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Jewish Identities in Vienna

Jewish Identities in Vienna. Becky Dernbach German 346 March 1, 2006. Background. Anti-Semitism Zionism Formative period for Hitler Major cultural figures. Berta Zuckerkandl. Gustav Mahler. Sigmund Freud. Arthur Schnitzler. Peter Altenberg. Adele Bloch-Bauer. Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

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Jewish Identities in Vienna

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  1. Jewish Identities in Vienna Becky Dernbach German 346 March 1, 2006

  2. Background • Anti-Semitism • Zionism • Formative period for Hitler • Major cultural figures Berta Zuckerkandl Gustav Mahler Sigmund Freud Arthur Schnitzler Peter Altenberg Adele Bloch-Bauer Hugo von Hofmannsthal Arnold Schönberg Stefan Zweig

  3. History and Revolution • Long history of anti-Semitism in Vienna • Revolution, 1848 • Edict realized in 1868 • Growth • Viennese Jewish population doubled 1869-79 • 28 fold increase between 1857-1910

  4. Counter-revolution • Revolution not universally popularly supported • Emergence of modern anti-Semitic ideology • Bourgeois-liberal ideas meant anti-Semitism could not flourish right away

  5. Post-Revolution Plight • Nominal equality • In some ways, situation did not improve • Discrimination, stereotypes abounded

  6. Common Stereotypes • Extremes of exaggerated displays of wealth or total laziness (Luftmensch syndrome) • Arranged marriages • Haggling • Excessive fertility • Disdain for manual labor

  7. Liberalism and Capitalism • Both strongly associated with Judaism • Center of Catholic romanticism • Collapse of liberalism  no allies for Jews • Stock market crash of 1873

  8. Politics and Christianity • August Rohling—Der Talmudjude • Eduard Taaffe, 1879—Premier of Austria • Österreichische ReformvereinChristian Social Party • Georg von Schönerer, 1885—Abgeordnete

  9. Karl Lueger • Mayor 1897-1910 • Originally Jewish himself • “Schauspieler” • Salience of religion, cultural roots • “Only the blind and deaf could fail to note an ominous change in the atmosphere, a chilling decline in civility, a more open expression of hitherto latent anti-Jewish ressentiment” (Weitzmann 135)

  10. Anti-Semitism and Academia • 1875—Theodor Billroth’s racial difference thesis • 1880—fraternity exclusion • Waidhofener Prinzip • University students highly anti-Semitic

  11. Self-Awareness • Revolution began new stage • Force of anti-Semitism • Growing numbers of Jews • Different movements developed

  12. Assimilationism • Strong assimilationist thrust? (Schorske 7) • Still separatist in many ways • Ideal of Jewish bourgeoisie • Mainstream Judaism assimilationist if that means “the adoption of the lifestyle of the non-Jewish majority and the reform of religious practices to make them more adaptable to modern life and to the norms of behaviour current in the country of which they were citizens” (Weitzmann 124) • Gymnasium education

  13. Religious/Societal Dichotomy • Secularizing Jewish lifestyles • Choosing between assimilating, staying culturally Jewish • Working Saturdays • Economic issues • Remained separate

  14. Leopoldstadt • Largest concentration • “Ghetto” but attractive • Strengthened identity internally, externally • Jews in workforce

  15. Zionism • “What bound the Zionists together was their ideology: that Jews were a people whose vital existence could not be defined in religious terms, that this concept of nationality transcended class and other divisions within Jewry and bound together all Jews who committed and submitted themselves to their national destiny, a national homeland in Palestine” (Weitzmann 144) • Jewish nationalism within Austria

  16. Jewish Culture • “The Jew belongs in the coffeehouse” (Beller 41) • Education • Political impotence  creative energy • Response to lack of collective identity among assimilated Jews

  17. Conclusion • Responded to growing number and growing anti-Semitism by strengthening various identities • Reveals flaws in romanticized era • Roots of anti-Semitism

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