Tyrol Bacon Dumplings: Tiroler Speckknödel

"Tiroler Speckknödel" seemingly date back about 800 years! While the Tirol region* seems to be the place of origin of these splendid dumplings, "Speckknödel" are not uncommon in parts of Bavaria. There are some variations for Speckknödel; as for instance, some people fix them without onion, while others use some marjoram in the dough. Firm salami type sausages are commonly used as the sausage component for "Speckknödel," and while 6 to 7 cups of bread pieces may seem like a lot, it really isn't, as the pieces should be loosely put into a cup, not pressed in. The dumplings are often simply eaten in beef broth or with sauerkraut or with a salad. I get about 12 golf ball size dumplings from this recipe.

Ingredients:
6 to 7 loosely packed cups dried bread or rolls, cubed or crumbled into small pieces (about like large lima beans in size)
1/3 to 1/2 pound bacon, thick rind removed, and then chopped
1/4 pound firm salami-type sausage, chopped 
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup milk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour (perhaps another tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon parsley
salted water to cook
chopped chives for garnish

In a skillet over low heat, melt the butter and then add the finely chopped onion, cook for about 2 to 3 minutes. Now add the bacon and sausage, increase the heat to medium, and cook for a few minutes, until the bacon has softened (do not let the bacon or sausage get crispy), remove from the heat and let the mixture cool down somewhat. In a bowl, add the bread pieces, bacon mixture, eggs, salt, parsley, 1 tablespoon of flour, and the milk. Mix everything together by hand for a minute or two, then cover the bowl and let it sit for about 15 minutes or so. In the meantime, bring a pot or pan of water seasoned with some salt to a boil. Wet your hands with some cold water, and roll some of the dough into golf ball sized dumplings. Add the dumplings to the boiling water and adjust the heat so that the water is simply simmering, not seething. Cook the dumplings for about 12 to 15 minutes, and just because they float, doesn't mean they are done. Keep turning the dumplings in the simmering water until the time has passed. Remove them with a slotted spoon to a plate covered with paper towels or napkins to let them drain or add them straightaway to bowls of hot beef broth and sprinkle with chopped chives.

* The Tirol region was a part of the Old German Empire (Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation), and came under the control of the Habsburg family, the head of which was the Archduke of Austria, and who was long elected as the German emperor. When this entity was disbanded (1806), Tirol was a part of the new Austrian Empire (announced in 1804), which later was reorganized and renamed the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867), or Austria-Hungary as a somewhat shorter form. After World War One, the southern districts of Tirol (called South Tirol, or Südtirol in German) were ceded to Italy for its entry into the war on the Allied side and this became a part of the Italian Alto Adige region. Some of the world's great skiers are from both the Austrian and Italian areas of Tirol.

WORD HISTORY:
Sinew-This word goes back to Indo European "sneh," which had the notion "to twist together, to connect together, to weave together." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "sinawo," which meant "sinew, tendon," which gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "seonu" and "sinu," depending upon dialect, both forms with the same meaning. This then became "sinue" (the ending 'e' pronounced eh/ah),  before the modern version. The other Germanic languages have: German "Sehne" (sinew, tendon), Low German Saxon "Sehn" (sinew, tendon), Dutch "zenuw" (nerve, sinew), West Frisian "sine" (sinew, tendon), Norwegian "sene" (tendon, sinew), Icelandic "sin" (tendon), Swedish "sena" (tendon, sinew), Danish "sene" (sinew, tendon).

Tyrolean Style Liver (Tiroler Leber)

There are many variations to recipes of this name, "Leber nach Tiroler Art;" that is, "Liver, Tirol Style" (literally, "Liver after (or, according to) Tirol Type"), or sometimes it is called, "Tiroler Leber." It is made in Austria and Bavaria.* This is really a stew, and a very good one, at that. Some fix it with cream instead of sour cream, but others use no cream or sour cream at all, while some add lemon juice, but no wine, and there are other variations too. Some serve it with polenta, which Austro-German culture got from the Italians.** To me, the great sauce of this dish requires mashed potatoes, but I'm a lover of mashed potatoes; so to me, chocolate ice cream requires mashed potatoes. Well, that's not true... actually, strawberry ice cream. 

Ingredients (for 4 to 6 servings):

1 1/2 pounds liver (calves, beef or pork) cut into bite sized pieces
flour for coating the liver
3 tablespoons butter + 3 tablespoons olive oil
5 thick cut slices smoked bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups beef stock
2/3 cup white wine
1 heaping teaspoon dried marjoram leaves (or you can use oregano)
3 tablespoons (drained) capers, whole or chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt (or you can omit this, if the beef stock is salty)
1 teaspoon black pepper
flour and water for thickener, if desired
1/2 cup sour cream (reduced fat type is fine)

Coat the cut liver pieces with flour, set aside. In a skillet over medium heat, add the oil and butter. Add the bacon and the onion, cook, stirring the mixture around fairly often, until the onion is softened. Add the liver and cook for a few minutes before adding the beef stock, the wine and the marjoram. Stir well to mix. Reduce heat to simmer the stew. When the liver is cooked through, add the capers, the pepper and the salt (if using), stir well. (If you want the sauce to be thickened, as I like, mix some flour and water and gradually stir it into the stew. Let the stew simmer for a minute or two.) Remove the stew from the heat and stir in the sour cream until it is fully mixed in.

