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Authors: Bruce F. Pauley

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From Prejudice to Persecution: A History of Austrian Anti-Semitism (56 page)

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Page 247

constituted Jewry, such unity was probably impossible. Moreover, at a time when class consciousness was particularly strong in Europe, the class divisions between Jews simply added to strongly differing opinions about religion and nationalism.

15

If anything, divisions between Austrian Jews may have been deeper than between Jews in other European countries. In Western Europe, especially England and Germany, assimilationist Jews were in the majority, although even there bitter rivalries existed. In Eastern and East Central Europe, on the other hand, Zionist and Orthodox Jews were prominent. In Austria assimilationists and Zionists met on fairly equal terms, at least in the IKG, rendering their rivalry all the more intense. Zionists were already an important minority in the 1920s, and by the beginning of 1933 they had taken control of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde in Vienna, the first such Zionist takeover in the world. In Germany, by contrast, nearly all Jews regarded themselves as highly patriotic and thoroughly assimilated, or were, at least, eager to become so. They also enjoyed the distinct advantage of having a leader in Leo Baeck, the leading rabbi of Berlin, whom nearly all Jewsliberal, Orthodox, and Zionistrespected. No leader with Baeck's universal prestige ever emerged in Austria, at least not in the interwar years.
16
At times when Austrian antiSemitism became particularly extreme there were some Jewish efforts to create a unified response, but they were never longlived or very effective. For example, in February 1923, when postwar antiSemitism was reaching a climax, an "Executive Committee of Austrian Jews" was created consisting of representatives of several different Jewish parties. The committee organized a rally to show that Jews were loyal to the republic. A few months later Unionists and Zionists managed to agree on an electoral coalition for the forthcoming municipal elections in order to help defend Jewish rights against the anti-Semitic wave sweeping over the country. However, this
Wahlgemeinschaft
managed to gain only 2.4 percent of the vote, even though Jews made up 10.8 percent of Vienna's population.
17
Probably the most impressive Jewish means of self-defense in interwar Austria, and also the most nonpartisan, was the Bund jüdischer Frontsoldaten or League of Jewish Front Soldiers. Far more militant and aggressive than the Unionists, Zionists, or Orthodox Jews, this organization was in some respects the successor to several early postwar self-defense organizations, the Stadtschutzwache (City Guard), the Selbstwehr (Self-Defense Force), and the Schutzkorps (Protection Corps).
18
None of these organizations apparently outlasted the anti-Semitic wave of the early postwar years. However, when antiSemitism revived a decade later,

 

Page 248

more militant and dangerous than before, three new defensive organizations were founded: the Zionist Jüdischer Wehrsport-und Schützenverein Haganah (Jewish Armed Sporting and Defense Association Haganah); the Jüdischer Schutzverband (Jewish Protection League), an umbrella organization to protect the Jewish population of Austria and to support Jewish sport and hiking clubs; and the Bund jüdischer Frontsoldaten, by far the largest and most important.

19

Founded in Vienna in the summer of 1932, shortly after the Austrian Nazis' great electoral victory in April, the organization's statutes declared that its purpose was "to protect the honor and respect of the Jews living in Austria."
20
Its program was likely inspired both by the older and larger Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten (National League of Jewish Front Soldiers) in Germany (though it was less political) and the Heimwehr in Austria.
21
Like the Heimwehr, at least in its heyday prior to 1930, the Bund was supposed to be
überparteilich
or nonpartisan. By deliberately avoiding partisan politics and emphasizing military virtues like discipline, obedience, and physical fitness, it hoped to overcome the chronic divisiveness of the Jewish community in Austria. Although only men who had actually served at the front could be regular members of the organization, other Jews who agreed with its goals could be extraordinary members. Starting in January 1933 it had its own newspaper,
Jüdische Front
, and by February 1934 it could boast having some eight thousand members in Vienna, Graz, Linz, and Baden bei Wienincluding both Zionists and assimilationistsmaking it the largest single Jewish organization in Austria apart from the Kultusgemeinde in Vienna.
22
The League of Jewish Front Soldiers was typical of many political organizations of interwar Austriathe Zionists, the Heimwehr, the Social Democrats, the Communists, and the National Socialistsin claiming to be a "movement of renewal." Hence, there were a myriad of subsidiary organizations like a Frauengruppe for women, a sports organization for youth, and a symphony orchestra for older adults. Young people would not only acquire military discipline but would also learn not to tolerate the insults of antiSemites.
23
Most of all, the Bund was a highly patriotic veterans' organization and partly a paramilitary formation dedicated to the preservation of Austrian independence. Its members proudly wore their military decorations well before Chancellor Dollfuss attempted to create a sense of Austrian identity. It shared the Heimwehr's love of uniforms, marching, roll calls, and admiration for military virtues. The Nazis were outraged that Bund members were allowed by the government to wear brown uniforms at a time when the NSDAP was prohibited.
24

 

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The Jewish Front Soldiers had a number of ways of defending Jews against antiSemitism. First, and perhaps foremost, it sought to provide physical protection against sometimes brutal Nazi attacks (although it was handicapped by having no special self-defense units within its ranks). Like the Union of Austrian Jews, it would respond to false accusations against Jews. Also resembling Unionist activities were direct complaints and open letters to high government officials about anti-Jewish violence at state institutions of higher learning or anti-Semitic speeches and publications. The Bund sometimes organized protest rallies as, for example, in January 1933 when two thousand members protested the pastoral letter of Bishop Johannes Gföllner of Linz.

