Vienna Must Not Become More Like Kassel

Wiener Zeitung, January 25, 2023 (Commentary)

German original: https://www.wienerzeitung.at/meinung/kommentare/2175872-Wien-darf-nicht-verkasseln.html

by Edwin Baumgartner

"documenta 2022" and no end: The anti-Semitic tendencies of the Kassel art show are obvious. There is a risk of repetition, because in matters of art, politics' hands are tied. "The freedom of art can also protect against state intervention in cases of racist or anti-Semitic tendencies within the framework of proportionality," Berlin legal scholar Christoph Möllers has now stated.

The moral question is, of course, whether one would expose other ethnic groups, nations and/or religions to the same defenselessness as it happens in this special case with Jews and Israel.

Change of Scene.

In Vienna's Jewish Museum, an exhibition is running on alleged misunderstandings related to Jews and Israel. The exhibition wants to educate about Jews and Judaism, and it wants to do so in a humorous way. But it often allows for anti-Semitic readings, even though these are not intended. Nevertheless, more and more Jews feel irritated or hurt by this show, because: Some of the artworks and objects on display are contextualized in an inadequate or distorting way, writes Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jewish Community of Vienna, in a letter to museum director Barbara Staudinger.

Again, the question arises: Would one deal with other ethnicities, nations and/or religions in their museum in the same way? Or is the Jewish Museum just making an unintentional contribution to the "Kasselification" of Vienna?

In Conversation: Barbara Staudinger, Director of the Jewish Museum Vienna

ORF, January 19, 2023

German original and link to audio (to be available on March 16, 2023):
https://oe1.orf.at/programm/20230316/712618/Barbara-Staudinger-Direktorin-des-juedischen-Museums-Wien

"Discussing must be learned (again)!"

(Audio) Renata Schmidtkunz in conversation with the Director of the Jewish Museum Vienna, Barbara Staudinger.

Die Kunst des Diskutierens, des Austausches von Argumenten, ist ein wichtiges demokratisches Prinzip. Diese Debattenkultur gilt es in Zeichen multipler Krisen und aufgeladener Stimmung hochzuhalten. Im jüdischen Museum Wien hat Direktorin Barbara Staudinger daher erstmals einen "Debate Club" ins Leben gerufen.

Dieser begleitet in den nächsten Monaten regelmäßig die Ausstellung "100 Missverständnisse über rund unter Juden", die Vorurteile und stereotype Bilder hinterfragt. Damit setzt die 1973 geborene Wienerin, die das jüdische Museum seit Juli 2022 leitet, neue Akzente. Für Erstaunen sorgte bei manchen anfangs die Tatsache, dass sie keine Jüdin ist. Staudinger verweist auf ihre wissenschaftliche Kompetenz, wie ihre zahlreichen Publikationen zu jüdischer Kulturgeschichte.

Sie studierte Geschichte, Theaterwissenschaften und Judaistik an der Universität Wien. In ihrer Promotion befasste sie sich mit der "Rechtsstellung und Judenfeindschaft am Reichshofrat 1559-1670". Barbara Staudinger arbeitete einige Jahre als wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Institut für jüdische Geschichte Österreichs in St. Pölten, fokussierte sich aber zunehmend auch auf die Arbeit in Museen. So war Staudinger von 2005 bis 2007 Kuratorin am Jüdischen Museum Augsburg, das sie von 2018 - 2022 auch leitete. Für ihre Arbeit in Wien hat sie sich vorgenommen, Geschichten zu entwickeln, die nicht nur berühren, sondern zum Nachfragen, forschen oder Weitererzählen anregen.

Im Gespräch mit Renata Schmidtkunz spricht sie darüber, welchen Platz die Geschichte des Antisemitismus in einem Museum hat und warum auch der Philosemitismus, der Juden und Jüdinnen zu etwas Außergewöhnlichem macht, ein Problem ist.

How Exhibitions Propagated Images of the Enemy

ORF, January 19, 2023

German original: https://science.orf.at/stories/3217207/

Propaganda played an essential role in National Socialism. Exhibitions were particularly "successful" in stirring up hatred, especially against Jews. Historian Rosemarie Burgstaller explores these visitor magnets in a guest article.

Under National Socialism, a large number of defamatory exhibitions took place, the aim of which was to slander world views, states and populations, right down to groups and individuals, and to declare them enemies. The zeal that was exercised until the downfall of the Nazi regime in order to stir up hatred and resentment among the population against the Jewish minority was enormous. For a long time, exhibitions were an underestimated medium for the dissemination of anti-Semitic and racist propaganda under National Socialism. Images of the enemy were not only disseminated in relevant events, such as the hate exhibition "The Eternal Jew.”

In many cases, anti-Semitic and anti-Communist sections and special shows were attached to popular product fairs and performance shows. Discrimination and slander were subliminally incorporated into exhibition displays through codes or with the help of details and allusions, for example in the context of craft shows. The focus was on two enemy image complexes: The Jewish-coded political-ideological opponents of communism and the Soviet regime, and hatred of Jews. Anti-Semitism also formed the basic constant of almost all other enemy images transported in these exhibitions, such as the Weimar Republic, liberalism and democracy, or the attacks on freethinkers, Freemasons and Slavic populations.

Images of the enemy were conveyed in business-promoting areas as well as in the area of charitable events. For example, through Nazi-infiltrated aid organizations, such as Brothers in Need and the Geneva-based International Pro Deo Commission, anti-Soviet and anti-Semitic enemy image exhibitions of the Nazi regime were disseminated not only in the German Reich but throughout Europe, for example in Great Britain, Poland, and France, with the support of collaborating local institutions.

In 1936, propaganda reached new dimensions

At the 1936 Nuremberg Party Congress of the NSDAP, the anti-Soviet agitation of the Nazi regime had reached a new dimension. The second Four-Year Plan announced here was dominated by economic autarky and accelerated military rearmament. In July of that year, the Spanish Civil War had begun. During this phase, the regime engaged in extensive alliance propaganda against the Soviet Union at exhibitions and trade fairs. In particular, the large-scale enemy image exhibitions that began in the fall of 1936 were intended to demonstrate unity.

Italy and Hungary were involved in the "Great Anti-Bolshevik Show," which opened in the library building of the Deutsches Museum in Munich in November 1936, with their own special shows. This exhibition was presented in seven major cities of the German Reich until 1938 and, according to the organizers, attracted more than 800,000 visitors. Parallel to this one, numerous other anti-Semitic and war-preparing traveling exhibitions such as "A Glimpse of the Soviet Paradise" and "World Plague Bolshevism" were on the road in rural areas. The traveling show "World Enemy No. 1: Bolshevism," built into truck trailers, toured Germany for a year and a half and was reportedly visited by more than 1.4 million onlookers at some 60 locations.

"The Eternal Jew" - also in Vienna

In the following year, 1937, the hate exhibition "The Eternal Jew" opened at the Deutsches Museum in Munich. From August 1938, the anti-Semitic machination was also shown in Vienna, then in other cities. "The Eternal Jew" has inscribed itself in the historical memory of the federal capital. For example, the striking advertising poster served as a temporal marker for the year 1938 in the Austrian feature film "Der Bockerer."

This exhibition was advertised in a particularly lurid manner. Its structure, its staging impetus and the intensive advertising can be used to illustrate how strongly voyeurism and curiosity were relied upon to attract the public.

The war meant the even closer linking of propaganda and violence. There are numerous surviving examples of exhibitions of enemy images being held in the run-up to anti-Semitic measures and deportations. These include the traveling exhibition "Le Juif et la France" in the occupied cities of Paris, Bordeaux and Nancy in 1941/42 and the deportations of the Jewish population of Hungary in 1944.

