original Shiyujun China reports Esperanto news 
022-05-10 18:06
International Esperanto Conference (Universala Kongreso de Esperanto, UK) is the most important Esperanto event in the world. It started in 1905. The tradition of international conferences has lasted for 117 years. Except for interruptions during the two world wars, a total of 105 sessions have been held in 2021. In the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic, the conference has been held online.
Among the 105 international conferences, the one with the smallest number of participants was the 11th International Esperanto Conference held in San Francisco, USA in 1915, with only 163 participants. At that time, it was the time of World War I , and it was planned to be held in Edinburgh, UK. The conference held was temporarily changed to San Francisco . The largest international conference was the 72nd International Esperanto Conference held in Warsaw, Poland in 1987, which coincided with the centenary of the birth of Esperanto. A total of 5,946 people from 73 countries participated. The theme of the conference was "Cent jaroj de internacia (Centenary of International Culture)". kulturo)".
The 72nd International Esperanto Conference, 1987
Looking through the history of international conferences, you can also find many interesting facts: the UK and Germany have held 9 and 8 International Esperanto Conferences respectively, and are the countries that host the most UK; Vienna and Copenhagen are the cities that host the most international conferences. Four UK conferences have been held in these two cities respectively. There are also some countries that have hosted UK in the past, but now they are no longer there. Today, Shiyu will take stock of them!
Grand Duchy of Krakow (1815-1918)
In 1912, the 8th International Esperanto Congress was held in Krakow. Krakow is a famous ancient city located in Eastern Europe. It was once the capital of Poland (as of 1609) and is now the second largest city in Poland after Warsaw. However, at that time, the name of the place was the "Grand Duchy of Krakow", and the "Grand Duke of Krakow" was the title of the emperor of Austria. Although Krakow is part of the Austrian Empire (called Austria-Hungario after 1867), it also has its own flag, coat of arms and government.
Participants of the 8th International Esperanto Conference took a group photo in the Central Square of Krakow
From the end of the 18th century to the first half of the 20th century, the territory of Eastern Europe experienced tremendous changes. At the end of the 18th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Respubliko de Ambaŭ Nacioj) fell under the three partitions of Austria, Prussia and Russia. At the Congress of Vienna held in 1815, the Free City of Krakow (Respubliko Krakovo/Libera Urbo Krakovo) was established and was controlled by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. In 1846, an uprising broke out in Krakow against the Austrian Empire, which was suppressed. The Free City of Krakow was incorporated into the Austrian Empire and renamed the Grand Duchy of Krakow. It was not until the establishment of the Second Polish Republic in 1918 that Krakow returned to Poland.
Free City of Krakow (Respubliko Krakovo) 1815-1846 (Photo source: Wikipedia)
Krakow at the end of the 19th century was a cultural and artistic center, and urban construction was also at the forefront. In 1901, Krakow received running water, and between 1910 and 1915, trams were installed in the city. In 1912, the 25th anniversary of the founding of Esperanto, one thousand Esperanto speakers attended the International Esperanto Congress in Krakow. At this conference, Zamenhof announced that this was the last conference he would attend as a "leader and master" (ĉefo kaj majstro) standing in front of Esperantists. In the future, if he could still attend the conference, he would only Standing among Esperanto speakers.
Zamenhof believes that a long-term leader, even if it is only in the nature of a unified logo, is a great inconvenience to the cause of Esperanto. From the very beginning of Esperanto's birth, Zamenhof gave up his control and ownership rights, and Esperanto was able to develop smoothly under the path of "collective creation". In 1912, after a generation of development, the vitality of Esperanto had been proven, and Zamenhof gave up his special identity in the Esperanto movement.
In 1912, Grabowski (ninth from the right in the front row), Zamenhof (eighth from the right in the front row) and others took a group photo in Krakow
Anecdotes
According to the German engineer and Esperantist Julius Glück The nephew described that Glück met Lenin at this international congress. The editor looked up Lenin's life and found that he happened to come to Krakow in 1912 and conducted research at the local Jagiellonian University library. There was indeed the possibility of participating in the International Esperanto Congress that year.
Julius Glück (1877-1942)
Czechoslovakia (1918-1992)
In August 1914, the International Esperanto Conference was originally scheduled to be held in Paris, but it was suspended due to the sudden outbreak of the world war. In 1920, the first post-war International Esperanto Conference was held in The Hague, Netherlands. Because the international situation at that time was still relatively turbulent (the Polish-Soviet War broke out), only 408 people attended the conference. In 1921, the 13th International Esperanto Congress was held in Prague, the capital of Czechoslovakia, with 2,561 participants. The international conference finally regained its strength, even surpassing the scale before and .
