THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Roots of Zionism, Anti-Semitism, Much More Discussed
Friday, January 18, 1980 23
Century's End, Decadence Sensationally Viewed in Vienna Volume
-
A city, a country, an era;
the calamitous and the
creative; the sensitive and
the venomous — many sub-
jects combine to offer the
historic cast of characters
provided by Prof. Carl E.
Schorske in "Fin-de-Siecle
Vienna" (Alfred A. Knopf).
A titular definition is ap-
parent in this unquestiona-
bly informative and chal-
lenging book. It not only
deals with the sensational
events and notable per-
sonalities at the end of the
last century, "fin-de-siecle,"
it also presents them in a
man:ier implying deca-
dence.
If a reviewer were merely
to list the names forming
the cast of characters ac-
tivated in this volume, it
would suffice as an historic
presentation. It does more.
It interprets.
Starting with Vienna's
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Mayor Victor Adler,
going down the line to
Richard Beer-Hofmann,
Ludwig von Beethoven,
Otto von Bismarck, Cap-
tain Alfred Dreyfus,
Theodor Herzl, Stefan
Zweig, Sigmund Freud,
Emperor Franz Joseph,
Baron Maurice de
Hirsch, the Rothschilds,
Hugo von Hofmannsthal,
William von Humboldt,
Ferdinand LaSalle, Gus-
tav Mahler, Friedrich
Nietzsche, Maurice
Ravel, Friedrich Schiller,
Arthur Schnitzler, Franz
Schubert, Oscar Wilde,
Emile Zola and scores of
others attest to the emi-
nent people and the era
under consideration.
Dr. Schorske, who is cur-
rently professor of history at
Princeton University, pro-
vides in his volume a study
of anti-Semitism. The lead-
ing Jew-baiters, who pro-
vided legacies for Adolf Hit-
ler, appear here in the uni-
forms of their army of hat-
ers.
Surprisingly, the author
included Zionism in the
form of opposition to Ger-
man liberalism because the
movement advocated a re-
turn to Zion.
While the author links
the emerging forces, equat-
ing the leaders of anti-
Semitic movements with
the Herzlian approach, this
analysis is worth studying:
"Other movements re-
sulting from the liberal
failure to bring the mas-
ses into the state repre-
sented a far more revolu-
tionary break from the
tradition of Austrian
liberalism and evoked a
more traumatic response
in the liberal community.
These movements were
Pan-Germanism, Chris-
tian Socialism, and — in
answer to both of these —
Zionism.
• • • • • • • • • • • •
composing ideological col-
lages — collages made of
fragments of modernity,
glimpses of futurity, and re-
surrected remnants of a
half-forgotten past. In lib-
eral eyes, these ideological
mosaics were mystifying
and repulsive, confounding
the 'above' with the 'below,'
the 'forward' with the
'backward.'
CARL SCHORSKE
"Against the dry, rational
politics of liberalism, the
powerful leaders of these
movements developed what
became known as "the
sharper key," a mode of
political behavior at once
more abrasive, more crea-
tive, and more satisfying to
the life of feeling than the
deliberative style of the lib-
erals.
"Two leading virtuosi of
the new key — Georg von
Schonerer of the Pan-
Germans and Karl Lueger
of the Christian SoCials —
became the inspirers and
political models of Adolf
Hitler. A third, Theodor
Herzl, pioneered in provid-
ing Hitler's victims with the
most appealing and power-
ful political response yet
devised to the gentile reign
of terror. Thus, even before
Vienna's intellectuals
blazed trails to the 20th
Century's higher culture,
three of her sons pioneered
in its post-rational politics.
"Schonerer, Lueger, and
Herzl all began their
careers as political liberals
and then apostasized to or-
ganize masses neglected or
rejected by liberalism in as-
cendancy . All possessed the
peculiar gift of answering
the social and spiritual
needs of their followers by
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"Yet each of these polit-
ical artists — Schonerer,
Lueger, and Herzl —
grasped a social-
psychological reality
which the liberal could
not see. Each expressed
in politics a rebellion
against reason and law
which soon became more
widespread. In their
manner of secession from
the liberal political tradi-
tion and in the form of the
challenge they posed to
its values, this triad of
politicians adumbrated a
concept of life and a
mode of action which,
transcending the purely
political, constituted part
of the wider cultural
revolution that ushered
in the 20th Century."