Crowd pullers under National Socialism

According to surviving sources, hate exhibitions were among the crowd pullers under National Socialism. Even the Social Democratic exile newspaper Der sozialistische Kampf, referring to Austria, stated in 1939: "The only cultural events where mass participation has really been achieved so far are the exhibitions: 'The Eternal Jew,' the 'Anti-Comintern Exhibition,' and 'Degenerate Art.'" Several hundred thousand visitors were probably not uncommon. Official protests by democratic governments hardly ever took place. And if they did, it was mostly about content-related demarcation, but never about a general criticism of anti-Semitic discrimination.

Outside Germany, on the other hand, counter-exhibitions were organized by expellees or by communist organizations. These actors did not go unnoticed by the National Socialists. Even small-scale exhibitions that provided education against the crimes of National Socialism were increasingly tried by the Nazi regime at a high political level with aggression that seemed disproportionate.

The Austrian Irene Harand, who in 1935 published "Sein Kampf. Antwort an Hitler" (His Struggle. Answer to Hitler), initiated a letter-sealing stamp campaign with portraits of important Jewish personalities in response to the exhibition "Der ewige Jude" (The Eternal Jew) in Munich in 1937. This campaign was one of the few acts of resistance against a National Socialist exhibition of enemy images.

About the author

Rosemarie Burgstaller is a historian and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Contemporary History at the University of Vienna. Her book "Staging Hate. Enemy Image Exhibitions in National Socialism" was published by Campus Verlag in 2022.

When "Black September" was About to Strike in January

Die Presse, January 19, 2023
German original: https://www.diepresse.com/6238430/als-der-schwarze-september-im-jaenner-zuschlagen-wollte

by Thomas Riegler

In early 1973, Palestinians wanted to take Jewish hostages with the help of neo-Nazis. But the attack on the Schönau camp in Lower Austria was thwarted in time. It then also led to the founding of the Cobra special unit.

In early 1973, Palestinians wanted to take Jewish hostages with the help of neo-Nazis. But the attack on the Schönau camp in Lower Austria was thwarted in time. It then also led to the formation of the special Cobra unit.

It was only a detail, but it stood out: one of the passports of three alleged Israeli tourists had been issued on a Jewish holiday. It couldn't have been. The porter at a hotel near the Westbahnhof became suspicious. When the state police's "hotel control" came by to take a routine look at the guest registrations, the man raised the alarm. The officers laid in wait. The trio was confronted as they came down from the room.

Sure enough, they were not Israelis, but Palestinian terrorists. They were part of the "Black September" group that had taken eleven Israeli athletes hostage at the Munich Olympics just a few months earlier, on September 5, 1972. Two of the athletes were immediately murdered, nine others died in a failed rescue attempt. The name "Black September" has been synonymous with terror ever since.

In 1973, Austria would have been threatened with a similar signal as the Olympic attack, if the terrorists had had their way. They had a symbolic target in their sights. Since 1965, a transit camp for Jewish emigrants from the Eastern Bloc had been located in Schönau an der Triesting Castle. Austria was their transit station, or so the Soviet Union demanded. By 1986, a total of 270,000 Jews were to emigrate via Austria to Israel and other countries. In the Arab world, this was seen as a demographic strengthening of Israel that had to be stopped. This was the task of "Black September," which was in fact a front organization of the secret service of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

According to a report by the Swiss Federal Police, the terrorists had been ordered to wait and scout the area. Then they were to attack Schönau in a group of "about 12 armed men" and take hostages. Shootings were "calculated in." But the operation failed already in the preparatory stage. As mentioned at the beginning, the first of two terrorist teams to enter the country was arrested at the hotel on January 20, 1973. There were also warnings from foreign intelligence services. A second team, also consisting of three men, was still trying to escape. But the Palestinians were apprehended in Tarvis, Italy, on January 27, 1973, and deported back.

Investigations revealed that "Black September" had help on the ground. Two right-wing extremists from Norbert Burger's National Democratic Party (NDP) had supported the Palestinians. One of them was the then 33-year-old Gerhard B. The son of a British occupation soldier, he had worked in Benghazi, Libya, for several years until he had to leave the country as a result of the Six-Day War (1967). Back in Vienna, B. founded an import-export company. In 1971, he met the Viennese contact of "Black September," Zuhair Shibl. He was a Jordanian born in 1931. The man had been in Vienna since 1969 and had married an Austrian woman that year "only according to Islamic law."

In March 1973, an Austrian state police officer made inquiries about Shibl with the officer for "Arab terrorism" in the British Home Office. According to this "Mr. Black," Shibl was noted as the "head" of PLO structures in Kuwait. In addition, a 1960 intelligence briefing described him "as a man fond of fast cars and drugs."

Shibl was also in contact with another NDP man. This was Harald E, then 25 years old. He had given the second trio of hostage-takers shelter in an apartment in the Großfeldsiedlung from January 22 to 26, 1973. Together with Shibl, he supplied the Palestinians with food. When they then wanted to leave, E. chauffeured the three men in a rented car to Arnoldstein, on the Carinthian border. From there, the terrorists set off for Italy, but did not get far.

When E. was being searched out, another NDP man "appeared" on the scene while the house was still being searched on February 14, 1973. The latter then tried to flush documents incriminating E. down the toilet. He had not wanted the evidence to disappear, but had used it instead of the toilet paper, was his justification, which was not believed.

Weapons never found.
The weapons for the Schönau raid were never found. It was not at all clear whether and how they should have been obtained. However, Shibl had asked E. "whether there were Kalashnikov rifles in the Austrian army, from which it can be concluded that he might have had something to do with the procurement of weapons.

Shibl could not be found out. He had left for Beirut in time at the beginning of February 1973. The hapless six-man hostage-taking squad, on the other hand, was deported from Austria to Syria in March 1973. There the men were probably promptly liquidated by the fascist Phalange militia.

The Austrian helpers had nothing comparable to fear. The case against B. was dropped, while E. was acquitted for lack of evidence. As an interview transcript from the Ministry of the Interior reveals, the aim was to get to the bottom of the "connection established for the first time" between right-wing extremists and Palestinian terrorists, but found no evidence of systematic cooperation: "According to our findings, the extreme right-wing NDP party is unlikely to have had any knowledge of this support from its members." However, one report notes that E., for example, was "visibly eager" to present his connection with the terrorists as a "solo effort of which his party friends knew nothing." Investigators had also noticed that Shibl had worn an NDP badge on his jacket lapel.

The Gendarmerie Command.
In order to ensure security for Jewish emigrants in the future, a separate association was launched on May 1, 1973: The Gendarmeriekommando (GK) Bad Vöslau. The volunteer force of 80 officers took over, in addition to the object protection in Schönau, the securing of the arrival or the departure of the emigrants at the airport Schwechat. The "Kronen Zeitung" then reported that the "code word" of this special group was "Kobra". In fact, the radio call name was "Scorpion," but "Kobra" stuck.

What could not be prevented was that international terrorism struck again on September 28, 1973: Two Arabs from the obscure group "Eagles of the Palestinian Revolution" took three Jewish emigrants and a customs officer hostage on a train coming from Bratislava. In order not to endanger human lives, Chancellor Bruno Kreisky decided to give in. The transit camp Schönau was closed, in return the hostages were released and the two terrorists were allowed to leave under safe conduct. However, the "Jewish transit" continued uninterrupted. There was no further attack against it.

This was also due to the fact that the protective measures were further strengthened. The former GK Bad Vöslau was professionalized as a special unit in 1978 and exists today as Einsatzkommando Cobra. The vacated Schönau Castle had served as the first headquarters. Today, it is privately owned. Nothing reminds of the world political importance of the place or of the events 50 years ago.

About the Author

Thomas Riegler is a historian in Vienna and a researcher at the Austrian Center for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies (ACIPSS). His new book, "Austria's Secret Services: A New History," was published last year.

Either Stupid or Ice-Cold!

Die Presse, January 16, 2023

German original: https://www.diepresse.com/6239047/entweder-dumm-oder-eiskalt

Replica to A. Goldenberg. But, of course, Jewish museums in perpetrator countries like Austria are educational institutions.