* Tyrol/Tirol is a region in the Alps divided between Austria and Italy since the end of World War One. Long a part of the Old German Empire, then of the Austrian Empire, and then of Austria-Hungary, the southern part of the region, the South Tirol (German: Südtirol, Italian: Alto Adige) was given to Italy after World War One, which caused bitter feelings by the majority German population for decades (it should be noted, parts of the region had substantial Italian minorities or even local majorities).  

** Of course, the Italians live just south of the German speaking areas. "Polenta," known to most Americans as simply, "cornmeal," is ground corn/maize, a food taken to Europe from the New World, along with some other new food products for those times, like potatoes and tomatoes, for instance. In German the word "Polenta" is used as the standard word, but there is also "Plentn" in dialect, as well as "Sterz" in some southern dialect (more for the cooked type, either as a kind of solidly cooked "bread/cake," or as a kind of porridge). German also uses "Maismehl" (maize meal) for the uncooked ground meal.   

Tyrolean Style Liver with mashed potatoes and salad....

WORD HISTORY: 
Brook-There is more than one word of this spelling in English (the noun is unrelated and is from a totally different source), and this is the verb "brook," with the modern meaning of "to tolerate, bear something unpleasant." It is distantly related to "fruit," a word of Latin derivation borrowed by English, which originally meant "an enjoyment," which then progressed to the modern meaning, "produce of trees or bushes" (from the notion, "a food that is enjoyed"). It goes back to Indo European "bhrug," with the notion of, "to enjoy, to make use of for enjoyment." This gave Old Germanic "brukanan," with the same meanings. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "brucan," meaning, "to enjoy, to use, to eat and to enjoy food;" which led to the meanings, "to digest," and for the food, "to be digestible;" thus, "to tolerate (stomach wise);" thus, to the later more general sense of "tolerate, bear something," the meaning that survived into modern English. In more modern times, at least in the U.S., it is often used in the negative sense, "I can't brook his drinking and gambling." Other Germanic relatives: German has "gebrauchen" (to use) and "brauchen," (to have need of, to have the need to use something), Low German Saxon has "bruken" (to need for use, to use), West Frisian "brûke" (to use), Dutch "bruiken" (to use, to make use of). Apparently a form did not survive in North Germanic, but the word was not just in West Germanic, as Gothic, which was East Germanic, had "brukjan" (to enjoy). Danish "bruge" (to use), Norwegian "bruke" (to use) and Swedish "bruka" (to become accustomed to, to till land; that is, make land ready for use, but the word's former general meaning was, "make use of"), all came by borrowing from Low German.    

I'll Have The Goulash

This was published in August 2012, more as a general article, but I added the actual recipe November 29, 2016.


I got into my cooking mode a couple of days ago, and I fixed two great dishes, which lasted for a couple of meals. I made "goulash" and bacon dumplings (German: "Speckknödel" *). There is some disagreement about the history and preparation of goulash, but it developed among Hungarian herders** who fixed a thick soup of beef, peppers, onions, chopped tomatoes,*** paprika (a Hungarian specialty), and perhaps some other items, especially caraway, but also garlic, potatoes, or carrots, and typically thickened with flour. Hungary was ruled for quite some time by the Habsburg dynasty, and later it gained a large degree of equality in an agreement in 1867, making the former Austro-German dominated Austrian Empire into a shared empire called Austria-Hungary, or the Austro-Hungarian Empire. With Vienna (German: "Wien") the capital city of the multi-ethnic empire, lots of different peoples and foods influenced the culture of the city, and the Viennese picked up goulash from the Hungarians, albeit with their own version,**** which made it into more of a real stew, rather than a thick soup. The stew became something of a Viennese specialty, typically accompanied by bread dumplings (German: "Semmelknödel"), a close cousin to the bacon dumplings I made.

Well, many years ago in Frankfurt, Germany, there was a little restaurant called "Servus" (pronounced "zair-voos"). The word is known throughout the German-speaking lands, but it is more typical in southern German lingo; that is, more so in Bavaria and especially in Austria, and it is used as either a greeting or farewell, depending upon circumstance; thus it means "hello" or "goodbye." Wow did "Servus" have good food! It was owned by a fairly young couple, and I went in so many times, the lady asked me why I had become such a good customer. Well, one of the reasons was the goulash, or "Gulasch," in German, and the other was "Zwetschgenknödel" (plum dumplings). Now, the standard German word for "plum" is "Pflaume," a close relative to the English form, as centuries ago Old Germanic borrowed a form from Latin, giving both English and German forms of the word. For the history of the words "plum" and "prune," see my article at this link:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/04/plum-pudding-and-plum-cake.html    However, many German dialects use forms of "Zwetsche"***** for "plum." There are numerous spellings and pronunciations, including "Quetsche" in much of Hessen, the German state where Frankfurt is located, and "Quetschkuche," or "plum cake," is common in that area.

