Hello Andrew, You're spot on. The term comes from the German word "Faust" (fist) and is derived from the common German idiom "auf eigene Faust," which means to do something on one’s own initiative, at one's own risk, or without outside help.
In the specific context of Bukovina and early 20th-century Austria-Hungary, a "Faustkandidat" was essentially a "wild" or rogue candidate. These individuals typically ran for office against their own party's official lines, often because they failed to get the formal nomination but decided to run anyway based on their own local reputation or personal initiative. They were often seen as spoilers or representatives of splinter groups who forced their way into the contest to disrupt the established party machinery. While you will see the term frequently in historical archives from that era, such as the Czernowitzer Tagblatt, it is not used in modern German politics today. A modern speaker would instead use the term "wilder Kandidat" or "parteilos" to describe an independent. It is a great find—it really captures the "rough and tumble" nature of the political landscape in Bukovina at the time. Best regards, Emil On Wed, Feb 18, 2026 at 7:41 AM Andrew Mathis <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello, > > I’ve been reading Thomas Hensellek’s German-language book on Bukovina just > before WWI, and he uses the term “Faustkandidat” in several instances. I > searched the word online and it appears exclusively (as far as I can tell) in > publications from Bukovina. Clearly it was a local term of some kind, perhaps > slang. Would anyone here be able to tell me what it means? > > Thanks, > Andrew > ________________________________ > ________________________________ > > This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of > Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The opinions expressed > in these posts are the opinions of the original poster only and not > necessarily > the opinions of the List Owner, the Webmaster or any other members > or entities connected with this mailing list. The Czernowitz-L list has > an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a > searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. Beginning in 2021, > archived messages can be found at: > https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > > To send mail to the list, address it to <[email protected]>. > > To remove your address from this e-list follow these directions. > > To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to: > [email protected] > > ________________________________ > > ******************************************************************************* This moderated discussion group is for information exchange on the subject of Czernowitz and Sadagora Jewish History and Genealogy. The opinions expressed in these posts are the opinions of the original poster only and not necessarily the opinions of the List Owner, the Webmaster or any other members or entities connected with this mailing list. The Czernowitz-L list has an associated web site at http://czernowitz.ehpes.com that includes a searchable archive of all messages posted to this list. Beginning in 2021, archived messages can be found at: https://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To send mail to the list, address it to <[email protected]>. To remove your address from this e-list follow the directions at https://it.cornell.edu/lyris/leave-e-lists-lyris To receive assistance for this e-list send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