We like to use the term "migration background" for those people to whom we attribute that they are culturally (also) socialized differently. And yes, people whose parents come from completely different cultural backgrounds often have different approaches. I think that's as legitimate as it is enriching, depending on how you deal with that "different access."

So if you work primarily for immigrant people or their children, you should be careful about how you phrase different things so that you're not constantly alternating between displaying your ignorance and and cultural gaffes.

As a speaker, you should always think about how things you say will be received. You should ask yourself beforehand, "Who is my audience? What do I want to achieve with what I say?"

In this country, people usually have "Nazi backgrounds." That probably sounds as unpleasant to the ears of the local people as "migration background" sounds to the ears of the people from there.

But it is just as true.

If one now refers to the fact that in Austria there are also resistance fighters, Jews and other people persecuted by the Nazis, I would like to remind briefly of the meaning of the word "socialization." In Austria in particular, as is well known, sensitivity towards racist, xenophobic or anti-Semitic statements or even deeds is still relatively unestablished.

A museum located in Israel - or, for that matter, in another country with a less anti-Semitic past and present than Germany or Austria - can act differently, can put things up for discussion differently, because the basis is different.

But an exhibition about stereotypes in a country, where in every survey easily about 40% agree with at least one anti-Semitic stereotype, should necessarily point out what the actual Jewish reality is. And not only in small print.

It does not contribute to understanding if one serially elevates individual cases or artistic interventions to an example, as in the current exhibition "100 Misunderstandings about and among Jews" at the Jewish Museum Vienna. In all surveys in Austria, a good 85% of Jews feel that their security is rather threatened - a Jewish museum that does not pay attention to this is a non-Jewish museum.

The exhibition pretends that anti-Semitism is not rising exponentially again here, as if this kind of humor could work because it would be identified as humor. That's either stupid or stone cold.

The author:

Sandra Kreisler (* 1961) is an actress, singer and works as a speaker in Vienna and Berlin. Her book "Being Jewish - Views on Life in the Diaspora" was published by Hentrich & Hentrich.

Jewish Delegation in Search of Traces in Neuberg

ORF, January 15, 2023

German original: https://burgenland.orf.at/magazin/stories/3190362/

Before 1938, about 210,000 Jews lived in Austria, also in Burgenland. After the Anschluss in March 1938, they were dispossessed and expelled. The Stein family from Neuberg (district of Güssing) was able to escape to Israel. Recently, their grandson visited Neuberg.

At the meeting of the visitors from Israel and the members of the Neuberg cultural initiative, both sides were able to learn more about the fate of the Stein family. Especially for the grandson Yuval, who lives with his wife near Tel Aviv, this was very important. "This is very moving for me. I have never been to Neuberg before. I only heard about this place from my father and also a little bit from my grandfather. To be here - where my ancestors lived, where my father grew up - this is very moving for me," Yuval Stein said.

Jakob and Cäcilia Stein ran two stores in Neuberg. We know about the couple and their two children Egon and Erika that they were well integrated in the village, although one can hardly find any more documents about them. "We have searched in the records that exist, for example in the parish. But there are no written records there. They were not members of the parish, but may have even participated in parish life," says Robert Novakovits.

Candlestick back with the family

In 1938, the family had to leave Neuberg with ten-year-old Egon and eight-year-old Erika. The family was imprisoned in Vienna and finally managed to emigrate to Israel. Apart from a chess set, they only took a few blankets with them. A candlestick remained in Neuberg as a gift.

"That was such a two-armed candlestick that the Stein family gave to my grandmother when they had to leave in a hurry back then. I saw this over and over again as a child, but didn't know exactly what it was about. I only knew that it was a gift from the Jewish family. We have now passed that on," says Martin Fabsits.

The candlestick has thus returned to the family to which it originally belonged. With this project, the Neuberg Cultural Initiative Association would like to reappraise the history of Neuberg. "It is important to know and honor the names and fates of people," says Renate Mercsanits.

A Jewish Museum Is Not a Cure for Anti-Semitism (Opinion)

Die Presse, January 11, 2023

German original: https://www.diepresse.com/6237098/ein-juedisches-museum-ist-keine-heilanstalt-gegen-antisemitismus

Why context matters and anti-Semitism does not disappear when you close an exhibit. A response to Ben Segenreich's critique.

So, an exhibition about misunderstanding leads to misunderstanding. We are talking about the current exhibit at the Jewish Museum Vienna, "100 Misunderstandings About and Among Jews." One focus is on philosemitism, i.e. positively exaggerated stereotypes about Jews. The Jewish genius, the romance of the shtetl, the Jewish sense of family. In addition, other sensitive topics are taken up, including Holocaust remembrance and dealings with the state of Israel.

The exhibition "rambles, distorts and confuses," wrote author and journalist Ben Segenreich in a "Presse" guest commentary on January 7. On Monday, publicist Paul Lendvai backed him up in a letter to the editor: "I would even close the exhibition immediately, because - as I have seen myself - it tends to inspire mocking remarks and laughter from schoolchildren."

Why such drastic reactions? Segenreich thinks the museum has "lost its way" in its approach to the Holocaust. One of his criticisms: a video performance showing a Holocaust survivor and his descendants dancing in former concentration camps. People who knew nothing or little about Judaism would thus learn that it was permissible to dance in Auschwitz, Segenreich writes. Whoever understands the video in this way must want to misunderstand it. In the museum it is placed in such a way that the critical voices cannot be overlooked: They stand large and prominent right next to the projection. The video, like other content that might offend survivors and their loved ones, is embedded in ample context. As is expected of a well-curated museum.

In places, Segenreich's commentary is not an exhibition critique but a catalog critique. The longtime ORF Middle East correspondent criticizes a text that uses the phrase "Zionist expansionist policy," and not as a quote. Segenreich knowledgeably cites why the term is wrong. "In passing" the Jewish state is scuffed up. Only: this problematic formulation was removed from the object description right after the exhibition began in November and can now only be read in the catalog. A small but important difference. One wants to avoid misunderstandings, after all.

"Elsewhere, one stumbles upon 'Israeli war and discrimination policies' or the accusation that the prestigious Jerusalem Holocaust research site Yad Vashem is engaged in 'propaganda for state Palestinian policies,'" Segenreich writes. One never stumbled upon these formulations on site, but only in catalog texts. Segenreich also fails to provide the full context, namely that the accusation is clearly identified in the text as the opinion of the artist, not the museum. This is how misunderstandings arise.

The exhibition - the first by Barbara Staudinger, who took up her directorship in July - is bold and humorous, but in places the information remains somewhat superficial.

But the Jewish Museum in Vienna does not have it easy: On the one hand, it has to assume that many visitors are not Jewish themselves; on the other hand, it is supposed to be a place where the Jewish community can find itself. It should bring the majority closer to a minority and at the same time depict the plurality within this minority. It wants to present a history of relations that is marked by discrimination and persecution, but not dominated by the narrative of the perpetrators. It must also, like any museum, deal with laughing students. And it must do so in a society that still has an anti-Semitism problem.

Another misunderstanding: a Jewish museum is not a cure-all for anti-Semitism. But anti-Semitism also doesn't disappear when you close the exhibition.

E-mails an:debatte@diepresse.com

Pseudo-Intellectual Babble at the Jewish Museum (Op-ed)

Die Presse, January 6, 2023

German original: https://www.diepresse.com/6235212/geschwurbel-im-juedischen-museum

Exhibition review. One can argue about tastelessness, but there are limits.

When an exhibition at the Jewish Museum Vienna addresses "100 Misconceptions About and Among Jews," one is pleased and hopes that something will be made clear. But that is difficult when you are constantly getting bumped in the head and made dizzy. For example, there is this exhibition poster. On it, you see a skinhead in a black leather bomber jacket decorated with Nazi symbols, with "Judenfreund" written on it. Really now? What is being insinuated there? Friends of Jews are Nazis? Nazis are friends of Jews? Is that generally the case, or is that a curious exception? And is this now the misunderstanding or already its correction?

