IT WAS a revelation of cultural and historical significance that no one at the Vienna City Library had been aware of for over a century. Jose Rizal’s letter in 1887 to Johannes Nordmann, an Austrian writer introduced to him by his friend Ferdinand Blumentritt, had never been read by anyone else, until now.
“Today, we give our deepest thanks and praise to Johann Stockinger, who unearthed this gem at the Vienna City Library, further deepening our understanding of Rizal’s global influence,” said Lourdes Bernas, Philippine Ambassador to Austria, at a lecture on Jan. 24 in Vienna, which was streamed live via Zoom.
“He learned about Blumentritt from his visit to the Philippines, where he saw the many places named Blumentritt. Mr. Stockinger’s dedication to research this connection has unveiled another proof of Rizal’s enduring legacy in Europe.”
The letter is found at the Vienna City Library, where it is open for public viewing. In it, Rizal mentions Johannes Nordmann’s book Frühlingsnächte in Salamanca (Spring Nights in Salamanca), which he likens to his own Noli Me Tangere.
CONNECTING THE DOTSIn May of 1887, Rizal and his friend Maximo Viola had visited Vienna, with correspondence with Ferdinand Blumentritt showing that the German had referred them to a few locals during their stay. One of these was Johannes Nordmann.
An Austrian writer and newspaper editor also known for being the president of Austria’s Concordia Press Club, Mr. Nordmann had welcomed the two Filipinos warmly, introducing them to his family, taking them to the theater, and inviting them to the press club. All of this Rizal had detailed in his letters with Blumentritt that month.
Dr. Johann Stockinger, with a doctorate in cultural and social anthropology and founder of the Austro-Philippine Society, wondered if there was more to this well-established connection.
“Tomorrow I shall also write to Mssrs. Nordmann and Willkomm,” Rizal said in a letter to Blumentritt while he was in Geneva in June of 1887.
“So, I searched for Nordmann correspondences dated 1887 here in the Vienna City Library,” explained Mr. Stockinger. “I found the letter — six pages — and on the first page Rizal mentioned the book he received from Nordmann: Spring Nights in Salamanca.”
The novel, published in the 1850s but later censored, then re-published in full in the 1880s, was written by Nordmann about the Concordat, an agreement between the Roman Catholic Church and Austria. It was a ruling that gave the clergy control over schools, censorship, and matrimonial laws.
Some of its main characters include friars who fall in love with noble ladies, mischievous friars, and even drunken friars.
Mr. Stockinger detailed Rizal’s praise of Nordmann’s book: “If you only knew Spanish, you would find something like this in my novel Noli Me Tangere, with the difference that mine are not as gloriously described as yours.”
He added that Nordmann faced an “odyssey” of sorts after publishing the novel — being summoned to the police, his book getting confiscated and tampered with, and eventually forced to publish in Germany instead of Austria.
Notably, Rizal says in his letter that if the Austrian officials were “rougher,” “smarter,” and “even more ridiculous and arrogant,” they would be more like the Spanish authorities in the Philippines, “who are preparing a much worse fate for me because of my novel,” he said.
RIZAL AND NORDMANN’S FATESThe letter features a rare connection between two writers who had undertaken similar work, one with heavier consequences than the other. Born from an introduction by Rizal’s known benefactor Blumentritt, their brief friendship can be glimpsed from this one piece of correspondence found 137 years later in the Vienna City Library.
In August of 1887, three months after the two men first met, Blumentritt sent a postcard to Rizal in Calamba, revealing that Nordmann had died from an operation at Wiedner Hospital in Vienna.
One could only speculate how Rizal reacted to this, but through the newly discovered letter, it is safe to say he mourned the loss of a valuable friend.
Part of the letter reads: “You have written an excellent description of the past of the monasteries and yet you suffered so much. What will I suffer for having written about the present situation of our monasteries in a mediocre novel?”
He would die nine years later after persecution for his novels, Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.
Mr. Stockinger told attendees at the lecture that the letter shows that Rizal learned a great deal from his interaction with Johannes Nordmann and the history of Vienna.
“I learned a lot about Austrian history from this letter too. I didn’t know much about the Concordat before this,” Mr. Stockinger said.
Philippine ambassador Ms. Bernas hopes that more collaborative events will be held between Austria and the Philippines, so that each other’s peoples can be aware of “this precious connection,” and that more discoveries can eventually come to light. — Brontë H. Lacsamana