- Source: Constantin Ritter von Tuschinski
Constantin Erast Ritter von Tuschinski (Romanian: Constantin D. Tușinschi, born Konstantin Erast Tuschinski; 6 November 1905 - 26 October 1984) was a Romanian public prosecutor, lawyer and author in Cernăuți and, after 1944, in Sighișoara. In the 1920s-40s, he published books and essays on international political, legal and historical topics. From the late 1960s, von Tuschinski published German-language one-act plays, which were performed by theatre troupes in Romania.
Life
= 1905-1918: Austria-Hungary
=Constantin Ritter von Tuschinski was born on 6 November 1905 as the son of Leontine and Demeter von Tuschinski in the Austro-Hungarian city of Czernowitz, Principality of Bukovina, as Konstantin Erast Tuschinski. His mother Leontine, with Austrian-Catholic roots, was involved in charitable organisations. His father Demeter, the son of an Orthodox archpriest, was a public prosecutor. Constantin grew up bilingual in Romanian and German, speaking both languages fluently. On his father's side, his family came from Bukovinian nobility, with Polish roots, and bore the coat of arms Nałęcz. Constantin was the second child of Leontine and Demeter, but his older sibling had passed away at a very young age, so Constantin grew up as an only child. In the summer of 1914, the family's aristocratic status was recognised by the Austro-Hungarian authorities, and from then on they were called von Tuschinski, and then from shortly before the end of the First World War Ritter von Tuschinski. As a pupil, Constantin von Tuschinski wrote plays and poems which are likely lost, and enjoyed attending the theatre.
In 1910 and 1912, Constantin spent several weeks each summer with his parents in Vienna. During the First World War, Czernowitz was occupied by Russian forces several times. Therefore, between 1914 and 1918 Constantin and his mother lived continuously in Vienna's Ninth District in Pension Austria (Höfergasse 5, flat 9), while his father stayed either with them or in Czernowitz, depending on where he was assigned. From 1915 - 1918, Constantin attended the first three years of high school at Maximiliangymnasium in Vienna. During the summer of 1917, the family went on a holiday in Karlsbad for several weeks and stayed there at Haus Landskron. Right after the end of the 1917/18 school year, Constantin and his mother moved back to Czernowitz in July 1918, as it was no longer under threat from being near the frontline. In old age, Constantin von Tuschinski shared positive memories of his childhood in Vienna.
= 1919-1940: Interwar period
=At the age of 13, Constantin von Tuschinski experienced the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in Czernowitz. The city became Romanian and the official spelling of his name changed from Konstantin Erast Ritter von Tuschinski to Constantin Erast Tușinschi due to the Romanianisation. Constantin von Tuschinski and the people around him continued to use his Austrian aristocratic title until the 1940s, sometimes in German, sometimes in a literal Romanian translation, and in 1923, for example, he registered as Constantin Ritter von Tuschinski in Vienna's population register during a visit to the city. From the late 1920s onward, particularly when serving as a Romanian state official, von Tuschinski's non-German language publications were often published under the name Constantin D. Tușinschi, as the Romanian government did not recognise aristocratic titles. According to Romanian custom, this middle initial was based on his father's first name, and with the middle initial, the name was pronounced like the literal Romanian translation of his aristocratic title in its customary shortened form: de Tușinschi.
In the summer of 1919, Constantin von Tuschinski's father Demeter became Attorney General at the newly founded Cernăuți Court of Appeal (Curtea de Apel Cernăuți). From the 1920s, Constantin studied law at the University of Cernăuți. In 1926 and 1929, he went to Paris for specialized studies. In the summer of 1926, Constantin von Tuschinski received the academic title of Licentiate of Law with the grade Magna Cum Laude and he received his doctorate in February 1929 with the thesis "Die Option im Völkerrecht" (Optiunea in dreptul international public). One month later, Constantin von Tuschinski was appointed assistant judge (supleant) at the Cernăuți Tribunal.
On 6 April 1929, Constantin von Tuschinski married Virginia (*1906), née Hoinic. They had met at a ballroom dance event. Prior to their wedding, Virginia had studied art history in Cernăuți and in the 1930s worked as a secretary at girls‘ school no. 2 in the city. The couple lived in the same Cernăuți house as Constantin's parents until 1940 and travelled Europe on numerous trips during the late 1920s and the 1930s, for example to Vienna, Venice and San Marino, where Constantin gathered ideas and research that he sometimes incorporated into his works. His analysis of San Marino, for example, mentions being inspired by a trip there. In Cernăuți, Virginia was active in charitable events, and Constantin performed as an amateur singer at concerts. Constantin von Tuschinski remained friends with singer Carl Mechner from Cernăuți into old age.
