Author: Beller, Steven

Source: Austrian Studies, Volume 16, Number 1, 1 December 2008 , pp. 19-31(13)

Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association

Abstract:

The causes and character of Jewish participation in the modern culture of Vienna 1900 can only be fully understood if the transformation of Jewish identity in the previous period is recognized. A modern, liberal Jewish identity was forged and then articulated in journals such as Die Neuzeit in the 1860s and 1870s. Jews also encountered both the opportunities and the problems of modernity long before 1890, especially as concerns nationalism and anti-Semitism. New Jewish responses to the emerging crisis in the assimilation, as found in journals such as Die Österreichische Wochenschrift, still, however, reflected the thinking of the earlier, liberal version of Judaism.

German
Die Ursachen und die Art des jüdischen Beitrags zur Kultur der Moderne des Wiens um 1900 können nur verstanden werden, wenn man die in den vorhergehenden Jahrzehnten vollzogene Wandlung der jüdischen Identität begreift. Eine moderne, liberale jüdische Identität formierte sich in den 1860er und 1870er Jahren und fand ihren Ausdruck in Zeitschriften wie der Neuzeit. Lange vor 1890 wurden den Juden Wiens sowohl die Möglichkeiten als auch die Probleme der Moderne deutlich vor Augen geführt, insbesondere was den Nationalismus und Antisemitismus angeht. Neue jüdische Antworten auf diese wachsende Krise der Assimilation, wie sie in Zeitschriften wie der Österreichischen Wochenschrift zu finden waren, spiegelten letztlich auch nur die Denkweise der früheren, modern-liberalen Deutung des Judentums wieder.

Keywords: Vienna 1900; modern; liberal Jewish identity; Die Neuzeit; 1860s and 1870s; nationalism; anti-Semitism; Die Österreichische Wochenschrift; Wiens um 1900; moderne; liberale jüdische Identität; 1860er und 1870er; Neuzeit; Nationalismus; Antisemitismus; Österreichischen Wochenschrift

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Washington, DC

Publication date: 2008-12-01

More about this publication?

• Austrian Studies is an annual journal reflecting sustained interest in the distinctive cultural traditions of the Habsburg Empire and the Austrian Republic. By publishing a wide range of articles in English, together with a selection of book reviews, it aims to make recent research accessible to a broadly based international readership.
  
  The focus is on Austrian culture from 1750 to the present. Literature is considered in relation to psychology, philosophy, political theory, music, theatre, film, and the visual arts. 'Austrian' includes German-language culture of former areas of the Habsburg Empire, such as Prague and the Bukovina, as well as the work of people of Austrian origin living abroad. Austrian interactions with other linguistic and ethnic groups -- the Jewish communities of Austria-Hungary, for example -- are also taken into account.
  
  Each volume of Austrian Studies has a coherent but broadly conceived theme, and reviews of the most important recent publications in the field of Austrian studies. Each volume also includes a number of substantial review essays devoted either to keeping readers up to date with major cultural debates and events, or to areas of scholarship in which activity has been particularly intense.

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