Theodor Anton Ippen

Early life

Ippen was born on 29 November 1861 to a family of baptized Jews in Sezemice.

Diplomatic career

Ippen studied the oriental languages and economics at the Oriental Academy in Vienna. He started his career of diplomat serving at the consulate of Austria-Hungary in Ottoman held Shkodër in Albania between 1884 and 1887. At the end of 1887 he was appointed as Austro-Hungarian diplomat in Pljevlja (vice-consul), Istanbul (1891—1893) and Jerusalem (1893—1895), Istanbul (1895—1897), and again in Shkodër (1897—1904).

In the period from 1905 to 1909 he continued his diplomatic career in Athens, Greece, and after 1909 in London, where he advised the ambassador of Austria-Hungary during the London Conference, which was intended to arbitrate between the combatants in the First Balkan War. In 1912 Ippen prepared an ethnographic map of the Albanian-populated areas of Ottoman Empire, which was submitted by the Austro-Hungarian ambassador during the London Conference as a basis for the border negotiations. After the London treaty has been signed the ambassadors of six Great Powers decided, in July 1913, to constitute a new state, Albania, as a hereditary principality. In period between 1921 and 1927 he was a member of the International Danube Commission.

Albania

Ippen belonged to the group of Albanologists whose works were published through the state-financed institutes of Austria-Hungary. He participated in the writing and dissemination of the first history of Albania published in the Albanian language because he insisted that creating Albanian national consciousness would be beneficial for the Dual Monarchy. Ippen struggled for the establishment of an independent nation-state of Albanians.

The group of Western scholars he belonged to played a significant role in the creation and dissemination of the myths of Albanian nationalism, i.e., the myth of a connection of Ali Pasha with the Islamic Bektashi Order, aimed to use Bektashism in creation of the 'Albanian identity' and an 'Albanian state'. Ippen and Nopcsa openly propagated their efforts in financing activities of Albanian nationalists, for example the translation and distribution of the works authored by Sami Frasheri.

In period between 1897 and 1903 he was a consul of Austria-Hungary in Scutari, then in the Ottoman Empire. In October 1897 Ippen traveled to central Albania and established contacts with important beys in Elbassan and Tirana. Ippen had extensively visited the Catholic clans on the Ottoman-Montenegrin border and reported their problems caused by the Ottoman and Montenegrin authorities. To improve their conditions he asked for provisions of assistance, which were granted as from 1898 to 1903 corn was regularly distributed to the clans, which in turn became pro-Austrian. Ippen distributed money to Albanian families, especially to Albanians from Hoti and Grudë clans who were populated near Montenegrin border and most exposed to Montenegrin influence.

It was Ippen who asserted that Skanderbeg was buried within the fortifications of Lezhë. His opinion was based on the work of Barletius who wrote that Skanderbeg was buried in the Church of St. Nicholas, without explanation if the church's building was inside or outside the castle. Ippen assumed that such notable person like Skanderbeg would have been buried in the best place of the city, in its castle. He also speculated that the Ottomans transformed this church into a mosque. According to Ippen's estimations around 20,000 Albanians fled parts of Ottoman Empire captured by Serbia during Serbian-Ottoman War (1877-1878).

Ippen was one of the authors whose texts were published in the periodical Albania published by Faik Konica in period 1897—1910. Konica assured Ippen that he and his friends believed that Albania should be in political and military union with Austria.