Karl Kraus: The Last Days of Mankind

SCHOPENHAUER, Arthur (1788–1860), anglophile German philosopher ( The World as Will and Representation , 1819), his thoroughgoing pessimism a major cultural influence in fin-de-siècle Britain and Europe (see, e.g., Allan Janik and Stephen Toulmin, Wittgenstein’s Vienna [New York: Simon and Schuster, 1973]): 149, 248, 264, 292.

SCHOTTENRING (Plan B2/C1): 209.

SCHRAMMEL QUARTET, popular Viennese ensemble (violins, guitar, clarinet or accordion), originated with Johann Schrammel (1850–1893) and brother Josef (1852–1895) playing at “Heurigen” (new vintage wine taverns). The Prussian colonel who confuses Egon Schubert, author of →“My Brown Isonzo Lassie”, with “the immortal Schubert” (“Schwammerl — Schrammel”: 537) clearly knew of the 1912 bestseller Schwammerl (“Mushroom”—Franz Schubert’s nickname) by Rudolf Hans Bartsch and/or the biographical novel’s 1915 adaptation as operetta, Das Dreimäderlhaus , music by Heinrich Berté, libretto by Heinz Reichert and Alfred Maria Willner: 537.

SCHRATT, Katharina (Kathi) (1855–1940), actress at →Hofburgtheater (1883–1900), →Franz Joseph’s close companion: 390, 393.

SCHWAB, Charles Michael (1862–1939), president of Bethlehem Steel Corporation, United States: 191.

SCHWARZGELBE KREUZ, das (“Black-and-Yellow Cross”), buttonhole insignia of War Welfare charity, →Bienerth, →Schalek, →Löwy: 445.

SCHWARZ-GELBER, symbolic name for patriotic Jewish social climber (black and yellow being the colours of the imperial Austrian flag): 42, 45, 180f, 232ff, 506f.

SCUTARI (Kotor, Map F5), in north-western Albania, occupied by Austrians (January 1916), taken by Serbs (October 1918): 412.

SEE IT THROUGH (“hold out to the bitter end”), slogan transformed into satirical leitmotif; cf. directive of the War Press Bureau in Berlin (March 1917) which prohibited questioning of Germany’s ability to “see it through economically” (wirtschaft-liches Durchhalten): 118, 237, 297, 300, 303, 310, 329, 331, 374, 402, 414, 454f, 472, 488, 503, 513, 517ff, 550.

SEIDLER, Ernst von Feuchtenegg (1862–1931), Austrian prime minister (June 1917–July 1918): 446.

SEMMERING (Map E3), Alpine pass and fashionable thermal spa in Lower Austria, on first mountain railway line, Vienna-Graz: 182f, 352ff.

SEPARATE PEACE. As agreed within the →Entente, no such treaty was negotiated by the tsar even after Russia lost →Galicia, Poland, and Courland in 1915. There were secret negotiations in 1917—Britain and France unsuccessfully tried to separate Austria from Germany; Germany sounded out Russia (armistice in December 1917, →Brest-Litovsk in March 1918) — but Austria, focused on retaining territorial integrity, did not negotiate with Russia independently as predicted by the → Neue Freie Presse and regurgitated by Biach (IV, 26): xviii, 367, 429.

SERBIA (Map F5) achieved sovereignty at Congress of Berlin (1878). Its pro-Russian policy under King Peter I (1903–21), aiming to liberate South Slavs of Austro-Hungarian Empire, was exacerbated by Austrian annexation of →Bosnia-Herzegovina (1908) and strengthened by victories over Turkey and Bulgaria in Balkan wars (1912–13). Unacceptable terms of Austrian ultimatum led to war. Initial success (1914–15) until overrun by united Central Powers (1915–16): x, xi, xiv, xvii, 31, 32, 47, 49, 55, 57, 62ff, 67, 69, 87, 214f, 242, 283, 307, 308, 315, 346, 357, 366, 388, 420, 500, 510, 520, 527, 532, 542f, 546, 592.

SETTE COMUNI, →Asiago.

