but the statue across the cobblestone street seemed like the exact location that we walked by during our first walking tour. Of course the Ferris Wheel was the most recognizable landmark of the movie, but it was difficult to determine other areas of Vienna because the land was so bombed and destroyed that it was mostly unrecognizable.

I thought that the social commentary of the film was very interesting, as it explored the differences in morality between a normal society and the post war chaos that inhabited much of Europe following WW2. Holly Martins clearly never thought that his good friend Harry Lime would be capable of something as heinous as stealing and diluting insulin that was bound to kill or maim many people, including children, but the nature of the opportunities that are presented following a devastating war were too much for Lime. Even the way that the film was shot evoked the atmosphere of an exhausted, cynical post-war Vienna at the start of the Cold War and used a lot of unusual camera angles.

I’ve read a lot about the black market trades that were prevalent in all European cities following the war, but it is easy to forget that such times can change people from honest men and women into those that are willing to take advantage of the situation. It is also an interesting look into the differences between negotiating the Russian and British sectors of Vienna, as Lime walks with impunity through the Russian sectors but has to use the sewers in order to escape detection in moving through the Allied territories. The chase scene at the end of the movie would be considered to be almost boring by our standards today, but for the 1950s it was a very intricate and inventive way of showing the final struggle for freedom for Lime. In the end he has actually lost his sense of humanity enough to kill a police officer, which I took as an indication that no matter how people rationalize their actions in those situations they are ultimately responsible for what they do. Lime had killed many during his racketeering career, and made the final transformation into a terrible human being by physically murdering a lawman. Vienna was undoubtedly an extremely polarizing place after WW2

Jewish Museum

August 27th

German word of the day is Fussball, which means soccer

The Viennese Jewish Museum was a very interesting look into the way that Vienna remembers its role in the holocaust, which did a good job in some senses but seemed a little bit indirect in other ways. The exhibits from talented jews did a great job at highlighting the value and contributions that the Jewish population has given Viennese culture, and it made their destruction all the more tragic. The exhibit with the holographic Jewish experiences was extremely odd to me at first, but after walking through the exhibit for several minutes the effect of holograms shifting in and out of view created a chilling atmosphere that spoke strongly of the persecution that they have had to endure.

On the first floor of the museum was one of the more avant garde exhibits that I have seen in any museum (save perhaps the inexplicable Haydn Museum), which was a couple dozen sculptures of noses on the wall. They were made by reworking casts that the artist had made of actual noses of Jews, and according to the explanation it was made to challenge the misguided idea of scientific racism. It reminded me strongly of some of the discussions we had in our class about the attempt of the Nazis to create a scientific justification for the institutionalized racism that they supported, and did a good job of showing the folly of such social ignorance. The memory of how the Nazis attempted to find some justification using scientific evidence is very chilling, as we generally associate such barbarity with populations that are not at the fore of what we would consider to be scientific enlightenment. The noses, which varied in size and shape just as greatly as people vary as individuals, it was very hard to imagine that people could really make broad social judgments simply by looking at somebody’s profile. I can never claim that I am completely free of any racial profiling on my own part, but the artist did a very good job at making an eye catching display that makes one consider just how irrational and damaging making such judgments are.

The film clips that addressed anti Semitism and portrayal of Jews in movies were partly moving and partly disturbing. Even in today’s media we accept a certain stereotypes about Jews to an extent, but this display pointed out some of the more troubling portrayals that have been put forth in recent memory. The British mini-series Jesus of Nazareth was made in the late seventies, in a time that I would have thought had a more enlightened view of the political correctness of the portrayal of Jews. Of course any retelling of the Passion story or anything dealing with the life of Jesus is going to be in dangerous territory in terms of anti-Semitism, because of the irreconcilable fact that Jews are considered to be responsible of the torture and death of Jesus (while ignoring the fact that Jesus himself was a Jew). The film examples of anti-Semitism are nothing new for those that pay attention to the stereotypes that are offered up in a more subtle form generally, but it is still troubling to look at the evidence when it is piled up in front of you in such a manner.

