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Kann Memorial Lecture

Robert A. Kann, 1906-1981

Robert A. Kann was born in Vienna and studied law at the University of Vienna, where he earned a Dr. Juris in 1930. In 1938, he interrupted a promising law career and, in the face of the National Socialist threat, fled with his wife Marie. After finding refuge in the United States, he devoted himself to studying and teaching Austrian history. He completed his Ph.D. in history at Columbia University and served on the faculty at Rutgers until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1976. He returned to Austria as a visiting professor and was appointed Honorarprofessor at the University of Vienna shortly before his death. As a scholar, Kann studied how the forces of conflict and integration interacted in history and became the leading authority on the evolution of ethnic tensions within the Habsburg Empire. Among his most important works are The Multinational Empire: Nationalism and National Reform in the Habsburg Monarchy, 1848-1916 and A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526-1918. In his personal life and in his work, he demonstrated a composing nature, artfully blending both Austrian and American themes and perspectives.

The Kann Collection and Memorial Lecture

In 1982, the University of Minnesota was privileged to acquire Robert A. Kann's personal library. Consisting of roughly 5,000 monographs, the collection is noted for its breadth, depth, and integrity as the product of a single collector. It now forms an integral part of the Special Collections and Rare Books Division at the University of Minnesota's Elmer L. Andersen Library Archives Center, serving as a valuable resource for scholars in Austrian history. The Kann Memorial Lecture was established, and the inaugural lecture in 1984 dedicated the collection. It is always free of charge, and the public is invited. A printed version appears in the Austrian History Yearbook.

Past Kann Lectures

2008: Siegfried Beer: "A Second Chance: Allied Attitudes and Reconstruction Policies in post-World War II Austria"

2007: Mary Gluck, "Jewish Humor and Popular Culture in Fin-de-siècle Budapest."

2006: Herwig Wolfram, "Austria before Austria: The Medieval Past of Polities to Come."

2005: John-Paul Himka, "A Central European Diaspora under the Shadow of World War II: The Galician Ukrainians in North America."

2004: Ernst Bruckmüller, "Late Nineteenth-Century Habsburg Society: Was there One?"

2003: R. J. W. Evans, "Language and State Building: The Case of the Habsburg Monarchy."

2002: John W. Boyer, "Silent War and Bitter Peace: The Revolution of 1918 in Austria."

2001: Anton Pelinka, "Austrian Exceptionalism."

2000: Erika Weinzierl, "The Jewish Middle Class in Vienna in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries."

1999: Dennison Rusinow, "The 'National Question' Revisited: Reflections on the State of the Art."

1997: Ernst Wangermann, "'By and By We Shall Have an Enlightened Populace': Moral Optimism and the Fine Arts in Late-Eighteenth-Century Austria."

1996: Paul Schroeder, "Making a Necessity of Virtue: The Smaller State as Intermediary Body."

1995: Allan Janik, "Vienna 1900 Revisited: Paradigms and Problems."

1994: Egon Schwarz, "Mass Emigration and Intellectual Exile from National Socialism: The Austrian Case."

1993: Helmut Konrad, "Austria on the Path to Western Europe: The Political Culture of the Second Republic."

1992: István Deák, "Chivalry, Gentlemanly Honor, and Virtuous Ladies in Austria-Hungary."

1991: Grete Klingenstein, "Modes of Religious Tolerance and Intolerance in Eighteenth-Century Habsburg Politics."

1990: Barbara Jelavich, "Clouded Image: Critical Perceptions of the Habsburg Empire in 1914."

1989: Gerald Stourzh, "The Multinational Empire Revisited: Reflections on Late Imperial Austria."

1988: Henry A. Grunwald, "Austria: The Sound of which Music?"

1987: Rudolf Kirschläger, "Politics and Statesmanship: An Austrian View."

1986: Peter J. Loewenberg, "Karl Renner and the Politics of Accommodation: Moderation versus Revenge."

1985: Bruno Kreisky, "Some Unconventional Remarks on History."

1984: Carl E. Schorske, "Grace and the Word: Austria's Two Cultures and Their Modern Fate."