The Everyday Life And The Resulting Problems Of The Jews In Vienna Guided By The Viennese District "Leopoldstadt" (by Lisa Altmann)
Emigration And Persecution - Part I (by Peter Binder)
Emigration And Persecution - Part II (by Isabel Melanie Schneeweiß)
Jewish Orthodoxy In The Second District Of Vienna (by Gerhard Pulfer)
The Self-Presentation and Description Of The Jewish Minority In Selected Austrian Print Media (by Ines Hoess and Martina Laab)
This is the historical part of the common paper which tells us something about various aspects of Jewish everyday life between the change of century and the fateful year 1938.
First of all I will briefly describe the district "Leopoldstadt" which was very important for the Jewish life because of the high number of Jewish immigrants who lived in this part of town.
In the year 1900 there were about 146,000 Jewish people in Vienna and this number increased to 200,000 until the year 1914. The reasons for this development were the fugitives who had left their countries (first of all the countries of the East) and who had thoughts of beginning a new life in the metropolis Vienna. These movements took place at the end of the 19th century and after World War I.
At this time the district "Leopoldstadt" represented a typical Jewish living space in which all social classes found place. But after the enormous number of immigrants the comfortable district changed into a impoverished area.
In the twenties more than half of the population of this Viennese district was Jewish.
It was my aim to describe various aspects of life of that time and one of these is the importance of the coffeehouses and restaurants which make up an important part of the Jewish culture.
They were cultural centres and meeting points, information centres, but more than this they often were a kind of trading centres, a meeting point of businessmen who have traded with grain, textiles and materials.
The coffeehouses were also meeting points and following starting points of political movements and all kinds of unions and clubs. And exactly this was the main motive for the National Socialists, which grew stronger till the thirties, to attack these coffeehouses and
destroy them.
A further point in my paper is the cultural life of this district, which is very influenced by the Jewish people. It is quite logical, that also the theatre and the music were influenced by the Jews. The most famous theatre was called "Carlstheater". But there were also many cabarets, shows and small theatres. Many international ensembles stopped in Vienna and first of all in the district "Leopoldstadt".
It was important for the Jews to participate in this cultural offer. They showed an extraordinary interest for the general education and also for the education of their children.
The education was very important and many of the Jewish children obtained a humanistic education. A great part of the students in the classical secondary schools were Jews and so it is clear that many students at the universities also came from Jewish families. Following, many Jewish people became doctors, lawyers, journalists or freelancer. This fact, which brought many enviers, led to many various prejudices which made their situation worse.
I would like to begin with a few words about the life of Max Reinhardt, born in 1873 near Vienna as the oldest son of not too well-off parents. He had to leave school at the age of 14. In 1889 he was already on stage using his later so well-known stage-name. In 1900 he directed a play for the first time and soon he became the director of a small theatre in Berlin which gave then unkown writers as Gorki, Strindberg or Ibsen a chance to being performed.
From 1905 until his emigration in 1933 he was in charge of the "Deutsche Theater" in Berlin. One succes after the other including festival performances as far as America. His genius was more appreciated than his being Jewish hatred, that's why the Nazis even offered him an "Honour - Arier - Ship" which he refused. His last production in Germany was "Großes Welttheater" by Hofmannsthal after that he left for Austria on the 8th of march 1933 not knowing he would never return. Here his fame and reputation helped him simply to continue his career having two standing legs with the Salzburg Festival and the "Theater in der Josefstadt". His fate seemed to repeat itself, while touring the States to check out various filmprojects he stayed there. Though well-known, he was never so succesful again. His projects failed and he died on 31st October 1943 in New York.
The movement of cultural refugees and the official asylum - politics have to be divided into 2 periods:
1) 1919 - 1933
2) 1934 - 1938
ad1) The former Habsburg Empire fell apart, left over was a very small Austria. For its geographical location already during World War I, an endless stream of displaced persons swept over the region. Most of them did not want or simply could not go back to where they had come from.
Over the years due to political changes into authoritarian or even fascist regimes in Hungary, Italy and some Balkan - countries Vienna became a meeting point for various political refugees, among them many communists whose different ideas would even here clash and lead to riots.
Nevertheless, the Austrians would have liked to get rid of them as soon as possible or prevent them from coming. Laws were passed, leaving them no possibilities to work legally.
Integration was not on their minds. Nourishing the same fears and eurocentrism as today the police would act brutally and violently against foreigners whom they often accused of being criminals.
ad2) The situation changed for the worse. Though there had not been any laws against foreigners before, those authorities who had to handle these cases often lacked the background and delt very subjectively of who had to leave and who was lucky enough to be allowed to stay.
Artiststs as privileged refugees?
Not really! Accepted were only the famous, well known and well-offs. In Vienna, after 1933 there was only one immigrants theatre. The audience wanted easy going amusement. Political, critical or left-wing plays had no chance at all.
"The reactionist-clerical-Schuschnigg-Regime" showed no sympathy. That's why Klaus Mann never saw Austria as a suitable exile.
Sad enough antisemitsm has a long history in Vienna and was not a new phenomenon then.
What is known as the "Volksoper" today was opened to celebrate Franz Joseph's 50th anniversary in power in 1898 and originally created as a place to perform German Art, German Drama. Till 1903 they had a so called "Jew-proviso"- excluding jewish authors, jewish actors/actress, even jewish workers.
Below I would like to continue giving a glimpse of the lifes of a few others. Some almost forgotten, some still well-known who all shared the same destiny under a brutal and unforgiving regime.
Leo Reuss:
Jewish Austrian but living and acting in Berlin. After 1935 and the "Nürnberger Rassengesetze" he had to leave. Back home confronted with so many other unemployed actors he disappeared. Strange enough a real Tyrolean native actor played a part in "Fräulein Else". Praised at first until collegues and the media recognized who really was this unknown Tyrolean. Leo Reuss was blamed the typical Jew. Still he was lucky getting a contract with MGM studios but ironically like so many others with German accent he was doomed to go for the mean Nazi-characters he had just escaped from.
Hans José Rehfisch
Graduated lawyer and succesful dramatist managed to fool the audience and the authorities extremly well with the help of friends and his publisher. He continued writing under different pseudonyms. Though not world literature, some were filmed during World War II.
Rudolf Beer
Once a leading director after being badly treated saw his solution in committing suicide in May 1938.
Franz Werfel
He arrived after a adventurous and sometimes dangerous escape safely in the States.
He was one of the very few who managed to continue his success in the New World. His books were immediately published in English and he never suffered as so many others did.
1. Hitler's race theory
For Hitler the Judaism was a race of inferior quality, who was to blame for World War II. For this reason he wanted to destroy them.
First of all Hitler had to find a definition of Jewish people, then he dispossessed them and concentrated them. The process of destruction began with the emigration (1933-1940) and ended with the extermination of nearly the whole jewish population (1941-1945).
2. The annexion and the following years - emigration was the only way to survive
After the "annexation" on March 12th 1938 the presidency of the Israelian Culture association was arrested and the association was dissolved. Many prominent Jewish politicians were beneath the first prisoners, who were sent to the concentration camp Dachau.
In May 1938 the Israelian association could be founded again, but it was put under the command of the "SS" and "Gestapo". The emigration of Jews should be pushed ahead by the association and the discriminating laws should be announced. From May 25th to May 27th 2.000 people were arrested, most of them young, Jewish intellectuals and graduates. All of them were displaced to Dachau.
From May to June 1938 5.000 Jews were arrested in Dachau. In December 1939 the Israelian association had to organise food for nearly 50.000 Jewish people, who had impoverished and depended on support. Most of the persecutees wanted to escape from the bloodthirsty "Naziregime", but this wasn't that easy. Although Hitler wanted to get rid of the Jewish population, he didn't allow them to go away with all their money. The fugitives were robbed before they could leave the "Reich".
Day and night hundreds and thousands stood in a queue at international consulats. Most of the emigrants ran away to Switzerland, because they demanded no Visa until March 28th. After April 30th 2.000 Austrian Jews escaped illegally to Switzerland, 3.000 could get over Italy, which was in spite of fascism transit land for a long time, to Switzerland.
In July 1938 Adolf Eichmann founded the "central office for Jewish emigration". To prepare young Jews for living conditions in several lands of exil, the Israelian association organised various professional trainings. 112 language lessons, most of them in Hebrew or English, men were educated in metal and foodstuff industry, women in housekeeping and fashion industry. Fugitives from Austria or Germany, who stayed in several European countries without a permanent lodging, had to have a "certification of fugitives". Apprehensions and plunderings with sadistic power were arranged by neighbours, who have been friendly the day before. Finally, innocent people were deported to unknown places. Most of them were never seen again.
3. The purposes of discrimination and Hitlers plans of extinction of all Jewish people
Discrimination had three sociopsychologic purposes:
On the one hand the public humiliations and brutality demolished the ego of the discriminating Jews and made them pliant for recently persecutions.
On the other hand Hitler wanted to destroy any sympathy of Notjewish for the outcast, dismissed and therefore impoverished, who lived in misery.
The outcast and subjugate began to be similar to their stereotypes. Finally they were recognizable as victims. Now that it was arranged, who was safe from anti-Semitic suppression, who had an Aryanproof, german people had no fear to be persecuted, too.
In peace there were plans to exile all Jews. Hitler believed that he had to regard for foreign countries. But only wealthy Jews succeeded in getting away from Germany. The other ones, who Hitler wanted to get rid of, were not accepted from other countries. The USA intensified the qualifications of immigration, Poland deported some of its own Jews to Germany, Great Britain refused the immigration of Jews to Palestine, today's Israel.
After the victory against France Hitler wanted to banish the Jews at Madagascar, an Eastafrican isle which belonged to colonial France.
In January 1942, when Hitler was at the zenith of his power, the "Wannsee-conference" happend. There the "Final Solution" was discussed and concluded. All over Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and the occupied east territories extermination camps were arranged, the most known of them will be Auschwitz in Poland. The German population didn't know anything about the unbelieveable facts.
4. The return
Jews, who came back after the war had been won by the allied troops, had to suffer from intolerance and hate. In 1945, only active members of residence were eligible for public relief. The Jews returned from exile had to fight for being equal political victims of the Naziregime.
In public communication and discussion, the orthodox community is often identified with Judaism in general. So, when talking about this single group, people are not always aware of the fact that they are actually talking about only one aspect of Jewish life. This identification may be due to the fact that the orthodox community can be easily identified as being Jewish (for example by their way to dress and by the men's birds), whereas it is more difficult - not to say impossible - to identify non-orthodox or even secular Jews as such by the first glimpse.
This paper now wants to describe the orthodoxy as one group among the Jewish people and also intends to point at the differences and even conflicts with non-orthodox Jews in order to strengthen the awareness about distinctions when discussing Judaism.
Why now orthodoxy in the second Viennese district? This is simply because Vienna's orthodoxy is concentrated in the second district around the Karmeliter-quarter of the city for historic reasons. An orthodox community is usually concentrated around its synagogue for two main reasons: Firstly, an orthodox family can not live too far away from its synagogue, because on Sabbath (which lasts from Friday dawn to Saturday dawn) at least the male members of the community have to worship and are forbidden to take a car, bike or public transportation during this particular period of time. The second reason is that the whole community is supposed to feel better when living closely together in a mainly non-orthodox environment.
The Chasidim - how the orthodox call themselves - prefer a deliberate isolation within the Jewish community in general. Through their self chosen isolation, they want to keep off all bad and evil influences coming from the "outside world" from their wives and children. One will not find a TV in an orthodox's flat, the children grow up without going to a cinema, theatre and other similar entertainment. The various orthodox communities also have their own religious educational systems, parallel or alternative to the state-run educational institutions. But for higher studies on the Jeschiwah level (after ninth grade), most young men go abroad.
Chasidim life is furthermore characterized by a strict division between men and women, which starts at school and stretches out to praying in the synagogue, dancing at weddings, etc. Marriages are usually arranged by the parents or a match-maker. The orthodox man's responsibilities from then on are focused on supporting his family and practicing the religious duties, whereas the woman is supposed to take care of the household and the children.