The only problem that I might have with the Jewish museum was that it refrained from dealing explicitly with the terrors that Viennese Jews in particular dealt with during the holocaust. It certainly acknowledge the suffering of the Jewish population as a whole, but it fails to truly delve into the atrocities that were dealt out to the Jews during the period of the Third Reich. This is largely congruent with the attitudes that I encountered throughout my stay in Vienna, and I hope that within the next several generations the Viennese will come to grips with a more realistic interpretation of their role in the destruction of their Jews during the Holocaust.

Karlskirche

August 14th

The Karlskriche Church in the Karlsplatz is one of the most impressive structures in Vienna, and never failed to catch my eye when I passed by it either on the trams or just walking around the city. It was a the perfect example of the baroque grandeur that exemplified certain areas of the city, and is indeed considered to be one of the most outstanding Baroque church structures north of the Alps. The view from the dome offered another exceptional example of the beauty of Vienna, and must have been all the more impressive in the context of the cityscape that the city used to resemble. I really enjoyed effect that the overlooking the church had overlooking the karlsplatz with the two original subway stations having been restored to the way that they had been when Otto Wagner first designed them.

The dedication of the Church to St. Charles Borromeo is a great indication of the Catholic nature of the building. Its dedication shows that it emphasizes doing good works for the community as Borromeo is remembered primarily for the good deeds that he did in helping plague victims during the most recent plague. The inside designs mostly illuminated the good deeds done by Borromeo through allegorical paintings and reliefs, with of course the usual emphasis on biblical themes and stories.

I also found it interesting that when it was built it offered a direct line of sight to the Hofburg, and until 1918 it was the Imperial Patron Parish Church. This added significance to the historical presence of the church makes a large difference to me, as I really enjoy imagining all of the rulers that we have been learning about attending weekly mass there. The incredibly ornate baroque architecture lent itself well to the fact that the royal family spent many Sundays there, as it is a great display of imperial wealth, and therefore imperial power. Any visiting diplomats or foreigners of importance would have undoubtedly been impressed by the styling of the church. The style fit the function perfectly, in addition to being an incredibly impressive display of architecture.

Infrastructure and Public transport

Growing up in California makes any semblance of an effective public transportation system something of an irregularity. The subway system in Vienna was very effective, and it was very nice to be able to ride pretty much all of the public transport with the month long pass without having to worry about being fined. It was almost frustrating that I was only checked once at the gate for my pass, because we paid fifty euro for the pass for the entire month. In light of this, I spent four days in Berlin riding the public transport system without ever buying a ticket. Not the smartest plan to be sure, but I was also hoping that the authorities there would be as lenient as the authorities in Vienna were to those that had been caught by the authorities without their tickets; twice classmates of mine were found to be without their tickets and the authorities simply asked them to buy a ticket at the next stop.

The infrastructure of Vienna is set up so that it can more easily accommodate a more centralized population, and seems to only recently have begun to include the outskirts of the city within the greater public transport system. I have wondered in the past why the United States does not have a better public transportation network, and I think the problem comes down to simple geographic layout. Besides incredibly metropolitan areas such as New York or Chicago, the feasibility of an effective public transportation network like the Ubahn in the German speaking countries that I visited is simply nonexistent. Los Angeles provides the most troubling example of all, as it is such a spread out city that every single resident is almost required to own a car if they are going to be able to get around the city in a timely manner. Because our national growth has been so exponential since the time that the automobile was popularized, it has simply been easier to build an extensive road system that allows the individual person or family to navigate the country for themselves. This didn’t seem to be such a problem until the environmental impact of such reliance on automobiles has become clearer and clearer, and I think over the next century or so we will see the development of a much more thorough and comprehensive public transit system. It is much more difficult to institute these sort of changes in a society that has been designed to accommodate one mode of travel than to craft and improve one that has been in existence for many years, but it has become clear that it will be necessary for the health of the planet to at least make an attempt.