Between 1929 and 1940, Constantin von Tuschinski published books, brochures and articles in Cernăuți, dealing with topics such as international relations, constitutions, structures of states as well as historical developments. His publications were discussed in Romania and internationally and were reviewed by legal scholars such as Hans Klinghoffer. Additionally, von Tuschinski's study Contribuțiuni la studiul mandatelor internaționale was added to the library of the League of Nations in Geneva in 1933. The specialised legal journal Pagini Juridice was first published in Cernăuți from 1932. Articles written by von Tuschinski appeared in it from the first issue, and from 15 July 1933 he was listed as secretary of the editorial board.
In December 1934, Constantin von Tuschinski was appointed public prosecutor in Cernăuți He additionally worked as a lawyer. Initially, he had his office in the family home at Str. C. Negruzzi 1F. At the end of 1935, he moved into his law firm on the first floor of Str. C. Brancoveanu 11. At the legal-scientific study circle for public law in Cernăuți (Cercul de Studil de Drept Public), von Tuschinski worked as a censor from the mid-1930s. From 1936, Virginia and Constantin von Tuschinski's presence at social events was increasingly covered in the press. Among those mentions, Constantin sometimes appeared together with his father Demeter at receptions and gatherings, and Virginia at social and charitable events with her mother-in-law Leontine. From July 1936, von Tuschinski was appointed editor at the magazine Pagini Juridice. In January 1937, he was then promoted to public prosecutor 3rd class in Cernăuți and in February 1938 to public prosecutor 2nd class. On 10 May 1938, Constantin von Tuschinski was awarded the Order of the Crown of Romania in the rank of "Knight" (Cavaler). On 8 March 1939, he was promoted by royal decree to State Advocate 1st Class with the rank of Tribunal President. With effect from 1 January 1940, von Tuschinski was promoted to First Public Prosecutor shortly afterwards. His rank was thus designated as "Public Prosecutor with the rank of Prime President" in February 1940. On 27 June 1940, the day before the Soviet annexation of North Bukovina, a review of von Tuschinski's latest book on the legal status of Slovakia appeared in Czernowitzer Deutsche Tagespost.
= 1940-1944: World War II
=After the Soviet annexation of Northern Bukovina was unexpectedly announced at the end of June 1940, Virginia and Constantin von Tuschinski fled to the interior of Romania with few belongings. They first stayed as refugees in Bucharest in the street Aviator Andreescu No. 36 until around mid-July 1940. Since Cernăuți was no longer part of Romanian territory, it was first decided on 7 July 1940 that von Tuschinski would be assigned to the court in Brașov. However, a few days later, he was subsequently assigned to instead continue his service in Suceava, which was much closer to his previous hometown of Cernăuți. Shortly after fleeing Cernăuți, von Tuschinski wrote an article on Vichy France, which was published in autumn 1940.
After Cernăuți came under Romanian administration again in 1941, von Tuschinski was reassigned to the court there as First Public Prosecutor in October 1941. On their return to the city in 1941, Virginia and Constantin found their house had been vandalised.
= 1944-1960s: Refuge and post-war period
=As the frontline approached Cernăuți in early 1944, Virginia and Constantin Tuschinski once again took refuge in the interior of Romania, departing on the last train with two suitcases and their small dog shortly before the city was reached by Soviet troops. Leaving Cernăuți, seeing their house for the last time, Virginia broke off a piece of plaster from its wall, which she kept as a souvenir throughout her life. A search notice from August 1944 shows how the chaotic circumstances at the time often made it unclear to friends and acquaintances where Constantin and his father Demeter were staying with their families. This search notice is also the last known publication which mentions von Tuschinski's aristocratic title. In 1944/45, Virginia and Constantin von Tuschinski settled in Sighișoara in Romanian Transylvania, where there was a large German-speaking minority, the Transylvanian Saxons. On 22 June 1945, Constantin von Tuschinski was mentioned as First Public Prosecutor in Târnava Mare district. With effect from 10 August 1945, he was then formally appointed First Public Prosecutor there, mentioning that he had previously held the post in Cernăuți. In August 1945 and in 1947 respectively, Paul and Peter, the two sons of Virginia and Constantin von Tuschinski, were born in Sighișoara.