Anyhow, the lady proceeded to tell me she was from Austria and that her husband was Hungarian. Alas, the old empire was recreated. When I asked her where she was from in Austria, she got a bit nervous, even saying I would have never heard of it. Finally she told me, and I certainly understood her anxiety about how I might react. She was from Braunau, a little town right across the border from the German state of Bavaria. In fact, during certain times in the past, the town had been part of Bavaria. So why was she so nervous? Because Braunau was the birthplace of Adolf Hitler. The full name is actually "Branau am Inn;" the "am Inn" meaning, "on the Inn (River)."

Germans, the ethnic group, and not just the specific nationality from Gerrmany, love dumplings, and they make them out of flour, potatoes, or even stale bread or rolls. They come in all shapes and sizes, sweet or savory, and with various added ingredients. "Speckknödel" are made from stale rolls, which are sliced and soaked in warm milk. Small strips of bacon and sausage (usually smoked) are lightly fried together and then added to the bread. Today most of us would pour off the fat before adding the meat to the bread, but that was not the case in the past, when bacon and sausage fat added flavor to the dumpling mixture, along with a substantial dose of cholesterol. A little salt and some parsley are mixed in, and egg and flour help to bind the dough, which is then rolled into dumplings somewhere about the size of ping pong balls or golf balls. A little coating of flour helps to keep the dumplings from falling apart. Ten to fifteen minutes in some salted, lightly boiling water and you're ready to go. Any leftovers can be sliced and fried lightly in butter for a snack or even served with eggs for breakfast, which is not uncommon. I don't waste anything, as the water will have residue from the cooked dumplings, giving you something on the order of a thick porridge.

Vienna-Style Goulash (Gulasch, Wiener Art) Recipe (this is my own version):

Typically this dish is cooked on the stove top, but I prefer to bake it at relatively low heat for a couple of hours. In the past, the beef would not have had the fat trimmed off of it.

2 pounds beef stewing meat (bite-sized pieces)
3 tablespoons of vegetable oil or sunflower oil
3 onions, chopped
3 tablespoons mild paprika (Hungarian, if you have it)
1 tablespoon hot paprika ("hot" paprika tends not to be terribly hot)
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon sugar (this helps to smooth out some of the acidity, use a little more, if needed)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried marjoram (or you can substitute oregano)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar (or cider vinegar)
1/4 cup beef stock (I suppose you could substitute beef bullion, but don't be surprised if the Viennese put a curse on you, where you hear 24 straight hours of waltz music)
1 or 2 teaspoons salt (your preference; I use seasoned salt)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

I use a heavy duty pan with a lid to make goulash. I add the oil first, then I add all of the other ingredients, then I mix it all well. I bake it at 275 degrees (F) for an hour, then I stir it, then I turn the heat down to about 250 (F) and let it bake for another 90 minutes. Check to be sure the meat is tender, giving the meat as much time as it needs to bake. The relatively low heat isn't going to hurt it, and your patience will be greatly rewarded with a delicious goulash.
 
If you want the goulash very thick, as I do, mix 1 tablespoon flour with 2 tablespoons water, making sure the flour is well mixed in. Stir the mixture into the goulash near the very end of cooking, and return it to the oven for about 5 minutes. Since I fix my goulash in an oven safe pan, I simply put the pan on the stove (low heat) and add the flour/water mixture, stirring until it is thickened and the flour taste is cooked out, which only takes a couple of minutes. Remember to remove the bay leaf before serving. I must admit, on occasion over the years, I have used bullion instead of real beef stock and nothing ever happened to me ... Hey! What's that music? Do I hear a waltz?  

* Also called "Tiroler Speckknödel."

** The Hungarian word for "herder, herdsman," "gulyas," lies behind the word "goulash."

*** I once read a recipe for goulash by a lady whose Hungarian mother or grandmother, I now cannot remember which, was adamant that "real Hungarian goulash" did NOT have tomatoes in it. I'll stay out of the argument, except to say that everyone has their own recipes for various foods, and goulash is no exception, including in Hungary. Just a possible explanation though: the passing down of recipes for goulash could likely date from a time before tomatoes were accepted as being safe in Europe. Tomatoes came from the New World, and they were originally thought to be poisonous, thus it is not out of the question that early recipes for the dish did not include tomatoes, and that omission was retained by many people, as the recipe was passed down.

**** The more typical Viennese style (German: "Gulasch, Wiener Art") uses beef, onions, some tomato puree or paste, paprika, salt, pepper and caraway, although some cooks add garlic, and/or, a bit of vinegar. I improvised a bit, using some tomato paste and about a heaping tablespoon of thick ketchup, which provided just a tad of vinegar. It should be slowly braised (a slow cooker is good for this) and end up rather dark in color, somewhat on the order of dark red wine. A variation of this is served with a fried egg on top, as well as one of the famous Vienna-style sausages ("Wieners," to Americans; German: "Frankfurter Würstl"), and a pickle, which in restaurants has one end cut into a fan shape. This is then called "Fiakergulasch," or "Cabbie's Goulash," with a "Fiaker" being the name for a two-horse carriage used as a cab long ago. The name was also used for the cab driver. 

***** The various forms of Zwetsche are not native German words, but another borrowing, "perhaps" from a non-German dialect from the alpine border area of northern Italy and eastern France.