This was particularly on display when I took the suggested random train ride through the streets of Vienna, stopping at random places to try to get a better feel for the city as a whole. It struck me that this would be a very difficult if not impossible task in most American cities, because even if public transportation (buses in particular) were available to take us to different remote areas of the city, they would be so infrequent that it would be a giant time commitment to do this. But in Vienna it was quite easy to take a tram out to a part of the city that you were unfamiliar with, and expect that another tram would be along to take you back in about 15 minutes or so.

When I was out in Vienna I got off at a couple of very beautiful areas that were reminiscent of the city center and the history that comes along with it. I walked through a park that had a few people napping, and laid down for a short while myself with the intention of trying not to look like the giant tourist that I usually come across as. However my pleasant stops were also slightly marred by the fact that I also got off at one or two stops that were clearly the seedier areas of the city. I have never felt particularly unsafe in any areas of Vienna, but that is also partly due to the fact that I am a large person that can come across as intimidating for those that don’t know me. However despite the fact that I didn’t necessarily feel as though my safety was being threatened, I still did not linger in these areas that contained an inordinate amount of liquor stores with bars of grates over the windows, and shops that had no qualms about advertising their sex merchandise (of course this is a common theme throughout the European cities that I have visited, which is probably more of an indication of the prude American society than the other way around).

I thought that the differences between the news coverage on CNN international and American CNN was interesting, but almost negligible in some senses. On my last trip to Europe I watched a lot of the BBC, but unfortunately we didn’t get that channel at either our dorms or at any of the hotels or hostels that I visited. I thought that the BBC was great for simply reporting the news without a bias or spin, and wasn’t too concerned with polarizing political debate because it acted as a true source for news rather than a device with which a certain agenda could be pushed. Of course American news coverage is notorious for espousing a certain slant in its reporting, with Fox leading the charge of course, but I thought that CNN international was drifting more toward the American news coverage that we are used to. I should say though that I think that CNN does a reasonably good job at remaining impartial compared to some of the other news outlets that are seemingly more popular.

I thought American CNN was a little bit more disposed to focus on the more negative aspects of the news while the international news did not dwell quite as extensively on those things. I was surprised by how much CNN international used negative storylines to advance the news, and it seemed as though they had transitioned to this style somewhat recently and were still getting used to it. The commercials advertised polarizing shows about financial shows in which pundits yell at the screen about what the viewers should do were highly reminiscent of their American counterparts, and at times the only way I could tell which version of CNN I was watching was by the accents that the pundits had.

Stephansdome

August 17th

The cathedral of St. Stephens has been my favorite ever since I first visited Vienna in 2004, so being back around the historic city center was something like going to visit an old friend, albeit a little bit older than most of my “old friends”. Something about the imposing nature of the architecture set so closely with the surrounding city gives the feeling of indomitable power, which of course I’m certain was exactly what the creators of the Cathedral were going for. Although I can’t honestly say that the design of St. Stephens is that noticeably different from many of the other imposing cathedrals that I have seen around Europe, I think because it was the first one that I saw and got to spend some time around it holds a special place within my memory; something of an image of what I imagine European Cathedrals to be.

Although I don’t usually have a particularly morbid nature, I must admit that the catacombs are my favorite part of visiting St. Stephens. Again, it is probably because it was the first place that I have seen actual human bones in such a state that I remember those catacombs particularly vividly. The “old” section has been restored quite recently (within the last 100 years at least) and holds the tombs of some of the more important people that have been interned there, although of course the Kaisergruft holds many more emperors and people of great power, and it is reminiscent of what I have come to expect from typical catacombs in very old and important churches. That section is very much like the tombs in the main Cathedral in Salzburg, and in fact when I went to Salzburg earlier on the trip I did something of a double take to be sure that I had not been there before.

