He declared himself a German, although he hardly spoke any German

Language of communication as an element of manipulation in censuses 1880-1910 in Lower Styria

Abstract

The author used newspaper reports to analyze censuses in Lower Styria between 1880 and 1910. He tried to present them in the light of the manipulations that were used in the interests of German (super)power. At the time of tense national relations the category language of communication served as a major source of an (apparent) rise in the numbers claiming German nationality in the Austrian half of the monarchy. The German side tried to present the towns (particularly) in Lower Styria as age-old German “fortresses”, while the Slovenes opposed that and insisted on a more objective picture. The statistical “growth” in the German population in Lower Styria was often affected by the political situation at the local level, where Germans could exert influence on census results by taking over municipal administration or by economic superiority (most apparently so at the last census in 1910).