WORD HISTORY:
Cook-This "seems" to go back to Indo European "kekewo," "perhaps" a variant form of "pekwo," which seems to have meant "to ripen;" the notion being to prepare inedible raw food until it is 'ripe;' that is, ready to eat. Latin had "coquus," which was borrowed into Old Germanic as "kukaz," a noun form. This gave its Anglo-Saxon (Old English) offspring "coc," which later became "cook." The Latin verb form "coquo" was likewise borrowed by Old Germanic as "kokanan," which then gave Old English "cocian," as well as "gecocsian," both meaning essentially "to cook." The latter died out or merged with the former, which then became "coken," before the modern form. Noun and verb forms are common throughout the other Germanic languages: German has "Koch" and "kochen" (meaning "cook, boil"); Low German Saxon "Kock" and "kaken/koken;" Dutch has "kok" and "koken;" Danish has "kok" and "koge;" Icelandic has the noun "kokkur" ("chef"); Swedish has "kock/kocken" and "koka;" and Norwegian has "kokk(en)" and "koke" ("boil"). Apparently Frisian does not use a form of the word in modern times, but it once had "koka."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Fifty-Seven

"Hitler & The German Question" Part Three

In the Eupen-Malmedy region, which had been annexed to Belgium from Germany after World War One, and then annexed back to Germany during World War Two, the area was returned to Belgium after Hitler's defeat, but over time, the German population was given equal political rights, including for the maintenance of their language.

The South Tirol (or Tyrol) was a hot button issue for decades. This region of the Alps was heavily German,* but with an Italian minority, which actually had majority status in certain southern areas of the region. It was given to Italy after World War One as sort of a payoff for Italy's having chosen the Allied side. It had been a part of the Austrian part of "Austria-Hungary," and the rest of Tirol, including famous Innsbruck, remained part of Austria after World War One. The Italians tried to "Italianize" the Germans in the South Tirol, and this brought about extreme dissatisfaction among the German population. Hitler and Mussolini came to an agreement about the time of Germany's invasion of Poland to let Germans of the South Tirol choose to remain in the region, but to become "Italians," with all of the resultant restrictions on German language and German culture that carried with it, or to emigrate to Germany (which then included Austria). More than 150,000 chose to "resettle" outside of Italy, but the war interfered with much of this resettlement, and only about half that number actually left Italy. The South Tirol remained a part of Italy after World War Two ended,** but with much German unrest, including serious incidents (people killed), for several decades. Finally the Italian government agreed to grant a degree of "autonomy" to the German region, and several years later another more expanded agreement gave even greater autonomy to the German population. The Germans of the South Tirol have maintained their German language (German is now recognized by the Italian government as an "official" language in the region) and German culture, but they have remained a part of Italy as an "autonomous region," and some of the Italian majority areas were detached from this political entity to avoid further conflict.

After the war, Luxembourg went back to being Luxembourg, a separate country. In Alsace-Lorraine,*** Hitler never formally announced the annexation of the regions to Germany after defeating France in 1940, but the areas were just taken over again, and standard German was reintroduced as the language taught in schools there. The regions reverted to France at the end of the war, and French was again made the official language, and standard German and the German dialects of these two regions have been in serious decline ever since.

As to Germany herself, Austria became independent, although it was divided into occupation zones, with the country gaining full independence in the mid 1950s. Germany was divided into four occupation zones, with the Soviet zone in eastern Germany eventually becoming a communist state, commonly known as "East Germany," but officially the "German Democratic Republic." The western zones were occupied by the British, Americans, and French, and became commonly known as "West Germany," but officially as the "Federal Republic of Germany." Germany became the center of possible major Cold War confrontation between the Soviet Union and its satellite nations in eastern Europe on one side and western Europe and the United States on the other. As communism lost its grip over eastern Europe in the late 1980s/early 1990s, Germany was reunited as a single nation, and the occupation officially ended. Whether occupation forces would have remained in Germany for such a long time if there hadn't been a "Cold War" is difficult to say, but I doubt it, as the costs would have probably been too great for the occupying nations, although I think it benefited the stability of the western areas, as unlike after World War One, when the Weimar Republic floundered around trying to establish democracy, the presence of foreign powers for so long after World War Two helped democracy take firm root during that time, and presently, Germany is a model democracy, as is Austria.

Germans born after the war are not responsible for what their parents or grandparents did during the Nazi regime, and increasingly, the more recent generations have little concept of those times, as the Nazi-era generation is fading from the scene. Quite a few of the Nazi-era Germans I've known over the years are quite ashamed of those times, but then again, I've known a few who were unrepentant. For a few decades after the war ended, there was a fear by many non-Germans that if Germany did reunite, Germans would seek to regain territories lost to other nations after World War Two, especially some areas lost to Poland, which had in fact been a sore spot for many Germans since the end of the war. Presently that has not happened, nor does it appear likely to happen any time soon, if ever. Germans have struggled to deal with their history during Hitler's rule, especially the murderous nature of his regime and the complicity of so many, but time is doing much to change attitudes. People like Sophie Scholl and Claus von Stauffenberg**** have become martyrs and heroes to younger generations of Germans for their willingness to oppose Hitler, and this seems to say, "the nightmare is over."

* Of course, it all depends upon where you draw the boundaries.

** While Mussolini was put back into power by the Germans in northern Italy, that government was obviously never recognized by the Allies; thus, Italy's switch to the Allied side in September 1943 helped Italy keep the South Tirol.