Hitler as a fireplace rug

That is exactly what is so awful about this exhibition concept. One never knows exactly where the misunderstanding ends and the understanding begins. What is an isolated case, what is typical? There are useful sections that dispose of stereotypes, such as those about the Jewish mama, Klezmer music, or the Mossad. Commendably, the Bible verse "an eye for an eye," regularly abused by anti-Semites and ignoramuses, is described for what it is, not a revenge slogan but a humane, progressive principle of compensation. Unfortunately, this is coupled with an exhibit that turns everything in its head: Hitler as a fireplace rug. Are Jews barbaric hunters and retaliators after all? Also ambiguous is the debunking of Palais Eskeles as a "legend." The home of the museum, one learns, is not a Jewish palace at all. Well, I'll be! Then it must be a legend that Jewish palaces have helped shape Vienna's architectural history. But what about the palaces Ephrussi, Tedesco, Lieben-Auspitz, Wertheim, Epstein, Königswarter, Gutmann?

The fact that the old Jewish palaces are being pummeled is not so bad. Worse is how, in passing, the exhibit scuffs up the not-so-old Jewish state. One text uses the phrase "Zionist expansionist policy," not as a quotation, but as if it were part of common knowledge. This terminology fits in at a rally of the anti-Jewish terror group Hamas in Gaza, not at a Jewish museum in Vienna. The expression is factually incorrect: there has never been a unified Zionist policy, especially on territorial issues, let alone an "expansionist policy." Since 1979, Israel has withdrawn from the Sinai, from large parts of the West Bank, from southern Lebanon, from Gaza. Is this "expansionist policy"?

The nonsense has a system. Elsewhere, one stumbles upon "Israeli war and discrimination policies" or the accusation that the respected Jerusalem Holocaust research site Jad Vashem is engaged in "propaganda for the state's Palestinian policy." Nor does the museum shy away from invoking a notorious Israel-baiter like Norman Finkelstein, who blathers on about the "bloodlust of Israeli society" in lectures.

The exhibition has gone completely astray in its approach to the Holocaust. In a video performance, for example, one sees a Jewish family dancing in front of the gate to the Auschwitz mass murder camp. The fact that the survivor Adolek Kohn copes with his nightmares in this way is to be respected. But in the world there are about 15 million Jews, five danced in Auschwitz. The museum is supposed to inform people who know little or nothing about Judaism. What do they learn? One is allowed to dance in Auschwitz! Hooray, then it can't have been so bad, and there's no need to make such a fuss about it. The same spirit is conveyed by the photo montage in which a self-staging "artist" is waving a Diet Coke can around in front of emaciated figures on concentration camp beds in Buchenwald. One can argue about taste(lessness), but there are limits. What could have convinced the exhibition organizers that this almost 30-year-old British "work of art" had to be unearthed and presented to the Viennese public? For many Jews, such a thing is hurtful, even unbearable. Survivors and direct relatives of the murder victims are still among us. In the museum, of course, one knows this, but one has other priorities.

It is not an art museum

The concepts that are repeatedly, almost obsessively, linked to the Holocaust here are "instrumentalization," "marketing," "commercialization." Those who are not familiar with the subject must get the impression that the Shoah was the invention of a Jewish advertising industry. Misunderstandings are not cleared up, but spread. To a large extent, this is due to works of art. Thus, one can make excuses about artistic freedom or about the fact that, as it says in the catalog, "there is no 'right' or 'wrong,' but that it depends on the perspective". But a Jewish museum is not an art museum. Jewish museums are supposed to, again quoting from the catalog, "educate, train the eye, and stimulate thought." This exhibition rambles, distorts and confuses.

The author

Ben Segenreich (born 1952 in Vienna) is an author, journalist, and Middle East expert. He emigrated to Israel in 1983. He worked there as an ORF correspondent from 1990 to 2018. He has made contributions to numerous media in German-speaking countries.

Oskar Deutsch re-elected as IKG president with 95.7 percent

APA, Der Standard, January 11, 2023
German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000142499416/oskar-deutsch-mit-95-7-zum-ikg-praesidenten-wiedergewaehlt

Michael Galibov and Claudia Prutscher are now Vice Presidents of the Jewish Community.

Vienna - Oskar Deutsch has been re-elected as president of the Jewish Community Vienna (IKG). At the constituent meeting of the Kultusvorstand of the IKG on Wednesday, Deutsch, who has been in office since 2012, received 22 of 23 votes, as the Kultusgemeinde announced in the evening. Michael Galibov and Claudia Prutscher were elected as vice presidents.

Prutscher, who had already served as vice president, ran in the IKG election on Deutsch's ATID list, Galibov for the Association of Bukharan Jews. The newly constituted Kultusvorstand had been elected in November 2022. The ATID list was able to retain its eight seats on the 24-member board. The Sefardim Bukharian Jews (VBJ) were the second strongest grouping with seven seats.(APA, 11.1.2023)

The Preserver of Jewish History

ORF, December 26, 2022

German original: https://noe.orf.at/magazin/stories/3186998/

When the synagogue in St. Pölten was renovated for the first time in the 1980s, the Institute for Jewish History in Austria was founded in the renovated synagogue. Its director is herself an institution: Martha Keil has received several awards for her work.

The synagogue, a symbol of the flourishing Jewish life in St. Pölten before 1938, has been a construction site for weeks. For the second time, a fundamental renovation is on the agenda, which should result in the building becoming a much-visited venue - without giving up its Jewish "soul," Martha Keil emphasizes. She devoted her life to Judaism without being Jewish herself.

"It should remain a memorial and a place of remembrance. Even if people come here to listen to music. It must make those who enter the house think when they see the Torah shrine or the Hebrew characters. Then they automatically ask themselves: where is the Jewish community that prays here? And our task then is to give these people answers," Keil said in an interview with noe.ORF.at.

Task of fighting anti-Semitism

The answer: after the extermination by the Nazis, the Jewish community never returned. The synagogue was an empty shell before the Institute for Jewish History in Austria moved in at the end of the 1980s. Since 2004, this has been headed by Keil, a Viennese cultural historian who has devoted her life to the Jewish people and their culture.

Now 64, as a child she wanted to experience a kibbutz (a rural collective settlement) in Israel, which she followed through with. Nevertheless, she came to study Jewish Studies in Vienna rather by chance. The more she became involved with the people, the more she connected with it: "It was certainly not a religious reason to take up this profession. I'm not Jewish, even if many people think I am, because I know my way around. I am socialized, so to speak, with the people of this nation. And I see it as a socio-political task to fight against anti-Semitism. That's what drives me and will always drive me."

In order that murdered people are not forgotten

But it is by no means only the Shoah that is the focus of her research. If you ask her about her most important research work, she names the role of Jewish women in the Middle Ages. It is a comprehensive body of work, stored in numerous books, but above all in many boxes of research results in her new office in downtown St. Pölten. Because of the restoration, it was moved from the synagogue. Now she works there with eleven employees. Most recently, among other things, on a list of names.

These are the names of those people who were murdered by the National Socialists in Hofamt-Priel (district of Melk) in the last days of the war in 1945. Their bodies were moved to a mass grave in the Jewish cemetery in St. Pölten in 1964. Martha Keil’s team researched 228 names and immortalized them on a commemorative plaque: "I cannot bear it when people have no name in memory. Without sound research, remembrance remains hollow in a way, without a basis."

More and more requests for family research

After it was made possible by law for descendants of Jewish expellees to more easily obtain dual citizenship, inquiries to the institute are piling up. Many want to have their Jewish family history researched and documented. Hundreds of inquiries are received annually. The institute is in contact with 300 descendants from all over the world. When one of them comes to Austria, they often visit the Jewish cemetery in St. Pölten.