The “new” section, however, dates back to the times of the most recent plague to hit Vienna. Some of the rooms had an indiscernible pile of human bones that included skulls and feet, and were usually topped with a grate that used to be at the level of the street. It was clear that families (or perhaps paid movers) had simply been told to dump the bodies into the grate in the city square when somebody succumbed to the plague. It looked as though these bodies hadn’t been touched since they had been filled with the victims of the horrible disease, and had simply been walled off when they were full to allow the bodies to decompose. For me this gave a startling view into Vienna as it was during the last plague; not as a place that was disrespectful of the dead by any means, but rather somewhere that was in a time of such crises that there was simply no other options than to do what needed to be done with the incredible overflow of bodies.

In slight contrast to the rooms with bones piled in random fashion, there were also plague rooms that were filled to the brim with bones that were neatly stacked like firewood. It seemed as though they began to make a concerted effort to consolidate the space that was being taken up by all of the rotting corpses, but I couldn’t help but wonder who exactly was responsible for the grisly task. And if they were dealing primarily with plague victims, wouldn’t there have been a great chance of contracting the disease themselves? My guess is that those that had to work at these tasks were generally the bottom rung of the societal ladder, but still to be assigned that job would be inconceivable into today’s world.

The view from the top of the tower offered a breathtaking view of the city, although we had to come back three different times in order to have a day that seemed suitable to get the best idea of the kind of view that the tower offered. It was pretty incredible, and I did my best to put myself back into the time that the tower was actually completed, and to imagine what the cityscape must have looked like before construction cranes dotted the skyline. I appreciate the fact that such a historical city requires constant upkeep to retain the structural integrity of such old buildings, but it got a little bit frustrating after a little while after every single view of the city that we had was somewhat obscured by the cranes. From the top of the hill adjacent to the city on or tour, from the Belvedere, from the Gloriette above Schonbrunn Palace; every fantastic view was marred slightly by the presence of the construction cranes.

Stephensdome as a symbol of Vienna made it particularly attractive as well. Although it seems like historical buildings are now often associated with their respective cities histories and/or beginnings, Stephensdome seems to exemplify this particularly well because of the incredibly long period of time that construction took place. The city center has been dominated by the Cathedral for nearly as long as Vienna has been a viable capital of the empire, and now it seems to stand as almost a monument to the fallen promises that the Habsburg Empire failed to deliver. The entire city of Vienna seemed to be designed to be the capital of a great empire, and now that it is supported primarily by the tourism there seems to be a certain amount of bitterness within the local population. This bitterness is likely inherited from the last several generations of Viennese that actually dealt with the fall of the empire, and the ensuing disgrace of being complicit to Hitler’s Third Reich, and therefore does not have any specific target or purpose. Rather it comes across as a general contempt for those that they consider to be uneducated in the “art” of being Viennese, from knowledge of the city’s customs to the specific inflections that German speakers find unique to Vienna. I think that over the next several generations these feelings of exclusion and bitterness will die out for the most part as the older generations die with them, because with each passing generation the dissatisfaction becomes less focused and more diluted. I hope for the sake of future travelers that this is true, because although I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Vienna, it was not thanks to the Viennese themselves.

The Leopold and the Belvedere

August 24th and 26th

Our visit to the Leopold was one of the more interesting museum tours that we took during the program, thanks largely in part to the commentary provided by Dr. O. Her enthusiastic ramblings (and I use this in the kindest sense) about Klimt really transmitted the sort of passion and feeling that his painting were supposed to portray. The fact that we spent about forty minutes sitting in front of his painting entitled “Death and Life” is a testament to the deep level of knowledge and interest that Dr. O has for Klimt, and I felt as though I really learned a lot from her.

“Death and Life” was especially interesting because it dealt exclusively with themes that are common across the entire spectrum of art, and she could bring to life Klimt’s personality and message through revealing how he personally dealt with the subjects. The first copy of the painting portraying death’s face shrouded in his cloak as opposed to the finished product that had his face out In something of a smile was indicative to the sort of transformation that he must have endured during the intervening years. Brian was sharp enough to point out that Klimt came back to the painting after four years in 1918, which is the exact span that the First World War encompassed. Anybody that lived in Europe (or indeed the world) could not have been unaffected by the unspeakable slaughter that took place during this conflict, even if they themselves were not directly involved. The addition of the swirling figures on the outskirts of life seemed to speak to his need to show that people refused to look at death directly, and when they do it is in something of a romantic light as demonstrated by the singular face that is staring directly at death. I have no doubts that Klimt felt as though the populace of Europe was failing to look at the death and destruction of the War in terms of the reality of the loss of human life, and that forgetting or ignoring was easier and yet more destructive as a societal tendency.

