Vol. XXXII · 2001 · pp. 1-8 (8)

William E. Wright

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Abstract

Volume XXXII Of the Austrian History Yearbook is dedicated, fittingly, to John Rath, who founded this publication and, during its first quartercentury, was its publisher, editor, and copyreader—and did everything else except setting the type for its printing. As much as the Journal of Central European Affairs was the creation of S. Harrison Thomson, so was the Austrian History Yearbook the creation of John Rath. Although it was not intended to be a successor to the Journal of Central European Affairs, it was a happy coincidence that John inaugurated the Yearbook just as the Journal ceased publication, and scholars in the field were not bereft of a vehicle for presenting their work. Or, put more precisely, those whose interest lay in the erstwhile Habsburg part of Central Europe still had a forum for their work; those whose interests were in Germany would soon be accommodated by the establishment of other journals. Given the recent history of that part of the world, an amalgam of Austrian and German studies in a single journal could have made some eyebrows rise and some pulses race. Some years later, Enno Kraehe, with puckish good humor, reminded his fellow members of the Conference Group for Central European History how there had been a small-scale reenactment of the Großdeutsch-Kleindeutsch controversy within the group, but it was resolved without a Humiliation of Olmütz when Central European History was initiated as a successor to the Journal of Central European Affairs. The Yearbook was deemed to be published "in cooperation with" the Conference Group, while Central European History was "sponsored by" the Conference Group.