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Subversion in Austria and Germany

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Metternich and the Political Police

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Abstract

In the early 1820s when a young man named Heinrich Börnstein left his home in Lemberg in Galicia, Austrian territory since the partition of Poland, in order to make his way in the world, his father warned him,

Keep out of any conversation on politics and the organization of the state; even among close friends keep completely silent on these matters. Believe that each state is just as important for the temporal affairs of humanity as religion is for eternal salvation. Only simpletons and frauds pretend with their limitations to know everything better than anyone else, to be able to do everything better, and even to intend better. Don’t even joke about matters of government. If something seems questionable or even wrong, then trust that your lack of insight has given you a mistaken point of view.1

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  1. University of Washington, USA

    Donald E. Emerson

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Emerson, D.E. (1968). Subversion in Austria and Germany. In: Metternich and the Political Police. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-6095-9_4

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