Zprávy památkové péče 2014, 74(4):314-318

"In the calamity that is to befall our Czech organs…" The requisition of organ pipes during the First World War

Vít Honys

The article addresses the course and impact of the requisition of prospect organ pipes during the First World War in Bohemia with a focus on the dioceses of Litoměřice and České Budějovice. A comparison of source data (especially the "requisition cadaster", working inventories of instruments designated for removal from the requisition) and the actual state of the surviving instruments shows that despite the inadequacy of the submitted data on instruments, which resulted in a lack of protection for a number of instruments which would have deserved protection in the spirit of the issued directives, through the efforts of several conservators and correspondents of heritage care of the time, appointed experts of individual dioceses, and other various methods of intervention mediated through parish authorities, a rather large number of instruments were preserved, even more than were originally proposed. A differing approach is evident in German-speaking areas as compared to Czech-speaking areas, where protection efforts were often tinged with moods of anti-Habsburg national self-awareness (sometimes with elements of anti-Semitism). All the same, the consequences of the requisition on the values of the historical instruments were significant, and the replacement zinc pipes, often acquired long afterwards, could not replace the destroyed value either visually or acoustically. The paradox of the development, however, is that this surge of conservation disappeared during the period of the first Czechoslovak Republic, during which a significant portion of the rescued instruments were rebuilt for utilitarian purposes.

Keywords: organ; prospect whistles; requisition; First World War

Published: December 1, 2014  Show citation