Controversial Show at the Jewish Museum: If not Here in Vienna, Then Where?

Der Standard, January 27, 2023

German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000142956910/umstrittene-schau-im-juedischen-museum-wenn-nicht-hier-in-wien

The exhibition "100 Misunderstandings About and Among Jews" looks controversial topics straight in the eye. No topic is taboo. Bruno Kreisky would have been pleased with it

by David N. Myers

In guest commentary, U.S. historian David N. Myers defends the current exhibition at the Jewish Museum Vienna. He says it offers a "range of perspectives combined with a healthy dose of chutzpah."

On a recent visit to Vienna for a conference sponsored by the Kreisky Forum, I had the opportunity to see the thought-provoking exhibition 100 Misconceptions About and Among Jews at the Jewish Museum Vienna. I had to wonder what Bruno Kreisky would have thought of this exhibition. After all, he himself was a walking embodiment of misunderstandings, defying stereotypes. A Vienna-born Jew who fled the city after the Anschluss and returned. A man who became the head of government of the country that expelled him. A Jew of the generation for whom Zionism and support of Israel were natural, but who distinguished himself by his advocacy of the Palestinian cause.

As someone who defied stereotypes himself, Kreisky would have enjoyed the exhibition. 100 installations challenge the view of Jews - as uniformly smart, frail, staunch supporters of Israel or marked by a tragic past. In fact, Jews make up only 0.2 percent of the world's population. They represent a remarkably diverse group of individuals in terms of their religious, cultural, and political sensibilities. The only stereotype that could be incontestably true is the expression, "two Jews, three opinions."

Debunking Stereotypes

At the same time, Kreisky may have been surprised by parts of the 100 Misunderstandings. A work that aims to highlight misunderstandings and debunk stereotypes is, by definition, troubling. After all, it is the job of art to take us out of our comfort zone and force us to question our own prejudices. This applies equally to Jews and non-Jews, by the way, because as the exhibition shows, misconceptions about Jews are fabricated by non-Jews as well as Jews.

"If viewers are uncomfortable or shocked, the exhibit works as it should."

The exhibition looks controversial issues straight in the eye. The most harrowing of the exhibits for me was Australian artist Jane Korman's remarkable 2010 video titled Dancing Auschwitz. It shows her, her father (a Holocaust survivor), and their three children dancing to Gloria Gaynor's disco hit I Will Survive at sites of Nazi genocide. When I first saw this video, I was shocked. It breaks through the view that Auschwitz is sacred and exposes its cruel profanity in a most comical way. At the same time, the image of the multi-generational Jewish family dancing in Auschwitz conveyed for me, as a Jew, a sincere sense of triumph over the murderous hubris of the Nazis. To be honest, this is a work of art that can only work because it was produced by Jews. Only members of an in-group have the license to engage in such satire and humorous approach, and outsiders do not, all the more so in the case of the Holocaust.

Crossing Borders

Dancing Auschwitz is transgressive; so are many of the other exhibits. If viewers are uncomfortable or shocked, the exhibit works as it should. At its core is the distinctly human impulse to achieve some measure of normalcy, something that Jews were denied throughout their long history, particularly during World War II.

In a broader range of images, 100 Misunderstandings reflects the impulse to place Jews on a pedestal as objects of anthropological fascination. No subject is off-limits. Is this spirit of iconoclasm too transgressive for a sober and correct Vienna that wants to venerate Jews as part of its postwar penance? Most likely, yes.

Other Vienna

But there is another Vienna. It is important to remember that cultural iconoclasm and innovation are native to Jewish Vienna. There is the well-known list of Jewish innovators of the late 19th and 20th centuries, including Mahler, Schoenberg, Schnitzler, and of course Freud. Vienna was also home to the wickedly satirical Karl Kraus and his magazine Die Fackel, which spared no topic.

100 Misunderstandings recalls the tradition of iconoclasm and innovation for which Vienna was once famous. The exhibition has stirred controversy by featuring both challenging images and dissenting Jewish opinions. But it is this range of perspectives, combined with a healthy dose of chutzpah, that captures Jews as they live, in their manifold diversity, rather than in one-dimensional, monochromatic and idealized form, as they often appear to us in death. Vienna is a fitting and necessary setting for this bold exploration of the myth and reality of the Jew. If not here, then where? (David N. Myers, 1/27/2023)

David N. Myers is Distinguished Professor and holds the Sady and Ludwig Kahn Chair in Jewish History at UCLA in Los Angeles. He is the author of numerous books in the field of Jewish history, including most recently (with Nomi M. Stolzenberg) "American Shtetl: The Making of Kiryas Joel, a Hasidic Village in Upstate New York" (Princeton University Press, 2022).