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Vienna & Its Jews
Traces the history of the Jewish community in Vienna, assesses the extent of Austrian anti-Semitism, and explains why the Jews were so fond of pre-World War I Vienna
460 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 13, 2021
George E. Berkley, Vienna and Its Jews, Abt Books, Madison Books, 1988
I finally opened this book that came into my possession more than twenty-five years ago from my parents’ home in upstate New York. What was remarkable when I pulled the book off my book shelf a few weeks ago after avoiding it for all those years was that my mother put her bookplate on the inside front cover. I wonder if she did this before she read the book? My reasoning is that you only put your bookplate on books you wish to retain in your personal library. I wonder if she read it since it would have been very troubling for her to relive the years of her youth. She was born in Vienna in 1916 and left in 1938 as a result of the Anschluss, Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria.
Clearly, she knew much of the story told by Berkley—maybe not all the details from the late 19th century, but the broad outline was surely known to her. That said, here’s what you might want to know about Vienna and Its Jews, The Tragedy of Success, 1880-1980s.
Berkley covers one hundred years of history during which Vienna’s Jews achieved by the 1880s some measure of civil rights and economic success in Austria’s capital city. That was followed by the disaster of rampant anti-Semitism post World War One and the tragedy of the Nazi Holocaust. Jewish life post-World War II has been a mixed bag. The early years were dominated by denial of the past and sub-rosa anti-Semitism; the latter decades have seen the continued decline of Jewish population despite some in-migration and the re-emergence of some Jewish cultural institutions.
Although the Holocaust is mainly associated with Germany, Austrian culture and political affairs post-World War I were virulently anti-Semitic. The Jewish population suffered through these years by holding onto the belief that it was more talk than action.
Then, when freed of all constraints by the unification with Germany in 1938, the Austrian people were even more vicious and brutal towards its Jewish population than the Germans were.
George Berkley is to be commended for the thoroughness of his scholarhsip and for his writing style. He writes in a straightforward manner without adding emotional baggage, which readers of a subject like this one, must be thankful. In addition to the history he discusses possible reasons for the Austrians’ uncommon intolerance and brutality. He also asks and offers answers to the question such why the Viennese Jews loved a city so much that hated them so passionately? There are no easy answers to the questions he proses, but his discussion add to our knowledge and understanding of this difficult topic.
I finally opened this book that came into my possession more than twenty-five years ago from my parents’ home in upstate New York. What was remarkable when I pulled the book off my book shelf a few weeks ago after avoiding it for all those years was that my mother put her bookplate on the inside front cover. I wonder if she did this before she read the book? My reasoning is that you only put your bookplate on books you wish to retain in your personal library. I wonder if she read it since it would have been very troubling for her to relive the years of her youth. She was born in Vienna in 1916 and left in 1938 as a result of the Anschluss, Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria.
Clearly, she knew much of the story told by Berkley—maybe not all the details from the late 19th century, but the broad outline was surely known to her. That said, here’s what you might want to know about Vienna and Its Jews, The Tragedy of Success, 1880-1980s.
Berkley covers one hundred years of history during which Vienna’s Jews achieved by the 1880s some measure of civil rights and economic success in Austria’s capital city. That was followed by the disaster of rampant anti-Semitism post World War One and the tragedy of the Nazi Holocaust. Jewish life post-World War II has been a mixed bag. The early years were dominated by denial of the past and sub-rosa anti-Semitism; the latter decades have seen the continued decline of Jewish population despite some in-migration and the re-emergence of some Jewish cultural institutions.
Although the Holocaust is mainly associated with Germany, Austrian culture and political affairs post-World War I were virulently anti-Semitic. The Jewish population suffered through these years by holding onto the belief that it was more talk than action.
Then, when freed of all constraints by the unification with Germany in 1938, the Austrian people were even more vicious and brutal towards its Jewish population than the Germans were.
George Berkley is to be commended for the thoroughness of his scholarhsip and for his writing style. He writes in a straightforward manner without adding emotional baggage, which readers of a subject like this one, must be thankful. In addition to the history he discusses possible reasons for the Austrians’ uncommon intolerance and brutality. He also asks and offers answers to the question such why the Viennese Jews loved a city so much that hated them so passionately? There are no easy answers to the questions he proses, but his discussion add to our knowledge and understanding of this difficult topic.
January 2, 2018
This book took a very different approach to the Jewish experience in Vienna during the Holocaust than Exile and Destruction. While Schneider’s book was thoroughly researched, she lived through the events she writes about and thus her focus is more personal. Berkley’s book is somewhat broader: He attempts to evaluate how the Austrian experience differed from that of other European Jews and, as much as is possible, to understand why. Well written and very interesting.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews