Virtual Vienna Net Jewish Vienna Section

Jewish Theater in Austria

What was, what is the role of Jewish Theater in Austria? From 1900 to 1938, Vienna had a small but extremely active Jewish theater scene that brought cabaret, musical theater, operettas, short works, and full-length dramas to the stage in Yiddish, Hebrew, and German. Yiddish ensembles such as the Jüdische Bühne, which existed from 1908 to 1938, and the ambitious Jüdische Künstlerspiele brought together actors from all over Eastern Europe performing mainly operettas, melodramas, and Yiddish revues in which not only song and dance, but also the problems of the day played an important role.

Hugo Bettauer (1872 - 1925) A Jewish Writer And Journalist

On the 18 of June 2002 a memorial plaque was unveiled in Lange Gasse 21 in Vienna's 8th district. It is in honour of Hugo Bettauer, a Jewish writer and journalist born in 1872 and author of the prophetic 1922 novel "The City Without Jews". He was gunned down in his office in 1925 by a young Nazi sympathizer and died several days later.

JEWISH WOMEN AND THEIR SALONS

Jewish Women and Their Salons: The Power of Conversation examines the significant role played by the salons of Jewish women in the development of art, literature, music, theater, philosophy, and politics in Europe and America from the late 18th century through the 1940's.

JEWISH INTELLECTUALS AND ARTISTS

Their Contribution to the Cultural and Intellectual History of Vienna - an overview.

Committed to Jewish Tradition

It is sometimes overlooked that numerous personalities lived in Vienna who greatly contributed to Judaism, for instance the first rabbi of the Jewish City in the Untere Werd, the Jewish halakhist (= Jewish jurist) Yomtov Lipman Heller, or the rabbis Sheftel Horowitz and Gershon Uliph Ashkenazi. Of the privileged Court Jews, one should mention Samson Wertheimer, a great financier at the beginning of the eighteenth century who was Chief Rabbi of Hungary. Today, his mansion in Eisenstadt houses the Austrian Jewish Museum (Eisenstadt, Unterbergstrasse 6). Isaac Löw Hofmann, knighted in 1835 as "von Hofmannsthal," was one of the most important patrons of the Vienna City Temple and an important supporter of traditional rabbinical values. As rabbi of the City Temple, Isaac Noah Mannheimer was able to avert a break between orthodox and reform Jews in Vienna; at the same time, Salomon Sulzer revived synagogue singing. In the second part of the nineteenth century, Adolf Jellinek, a liberal rabbi from the large synagogue in Leopoldstadt, reinvigorated the Vienna Jewish community. After the First World War, Chief Rabbi Zwi Perez Chajes, an idealistic Zionist, contributed greatly to the educational system. He founded the first Jewish High School and the First Jewish Pedagogic Institute. In honor of his achievements, the Jewish high school was named after him at its reopening in 1984.

Political Pioneers

Jewish intellectuals hoped that the Bourgeois Revolution of 1848 would bring about complete equality to Jews - for that reason, they fought in the front ranks of the revolutionaries of 1848. It was the Jewish physician Adolf Fischhof who sparked the outbreak of the revolution in March 1848 with his speech in the courtyard of the Lower Austrian Diet (1st district, Herrengasse). Fischhof was granted an honorary tomb in the old Jewish Section of Vienna's Central Cemetery (11th district, Simmeringer Hauptstrasse, 1st gate), in the immediate vicinity of the tomb of Salomon Sulzer.

But even the complete emancipation of Viennese Jews did not change the political involvement of numerous intellectuals, even if their ideologies differed. Such personalities included Victor Adler, Otto Bauer, Hugo Breitner, Robert Danneberg, Julius Deutsch and Julius Tandler who were deeply committed to the Social Democratic cause and promoted an egalitarian society that would leave anti-Semitic prejudices behind. They were able to realize many of their goals in the "Red Vienna" of the years between World War I and World War II. Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, saw in the creation of an independent Jewish state a solution to the problem of anti-Semitism and to the persistent question of Jewish identity in an era of increasing assimilation.

There is a certain irony in the fact that Ignaz Kuranda, the founder of one of the leading anti-Semitic forces of the time between the wars, the German National Party, was himself Jewish.