Seeing the sketch of Klimt’s original plans for the halls of the Viennese Art Society was also very telling of his personality, and made clear why they were rejected in the first place. The presence of the female form accompanied by men that looked like beasts could not have gone over well with the establishment of the day, all of which were undoubtedly men. But after learning about the Secession that Klimt and others led from the Society, it was an extremely interesting example of the point of schism between the two conflicting ideals. The artists of the Ringstrasse era had reached a diverging point, and Klimt’s sketch seemed to be a physical example of the differences between what art was and where art was going.

Beyond Klimt, the other artist that stood out for me was his contemporary Schiele. Although it seemed as though most were distinctly turned off by Schiele’s style and his clear obsession with his own physical form, I thought he was extremely interesting and talented, even if his paintings weren’t always what I would consider to be pleasing to the eye. It seemed as though as we moved through the exhibit featuring him, his paintings became much more tortured and abstract. I really enjoyed what I considered to be his pure emotional expression of his own tortured conscience, especially because he portrayed it in the most personal way possible; through the exhibition and exploitation of his own body. Although the subject could become tedious to a point, I could think of no more meaningful way for somebody to express their personal feelings about their inadequacies, triumphs, skills, failures, or fears than to repeatedly show these feelings through the raw contortions of one’s own physical form.

The Belvedere had some charms to it, particularly in the location and story behind it, but to my disappointment the only true attraction was the presence of Klimt’s infamous painting The Kiss. Jan did a very good job leading the tour, but for somebody who is an art philistine (such as myself) the majority of the works did not jump out at me as overly impressive. Of course this was after touring some of the most important art museums in the world in the Vienna Art History Museum next to the Hofburg complex and the Leopold Museum, so my views of what is impressive and important are certainly skewed. I suppose that I found the Leopold more interesting because it had all been collected by one person, which seems an absolutely incredible feat considering that Leopold had not been willed any of the works previously. I particularly enjoyed Dr. O’s little fun fact about how he asked for an expensive painting as his present upon completion of his studies rather than an automobile, which of course in retrospect was the absolute correct decision. It seems unbelievable that one person could have such an eye for art that eventually his tastes almost dictate the direction of the art culture, or at least dictate the artists whose works are soon to skyrocket in price.

The Art Nouveau works were quite interesting at the Leopold (in the lower sections of the museum), because they seemed to represent a shift within the art community as a whole. Jose Marie Auchentaller seemed to be a pioneer in terms of not only art style, but also the manner with which it was presented to the public. I found the magazine covers particularly interesting, because they detailed how Auchentaller designed the layout for the magazines and contributions were made by (now) extremely famous artists, including Gustav Klimt. It seemed incredible that in the first issue of their magazine they included a calendar with painting for every month of the year, which seems like quite a precursor to the sort of inserts that we are used to in today’s magazines. I had never really thought about where the form of modern magazine or periodical had first been pioneered, but it seems to me that they have their roots in the Secession of Viennese artists that we learned so much about.

The UN

08/19/09

Wednesday the 19^th was our scheduled trip to the United Nations office building in Vienna, one of the four main offices of the UN in the world. The primary functions of the United Nations in Vienna are focused on security and safety services, as well as a close working relationship with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which is also based within the International Complex in Vienna. I was particularly interested in this affiliate office, as the broad scope does not afford the office many opportunities to make direct contributions or differences in the drug and criminal affairs of member countries. Of course it is not their task to rid the world of drugs and crime, but rather to help guide nations toward the most beneficial stance on the issues possible.