Then it is Martha Keil who unlocks the cemetery's fence gate. The inscriptions on the approximately 200 gravestones have long since been transcribed and archived. The city will now renovate the cemetery. Even if it is not her own story - Martha Keil is perhaps the most profound connoisseur of the Jewish people and their history in Austria.

Andreas Kranebitter Becomes New Head of the Documentation Archive

APA, Der Standard, December 21, 2022

German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000141998174/andreas-kranebitter-wird-neuer-leiter-des-dokumentationsarchivs

The sociologist and political scientist will take over the position on April 1, 2023. The previous head of the DÖW, Gerhard Baumgartner, is retiring.

Vienna - Andreas Kranebitter is to become the new director of the Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance (DÖW). The sociologist and political scientist succeeds Gerhard Baumgartner, who is retiring. He has led the DÖW since 2014. Kranebitter will take over as director on April 1, 2023. He is currently conducting research in the USA and beat out 18 competitors in an international call for applications.

"The Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance is a unique institution in Austria that links the historical examination of National Socialism with social science research and documentation of current right-wing extremist and anti-Semitic tendencies. I am looking forward to taking over the management of this tradition-rich institution and will devote myself to this task with all my strength and staying power," he was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the DÖW on Wednesday.

Kranebitter was born in Vienna in 1982. His final theses were awarded the Herbert Steiner Prize and the Irma Rosenberg Prize. As head of the research center at Mauthausen Concentration Camp, he was responsible for significant parts of the new exhibition at the memorial. Most recently, he served as head of the Archive for the History of Sociology in Austria at the University of Graz. Already in the past, he repeatedly worked together with the DÖW. (APA, 21.12.2022)

Shmuel Barzilai: The Tasks of a Jewish Cantor

December 19, 2022
German original: ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation)

Shmuel Barzilai has been the head cantor of the Jewish Community (IKG) Vienna for 30 years. In an interview with religion.ORF.at, he talks about his duties as a prayer leader in the synagogue, his motivation and the importance of the Jewish Children's Choir.

Barzilai moved from Israel to Vienna in 1992 with his wife, the visual artist Dvora Barzilai, and the first three of his four children. As the senior cantor recounts, he liked the city from the very beginning: "I was very enthusiastic. The city is beautiful, the synagogue is great, not only because of the atmosphere and the acoustics." From the beginning, he says, he received a lot of support: "I knew exactly that people were behind me and what I was doing, and that gave me a lot of joy."

Barzilai comes from a well-known Jerusalem cantorial family. So his career choice came as no surprise: "When you grow up in a family like mine, music is already fixed in your mind." Still, as he realized at the School of Cantorial Music in Tel Aviv, there was a lot to learn. Traditionally, a Jewish cantor should not only have a good voice, but also a thorough knowledge of the liturgy. Today, Barzilai's repertoire is very large and includes not only liturgical cantorial music but also Jewish soul music, Hasidic and klezmer music, as well as Israeli songs, operas and classical vocal literature.

Tradition and renewal

As Barzilai tells it, from the very beginning of his work as head cantor, two things were especially important to him. He deliberately wanted to follow the tradition of the first head cantor, Salomon Sulzer, while at the same time appealing to more young people: "I was convinced that the task of the head cantor must be to win over the congregation." To do this, however, it was necessary to respond to people's needs in musical terms as well.

Barzilai decided to choose music where the congregation could sing along and not just passively listen. This can also be heard at the cantor concerts in Seitenstettengasse, which are among the annual fixtures of the IKG. On the occasion of his 30th anniversary in Vienna, the head cantor organized this year's concert together with Shai Abramson, head cantor of the Israel Defense Forces.

Jewish children's choir

One of Barzilai's special concerns from the beginning was the founding of the Jewish Children's Choir: "The Children's Choir brings a lot of joy to families because the whole family has begun to sing these melodies." As a result of the children's choir, he said, the congregation's repertoire has changed as well. But above all, the children themselves have gained, Barzilai says: "They are more confident on stage now. That helps them when they want to become, for example, a rabbi or a professor or whatever in the future."

In principle, the choir is open to all Jewish children between the ages of seven and 14, Barzilai says - including girls: "We rehearse mixed here in my office and perform mixed at concerts." At services in the synagogue, however, only the boys would perform because men and women pray separately in the Vienna City Temple.

Of course, there are girls who would also like to sing in the choir at the synagogue, Barzilai says, but this is not possible because of religious laws and traditions. "But they still like to come to rehearsal, they feel at home here, and if I manage to organize concerts, they come along to that, too," Barzilai says.

Building bridges as a task

Working in the synagogue is very important to Barzilai, and yet he sees it as only part of his job: "When I perform, as an Austrian who comes from Israel and was commissioned by the Austrian government, I try to bring people together as a bridge builder."

His performances on behalf of the Austrian Cultural Forum have taken him from Europe, to the USA, to Australia, New Zealand, Russia and Israel. Due to his commitment as a cantor and singer, Barzilai was awarded the "Golden Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria" in 2017 and the "Golden Decoration of Merit of the State of Vienna" in 2018. As was emphasized in the tributes, for example by the then SPÖ Minister of Culture Thomas Drozda, Barzilai also "stands for the vibrant Jewish culture in Austria, which is part of Austria's cultural identity."

Performances every day for Hanukkah

A particularly intense time is the eight-day Hanukkah festival. Every year, Jews commemorate the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem over 2000 years ago. The eight Hanukkah candles are lit every day.

Barzilai performs every day during Hanukkah. He sings with the children's choir at the Mayor of Vienna on Monday. A cantorial concert will be held in Budapest on Tuesday. On Sunday, Hanukkah candles will be lit in downtown Vienna at the "Stick in the Iron" for the whole city, Barzilai tells us.

"Doing good"

Among the many tasks of a senior cantor, he says, is to foster togetherness in the Jewish community - no small task in Vienna, given the diversity of the Jewish community. Strictly observant Jews are just as much a part of the community as secular lifers.

"I try not to change anyone," says Barzilai: "Everyone with their direction, with their traditions is right. I accept everyone regardless of their faith and tradition." But it is also important to him, he said, that no one tries to change him. In his estimation, togetherness works: "We live very well together and try to do good." He wants to continue that in this way in the future, he said.

Irene Klissenbauer, religion.ORF.at

"Sieg Haider": 30 Years Ago the Jewish Cemetery in Eisenstadt was Desecrated

Der Standard, December 18, 2022

German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000141741578/sieg-haider-vor-30-jahren-wurde-der-juedische-friedhof-in

The act burst into a politically enormously charged time - Beforehand, the then leader of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), Joerg Haider, announced an anti-foreigner petition for referendum.

The act caused worldwide disgust and headlines. On the night of October 31, 1992, two men daubed 88 gravestones at the Jewish cemetery in Eisenstadt. In addition to Stars of David, swastikas and SS runes, Nazi slogans and statements such as "Hitler many forget", "Jews out", "Sieg Heil", "Saujude" and "NSADP" were sprayed. On one gravestone, the perpetrators wrote "Sieg Haider", a tribute to the then FPÖ party leader Jörg Haider.

On a gravestone, the two men left a kind of confession letter, in which they called the "carcass sites" of the "monkeys" "intolerable". The letter ended with the sentence: "In this way we would like to send an Aryan greeting to our role model Jörg Haider. HEIL HAIDER Racial Socialist Aryan Resistance Movement (R.A.W.)."

Anti-Foreigner Referendum "Austria First”

In response, thousands demonstrated in Vienna against right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism. The act burst into a politically highly charged time. Haider constantly made headlines with his provocations and campaigns, in the then powerful daily newspaper Kronen Zeitung, for example, which supported the politician sympathetically. The highlight was the announcement of the anti-foreigner referendum "Austria First.”

Civil society actors reacted to this xenophobic campaign by founding the human rights organization SOS-Mitmensch. Only a few weeks after its founding, the sea of lights against the FPÖ referendum took place in January 1993. Up to 300,000 people took to the streets in Vienna and other Austrian cities to send a signal against racism. The referendum was supported by only 416,531 people and thus fell short of expectations.

