Academe (where a weathered historian shares)
Grandpa, that is, Paul Kluz, died in 1971, before I was born, so everything I know about him is from stories, photos, documents, and inference. The documents are fabulous, and that a professional historian’s opinion.
First, there is the passport. My grandpa’s passport is a thing of beauty. It records a moment in historical time when the Austro-Hungarian Emperor was the source of authority for particular bits of land. Just look at this thing. On the cover is the double-headed eagle of the Habsburgs. The symbolism of the eagle is in danger of being lost on us because so few today care about heraldry. I don’t care about heraldry per se, don’t get me wrong, but I care about understanding what was important to people in the past. And this symbol carried weight for centuries. The symbol evolved over time. Eagles have long been associated with political authority in Europe; an eagle has stood for the Holy Roman Empire since the Middle Ages and in the late twelfth century it became double-headed. In the fourteenth century the double-headed eagle appears to have come to mean imperial as opposed to single-headed royal authority. Then Maximilian I “fixed the double eagle to the Habsburg coat of arms”1 and in the nineteenth century many associated the double eagle with the duality of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after 1867, that is, one head for each of the two halves of the empire.
It is a thing of beauty also because it raises so many questions. It documents his existence, but it can document his existence only in a limited sense. He got it in 1907, it was valid for three years, and he used it to leave Europe and arrive in New York in 1907. The object, legitimated by Habsburgs’ authority, got him from Point A to Point B and, that being its entire purpose and having served its purpose, it was stuffed away someplace until it ended up in my paws.
What is a passport? What is an identity document? What is an identity? These philosophical questions aren’t going to be answered today, but they deserve consideration because the role of passports, documents in general, in people’s lives ought to be interrogated. There is a connection between political authority and a person’s existence and it seems as though people and political entities depend upon one another; it is not, however, an evenly balance interdependence, at least I hope it’s not. A person can exist without a political entity but a political entity cannot exist without people acknowledging its authority. The modern passport is a wonder of security and anti-forgery technology.2 Of course, as long as there have been “passports,” they have been wonders of security and anti-forgery. A passport is a document that, at its core, is supposed to confirm that the bearer is who s/he says s/he is and has the “blessing” of the passport-producer to travel, within or beyond the borders of the passport-producer’s country. It essentially merely puts travel on a legal plane.3 Sometimes we take it to mean more than that.
The inside of this passport includes a description of Grandpa Paul’s physicality, occupation, place of origin, destination, and of course, all the ink stamps and embossed stamps necessary to make the document legitimate in bureaucrats’ eyes.4
A few years later, a second document came into being. Grandpa Paul filed for naturalization in the United States in the early 1920s, around the time that that photograph I used in my post on my grandparents was taken. Another authority was invoked in order to document his existence as well as Grandma Berta’s, but again, only in a limited sense. A snapshot of his life was written down in this document; the questions (really fill-in-the-blanks) seem a tad random, but it must have seemed necessarily to the bureaucrats to record these details in order to demonstrate that a person was serious about staying in the country permanently. Question #7 illustrates the importance of knowing historical context. Grandpa Paul’s passport was from the Habsburgs, but Question #7’s fill-in-the-blank reads, “I now owe allegiance to The Republic of Poland + Austria.” Mosty u Jablunkova, his home village, today is right on the border of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland, and after the Great War it was part of Czechoslovakia, but evidently Grandpa Paul (or whoever might have been filling out this form for him) felt there was some wiggle room here. He spoke a few languages and maybe thought Mosty was or belonged in Poland. It’s a fascinating detail that causes one to (dare I say it?) scratch one’s head.
One of the other details I love about this document is that there is a handwritten note on the side that says, “Local Examiner was out of Form No. 2226. So these forms were used for those who arrived after 1906.” Why? Because the top of this form gives users very clear instructions: “Note Particularly—For use of Aliens who arrived BEFORE June 29, 1906.” [emphasis in original] Remember, he traveled in 1907, so this was not the right form. Bureaucrats gonna bureaucratize, but a handwritten note can supersede the bureaucracy.
Power to the people.
With Critters, It’s Personal
It’s time once again to highlight an animal rescue organization, just in case one of you would like to offer some kind of support. “‘Tis the season.”
Barn Sanctuary
Barn Sanctuary is in Chelsea, Michigan. I’ve watched this organization grow over the years. Back when I was on Facebook, I read the founder’s story with admiration and I would watch for photos and videos of the animals, especially the calves, to be posted. A livestream would be a real treat. I bought one of their first t-shirts (it said, “Animals deserve better” and had a picture of Mike the calf who had casts on his legs) as a way to support them. Their website is now more sophisticated — full of animals’ stories, bios, photos, and education. You can sign up for their “Barn MOOsletter.” They are doing good and they are doing good right.
Charity Navigator gives them a four-star rating. I give them a five-star rating.
Peter H. Wilson, Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire (Belknap Press, 2016), 270.
The first photo to be included in a passport didn’t happen until 1915 evidently. https://fully-verified.com/passport-photography-history/
Valentin Groebner, Der Schein Der Person: Steckbrief, Ausweis und Kontrolle im Mittelalter (C. H. Beck, 2004).
The importance of the razítko in the Czech Republic is legend; I speak from personal experience.
Your grandpa maybe thought Mosty belonged to Poland because..
Mosty u Jablunkova- ..the censuses conducted in 1880–1910 the population of the municipality grew from 1,959 in 1880 to 2,318 in 1910 with a majority being native Polish-speakers (growing from 98% in 1880 to 98.5% in 1910) accompanied by German-speaking (at most 2% in 1880) and Czech-speaking people (at most 0.3% in 1900). You could probably assume that a majority were probably culturally Polish as well.
Piątkowski, Kazimierz (1918). Stosunki narodowościowe w Księstwie Cieszyńskiem (in Polish). Cieszyn: Macierz Szkolna Księstwa Cieszyńskiego. pp. 267, 285. (Yeah, I cheated- Wikipedia. How is your Polish?)