Achievements in Science and Culture

With emancipation during the nineteenth century came drastic changes in the professional and social structure of Viennese Jewry, together with increased assimilation; many Jewish intellectuals lost their traditional ties to their Jewish roots. Thus, it can be problematic to point out the Jewish origin of many scientists, artists and other intellectuals; one could easily be accused of "reverse racism." Jewish origins only gain importance as the background to the persecution of all things Jewish by the Nazis - only by the "expulsion of the creative mind" does one become aware of the large role Austrian Jews played in Austrian culture and science during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From this multitude of personalities, only a few of the best-known from different areas of cultural and intellectual life can be named here.

The renown of Vienna's Medical School is in large part due to the achievements of Jewish physicians: Julius Tandler, Emil Zuckerkandl, Ernst Fuchs, Josef Breuer, Carl Sternberg, Julius Schnitzler, Ludwig W. von Mauthner, Ernst Löwenstein, Robert Bárány, Otto Loewi, David Gruby, Josef Halbans, Adam Politzer, Viktor E. Frankl and Leopold Freund are but a few of the names that made a mark in the realm of science - Bárány (1914) and Loewi (1936) were both awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine. Of course, Sigmund Freud opened new avenues for research of the human mind and for the treatment of psychological problems through the development of psychoanalysis; his pupil, Alfred Adler, developed his "Individual Psychology."

The jurist Hans Kelsen is one of the most important representatives of positivism in law; he wrote the Austrian constitution. In science, Siegfried Marcus (who invented the automobile), the physicists Lise Meitner, Wolfgang Pauli (Nobel Prize 1945) and Felix Ehrenhaft, the biochemist Max F. Perutz (Nobel Prize 1962), the botanist Julius von Wiesner, the chemist Otto von Fürth and the astronomer Samuel Oppenheim as well as Fritz Feigl, Leo Grünhut and Edmund von Lippmann deserve mention.

The contributions of Viennese Jews to music, literature, journalism, sculpture and painting toward the end of the nineteenth and the first decades of the twentieth century are especially noteworthy. Vienna's entry into modern art was in many ways due to Jewish patrons and supporters as well as to Jewish artists: In the salons of the Jewish bourgeoisie, artists found the appropriate forum for new ideas; designers were encouraged in word and deed to found the "Wiener Werkstätte," and art nouveau architects obtained many commissions for their works. The idea of the founding and the building of the Vienna "Secession" was born in the salon of Berta Zuckerkandl.

Around the turn of the century, composers such as Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schönberg, Egon Wellesz, Erich Korngold and Alexander Zemlinsky were influential in classical music, as were Oscar Straus, Emmerich Kalmán, Leo Fall and Edmund Eysler in the realm of operetta. By the way, the Nazis deliberately turned a blind eye to the partial Jewish ancestry of Johann Strauss Son, the Vienna Waltz King.

The list of the literati and prominent journalists of Jewish origin is especially long and constitutes an important part of Austrian literary history of the twentieth century: Arthur Schnitzler, Hermann Bahr, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Richard Beer-Hofmann, Peter Altenberg, Karl Kraus, Jakob Wassermann, Alfred Polgar, Franz Werfel, Stefan Zweig, Franz Kafka, Friedrich Torberg, Hans Weigel, Elias Canetti, Hugo Bettauer, Fritz Hochwälder, Josef Roth, Felix Salten, Hilde Spiel, Jura Soyfer and Vicki Baum. Each of these names stands for a quite specific example of Austrian literature, Austrian in the sense of the old Habsburg empire: Many of these writers came to Vienna from the different corners of the monarchy; in the capital city, they achieved artistic breakthroughs, before being persecuted and banned by the Nazis.

This is also true for such writers and editors as Egon Friedell, Karl Ausch, Friedrich Austerlitz and Anton Kuh, for philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, Karl Popper, Martin Buber, Josef Popper-Linkeus, for cabaret artists like Karl Farkas, Fritz Grünbaum, Hermann Leopoldi and Hugo Wiener, for directors such as Max Reinhardt, Fritz Kortner and Leopold Lindtberg. Others were forgotten as a result of the persecution, while some were able - if they survived the Nazi terror - to continue their careers after the Second World War. A few of them had successful careers in foreign countries; Billy Wilder, Fred Zinnemann and Otto Preminger became synonymous with popular Hollywood films.

