Austrian Marshall Plan Chair Delivers Lecture in New Orleans
Dr. Hans Petschar. Photo: Center Austria
Dr. Hans Petschar serves as the 16th Austrian Marshall Plan Chair at the University of New Orleans (UNO). He teaches public and visual history courses in the Department of History. On February 23, 2016, he delivered a public lecture at UNO's Center Austria: The Austrian Marshall Plan Center for European Studies on the topic of "The Eternal Emperor: Francis Joseph I. and the Legacy of the Habsburg Monarchy Today."
Based on holdings of Francis Joseph's private library this lecture explored how the image of the eternal emperor Francis Joseph had been created during his lifetime. This powerful image continued to proliferate after World War I in popular narratives as well as in scholarly writings. Dr. Petschar created the Franz Josef exhibit that will open in the Austrian National Library on March 10, 2016.