At this international conference, the Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda (SAT), dedicated to socialism and internationalism, was established. The League of Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other international organizations sent representatives to attend. Nitobe Inazo, then deputy secretary-general of the League of Nations, delivered a speech at the conference. He then returned to the League of Nations to give a lecture on Esperanto. Report. Prague, where the
conference was held, belonged to the newly formed country of Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia is located in the center of Europe. Before its independence, it was ruled by the Austrian Empire established by the Habsburg dynasty for 300 years. In 1867, the Austrian Empire was reorganized into the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Czech and Slovakia regions were divided respectively. Returned to Austria and Hungary. After the end of World War I in 1918, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was defeated and disintegrated. Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia and other regions formed an independent country, named for Czechoslovak Republic (Respubliko de Ĉeĥoslovakio). After the country's independence, Czechoslovakia's economy developed rapidly. Before World War II, it ranked seventh among the top ten industrialized countries in the world (after the United States, the Soviet Union, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, and Italy. In the sun, wave, earth, west).
Czechoslovakia in 1937 (Photo source: Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig, Germany)
In 1939, Nazi Germany annexed the entire Czechoslovakia and established a puppet state on its territory. After the end of World War II, Czechoslovakia became a pro-Soviet socialist country and was renamed Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1960. After the drastic changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the Czech Republic and Slovakia finally parted ways due to the widening economic gap and ethnic conflicts. After a parliamentary vote, they announced their official disintegration on January 1, 1993 into two countries: the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic.
Free City of Danzig (1920-1939)
In 1927, the 19th International Esperanto Congress was held in Danzig, with 905 people from 35 countries participating.
At that time, Danzig was an autonomous city-state formed after World War I, called the Free City of Danzig (Libera Urbo Dancigo). Danzig prospered because of trade and was an important port city. Danzig was once a Polish territory, but after hundreds of years of Prussian and German rule, Germans have made up the majority of the local population, so some people believe that it should continue to be ruled by Germany. However, at the Paris Peace Conference, France, the United States, and Poland strongly opposed Danzig's annexation to Germany, while Germany and the United Kingdom opposed Danzig's annexation to Poland. All parties argued over the ownership of Danzig, and eventually all parties compromised and established the Free City of Danzig.
The Free City of Danzig includes the city of Danzig and its nearby towns, villages and other residential areas. The main residents are Germans.According to the treaty, this region will remain separate from postwar Germany ( Weimar Republic ) and the newly established Second Polish Republic (interwar Poland), but it is not an independent country. The Free City is under the protection of the League of Nations and has a customs union with Poland.
Nazi Germany occupied Danzig in 1939. After World War II, Danzig was annexed to Poland and renamed Gdansk (Gdansko).
1920 Danzig in 1939 (Picture source: Wikipedia)
Group photo of the 19th International Esperanto Congress in 1927
Yugoslavia (1918-2003)
The International Esperanto Congress was held in Yugoslavia twice, in 1953. sagle The 38th UK in Zagrebo (now part of Croatia) and the 58th UK in 1973 in Belgrade (Beogrado, now part of Serbia) had 1760 and 1638 participants respectively.
Yugoslavia (Jugoslavio) is a country in southeastern Europe. It is based on the Serbian Kingdom established by the Serbian nation that was independent from the Ottoman Turkish Empire.. After two Balkan Wars and the First World War, it subsequently With the defeat of the Ottoman Turkish Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Serbia and nearby Yugoslav regions merged, and the monarchy of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was established in 1918. In 1941, the Axis powers invaded, occupied and divided Yugoslavia. After the end of World War II, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was reorganized into a federal socialist country, called the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia.
The Esperanto movement in Yugoslavia is very active. Zagreb, Belgrade and other places are important Esperanto centers. The headquarters of the International Rail Transit Esperanto Alliance was once located in Zagreb. Yugoslavia has produced a number of influential Esperanto writers and scholars, such as Tibor Sekelj (explorer and writer), Ivo Lapenna (jurist, former Chairman of the International World Association), Nikola Rašić (sociologist), Simo Milojević (former Director General of the International World Association and academician of the Esperanto Academy), etc.
Between 1991 and 1992, other nation-states except Serbia and Montenegro became independent from Yugoslavia, and the original federal government disintegrated. Serbia and Montenegro reorganized themselves into the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, hoping to become the successor to the original federation. However, due to the demarcation of new borders, a ten-year civil war broke out among the countries in the former Yugoslavia.
In 2003, Yugoslavia was reorganized into the looser Confederation , and was renamed Serbia and Montenegro (Serbio kaj Montenegro, 2003-2006). Yugoslavia also became a historical term. Since 2008, the territory of the former Yugoslavia has been divided into six countries recognized by the United Nations: North Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro.
Anecdotes
Germany has hosted the International Esperanto Conference eight times, but it has changed four "identities". In 1908, the 4th International Esperanto Congress was held in Dresden, German Empire (Germana Empirestra Regno); in 1923, the 15th International Esperanto Congress was held in Nuremberg, Weimar Republic (Vajmara Respubliko); in 1933 In 2007, the 25th International Congress was held in Cologne, Nazi Germany (Nazia Germanio aŭ La Tria Regno); in 1951, 1958, 1974, and 1985, the International Congress was held in the Federal Republic of Germany ( West Germany ); in 1999, the unified Federation Germany (Federacia Respubliko Germanio) once again hosted an international congress.
What other facts do you know about the International Esperanto Congress that are worth sharing? Welcome to leave a message!