The references to Herzl
and his Zionist dreams and
aspirations are especially
noteworthy. The author
states:
"As the political founda-
tions of liberalism became
eroded and its social antici-
pations belied by events,
those committed to liberal
culture began to seek, new
foundations to save its most
cherished values. Among
them was Theodor Herzl
(1860-19041.
"He sought to realize a
liberal utopia for his people,
not on the rationalistic
premise of a Schmerling —
'Wissen macht frei (Knowl-
edge liberates)" —but out of
creative fancy, on the prem-
ise of desire, art, and the
dream: 'Wollen macht frei
(Desiring liberates).'
"In Zionism, Herzl con-
structed a fitting if ironi-
cal monument to the era
of liberal ascendancy
and a fitting sequel to the
awesome work of crea-
tive destruction which
Schonerer and Lueger
had begun."
A chapter on Freud is of
interest to psychiatrists and
to historians who will trace
the emerging contributions
of the eminent father of psy-
chiatry and his Jewish
interests.
To quote Dr. Schorske:
"Sigmund Freud, by fam-
ily background, conviction,
and ethnic affiliation, be-
longed to the group most
threatened by the new
forces: Viennese liberal
Jewry. Though not — or,
more accurately, no longer
— a political man, Freud
watched with anxious
interest the rise to power of
the New Right both in Au-
stria and abroad, especially
in the France of the Dreyfus
affair. Karl Lueger was his
bete noir: Emile Zola. the
novelist who championed
Dreyfus, his political hero.
"Freud needed no specifi-
cally political commitment
to make him feel the lash of
resurgent anti-Semitism; it
affected him where he was
already hurting — in his
professional life. Academic
promotions of Jews in the
medical faculty became
more difficult in the crisis
years after 1897.
"Freud reported in
ironically elliptical
bureaucratese the an-
swer another Jewish col-
league awaiting promo-
tion had elicited from a
high-placed official, that
'in view of the present
state of feeling, it was no
dpubt true that, for the
moment, His Excellency
(the minister of culture)
was not in a position etc.
etc. ... (to ignore) de-
nominational considera-
tions.' "
Thus, "Fin-de-Siecle Vie-
nna" sensationalizes a cen-
tury's end that really
marked new beginnings in
movements that continue to
influence mankind. Here is
a combination of genius and
decadence. The sum total is
brilliantly depicted in this
very scholarly work.
Soviet Emigres
Reach Record
High in 197gr,
NEW YORK JTA) —
Jewish emigration from the
Soviet Union reached a re-
cord high in 1979 with
51,300 persons arriving in
Vienna with Israeli entry
visas, according to Char-
lotte Jacobson, chairman of
the Soviet Jewry Research
Bureau of the National Con-
ference on Soviet Jewry
(NCSJ
The second largest
number of Jews — 34,733 —
emigrated from the USSR
in 1973. In 1978, more than
29,000 Jews left the Soviet
Union. Since 1971, when
significant numbers ofJews
were allowed to leave to join
family, about 227,000 Jews
have emigrated.
Of those who arrived in
Vienna, 17,200 proceeded
to Israel; 34,025 (66 per-
cent) preferred to settle
in other countries,
primarily in North
America, Mrs. Jacobson
reported.
Despite the overwhelm-
ing increase in emigration.
Mrs. Jacobson noted, a
slight decline in monthly
figures during November
and December (4.174 and
4.115. respectively) might
indicate foreshadowing of
future obstacles in the way
of emigration.
New Cult Tactic?,
NEW YORK — The Na-
tional Council of Young Is-
rael has issued a warning to
synagogues about the
possible infiltration of mis-
sionaries into their mem-
bership.
Young Israel reported
that a gentile woman, be-
lieved to be a member of the
Unification Church cult,
tried to become a member of
Young Israel of Boro Park.
Membership w as denied.