The Ferdinand Blumentritt/Rizal documents in the Czech Republic

By Sir Lucien Spittael, El Filibusterismo Chapter, Belgium
Belgium
January 16, 2010




Graphics/photos: Sir Lucien Spittael



As it appears that there is quite some misinformation and confusion in circulation surrounding the Rizal/Blumentritt documents in the Czech Republic I decided that it was time to clarify this matter once and for all. I give below the true and accurate story of the Rizal/Ferdinand Blumentritt documents in Ceske Budejovice.

The Blumentritt collection was immense. According to a letter of Friedrich Blumentritt from 1924 it consisted of:

A library of more than 800 titles

17.400 notes and sources referring to the scientific work of Blumentritt

1721 scientific and political letters from Blumentritts friends

More than 100 manuscripts

123 letters from Rizal to Blumentritt

More than 100 old maps

A part of the Ferdinand Blumentritt/Rizal collection was sent to Manila. The Philippines obtained those documents from Friedrich Blumentritt, son of Ferdinand Blumentritt in 1935 before the country had even been granted Commonwealth status by the USA.

The part of the Blumentritt collection sent to the Philippines contained: 293 letters, books, maps, cards, manuscripts, etc., a total of 56 Kg in fact. Included were the three sculptures Rizal had carved and sent to Blumentritt, Prometheus bound, Triumph of Death over Life and Triumph of Science over Death (unfortunately the original statuettes were either lost, misplaced or vanished otherwise).

During a Rizal Rhine boat trip with Dr. Karl-Heinz Wionzek (one of the great Blumentritt specialists in Europe) in 1995 he informed me about the existence of four boxes with Rizal/Blumentritt documents in Ceske Budejovice. In the year 1996 I started my Rizal research in the Czech Republic.

During my second trip in 1997 I met PhD Zdenka Vasiljevova and H.E. Ambassador Salas at the Philippine Embassy in Prague.




Those meetings were the start of an extraordinary friendship with PhD Zdenka Vasiljevova and a new chapter in my Rizal research.

PhD Zdenka Vasiljevova (1935-2004) was a historian, specialist in Japanese studies and the history of East Asia, graduated from Charles University in 1958. She was a student of Professor Josef Polisensky. In fact, he was the first to point to the Blumentritt documents at the museum of South Bohemia in 1963.

However, the documents were first studied by PhD Zdenka Vasiljevova and confirmed the existence of the Rizal/Blumentritt boxes. End 1997 she informed me about the discoveries in Ceske Budejovice. The Noli and Fili dedicated to Ferdinand Blumentritt were located in the museum.




PhD Zdenka Vasiljevova published a Rizal biography in the Czech language in 1998 with some pictures of her discoveries.

How the Rizal/Blumentritt documents came to Ceske Budejovice?

When Friedrich Blumentritt had finished his studies he left Leitmeritz (Litomerice) for Budweis (Ceske Budejovice).

Friedrich Blumentritt did not sent all documents to Manila in 1935 and kept a personal collection of his fathers inheritance consisting of letters, postcards, envelopes, objects, sketches, sculptures and paintings. They were kept in the Blumentritt family.

After WW2 thousands of people were forced to leave the country by the Czechoslovak government, among them the Blumentritt descendants.

During my many visits to Ernst Blumentritt (98 years old!), the only living grandchild of Ferdinand, told me that the whole family, he himself included, were expelled and had to leave behind all their belongings. They left the country with only some suitcases. Part of the Blumentritt collection was confiscated and was stored at the Bohemian Museum in Ceske Budejovice. Due to the efforts of PhD Vasiljevova and the museum in Ceske Budejovice the Blumentritt collection was made known.


In 1998 I was invited for a visit and the gala opening of the first and only exhibition of Ferdinand Blumentritt /Jose Rizal collection and the Philippines at the museum in Ceske Budejovice. The collection was exhibited in the main hall and the entire left wing of the museum. Too many to mention all of them but let me sum up the most special one:

Original Noli me tangere with dedication to Blumentritt

Original El Filibusterismo with dedication to Blumentritt

Original Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas with dedication to Blumentritt

The gold pen the people of Pampanga donated to Blumentritt

Self-portrait Rizal, sketch Blumentritt by Rizal, boat with children by Rizal












There are 5 letters from Rizal and Blumentritt in which the gold pen is mentioned.

Blumentritt, Leitmeritz, 22 December 1890

They also have sent a gold pen for me.

Rizal, Brussels, 23 April 1891

Have you received a gold pen with diamonds incrustations? It was sent to you some time ago, but you have not written me anything about it. It is a gift of the Pampangos.

Blumentritt, Leitmeritz, 26 April 1891

The gold pen has not yet arrived. They wrote me that it was coming on the same boat that brought Isabelos letter with the draft. This came on the 21ste or 22^nd of December, but the pen has not yet come.

Blumentritt, Leitmeritz, 20 June 1891

The gold pen is now in Europe. Ponce brought it from Barcelona to Madrid from where it will be sent to me opportunely.

Rizal, Paris, 9 October 1891

I have nothing more to do with the golden pen. It is still in Madrid. You will certainly receive it later, but at present there seems to be no chance for it.

No further correspondence is to be found in the Rizal/Blumentritt correspondence about the gold pen. The gold pen was considered to be lost.




In the Blumentritt collection there are also some original paintings/sketches of Juan Luna.




There are still some objects which are still lost or misplaced. More research is needed to clarify this.

Many thanks to the persons who helped me in my Rizal/Blumentritt research: PhD Zdenka Vasiljevova and her husband PhD Ivo Vasiljev, Dr. Karl-Heinz Wionzek, Ernst Blumentritt, Mag Helena Stejskalova and the South bohemian Museum.