Article Author: Alfred Stalzer
Vienna Tourist Board

HISTORY TIME LINE OF JEWISH VIENNA

1194: Duke Leopold V installs Shlom as mint master. Shlom is the first Jew whose settling in Vienna can be documented.

1204: First mention of a synagogue in Vienna (excavations on Judenplatz).

1238: Emperor Friedrich II takes the Jews of Vienna as "Chamber Vassals" under his protection.

1244: First Jewish Privilege of Duke Friedrich (called "The Pugnacious").

1267: The church forbids social intercourse between Christians and Jews and ordains a dress code for Jews.

1420-21: The Jews, impoverished by a large fire in the "Jewish City" and subsequent plundering, have become dispensable. Albrecht V permits the expulsion of Jews from Vienna and Lower Austria. The more affluent among them are imprisoned or blackmailed, then burned on the Erdberger Lände. Some prisoners commit suicide beforehand. The synagogue is destroyed (excavated remnants can be viewed at Judenplatz today).

From 1584: Individual "court-freed" Jews settle in Vienna. "Court Freedom" means the exemption from tolls, custom duties and community taxes.

1624-25: Jews are restricted to a ghetto in the "Unterer Werd," which consists of 15 houses. During the next decades, the Jewish community grows to 132 houses.

1670: Emperor Leopold I decrees, mainly for religious reasons, a second expulsion of Jews from the city and country. The former Jewish region obtains the name Leopoldstadt (Leopold's City).

Circa 1680: Samuel Oppenheimer (and his household) and later Samson Wertheimer are granted the privilege of returning to Vienna as "Court Jews." They are active mainly as military suppliers and negotiators of international loans for the emperor. By 1700, there are ten privileged Jewish families in Vienna.

1722: Diego D'Aguilar, a Jew who had been forcibly baptized, is called to Vienna to reorganize the tobacco monopoly. He helps finance the building of Schönbrunn Palace with 300,000 florins.

1718 - 1736: Due to the peace treaties with the Ottoman empire, Sephardic Jews who are subjects of the sultan are granted certain freedoms within the Habsburg empire. They are permitted to form a legally recognized community in Vienna.

1763: Founding of the Vienna Chevra Kaddisha (Burial Fraternity).

1764: Restrictive laws governing Jewish are established by Empress Maria Theresia, including strong restrictions of residence permits and privileges.

1781: A court decree by Joseph II forbids the charging of Leibmaut (literally: body toll), a toll for Jews that had been in effect since the Middle Ages.

1782: Joseph II decrees the Toleranzpatent (Edict of Tolerance), which lifts numerous discriminating laws. However, the Jews gain no rights as a community.

1812: Convinced of the anti-Napoleonic loyalties of the Viennese Jews and their readiness to contribute financially, Franz I permits the opening of a synagogue and school at Dempfingerhof (Seitenstettengasse). Individual Jews are knighted. Salons, such as those of Fanny von Arnsteins and Cäcilie von Eskeles, become cultural centers.

1826: Consecration of the so-called City Temple, built by Joseph Kornhäusel.

1848: Jews are strongly represented among the activists of the Bourgeois Revolution.

1852: The Israelitische Cultus-Gemeinde (Jewish Community) is constituted with temporary status. Jewish immigration to Vienna from the provinces of the monarchy increases.

1858: Consecration of the Leopoldstadt Temple. The orthodox community moves from a small temple to the (later famous) Schiff Shul, the second most important synagogue in Vienna.

1867: Constitutional law: Complete equality of all citizens of Austria, including Jews. At the same time, anti-Semitism increases.

1890: Israelitengesetz (Jewish Law) to regulate the "external laws of the Jewish religious community."

1896: Theodor Herzl founds political Zionism with the publication of his brochure "The Jewish State."

From 1897: Mayor Karl Lueger attracts petit bourgeois voters with anti-Semitism, which primarily has its origins in economics.

1909: Founding of the athletic club "Hakoah."

1906 - 1911: Adolf Hitler resides in Vienna.

1914: Outbreak of the First World War. Jewish refugees from the Eastern war regions arrive in Vienna in large numbers.

March 12, 1938: German troops march into Austria. The same night, the SA raids Jewish apartments and shops.