25

The Bund jüdischer Frontsoldaten sought strength and encouragement from Christian veterans as well as from Jewish veterans in other countries. Letters from Christian officers testifying to the bravery and loyalty of Jewish soldiers during the war were published in
Jüdische Front
.
26
The Bund was also buttressed through its membership in the world organization of Jewish Front Fighters. The latter held its second annual meeting in Vienna in 1936without any of the violent protests that accompanied the Zionist Congress of 1925and elected Captain Edler von Friedmann, the leader of the Austrian chapter, as the president of the congress.
27
Although all the political and religious factions of Austria were painfully aware of their divisions and made frequent appeals for unity,
Jüdische Front
did so more insistently than any other Jewish group. Nevertheless, its many attempts to form a "unity front" with the Jewish parties all failed. Even its pleas for Jewish newspapers to stop attacking each other, for an indefinite postponement of the IKG election of 1936, and for Jews to stop complaining to non-Jews about internal Jewish problems were made in vain.
28
Still worse, the Bund was not even able to prevent divisiveness within its own ranks. In April 1934 its founder, Emil Sommer, together with his monarchist followers, broke away to form their own organization.
29
An entirely different approach to Jewish unity also achieved only limited success. As early as 1931 attempts were made by the various Jewish communities of Austria to form a
Gemeindebund
(federation) that would have enabled Jews to present a united front vis-à-vis the Austrian government when complaining about anti-Semitic acts. Proponents of such a federation thought that it would be more useful than parallel actions taken by different Jewish organizations. However, the most that was ever achieved was a voluntary
Arbeitsgemeinschaft
or working committee, which was formed in 1935. Even this modest organization was not all-inclusive, however, because the predominantly Orthodox Jewish communities in the Burgenland in eastern Austria pre-

 

Page 250
Emil Sommer, founder of the League of Jewish Front Soldiers.
Austrian National Library Picture Archive.

 

Page 251

ferred to remain in their own
Landessekretäriat
(state secretariat). The working committee had no political authority to do anything beyond making nonbinding resolutions. The president of the study group, Desider Friedmann, who was also the president of the IKG in Vienna, lamented, in a speech he gave to the Arbeitsgemeinschaft in November 1937, only four months before the Anschluss, that Austrian Jews were fighting each other and all claiming to be better Jews than the others because they were more religious, native, or patriotic.

30

Many Jews, especially those who were not Zionists, realized that, to defend themselves against antiSemitism, more was needed than a united front of Jews alone. As early as January 1920
Dr. Bloch's Wochenschrift
called on Jews to form a unity front with Christians against antiSemitism similar to one that had just been formed in Berlin. When antiSemitism revived again in the early 1930s,
Die Wahrheit
warned prophetically that "one day the Christian Socials will realize that the ghosts which they have conjured up cannot so easily be abolished. They will [learn] . . . that the Hitlerites will not be satisfied with taking over the Hochschulen, but will also want to take over the state, something that a good Catholic cannot really want. But then it will be too late." A few years later
Die Wahrheit
, commenting on recent articles in the
Reichspost
, said that if Catholics did not have the sense to realize that antiSemitism represented a common enemy to both Jews and Catholics they should at least stop complaining about Nazi attacks on the Catholic church while applauding attacks on Jews.
31
Christian Allies
Jewish appeals for Catholic cooperation did not go entirely unheeded. The
Wiener jüdisches Familienblatt
reported in February 1934 that the discussion about the Jewish question in Austria had made good progress during the previous year. In March 1935, the editor of the
Familienblatt
was invited to speak to a Catholic academic association about the Jewish question. At about the same time a Catholic biweekly magazine called
Die Erfüllung
(
The Fulfillment
) was founded, which was dedicated to bringing down the walls of misunderstanding between Jews and Christians, according to Cardinal Innitzer of Vienna. The publication was designed to acquaint Jews with the spirit of Jesus and Christians with the mission of Israel. It also spoke of the Godly clarity and human sublimity of the Bible and the wisdom and piety of the Talmud. It ridiculed the myth that the Jews formed a monolithic bloc bent on dominating
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