On September 24, Austria celebrated the Day of St. Rupert. Residents of Salzburg on this occasion don traditional costumes, as if implying that there is such a country on the world map. Meanwhile, the process of gaining its own identity was (and remains) extremely difficult for Austria. The reason is the great past of the multinational Austrian Empire and a failed union with the brothers in the language from Germany.

Who are we - the Austrians or the Germans? This question has been fundamental for generations of Austrians. On the one hand, the country speaks German, and Goethe and Schiller are considered their own, while Adolf Hitler was born in the Austrian town of Braunau. On the other hand, nearly one in three natives of Austria have a Czech, Hungarian or Slovenian last name. A typical Viennese meal consists of Hungarian soup goulash, Czech dumplings, a Milanese schnitzel, and a German cake. This fact makes one doubt that the Austrians are only part of the great German nation.