*** As noted in previous articles in this series, the struggle over these regions has gone on for centuries, but technically, this struggle has not been over both provinces in their entirety, but rather most of Alsace and about a quarter to a third of Lorraine, the Germans conceding the other areas as being French.

**** See Part 151 about the German Resistance.

WORD HISTORY:
Will-The noun form, meaning "determination (as in 'will power'), intended purpose or desire," goes back to Indo European "wel," with the meaning "wish, desire." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "wiljon," with the same basic meaning. This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "willa," with the meaning "self will or determination, desire." This then later became "wille" before the modern spelling. In the 1300s, the idea of "wish, determination" began to be applied to "a legal document expressing a deceased person's 'desires' for the division of his/her belongings," a meaning that also continues today. German has "Wille," Low German Saxon has "Will," Dutch has "wil," West Frisian "wolle," Swedish has "vilja," Norwegian and Danish have "vilje," all with the meaning of "desire, intention, will power," but not the legalistic "will," which seems to be confined to English.

The verb "will" seems to have been derived from the noun form of Old Germanic as "wiljan(an)," with the same basic meaning "desire, wish, intention to do." This gave Old English "willan" (also apparently "wyllan" in some dialects), with the same basic meaning. The "intention to do" meaning came to be used in future usage; thus, "I will go to the store." Later the word was spelled "willen" and "wollen," before the modern spelling. Extensively used in the other Germanic languages: German has "wollen" (just to show the similarity to English, conjugated as ich will=I will; du willst=you will; er,sie,es will=he, she, it will), Low German and Dutch have "willen," West Frisian "wolle," Danish and some Norwegian have "ville," Icelandic, some Norwegian and Swedish have "vilja."

The German Question, Part One Hundred Twenty-Two

"Hitler Rules Germany" Part Two/B
"Foreign Policy & The German Question" (Part Four/2)
"Hitler Goes Home; Austria Joins Germany" (Part 2)

Kurt (von)* Schuschnigg, the Austrian chancellor, cracked down on the Austrian Nazis, and he had a number of them imprisoned. Seemingly, the sentiment, however, in a good deal of Austria, and in much of Germany, was for "Anschluss;" Austria joining with Germany, and this was NOT just among Nazis. Schuschnigg met Hitler in 1936 and an agreement was the result. Schuschnigg agreed to release Nazis from prison and to permit Austrian Nazis and other political opponents into his government** and he agreed that Austria was a "German nation;" thus attempting to keep Italy at arms length. Hitler, for his part, agreed that Austria was an "independent nation." Hitler undoubtedly assumed that once Nazis and other proponents of "Anschluss" entered the Austrian government, Austria's joining Germany would soon follow, in spite of his stating that Austria was an "independent nation" in the agreement.

Over time, the Austrian Nazis grew in strength and stridency and Austrian public sentiment became overwhelming for "Anschluss." In February 1938, Schuschnigg met Hitler at Berchtesgaden,*** which was just over the Austro-German border. Hitler demanded that Austrian Nazis be given important positions in Schuschnigg's government, especially the "Minister of the Interior" position, which controlled the police, and the "Minister of Finance." His goal seems to have been to begin a process of coordinating Austrian policies with Germany, even though Austria would be left sovereign, at that point in time. Schuschnigg agreed, indeed, Schuschnigg signed another agreement, as did the Austrian president.**** Hitler's part of the agreement condemned the rowdy and belligerent tactics of the Austrian Nazis, and he agreed to accept unwanted Austrian Nazis in Germany, which he did.***** "Anschluss" drew closer.

* "Von" is used in German to denote nobility; for example, Rudolf "von" Habsburg; that is, "Rudolf of Habsburg." It means "of or from." If you have read (or seen the movie[s]) "Ivanhoe," then you should recall the equivalent in English, "Wilfred of Ivanhoe." Following World War One, the Austrians terminated the use of "von" in names (Germany did not), even for the Habsburgs; thus, Schuschnigg dropped the "von" from his name. It is also spelled "van" in some northern dialects.

** Austria was ruled, literally, by the chancellor. He issued decrees, and there was only one political party permitted, the "Christian Social Party" (German: "Christlichsoziale Partei"), initially a nationalist party that became ever more a right wing party that gradually assumed some of the characteristics of Mussolini's Fascist Party in Italy. (Note: Austria was overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, and there was much "mixing" of religion and politics.) The Christian Social Party formed a sort of alliance with the "Heimwehr" ("Home Defense"), a right wing paramilitary and political group, which provided "muscle" to the alliance. One of the Christian Social Party's weaknesses, however, was its ties to Italy, including Italian support and "protection" of Austria. Remember, Mussolini sent Italian troops to the border to prevent Hitler from sending German forces into Austria in 1934. The reason I say this was a "weakness" is, Italy and Italians were not popular in Austria. Italy had been the major enemy of Austria-Hungary in World War One (and a major enemy even before), and upon the end of the war, for her participation on the Allied side, Italy was given the South Tirol, which contained a substantial German population, with large German majorities in the northern areas and some Italian majority areas in the southern districts.