From the late 1940s, Constantin von Tuschinski was no longer employed in public service and from then on practised as a lawyer in Sighisoara. The family from then on lived there under difficult financial circumstances. Constantin von Tuschinski was critical of the Socialist government, but due to the dangerous political situation, he only spoke out about this in private. As a lawyer, he got into trouble because he properly defended a suspect in a trial who was accused of breaking into the house of a party functionary, instead of only half-heartedly fulfilling his task, as was unofficially expected of him.
From the early 1950s until at least 1957, Constantin von Tuschinski was involved in the Sighisoara Peace Committee. In 1952, for example, he suggested Auschwitz survivor Erna Böhm, a paediatrician at the local hospital, for the committee. In his speech on that occasion, he mentioned that Böhm had "perhaps felt the horrors of war most of all of us." Virginia and Constantin von Tuschinski last lived in Sighisoara "at the fortress" (auf der Burg) on the ground floor of Schulgasse 7 (strada scolii 7) facing the street.
= 1960s-1984: Creative writing
=By the end of the 1960s, Constantin von Tuschinski retired from his work as an attorney and, for the first time since his teenage years, began writing short plays and short stories. He wrote one-act plays specifically for performance by amateur troupes in small towns, designing their plot and style accordingly. Von Tuschinski's first and only published short story was called Im Abteil. It was published in 1966 in German-language Romanian literary magazine Neue Literatur. Two years later, in April 1968, Eifersucht, von Tuschinski's first published play, was printed in the Romanian German-language cultural magazine Volk und Kultur, which went on to publish most of von Tuschinski's subsequent plays in the following years.
On 8 July 1969, Constantin von Tuschinski's three plays Eifersucht, Krach um Brigitte and Inspiration were performed by the German theater troupe of the Kulturhaus under direction by Prof. Egon Machat at sold-out Stadthaussaal in Sighișoara. It was the first time that his plays were publicly performed. In addition to amateur actors, Doris Bogdan, who later studied acting and became known in Romania, also took part in the performance while still a pupil. The event was lauded in the press, and the program was repeated at the same venue on 4 November, again in front of a sold-out auditorium. Immediately afterwards, Constantin von Tuschinski was invited to read some of his short stories at German-language Michael Albert Literary Circle in Sighișoara, under the direction of Prof. Egon Machat. Parallel to his creative endavours, from the 1970s, von Tuschinski worked as a substitute teacher and as a tutor.
In November 1970, Herrmannstädter Zeitung held a competition for playwrights. In this context, the newspaper awarded von Tuschinski's play Kitty und der Fehltritt. In its article on that occasion, the newspaper referred to Constantin von Tuschinski as an "already renowned author". The Romanian-language local press also reported on the win. Numerous German-speaking amateur theatre troupes in Romania subsequently performed Tuschinski's plays in 1971/72. Some years later, von Tuschinski said that reports about performances of his plays to him were "always a cause for great joy", and he praised the performances and the ideas which actors and directors put into the realisation of his texts on stage. In February 1972, von Tuschinski's play Besuch um Mitternacht was published along an essay in which he reflected on seeing his plays performed. Afterwards, he paused publishing creative texts for four years. During this period, he studied books on art, like Die Welt als Labyrinth by Gustav René Hocke.
In June 1976, "Volk und Kultur" published another one-act play by von Tuschinski called "Nachbarn" (Neighbors). This and several of his previous plays were subsequently performed by German-speaking theatre troupes between 1976 and 1979. The play "Erfinder" (Inventor), published in October 1977, was included in the German-language anthology of plays "19 Theaterstücke" (19 Theatre Plays) the following year. The anthology was published by the Bucharest-based Council for Culture and Socialist Education (Rat für Kultur und sozialistische Erziehung), as well as the Research Institute for Dialect and Folklore (Forschungsinstitut für Mundart und Volkskunde). Despite having a critical attitude toward the political system and its methods in socialist Romania, Constantin von Tuschinski from the late 1970s incorporated aspects that corresponded to the Romanian political zeitgeist in his plays, in order to facilitate their publication. However, the plots still focus on interpersonal interactions and emotions rather than on politics. In summer of 1979, Wolfgang Wittstock visited von Tuschinski in Sighisoara and wrote a detailed portrait of him. It was published in September 1979 and describes von Tuschinski and his theatre plays very positively. The article ends with the conclusion that a collection of several of the author's texts would be desirable. Wittstock also explains how during the visit, von Tuschinski spontaneously named his three works Erfinder, Einflußreiche Beziehungen and Das Geheimnis as part of a cycle called "People of our Times" (Menschen unserer Zeit).