The relationship between non-orthodox Jews and Chasidim can be considered as difficult and complex. On the one hand, the non-orthodox complain about the intolerance and missionary efforts of the Chasidim to convert them to what the latter consider the "right way" of living. The Chasidim on the other hand regard their communities as the only guardians of the true faith and - more important to them - the true practice of worshipping God. The potential of conflict can easily be seen between those two points of view. One should keep in mind the heterogeneity and the many conflicts within Judaism when discussing "the Jewish people".
As one of the four groups in the seminar 'Journalism and Minorities in
Multicutural Societies', this group seeked to describe the present-day situation
of how the Jewish community itself deals with a very specific issue within its tightly knit
community and at the same time, look for hints if the mass media consider this
topic as having enough news value to be reported about.
We hope that this work contributes to the aim of the seminar, which is
the critical analysis of the journalistic phenomena in the area of
multicultural societies.
To analyse the media, we drew a scale we used to put in each medium by
considering different criteria such as language, ownership, circulation,
etc. We chose three nationwide print media and 15 rather small Jewish
media.
We focused on the description of Jewish women in all 18 newspapers and
magazines. The next step taken was to see if the following hypotheses
could be verified:
The culture of the Jewish minority shows a spread of movements, which are each not easily distinguisable from the 'main culture' that is regarded as consisting of the majority of Austria's predominately Christian population.
Reporting on Jewish artists and other famous people, the fact of being Jewish seems to be less important.
The Austrian Jews (as we found out during our interviews, in present-day Austria it is not considered an insult to be called a Jew - of course, only when used in a politically correct context) do not want to be fully integrated in the Austrian main culture, but the differences are only visible in some areas; those being the educational system, the special diet, the way of practicing their religion and the attention paid to family life. The Jewish woman is highly integrated into traditional family life, and she plays a very important role in this area of Jewish society.
This area, nevertheless, is not of predominant interest for either media since it presents little news value and that is why the possible struggles of Jewish women to lead a somewhat different life then what they are expected to lead is barely documented or discussed.
A change in the traditional role of Jewish women, especially in regard to religion, would imply a change in the whole Jewish society and is therefore seen as a possible threat. This last point can be considered the main reason why feminist approaches are looked upon with doubt by the Austrian Jewish community.
To verify and/or falsify these hypotheses, we decided to use a mix of
methods, consisting of researching literature, conducting original
research by interviewing people involved in both the issue discussed and
the community looked at, and content analysis.
After the close analysis of the amount of attention given to the Jewish
minority by the Austrian mass media, we came to the conclusion we now
could prove that the main focus is on reports on the political situation
in Israel, 'human interest' topics or cultural events, since 70 per cent
of the examined articles belonged to one of these three categories.
Furthermore could our group point out that even in the Jewish print
media, women's issues are not one of the main topics. Surprisingly, there
were more contributions found in the mass media on Jewish women and their
struggles within their communities than in Jewish print media.
Out of 1197 analyses articles in Jewish newspapers and magazines, only
110 articles (i.e. 8%) focused in one context or another on Jewish
women.In the mass media, out of 231 articles on the Jewish community,
only 58 (i.e. 20%) specifically mentioned women.
Therefore, one could draw a conclusion stating that it might be more
successful for Jewish women who want to talk about their concerns to turn
to the mass media in an attempt to reach an audience than it would be if
they tried to get space in a Jewish medium. The small percentage of
articles on women we found in Jewsih newspapers and magazines seems to
support the opinion of one interviewee who stated that Jewish women are a
minority within a minority.
Despite this very conservative view our analysis presents of the Jewish
media in regard to women's struggle for emanzipation, it has to be
mentioned that we interviewed four women, all of whom are in leading
positions in Jewish print media. There seems to be a desire to slowly
alter power structures without wanting to completely uproot traditional
religious values, the latter being regarded as very important by all four
Jewish women interviewed. It was also conveyed to us that there is not a
great amount of Jewish women who wishes to change the status quo women
hold in today's Jewish society.
This carefully conducted analysis has verified our hypothesis that the Austrian Jewish community is based on a patriarcic system which differs in this particular aspect only very little from the so-called 'main culture'.
Back to the index.