*** Berchtesgaden is a small Bavarian town in the Alps, literally right near the border with Austria. Hitler had his villa there, called the "Berghof." The city of Salzburg lies less than 20 miles away, and after the Anschluss, the Salzburg airport was used by many of Hitler's visitors to his villa, but Hitler also used Klessheim Palace to host many foreign dignitaries. The palace, still in existence, is just outside the Salzburg city limits.

**** Austria had a president who served as "head of state," and he therefore had to sign all international agreements. Wilhelm Miklas was the president at that time, and he too was a member of the Christian Social Party.

***** Hitler got the Austrian Nazi leaders and lambasted them for their behavior, but apparently even he had trouble controlling them.

WORD HISTORY:
Home-This noun is common in its various forms throughout the Germanic languages. It is related to "hamlet," a word borrowed by English from French, which had it from Germanic Frankish. The ultimate origin of "home" is not agreed upon by everyone, but it "appears" to go back to the Indo European root "tkei/tkey," which meant "to dwell, to settle, to live in a place," which produced the extended form "(t)koimo," which meant "settlement, village, home." This gave Old Germanic "haimaz," or perhaps "(k)haimaz," with the "k" not being prominent, at least in theory, and with the broad meaning of "dwelling, village, settled place." This gave Anglo-Saxon/Old English "ham," not pronounced like the pork product, but with a long "a" sound. Later the spelling/pronunciation had changed to "hom," before the modern spelling. Over time, too, the meaning narrowed to "residence, place were one or a family resides," although the earlier broader meaning of "village, settled place" lives on from those times in place names like "Birmingham" and "Buckingham," which denoted a village. An Old English verb form, "hamian," also developed from the noun, with the meaning "to set up or build a home," then later with the modern spelling, but meaning "to go home," and it still exists, as it was used in refence to pigeons, and with the form "homing pigeon." The verb is now more associated with "signals that guide a missile to its target; that is, "home." German has "Heim" (as do some, but not all, Low German dialects), Dutch has "heem," "West Frisian "hiem," Norwegian has "hjem" and "heim," Swedish "hem," Danish "hjem," and Icelandic "heimur."

The German Question, Part Forty

"Song Of The Germans" (Das Lied der Deutschen)

More and more Germans wanted a true national state; that is, a unified nation,* and they wanted certain basic civil liberties for themselves within that nation. Notice I did not say "all Germans," or even "most Germans." The fact is, no one really knows just how many Germans favored the above goals, since public opinion polls were still in the future, along with the accompanying disputes of opinion polls and, of course, the the term "margin of error." Then again, public opinion polls could not have existed, because the police and military forces were under the total control of the nobility, and that sort of shoots giving an honest opinion in the rear end. One thing is pretty clear however; the nobility wanted the status quo to continue; after all, they controlled the individual German states, and nobles of varying ranks owned most of the land within the German territories. Why would they want anything to change? But things had changed, as gone were the days for most Germans when average citizens were dependent upon their local noble for protection, food, and shelter; that is, the system of "feudalism." In fact, in many ways the situation had reversed, as the ruling nobles needed the support of the populace for the various wars in which they engaged. That public support meant taxes to pay for military operations and soldiers to fill the ranks of the armies.

The German intellectuals provided the boost for the liberal ideas of the American and French revolutions, where individual citizens had basic rights.** The ruling nobles chose to appeal to their subjects' regional loyalties rather than to the idea of a united German nation, as any notion of unification would have threatened a lessening of power for the individual nobles; likewise with any granting of basic rights to citizens, such as freedom of the press, free speech, and a publicly elected representative body. With such freedoms there might actually have been public debate about governing affairs where people could speak their own true beliefs, something that would have undoubtedly scared the crowns right off the heads of their rulers.

One such German intellectual was Hoffmann von Fallersleben. In the late 1790s, composer Joseph Hayden had written music to celebrate the birthday of German Emperor ("Kaiser" in German) Franz II. By 1841, von Fallersleben had written lyrics to this music to inspire Germans to achieve true nationhood. Later, when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s, the first verse of the song came to take on the much more sinister meaning of German world domination, something unintended by von Fallersleben and German liberals of the post-Napoleon era. The song, incorrectly known to many non-Germans during the Hitler era simply as "Germany Over All" ("Deutschland Über Alles"), was meant by von Fallersleben to convey the need for Germans to lay aside their regional loyalties and to put "Germany above all" of these feelings and "above all else in the world," so as to unite in a true nation. Von Fallersleben also laid out in that first verse his concept of what the boundaries of that united German nation should be; again something the Nazis later exploited.****  Those boundaries very much tie in with this series on defining "who is a German?"

Von Fallersleben used these following general boundaries as his concept for a united German nation: In the west Fallersleben simply made reference to the Maas River (Meuse more commonly used in English, Maas in both German and Dutch). The Meuse is a big river, much of which lies within modern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and even in Fallersleben's times the area of the Meuse covered territories where French, Flemish and Dutch were overwhelmingly spoken, not German. In his defense, Fallersleben may not have meant ANY of these lands, but rather the small area around the modern Dutch-German border, which seems likely, since Fallersleben was a GERMAN nationalist, not a conquest seeking tyrant. (The "German dialect" in that area is VERY close to Dutch, and people on both sides of the border can understand one another, but remember, Dutch is closely related to German, especially to Low German, which is the basis for the German dialect in that region.)

