169-175
THE CONCEPT OF PEOPLE AND NATION IN THE WRITINGS OF SLAVISTS HISTORIAN A.F. HILFERDING (А.Ф. ГИЛЬФЕРДИНГ)
Authors: Ion EREMIA
Number of views: 314
Alexander F. Hilferding (Гильфердинг) (2 (14) .07.1831 - 20.06 (2.07) 1872), was one of the remarkable Slavists historians of 19th-century Russia, a convinced Slavophile, ideologist and theoretician of Panslavism. In 1856-1858 he held the post of General Consul of Russia in Sarajevo (Bosnia). In exposing his views on the inhabitants, on the population, Alexander F. Hilferding used the terms people, population, nation, nationality, lineage. Alexandru F. Hilferding used all these terms mentioned above as synonyms, interchangeable terms, without making any qualitative difference of the meanings expressed by them. Of particular interest to us is the author's understanding of the Romanian / Moldovan dichotomy. Writing about the presence of other peoples in the Austrian army during peacetime in the mid-nineteenth century, Alexander F. Hilferding mentions Germans, Italians, Romanians or Moldovans (румынов или молдаван) and Magyar or Hungarians (мадьяр или венгров). Therefore, as the author did not see in "Magyars or Hungarians" two different peoples, just as in the case of "Romanians or Moldovans", Alexander F. Hilferding did not treat them as two different peoples. Referring to the population of Bosnia since the mid-nineteenth century Alexander F. Hilferding wrote that it is composed, as understood there, but also according to official recognition, of three peoples (три народа – subl. A.G.), who belong to the same family (племени) of Serbs and speak the same language. These people are Turks, that is, Muslims, explains Alexander F. Hilferding; Latins, otherwise called Krşteni or scornful Şokţi (Croatian šokci, Serbian шокци), meaning Catholics, explains the author; Serbs, otherwise called rişteni, i. e., Christians, despising Vlachs, i. e., Orthodox (православные), he explains. In a footnote Alexander F. Hilferding gives another explanation, namely, that the Orthodox are named Vlachs by the Catholics, and the Muslims attach this name to the Raya-Christians of both confessions, otherwise, the author concludes, it seems, as a priority, also to the Orthodox.