Shortly thereafter, Heide Schmidt, then deputy party chairwoman, resigned from the FPÖ and founded the Liberal Forum with four other FPÖ mandataries. They no longer wanted to support Haider's course.

The FPÖ in the Role of the Victim

The FPÖ reacted to the desecration of the Jewish cemetery according to a tried and tested pattern. It condemned the act and made itself the victim. "Left-wing provocateurs" were behind the act in order to harm Haider, it was said at the time.

In fact, one of the perpetrators was investigated in 1996, and because of this he was legally sentenced to four years in prison by a Wiener Neustadt jury for Nazi re-enactment in the same year. "I only took part in order not to lose my only friend," he explained at the trial.

Perpetrators Were Active With the FPÖ

He and his friend were neo-Nazis and active with the FPÖ. However, the alleged main perpetrator, Wilhelm Christian A., was able to escape abroad after the arrest of his accomplice. In 2002, the Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) tracked down the man through his activities on the Internet. A. had absconded to South Africa, where he made a living as a casual laborer and ran a homepage. In 2003, he ended his escape and returned to Austria after being granted safe conduct on the instructions of the Ministry of Justice. A year later, he was sentenced to three years' unconditional imprisonment.

"Stimulatory Tactics of the FPÖ Against Foreigners"

It was already known beforehand that the two cemetery desecrators were active in the FPÖ. Former state secretary and FPÖ deputy Karl Schweitzer had once brought A. to the party’s youth organization RFJ and to the second place on the list in the municipal council election in Stadtschlaining. The accomplice was also active in the RFJ. At his trial, A. explained why the cemetery had been desecrated. According to the statement, the two perpetrators wanted to strengthen the FPÖ's "propaganda against foreigners" and gain "media attention." A. said that he had been a "member of the national camp" but not a "hardcore national socialist." The organization "RAW" (Racist Socialist Aryan Resistance) mentioned in the letter of confession had consisted only of him and his accomplice. The Jewish cemetery in Eisenstadt had been chosen as the location for the action because it was "very remote and without lighting." The fact that there were 88 graves that were desecrated was a "pure coincidence," said A. The number 88 is used in neo-Nazi circles as code for "Heil Hitler." (The eighth letter in the alphabet is H, 88 makes HH and stands for the Nazi salute).

Despite these obvious connections, the FPÖ stuck to its victim argument. The FPÖ politician at the time, Ewald Stadler, even claimed that A. had been deliberately infiltrated into the FPÖ by political opponents in order to harm it. An obviously far-fetched claim, which Stadler justified with the fact that A.'s father had been an ÖVP functionary.

In Court Because of alpen-donau.info

In 2011, A. hit the headlines again. He was arrested in the course of investigations into the neo-Nazi hate website alpen-donau.info, or "Adi" for short. The racist and anti-Semitic site was the mouthpiece of the far-right scene, advocating violence and threatening politicians and journalists. In 2014, in addition to A., neo-Nazi Gottfried Küssel and one of his closest companions were sentenced to prison.

In addition to A., however, other persons with (partly former) FPÖ backgrounds appear in the investigations surrounding the Alpen-Donau complex. Two of them were employees in the Freedom Party parliamentary club and participated in events advertised on "alpen-donau.info". Another was an RFJ functionary in Villach, Carinthia. His father worked for the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism until 2010, as the newspaper "Die Presse" wrote. And an FPÖ member of parliament supplied "alpen-donau.info" with material.

At the Cradle of the Identitarians

The investigations against those behind the website were at the cradle of a new grouping that first appeared in Austria in 2012. A companion of Küssel broke new ground and has since become the mastermind and face of the Identitarians: Martin Sellner. (Markus Sulzbacher, 12/18/2022)

Austrian Armed Forces’ cooperation with Mauthausen Memorial extended

ORF, December 12, 2022

German original: https://steiermark.orf.at/stories/3186054/

On the occasion of Human Rights Day on December 10, the cooperation agreement between the Austrian Armed Forces and the Mauthausen Memorial, which has been in place since 2021, was extended by five years. The agreement was signed on Monday.

Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) and the director of the Mauthausen Memorial, Barbara Glück, signed the agreement on Monday during the annual commemoration ceremony at the Belgier Barracks in Graz.

Creating historical awareness

"The struggle for human rights - that is seen currently as it has not been for decades - never ends. The events of the dark period of Nazi terror must never be forgotten," Tanner said in her speech.

The cooperation with the Mauthausen Memorial is intended to create historical awareness, especially among basic and cadre soldiers in training and further education: "This cooperation is an important contribution to the national and European strategy against anti-Semitism, racism, and totalitarianism. Historical sites are actively included in the training of our soldiers in order to remember, raise historical awareness, and strengthen democratic values," she explained.

Content is constantly being developed

To this end, the National Defense Academy, the Theresian Military Academy, the Army NCO Academy and individual units of the Austrian Armed Forces will also be involved. The contents of the agreement are in a state of constant development. Basic military personnel are to visit places of remembrance and receive all important information related to them, the defense minister told APA. Director Glück also emphasized the importance of the cooperation: "Educational work is the most sustainable form of commemoration of our time."

Memorial grove

The memorial grove in the Belgian Barracks was chosen as the location for the signing of the contract. In a research project at the University of Graz commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Defense and Sports in 2008, the crimes of the "SS Barracks Wetzelsdorf" were reassessed. After completion of the project in 2011, the memorial grove was erected in the Belgians' Barracks. More than 200 people were murdered there in 1945 by the Gestapo and Waffen-SS and subsequently buried in bomb craters inside the barracks and in a mass grave at the nearby Feliferhof. Those murdered were various groups of victims, including Hungarian Jewish forced laborers on the death marches to the Mauthausen concentration camp, prisoners of war, and Austrian resistance fighters. The persons involved in the crime were never prosecuted.

"Space for remembrance"

Today, the Feliferhof is still used as a firing range by the Austrian Army. "It is important that one is also always aware of this historical responsibility, not only when it comes to the question of the use of it, but also creates an appropriate space for commemoration," Tanner said in an APA interview. The memorial sites of the Belgier barracks and the Feliferhof are not open to the public, but can be visited on selected days, for example during a performance show.

People & Powers: Ruth Maier-the Anne Frank of Austria

ORF, December 7, 2022

German original: https://tv.orf.at/program/orf2/menschenma176.html

Martina Ebm reads from Ruth Maier's diaries in new documentary

Her diaries are part of UNESCO's “Memory of the World” documentary heritage. In her native Austria, however, she is hardly known: Ruth Maier, born into a Jewish family in Vienna in 1920, meticulously wrote diaries - about her private situation, but also about political developments in Austria before and after the invasion of German troops. She also wrote about her flight to Norway in 1939 and her time as a stranger and refugee. The entries end only shortly before her deportation to Auschwitz, where she was gassed on December 1, 1942. These are subtle and analytical observations of an extraordinarily sensitive and gifted young woman. It is no coincidence that Ruth Maier is often called the "Anne Frank of Austria" today.

Robert Gokl, creator of the "Menschen & Mächte" (People and Powers) documentary "Ruth Maier - die Anne Frank von Österreich" (Ruth Maier - the Anne Frank of Austria) followed Ruth Maier's path through Vienna and Norway. He and his camera team were accompanied by the well-known actress Martina Ebm, who reads from Ruth Maier's diaries. Ebm captures with a high level of acting sensitivity those moods that Ruth put down on paper.

Robert Gokl: "Her dedication, her team spirit and her intensive study of Ruth Maier's diaries have made Martina Ebm a stroke of luck for this documentary."

