Blumentritt — Rizal’s greatest foreign friend

MANILA, Philippines - 2013 marks the 100th death anniversary of Ferdinand Blumentritt, the greatest foreign friend of José Rizal – a new book was published on this occasion.

This year, on 20 September 2013, it will be exactly 100 years that Ferdinand Blumentritt died in Leitmeritz. A new book on Blumentritt was written by Professor F.P.A. Demeterio III entitled “Ferdinand Blumentritt and the Philippines”(De La Salle University Publishing House, Manila 2013). First copies of the book were presented at the De La Salle University on 3 July 2013.

Ferdinand Blumentritt (1853-1913) was an outstanding scholar from the small Bohemian town of Leitmeritz in then Austria-Hungary. He was the closest foreign friend of the Philippine national hero José Rizal and is still the most important symbol in the bilateral history between Austria and the Philippines and beyond, between the Philippines and Central Europe. These two men of very different characters shared many common ideas. They were both able to communicate not only in their respective mother tongues German and Tagalog, but also in Spanish and English. Through the years they wrote a huge number of letters; their extensive correspondence is still today an important source for basic research of Philippine historians. The former Foreign Minister Carlos P. Romulo praised Prof. Blumentritt rightfully as “a distinguished Austrian whose name and memory is secured in Philippine history.”

It was a lifelong friendship between these two men: on 29 December 1896, i.e. on the eve before his execution in Manila, Rizal wrote a last and touching letter to his Austrian friend. On 20 September 2013, we will commemorate the 100th death anniversary of Ferdinand Blumentritt in Leitmeritz.

As Austrian Ambassador and being a historian myself, I was, therefore, very pleased to learn about a project to publish a new book on this special occasion. This time not a biography or a work on his friendship with Rizal but the author of the new book, Dr. Feorillo A. Demeterio, Vice Dean, College of Liberal Arts at the De La Salle University focused on the scientific work of Ferdinand Blumentritt.

The new book analyses the kind of Philippine studies undertaken by Blumentritt throughout his more than three decades of scholarly work, all together 245 titles written in three languages, German, Spanish and English. The author successfully tried “to reconstruct the intellectual stature of Blumentritt.” I also agreed with Professor Demeterio, when he called Blumentritt “one of the great, if not the greatest among the early experts on Philippine culture, history and geography.”

On a very personal note, let me stress again that Rizal and Blumentritt were two men of very different characters. I personally think that this is the main reason why they complemented each other so perfectly: Rizal the energetic genius, travelling around the world, Blumentritt the scholar, the professor, studying on his desk, who never visited the Philippines. This was a perfect combination for a successful and mutually inspiring friendship between two great men!

Despite the fact that Austria and the Philippines are geographically far apart our countries have a lot in common historically. I would like to reiterate my gratitude to the author Dr. Feorillo A. Demeterio for keeping the memory of this great scholar from Leitmeritz alive in the Philippines.