Ferdinand Blumentritt: Austrian, German, Czech or Bohemian?
Ferdinand Blumentritt (1853-1913) Photo BNF/Gallica Historical geography, the shifts of powers, and the reality in the development of languages and races in central Europe had greatly affected if not made difficult our definitions of Blumentritt's true nationality... Austrian, German, Czech, or Bohemian? When Rizal befriended and visited the "Gymnasiallehrer" in Leitmeritz (Litoměřice), borders were different then, the modern Czech Republic does not exist yet. (But at that time, the Czechs were already a nation conscious of its nationality and ethnicity for many centuries). The region was also called Bohemia, which was somehow, through the centuries, overrun by Germanic powers -- the Holy Roman Empire and the Austrian Hapsburg. Ferdinand Blumentritt, because of language and culture could also be considered ethnic German. The problem with the word "German" was that it actually encompassed a larger definition involving not only one nation but also larger terri...