Martina Ebm: "I can easily put myself in Ruth Maier's place as a teenager, because I too was passionate about writing diaries at that age. The deep pain and loneliness as a result of her flight to Norway, which permeate the later diaries, I can only imagine as someone born later. Ruth lost everything that was dear to her in Vienna, while I live in safety. And in the end Ruth lost the most precious thing, her life. Her parting words reveal that she knows what is in store for her. This film gives voice to one who has been silenced. We must not stop dealing with the crimes of the Nazi regime, because they make us realize that we must act courageously where injustice occurs."

"I see the diary as if it were my friend."

From the age of twelve, Ruth Maier shared everything that concerned her with this friend, privately in her development from schoolgirl to adult woman, politically in her critical view of political and social developments, beginning with the civil war in Austria in February 1934.

Ruth's father was a social democrat and trade union official, so her political stance was left-wing from her youth. Her Jewish background, on the other hand, had no significance in the family, especially not a religious one. Only the invasion of German troops in March 1938 and the subsequent violence against Jews, including a pogrom in November 1938, changed that: "Yesterday was the most horrible day I have ever experienced!" she writes one day after her 18th birthday. It is November 10, 1938, the day of the November pogrom. And: "I am becoming a conscious Jew. I feel it. I can't help it."

Escape to "foreign Norway" for the time being

Already too old for a place on a Kindertransport, Ruth Maier is lucky enough to be able to flee to a host family in Norway in January 1939. There she wants to take her school-leaving exams and then continue on to her family, which has been able to flee to England. But one month before the Matura, the Wehrmacht marches into Norway. Ruth notes in her diary: "Now again. No difference. I am alone."

As a Jewish refugee, Ruth Maier is able to live without restrictions and self-determined, at least initially, even under German occupation. She does not experience violent and murderous anti-Semitism among the Norwegian population as she did in Vienna.

She secures her livelihood by volunteering for labor service several times. In one of these camps she meets Gunvor Hofmo, whose family has joined the communist resistance. The two young women fall in love and begin a relationship that lasts until Ruth Maier's deportation.

Ruth is arrested at the end of November 1942

In the port of Oslo, Ruth Maier is able to smuggle one last message to Gunvor Hofmo from the deportation ship "Donau": "I believe that it is good the way it has come. Why should we not suffer when there is so much suffering? Do not worry about me. I might not want to change places with you."

After Ruth Maier's murder, her diaries remained with Gunvor Hofmo and unknown to the public for more than half a century. Hofmo did become an important Norwegian writer after World War II, but her attempts to publish the diaries failed.

After Hofmo's death in 1997, Norwegian writer Jan Erik Vold found them in her estate and published them in 2007, and to date they have been published worldwide in more than ten languages. The impact of Ruth Maier's depiction of Norwegian society between collaboration with and resistance against the Nazi occupation was so lasting that, on Norwegian initiative, her diaries have been part of the World Document Heritage since 2014.

"Ruth Maier - the Anne Frank of Austria" was produced by ORF and sponsored by VGR (Verwertungsgesellschaft Rundfunk).

Exhibition at the Jewish Museum: Yentl, the Nanny and the Hitler Carpet

Der Standard, November 29, 2022

German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000141338835/yentl-die-nanny-und-der-hitler-teppich

Exhibition "100 Misconceptions about and among Jews" uses humor to dispel clichés and prejudices. New director Staudinger: "Museum is a political place".

Colette M. Schmidt

"Hi Jewboy," it calls out to you in red letters painted on a light blue rectangle. It is one of several paintings by American artist Cary Leibowitz on view in the exhibition 100 Misunderstandings About and Among Jews at the Jewish Museum Vienna. And it points out one of the many misunderstandings right at the beginning of the show: Jew is not a swear word, you don't have to describe it as "Jewish fellow citizens," you can simply call Jews by their names.

Wit with depth

In the exhibition, the new director of the house, Barbara Staudinger, together with her team around chief curator Hannes Sulzenbacher, gets to the heart of the matter with a lot of wit and depth, and also begins to sweep at her own door. The name of the building in Dorotheergasse, Palais Eskeles, is not a historical one, but an art name once invented by the museum to recall Jewish salons. However, the family of the same name owned the house only briefly.

Jewish museums in particular, one learns in the exhibition, have solidified many of the common clichés about Judaism right up to the present. Philosemites, those people who automatically classify everything that is Jewish as special and good, are also taken for a ride here.

No, not all Jews are intellectuals and artists, no, Yentl was not a documentary about an eastern Polish shtetl, but a Hollywood ham. Andy Warhol's portraits of intellectuals such as Franz Kafka, Sigmund Freud or Albert Einstein illustrate this, as does a station about the legendary film with Barbra Streisand and its reception.

Staudinger wants to open the house to a discourse that is not afraid to look behind clichés. "For us, a museum is a political place," Staudinger says. There will also be regular debate evenings at the museum.

Faux leopard skin

But back to the exhibit. Religious myths, such as the various messiahs that have appeared throughout history, are discussed, as are pop culture figures who have shaped the public image: An original costume with short skirt and faux leopard skin by Fran "The Nanny" Drescher can be found, as well as the original baseball bat from Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. The latter leans, not coincidentally, in a corner with artworks that deal with the involuntary victimhood of Jews since the Shoah. A neon sign on the wall reads "Endsieger sind trotzdem wir" - the work by Sophie Lillie and Arye Wachsmuth uses the Nazi word "Endsieg" on the one hand, while on the other it plays with a quote by the artist Heinrich Sussmann, who also meant his own survival in the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Hitler as bedside rug

Beneath the illuminated lettering lies a graying Hitler as a fireside rug. Hitler Rug is the name of this work by Boaz Arad, who died in 2018. Here, too, a misunderstanding is to be cleared up: The biblical quote "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" does not call for revenge; it is meant to limit damage.

Anyone who wants to know more about misconceptions, for example about Jewish sexuality, circumcision, the Mossad or ritual murders, should visit the exhibition. If you don't have a Jewish granny yourself, you can at least have your picture taken for a selfie with a Jewish background: either in front of a family photo wallpaper, a Hakoah team or migrants on a ship off New York.

Is Everything Jewish Sad?

Die Presse, November 28, 2022

German original: https://www.diepresse.com/6221211/ist-alles-juedische-traurig

Is everything Jewish sad? The Jewish Museum Vienna is clearing up 100 misconceptions with an exhibition.

He was not yet 20 years old, but already an international pop star, when Justin Bieber visited the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam in 2013. Like many others, he signed the guest book. His entry, however, led to an outcry of indignation in the media at the time: "It was really inspiring to be able to be here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a Belieber ( note "Bieber fan")." The unanimous criticism of it: indecent, tasteless, tactless had been this entry.

In contrast, pop colleague Beyoncé's visit the following year was exemplary: she appeared in an inexpensive and understated pantsuit, wrote a respectful message in the guestbook and disappeared with her family without much media hype. She posted only one photo of her and her outfit at the Anne Frank House on Instagram. 45 minutes later, the suit from Topshop was sold out. So she had done everything right, showing the public how to behave as a celebrity in a memorial.

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"It's not only prejudices that make it difficult for majority and minority societies - in this case, non-Jews and Jews - to live together, it's also kitsch, romanticizations and misunderstandings that stand in the way of our togetherness," says Hannes Sulzenbacher, chief curator of the Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna, describing the starting point of the exhibition "100 Misconceptions About and Among Jews." One of these collective misconceptions is that "remembrance of the Holocaust must be discreet." This misconception is reified in the context of the exhibition by means of a work by the English artist Simon Fujiwara, "What Beyoncé wore to the Anne Frank House," for which he made a replica of the infamous pantsuit.

"The reception of these celebrity visits was no longer about Anne Frank or memorial culture, it was about perfect self-dramatization. About what I must wear and what is proper when I visit a memorial," Sulzenbacher says. A drumbeat. The exhibition, which will be on view beginning in late November, will also set the new tone for the museum's programming. Barbara Staudinger took over as director of the museum in July, and Hannes Sulzenbacher also took up his position as chief curator with her. "We are starting with a loud, provocative and cheeky exhibition that should also be noticed," says Sulzenbacher. The two came up with the concept and idea together, and the entire eight-person team at the museum curated it.