March through June 1938: Widespread anti-Jewish acts of violence. Jews are removed from public service. First deportations to the concentration camp Dachau. Introduction of the Nuremberg racial laws. The Jewish Community is permitted to take up its official duties again, allowing official emigration.

Summer - Fall 1938: Numerous discriminatory decrees and edicts, such as the requirement that Jews take up the first name "Sara" or "Israel" and the ban of Jews from public parks. Closing or "Aryanization" of many Jewish shops.

November 9 and 10, 1938: November Pogrom: Devastation and arson of all Viennese synagogues and temples. 6,547 Jews are arrested.

By May 1939: About 100,000 Jews have left the area of former Austria.

October 1941: Start of mass deportations from Vienna. At the end of 1942, only 8,102 Jews remain in the city. By the end of the war, 65,459 Austrian Jews have been murdered in the concentration camps. Only 5,816 live to see the liberation of Austria.

April 1945: Re-establishment of the Jewish Community of Vienna.

September 1945: Provisional re-opening of the City Temple, the only Jewish synagogue in Vienna that had not been destroyed in 1938.

After the War: Much of Vienna becomes a camp for Displaced Persons from the East. Most are Jews who want to emigrate to Palestine.

From 1970: Vienna becomes a "bridge" for Soviet Jews, who cannot emigrate directly to Israel from the USSR. Many remain in Vienna.

1978: Talmud Torah School becomes a public school.

August 1981: Bomb attack by Palestinian terrorists at Seitenstettengasse 2.

1984: Re-opening of the Zwi Perez Chajes School, a high school founded before the Second World War by Chief Rabbi Chajes.

1988: Jewish Institute for Adult Education is founded.

1989: Founding of the Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna.

1990-91: The "Vienna Yeshiva," a vocational school for Jewish social work, becomes a public school.

November 18, 1993: Opening of the Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna at Dorotheergasse 11

1994: Official institutionalization of ESRA, an initiative for psychosocial and sociocultural integration.

1999: Opening of the Lauder Chabad Campus at the Rabbiner Schneerson Platz, located near Augarten park.

October 25, 2000: Unveiling of the Shoah Memorial and opening of the Judenplatz Museum.

Article Author: By Alfred Stalzer
Vienna Tourist Board

SCHLEPPING THROUGH THE ALPS

Schlepping Through the Alps : My Search for Austria's Jewish Past with Its Last Wandering Shepherd: Hans Breuer, Austria's only wandering shepherd, is also a Yiddish folksinger. He walks the Alps, shepherd's stick in hand, singing lullabies to his 625 sheep. Sometimes he even gives concerts in historically anti-Semitic towns, showing slides of the flock as he belts out Yiddish ditties.

Soshana: Cassandra of the Canvas

In her youth, Soshana was known by some critics as the Cassandra of the canvas who painted as Kafka wrote. It is a powerful image that continues to define her as an artist and as a woman. Her travels began quite young. She was only 11 ½ years old when Hitler and his troops marched into Vienna, an event that forced her family to flee and take on the life of refugees in a world of horrific chaos.

The Mauerbach Auction: Flights Of Memory

Preface: In the fall of 1996, the Mauerbach Auction took place in Vienna. Christie�s, on behalf of the Federation of Austrian Jewish Communities, auctioned off 8,000 works of art and other objects confiscated from the homes of Austrian Jews by the Nazis between 1938 and 1945. The Mauerbach Auction raised $14,600,000 for the benefit of the now elderly victims of the Holocaust and their families.

Fritz Löhner-Beda: Yes, We Have No Bananas

"Das Land des Lächelns" - "The Land of Smiles" - by Franz Lehár is still one of the most popular operettas on the stage today and one of the Hungarian-born composer's most famous works. While Lehár has gone down in music history as one of the leading exponents of the Golden Age of the Viennese operetta, Fritz Löhner-Beda, the man who co-authored the libretto for "The Land of Smiles" and countless other operetta hits, has, by and large been forgotten.

The Memory Tree for Wilhelmine Halbright

A few weeks ago a few days short of what would have been her eighty-first birthday; a pink flowering chestnut tree was planted in Willie's memory. Not an unusual event, but in this case, the tree was planted in a public park near her childhood home in Grinzing, Vienna, Austria.