SHAKESPEAREAN ALLUSIONS:

Preface: “Horatio’s message to the forces of renewal” from Hamlet , Act V, scene 2: 2, 516;

I, 55: “sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought” from Hamlet , Act III, scene 1: 55;

I, 29: “Shakespeare is, after all, an enemy author”; but the Schlegel-Tieck translation had so familiarized Germans with his work that lines from the great plays figured prominently in popular culture: 158;

II, 33: “Caviar for the People”: “Kaviar für’s Volk”, the phrase used in the Schlegel-Tieck version for “caviar for the general”, from Hamlet , Act II, scene 2: 235;

III, 41: “My tables — meet it is that I should set it down that one may smile, and smile, and be a general”, adapted from Hamlet , Act I, scene, 5: 309;

IV, 29: “the rest would be silence”, echoing Hamlet’s final words from Act V, scene 2: 379;

V, 2: “O gods! Who is’t can say ‘It is at the worst?’/It is worse than e’er it was”, from King Lear , Act IV, scene, 1: 420;

V, 2: “This was sometime a paradox, but now the grandeur of the age gives it proof”, adapted from Hamlet , Act III, scene 1: 420;

Epilogue: “Methinks I scent the morning air” from the Ghost’s speech in Hamlet , Act I, scene 5: 575.

“SHAMPERS CALMS OUR TEMPERS” (“Ein Tampus von Schampus”, 1914), marching song, music by Ludwig Prechtl (1865–1931) and text by Franz Allmeder (1872–1941): 534.

SIEGHART, Rudolf (Rudolf Singer, 1866–1934), financier, governor of Bodenkreditanstalt bank: 44, 138, 235, 237, 506.

SILISTRIA, port on Danube in north-eastern Bulgaria (Map H4), ceded to Romania after second Balkan War (1913), retaken by Bulgarians (September 1916): 360.

SIMPLICISSIMUS , Munich satirical magazine (1896–1967), noted for caricatures of Prussian military figures; became more patriotic during war: 117, 461.

SINGER, Emmanuel (Mendl) von (1846–1929), influential parliamentary correspondent on → Tagblatt , ennobled by Franz Joseph: 137, 390.

SIXTY-SIX, popular card game. In 1866 Prussia defeated Austria at Königgratz: 392.

SKODA, Karl (1884–1918), →Hofburgtheater actor: 493.

SKODA WORKS, largest armaments factory in Austria-Hungary, founded in Pilsen (Map D3) in 1859: 460, 511, 569, 580.

SKOLIK (Scolik), Charles (1854–1928), court photographer. Skolik’s original photograph of →Conrad von Hötzendorf, taken in 1912 during the Balkan wars (cf. F 366–67, 1–3), is reproduced in Timms, Karl Kraus — Apocalyptic Satirist , vol. 1, 161): 130.

SLEZAK, Leo (1873–1946), popular singer and film actor; member of Court →Opera: 419.

SLOVENSKY JUG (Slavonic South), bulletin of the Pan-Serb Association, published in Belgrade (1903–12), then Odessa (from 1916); its “Minutes”, cited by →Friedjung in the Trial of 1909 as evidence of an anti-Habsburg conspiracy, turned out to be forgeries. The Friedjung of the play (I, 6) is still searching for incriminating documents: 67.

SMOLLE, Leo (1848–1920), educationalist and historiographer; published Maria Theresia als Stammmutter des Hauses Habsburg-Lothringen (1909); Der Weltkrieg (1914–15); Kaiser Carl I (1917): 486.

SOMME, Battle of the , impact of this documentary film, produced by British Topical Committee for War Films, prompted newly created Prussian Bild- und Film-Amt to respond with three-part Bei unseren Helden an der Somme (January 1917). In the battle (Plan B2, June — November 1916), fought to a standstill, some 500,00 °Central Powers troops died, and 750,000 of the Entente: 310, 359, 369, 371ff, 400, 538, 544.

SONNINO, Sidney, Baron (1847–1922), Italian statesman, foreign minister (1914–19), who in 1915 formed a pact with the →Entente: 245.

SONN- UND MONTAGSZEITUNG (“Sonn und Mon”), illustrated weekly: 236.

SOUTH TYROL (Map D4), German-speaking Austrian province south of Alps, promised to Italy by Entente as incentive to enter war in 1915; awarded to Italy in peace of St. Germain: 245, 259, 311.

SOUTH-WEST FRONT, between Austria and Italy. After Conrad’s planned offensive through →South Tyrol into Trentino (Map D4) was halted, focus of fighting shifted east to rivers →Isonzo and →Piave: 319.