"Even clichés that are well-meaning make a conversation at eye level almost impossible. Many people don't even dare to refer to Jews as such any more, and they switch to 'Jewish people'. In the end, they remain only a projection surface, not a normal counterpart, always a "non-us, something foreign," according to Sulzenbacher. The Jewish Museum is now presenting an exhibition with a great deal of humor, irony and parodic elements, which is intended to challenge stereotypes. In a joint brainstorming session, the curating team collected a list of 100 misconceptions that Jewish people encounter in everyday life.

For example, "All Jews are smart thinkers or Nobel Prize winners," "As victims of discrimination and expulsion, Jews are better people," or "Everything Jewish is sad." Each thought is hung on a work of art, a historical object or simply "junk." The loans come from museums and private collections in Israel, the USA and Europe.

Ambiguous symbolism

One does not shy away from laughing at oneself. This can be seen particularly well in a cast-iron stove exhibited under the misconception that "the hexagram is an exclusively Jewish symbol". Historically, the Star of David was linked to the Jewish religion only very late, earlier it was also a symbol that was supposed to provide protection against demons; the South German brewers of the Middle Ages, in turn, used it as a guild sign.

The exhibited stove has the symbol engraved on its front and has been exhibited twice in the past in this museum as a Jewish object. Now, however, it turned out that although the stove comes from a prominent address in Leopoldstadt, the hexagram in this case was meant to represent a magical sign of protection against fire, not a religious symbol. "For me, this is an important point: we are part of this narrative.

Jews and Jewish museums in particular often contribute to perpetuating clichés and romanticization," says Sulzenbacher.

The exhibition is intended for all those who also want to have something to laugh about in a Jewish museum. By no means, however, should that mean that future exhibitions can't strike a more serious tone. "I see the mission of this museum as intervening in society with its themes and taking up political issues of the present day; at least that is my professional motivation," says Sulzenbacher. So the program preview can be awaited with excitement.

Info

"100 Misconceptions About and Among Jews." The exhibition opens on November 30 at the Jewish Museum Vienna.

Deutsch Holds Mandates in the IKG Vienna

Tiroler Tageszeitung, November 26, 2022
German original: https://www.tt.com/artikel/30838726/deutsch-haelt-mandate-in-der-ikg-wien

The Jewish Community (IKG) Vienna elected its new board on Sunday. The ATID list of incumbent president Oskar Deutsch was able to retain its eight mandates in the 24-member body. In second place is the grouping Sefardim-Bucharic Jews (VBJ), which now holds seven seats with an increase of one mandate.

There are around 5,500 Jews eligible to vote in the IKG Vienna, and 3,308 votes were ultimately cast. The elections took place on three days in November, the main election day was Sunday. The religious group Kehille also gained one mandate, while the List Chaj - Jewish Life of ÖVP National Council member Martin Engelberg and the Orthodox List Khal Israel each lost one mandate.

Board elections are held every five years at the IKG Vienna, most recently on Nov. 19, 2017, when ATID received eight mandates; at the constituent meeting of the board, Deutsch, who formed a coalition with four other lists, came in with 22 votes.

Number of anti-Semitic Incidents Down Significantly

APA, Wiener Zeitung, November 3, 2022

German original: https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/chronik/oesterreich/2166712-Zahl-antisemitischer-Vorfaelle-deutlich-gesunken.html

From January 1, 2022 to June 30, 2022, a total of 381 anti-Semitic incidents were reported to the Anti-Semitism Reporting Office of the Jewish Community Vienna (IKG). Compared to the same period of the previous year (562), this is a decrease of 32 percent. This decrease is mainly due to the decrease in anti-Semitic incidents related to Corona, according to a report published on Thursday. A higher number of unreported cases can be assumed.

At 219 reports, the majority of incidents involved "hurtful behavior," followed by 82 mass letters, 61 reports of property damage, 12 threats and seven attacks. Most incidents were reported in January (91), after which the number dropped to between 50 and 60 reports per month. The number flared up again in May (72) which the report said was due to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Of the 381 reported incidents, 66 were related to the Covid 19 pandemic. Ninety-six involved Shoah relativization, 123 times Israel-related anti-Semitism, and 56 times anti-Semitic conspiracy myths prompted a report to the ICG.

More right-wing than left-wing incidents

316 cases could be clearly assigned ideologically, according to the report. More than half (201) of the incidents had come from the political right, 81 from the "left," and 34 were "Muslim." Muslim-motivated perpetrators predominated, especially in the case of attacks and threats, while discrimination from the right prevailed in the case of damage to property and hurtful behavior.

"The decrease in the total number of reported incidents is encouraging. However, a closer look reveals particular problems, as the number of threats and physical assaults remains at the high level of the previous year. However, we now see that the center of society is taking the threat of anti-Semitism seriously and is providing important impetus to reverse the trend. Therefore, we will continue to work with all partners in civil society, authorities and politics to further push back anti-Semitism in Austria," commented IKG President Oskar Deutsch on the report.

Benjamin Nägele, Head of the Reporting Office and Secretary General of the IKG Vienna, assesses the lower number of reported attacks as a result of political measures. However, the overrepresentation of verbal and physical assaults against - as Jewish recognizable - children and young people is still conspicuous and disturbing. (apa)

Memorial March "Light of Hope": Lights against Forgetting

ORF (online), November 7, 2022

With "Lights of Hope" the November pogroms will be commemorated on Wednesday evening in the center of Vienna. The "Light of Hope" commemorative march has been organized since 2012 by the Youth Commission of the Jewish Community (IKG) Vienna.

The Lights of Hope are the centerpiece of the commemorative march, to which the Jewish youth, invites all interested people - Jewish or not, young or old - to remember the victims of National Socialism. The words "never forget" are at the heart of the event.

The young generation wants to show how important it is to maintain the chain of generations, according to the statement on the website of the IKG Vienna. The commemoration of the Nazi era and its victims is not only part of Jewish culture, but a task and responsibility of the entire civil society.

With the destruction of Jewish synagogues and houses organized by the Nazi regime throughout the German Reich, as well as the mistreatment of countless Jewish fellow human beings, those atrocities began in 1938 that ultimately led to the murder and extermination of the Jews in Europe.

Public Event to Set an Example

"Light of Hope" began as an internal event of the Jewish community of Vienna and has grown in recent years, according to the IKG Vienna. In 2016, it was decided to open the commemorative march and subsequent rally to the public for the first time, it said.

The reason for this was NS-glorifying and anti-Semitic postings by functionaries of the ÖVP-affiliated (ÖVP – Austrian People’s Party) action group at the Vienna Juridicum. In the course of the ÖH (ÖH - Austrian Students’ Association) election campaign in 2017, it became known that such postings were shared in Whatsapp and Facebook groups. As a result, the Dean of the Juridicum, Paul Oberhammer, and the Rector of the University of Vienna, Heinz Engl, took part in the "Light of Hope" rally to send a signal against anti-Semitism at the Juridicum.

Growing Interest

Since participation in the memorial march has been open to all, the IKG Vienna has recorded growing participation and greater media interest. In the commemorative year 2018, the march counted about 2,500 participants.

In 2020 and 2021, the Light of Hope march had to take place virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, the commemorative march will be celebrated in-person as usual. It will start at 19:00 at Heldenplatz, at the entrance to the "House of History". The final rally of the memorial march will be held at Judenplatz.

Kaddish in Salzburg

In Salzburg, commemorative ceremonies will be held on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Alter Markt and at 7 p.m. at the Kollegienkirche. Jewish and Christian believers will gather there for a Kaddish (a prayer of remembrance). Pupils, students, artists, and teaching staff are also expected to join in an interfaith fellowship to give a face to the memory of the living and the dead, according to a release from the Catholic University Community of Salzburg.