The first room that we were brought into was the conference room, which was immediately familiar from any UN proceeding that we had witnessed on television. The most interesting part of the proceedings in this room is the necessity to have many interpreters that translate into the five official languages of the UN. This job immediately strikes me as being incredibly difficult and stressful, not only because of the need to know multiple languages but for the amount of pressure and importance put upon giving a quick and accurate translation. A great example of when that can go wrong was not long ago in Nairobi, when Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked what “Mr. Clinton’s opinion would be, coming from Mrs. Clinton”. She was understandably very upset by the question, and responded angrily with “I am secretary of State, not my husband. He does not speak for me and I do not speak for him.” Unfortunately the question had been mistranslated, as the intention had been to ask what Mr. Obama thought; a much more valid question considering that the Secretary of State is essentially an envoy of the President. The translator, in her understandable hurry, confused the former president with the current president in a way that completely distorted the intended question.

Our first speaker spoke about the work of the IAEA, or the International Atomic Energy Agency. He was an interesting speaker, but not necessarily because he was full of information that would answer the questions that we had for him. Rather it was illuminating because one could see exactly the sort of fine line that the United Nations has to tow in terms of public relations, and it was very difficult to get a straight and candid answer. He did explain the reason for this quite well though, as he reminded our group that the United Nations is not a separate political entity, but rather a representation of all of the countries that participate. There would be no United Nations without the participating countries, and the function of the UN is to espouse the official line that has been decided by these Nations. While this certainly made for some frustratingly bland answers, it was revealing of the sort of policies that dictate the UN’s activities.

Probably the most frustrating of the answers given by the IAEA spokesman was in response to the question posed about nuclear weapons that have gone missing following the collapse of the USSR in the late 1980s. He stuck to the official position that there are no nuclear warheads that are unaccounted for, and categorically refused to discuss the possibility that this might not be the case. I suppose it is better for the UN to espouse this line of thinking rather than a candid admission along the lines of, “yes there are warheads that are unaccounted for and we have absolutely no idea where they might be, if they’re storage facilities are secure and up to code, or whether or not they might have been sold on the black market to foreign dictators.” He did admit that there is a large amount of nuclear material that has gone missing, which was refreshing to hear because of his previous refusals to talk about actual warheads, and stressed the importance of the danger of what we know as “dirty bombs”. Dirty bombs are regular explosive devices that have nuclear material attached, not with the intention of creating a nuclear reaction but rather to spread the material over the landscape and contaminate everything within its radius. While not quite as terrifying as an actual nuclear explosion, a dirty bomb being detonated anywhere in the world would have disastrous consequences on any living thing that came into contact with it.

On further reflection I suppose it makes sense that the Un could not really speculate as to the possible existence of renegade nuclear warheads. Firstly, if an authoritarian regime that was unfriendly toward the USA came into possession of one of these weapons they would undoubtedly use this as leverage in any negotiations that were taking place. He said that the main focuses of the IAEA at this point was to prevent the spread of nuclear proliferation, with particular regard to the governments of North Korea and Iran. He gave a semi-detailed explanation of what the process for allowing certain countries to possess nuclear weapons is, and emphasized the governments that exist in these states do not come close to meeting those standards. The most abstract of these ideas was the necessity for the prospective country to have a certain level of stability over a long period of time, which of course is almost impossible to quantify and is left to the discretion of the UN Security Council. It is no surprise that under any definition neither of the aforementioned states could be considered stable.

The most interesting thing that I thought our IAEA representative had to say was in regards to the continued use of civil nuclear technology, which has vast application toward the development of third world countries. He warned against the view of nuclear technology as some sort of savior or catalyst to propel previously destitute countries into the 21^st century, because in some parts of the world the knowledge of nuclear secrets is almost indistinguishable from being considered a player on the world stage. He emphasized the fact that although it can go a long way toward providing the populace with electrical power and the ability to maintain their infrastructure, other methods of civic improvement need to be focused on first before the practical application of this technology can be realized.