By Junior Remy Haring
In a series of stories told in multiple perspectives from all over the world–collectively known as the Kaiserreich Files (inspired by the titular mod for Hearts of Iron IV), blogger Remy Haring explores an alternate history, one in which the Central Powers win the First World War.
Vienna, Austrian Empire
September 23, 1936,–the day I will never forget:
“We are Slavs, and we are angry. For over 800 years our people have been under the boot of the Austrians. Our languages are being replaced by German; we aren’t allowed to wear our traditional clothing, and now Orthodox Christianity has been banned. The new prime minister Jörg Lanz Von Liebenfels openly calls us a “lower species.” Every one of us–Czechs, Slovakians, Polish, Ukrainians, Serbians, Bosnians, Croatians, Slovenians and Montenegrins– needs to come together to throw that fossil out of parliament. We make up 47% of the population. Imagine what we can accomplish when we work together!”
Professor Lazar Palić
This is the speech my professor delivered to the crowd before we began marching on Vienna. We were waving pan-slavic flags of blue, white and red stripes. Some protestors were holding up signs that said, “Justice for Gavrilo Princip!” It was he who killed the heir to the Austrian Throne and started the Great War. The Austrians see him as a terrorist, where we Slavs view him as a martyr for the slavic people.
The school band and choir were playing Hej Slaveni! The crowd was chanting “Ujedinjenje ili smrt! Unification or death!” I was flying the Croatian flag and chanting. I felt so much hope then for a future where us slavs were free, but I also felt fear for how the government would respond, and then I felt pride for my people uniting for our survival and justice–justice against the empire that had oppressed us for far too long.
But, my roiling emotions were overshadowed when we reached the Vienna Parliament. Police dressed in full riot gear lined up in front of us. Machine gun emplacements were set up around the street. However, the riot police did not fire upon us. That is, until we saw Prime Minister Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels himself. He was a short, old, balding man with small, circular glasses. The only thing that really stood out about him was his white, priestly robe with a bright red cross on his chest. He didn’t address us. Without any sound of conviction or emotion, he ordered the police:
“Clean the streets of this human filth.”
… I don’t remember what happened after that.
*Hey Slavs! A pan-slavic patriotic song
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