Tuschinski has confidently mastered the technique of the one-act play. The plot is effectively constructed for the stage, the cast is not large (five to seven people), the setting is mostly simple and easy to manage for amateur actors, the dialogues are smooth and the characters are realistically drawn. (...) Many theatre groups from Transylvania and Banat have already performed at least one Tuschinski play.
According to von Tuschinski, Wittstock's report motivated him to write further plays. In 1980, Volk und Kultur published three of Tuschinski's one-act plays, and in 1981, it published two. On its cover, the magazine printed the titles of the articles contained within. In the 1980s, it sometimes happened that von Tuschinski was the only author of the respective issue to be mentioned by name on the title page together with the title of his work. Virginia von Tuschinski passed away in April 1981 and was buried in Sighișoara. Constantin von Tuschinski's last published play Der Eid des Hippokrates was released in April 1982. In June 1983, von Tuschinski finished one more play, likely his last, and planned to submit it for publication. It was, however, not printed by Volk und Kultur and is likely lost. Constantin von Tuschinski passed away on 26 October 1984 in Sighișoara.
Works
= Non-fiction books
=Most books and brochures were published in Cernăuți. Unless otherwise stated, they are in Romanian.
Opțiunea in dreptul internațional (1929, 80 pages, doctoral thesis)
Plebescitul - Studiu de drept internațional (1929, 80 pages)
Contribuțiuni la studiul mandatelor internaționale (1932, 56 pages)
Uniunea Europeană (1933, 40 pages)
Puterea executivă și cea legislativă în noua Constituție austriacă dela 1 Mai 1934 (1934)
Reforma constituțională din Germania (1935)
L'Organisation des Corporations Professionnelles en Autriche (1936, 32 pages, French)
Le Front Patriotique Autrichien (1937, 28 pages, French)
Le Parti d'État. Italie-Allemagne-Autriche. Étude de droit public (1937, 80 pages, French)
Republica San Marino (1938, 22 pages)
O fază importantă în reforma administrativă a Reich-ului german (1939)
Statutul internațional și constituțional al Republicei Slovace (1940, 30 pages)
Opera constituțională a Mareșalului Pétain (1940, 24 pages)
= Specialised articles
=Crearea unei forțe armate internațional (1932)
Războiul licit și cel ilicit (1932)
Problema codificării dreptului internațional public (1933)
Definițiunea agresorului în dreptul internațional public (1933)
Dreptul internațional public și dreptul național intern (1935)
A doua republică Ceho-Slovacă. Formarea unui Stat federal (1939)
Despre partidul unic (1939)
Noul Cod Civil Italian (1939)
Avocatura statului în Italia (1939)
Noua Constituţiune a Regatului Albaniei (1939)
Noul Cod Civil Italian - Cartea II (1940)
Repunerea în termen în dreptul muncitoresc (discuții) (1962)
= Theatrical plays
=All plays are in German and were first published in the magazine ‘Volk und Kultur’, unless otherwise stated.
Eifersucht (April 1968)
Krach um Brigitte (unpublished, first performed on 8. July 1969)
Inspiration (Mai 1970)
Kitty und der Fehltritt (unpublished, awarded at a competition by Hermannstädter Zeitung in November 1970)
Besuch um Mitternacht (February 1972)
Nachbarn (June 1976)
Erfinder (October 1977)
Einflussreiche Beziehungen (December 1978)
Ein Geheimnis (July 1979)
Dilemma (February 1980)
Rote Rosen (June 1980)
Zusammenführung (September 1980)
Da stimmt etwas nicht (July 1981)
Ein Lebenskünstler oder Alpha 3 (October 1981)
Der Eid des Hippokrates (April 1982)
= Essays / short stories
=All texts are in German.
Im Abteil (Short story, May 1966)
Die szenische Geburt meiner Helden (February 1972)
Further reading
Tuschinski, Constantin Ritter von / Tușinschi, Constantin D.: European Union, State Parties and Political Transformations. Collected Works 1929-1942. With an English language biography of the author by Alexander Tuschinski. Norderstedt 2024, ISBN 978-3-7583-3120-6.