In the east Fallersleben mentions only the "Memel River" (also known as the Neman/Niemen in other languages). The river lies in what was then the northeastern German territory of Prussia. There was a German majority present, but perhaps with small local Lithuanian majorities in certain rural areas near the Lithuanian border. Other than this mention, Fallersleben ignores other parts of Eastern Europe, which certainly seems to confirm his intention of including German areas, rather than non-German lands ruled or once ruled by Germans, like for instance, Bohemia (Czech majority), or areas where Germans were distinct minorities (like in Hungary).

In the south Fallersleben mentions the "Etsch River" ("Adige" in Italian) which runs through Tirol. In Fallersleben's time, Tirol (sometimes in English written as "Tyrol") was a Habsburg land of Austria, and heavily German in character, although with Italian majorities in some areas, especially in its far southern reaches.

In the north Fallersleben notes "the Belt," which is a group of islands and a strait in the Baltic Sea off the coasts of (modern) Germany and Denmark. Inland lies a territory called Schleswig (Slesvig in Danish), which had a very mixed German and Danish population, and was under Danish rule. Much of the area was German, and the Danes more or less acknowledged that fact, but a few parts were definitely Danish in character. This area will reappear in our story a bit later here.

Fallersleben's song is important because he attempted, however vaguely, to lay out a geographical concept of a modern German nation. His third verse touts his and liberals' basic civil rights of  "justice and freedom for the German Fatherland," which Germans should "strive for fraternally with heart and hand." Further, "unity, justice and freedom are the pledge of good fortune," and finally, "Blossom German Fatherland." These are not the words of some right wing maniac, but the words of a man who wants his country united, and with rights for all.*****

(A Word History is below the notes)

* The existing German Confederation of the post-Napoleon era was not truly a "national" governing system. The individual states were really like independent countries, loosely associated with one another, like in matters of trade, with each state's governing noble being totally in control of his respective state.

** It should not be forgotten that the governing system of England (and later of "Great Britain," when Scotland, Wales, etc were added) had been evolving for centuries, with the king's (or queen's) powers becoming more and more limited; that is, it gradually became a "constitutional monarchy." We Americans sometimes forget that prior to the Revolutionary War, while the American colonists focused their anger at King George III, it was Parliament that approved or initiated many of the laws that riled so many in the colonies.

*** The lyrics were just waiting for the super nationalistic Nazis to later exploit: "Germany, Germany above (or 'over,' as the Nazis saw it) all. Above (Over) everything in the world."

**** Throughout this series I've been gradually showing how some areas separated from "Germany," a term I'm using here in a very broad sense. When Fallersleben wrote his lyrics, he certainly was within the broad bounds of what many people of those times, including many non-Germans, saw as "Germany," since he used a linguistic/ethnic basis for his borders (with some exceptions, see above text), but with large exceptions, like the German part of Switzerland, which he "seems" not to have included. That is not to say that his general boundaries weren't controversial, as they were, since his borders were so general that they left much open to interpretation; thus I said "seems" to have left out the German part of Switzerland. (See above in the main text) All of this seeks to answer "The German Question;" who/what is a German?

***** The third verse in the official national anthem of Germany today. The first verse, having been so perverted by the Nazis, is no longer used, and it has not been used since the end of World War Two.

WORD HISTORY:
Wurst-As in "Bratwurst," was borrowed into English from German in the mid to late 1800s (I found different dates). It is the generic word for "sausage" in German. There is some disagreement about its ancestry, with some linguists feeling it goes back to the Indo European root "wer," which had the notion of "turning, changing," and this then gave Old Germanic "werth," which then gave Old English the now obsolete verb "worth," which means "become" (German has the related "werden," which means "to become"). Now, this makes sense, since sausages are turned and twisted when put into casings to seal them. Another side feels that "wurst" goes back to the similar Indo European root "wers," which meant "confuse, mix up." Of course this also makes sense, since sausage is made by mixing meat with various seasonings. Actually (and this is just my idea here), it may be that "wer" and "wers" are related in Indo European, since when you mix something, you turn it over and over. By the way, "wers" is the ultimate source of our word "war," a "mixed up, or confused state of affairs." What ever the case, Old High German seems to have had "wurst" or "wursti," which then became "worst" is some dialects, before the spelling "wurst" became fixed and carried into modern times in standard German. Related words in other Germanic languages: Dutch and Low German have "worst" and West Frisian has "woarst." 

The German Question, Part Thirty-Eight

"Aftermath of Napoleon" Part Two

Here are more of the changes brought to the map of Europe by the Congress of Vienna ("Wiener Kongress," in German):

First, in "Part One," I inadvertently left out another gain by Prussia; the part of Pomerania that had been occupied by Sweden (most of Pomerania was already part of Prussia). Pomerania was a territory in the north along the Baltic Sea.

While the Netherlands was no longer connected with Germany, since it had been a part of the German Empire for centuries, I thought I'd mention here that the Netherlands, and much of what is now Belgium (then called "the Austrian Netherlands," as it had been a Habsburg possession), were formed into a single entity called "The United Kingdom of the Netherlands," under the Dutch king. It wasn't until 1830 that the southern part, then called "Belgium" (actually Kingdom of Belgium), was granted independence.

Luxembourg had dynastic connections with Prussia, but it was divided from Prussia by other German lands. A German land, "Nassau," was a possession of the Dutch king, but the territory was located essentially east of the Rhine River, smack dab in German territory. It was decided that the Prussian and Dutch monarchs would swap these territories, giving each easier access to his own land. While Luxembourg became a personal possession of the Dutch king, it remained a part of Germany (more precisely of the German Confederation, see below).

Austria gained Tirol (a German territory, much of which lies in the Alps, with the far southern part having some local Italian majorities),* Salzburg (of "Sound of Music" fame), some lands in the Balkans, some lands in Italy,** some lands from Russia (but contiguous with other Habsburg lands in eastern Europe).

There were various other border adjustments to some of the German states (and other countries, too), but one of the more important changes was the establishment of the "German Confederation" ("Deutscher Bund") to replace the old empire, and thus keep some semblance of German unity. Instead of the hundreds, and at times even thousands, of German states that constituted the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, the German Confederation had only thirty-eight.*** In place of the former parliament, the Reichstag, there was the "Bundesversammlung" ("Federal Assembly"), which met in Frankfurt am Main, with Austria holding the presidency. The "delegates" were not elected by a vote of the people, but rather were typically appointed by the ruling prince (or whatever title used in each individual state) of each state. The French Revolution (and America's founding as an independent nation) had spread ideas of democracy throughout much of Europe, and in truth, the German ruling princes (as they were collectively known, regardless of each actual title) tried to keep a lid on such sentiments; thus the Federal Assembly was not democratically elected.

To be continued..... (A Word History is below the notes)

* Tirol had been a Habsburg possession, but when Napoleon defeated the Austrians in 1805, the territory was handed over to Napoleon's ally, Bavaria (a member of the French sponsored "Confederation of the Rhine;" see previous article). The local population eventually rebelled, led by Andreas Hofer, a famous Austrian/German hero. The rebels won many victories, taking back much of the territory, but the odds against them were too great, as besides Bavarian troops, Napoleon had French troops and troops from the Kingdom of Italy (a Napoleon created state, mainly based in what is now northern Italy, with guess who as king? NAPOLEON). Hofer was eventually captured, tried and executed by firing squad, with Napoleon supposedly telling his subordinates, "Give him a fair trial, then shoot him." (What would he have gotten with an unfair trial?)

** At that time, Italy was not a united nation, but rather a number of kingdoms and principalities, much like the German lands.

*** Like with the old empire, the number of states varied from time to time, but unlike with the empire, the number didn't vary much.

WORD HISTORY:
(After)math-This is a compound of after + math, and here we are only going to be concerned with the second part, "math." I'll deal with "after" in a separate history later. This is not "math," as in 3+3=ah, don't tell me....now to the fingers of the other hand....let's see...6! This goes back to the Indo European root "me(h)" (not connected to our word "me"), with the notion of "cutting down grass or grain." It is closely related to "mow," as in "mow the lawn." The Indo European root developed into "maetha/metha" in its Old Germanic offspring, which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "maeth," later changed to "math." German, a close relative of English, has "Mahd," which means "mowing," and also "a swathe cut through grass/or agricultural plants, and that which has been mowed," and Frisian once had "meth." So "aftermath" indicates "the result of mowing, that which is left after mowing." The modern (figurative) meaning of "aftermath" came about in the late 1400s; that is, "the results or consequences of an event."

The German Question, Part Fourteen

Edited and updated a little on July 23, 2015. 

Going back about 1500 years, Germanic elements (later, in this case, called Germans) had settled in part of the area of the southern Alps. The area became heavily German in terms of population (likely absorbing many Celtic and Latin elements there), and the cities and towns came to be known by their German names in those times. Probably unknown to most Americans, this area, known as the South Tirol (Italian: Alto Adige), later became quite contested between the Germans (usually represented by the Austrians) and the Italians, who claimed the territory based upon geography, and not by majority ethnic background. The area in question, now part of Italy, has the cities of Bolzano (Bozen, in German), Merano (Meran, in German) and Bressanone (Brixen, in German). The people who later came to be known as "Italians," also had a minority in the region, but with some areas actually having an Italian majority. More on this later.

So, now in the last several parts, I have laid out the areas of Europe where people who were known as "Germans" came to live, albeit at times either with many non-Germans nearby, or mixed in with non-Germans. We are now ready to move on to the rise of two dominant German states, one in the south, and one in the north. The struggle between these two states for the rule of Germany will bring us to more modern times, and to historical events and names undoubtedly more recognizable to many readers.

WORD HISTORY:
Sour-This seems to go back to the Indo European root "suro," which had to do with "cheese." Of course, cheese can have a sour taste (after all it's soured milk). This gave its Old Germanic offspring "suraz," which just meant "sour." This then gave Old English "sur," which then became "sour." The other Germanic languages have: German "sauer," Low German "suur," Dutch "zuur," West Frisian "soer" (apparently archaic),  Swedish, Danish and Norwegian "sur," and Icelandic "súr," all of these forms meaning "sour." Latin-based French has the adjective "sur" (acidic, sour) absorbed from Germanic Frankish "sur."