Historian Porat: "Don't think statues should be torn down"

Der Standard, June 10, 2023
German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000173677/historikerin-porat-lueger-denkmal-finde-nicht-dass-statuen-abgerissen-werden-sollten

Israeli historian Dina Porat has been studying anti-Semitism for decades. In Vienna, she told how she would deal with Karl Lueger's legacy.

On the occasion of its 125th anniversary, the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) 2023 also looks back on the dark chapters of its past. At an event earlier this week, research results on members of the Hochschule für Welthandel, the predecessor institution of the University of Economics and Business Administration, who were expelled by the National Socialists were presented.

The awarding of honorary doctorates to individuals close to the Nazis was also examined in an extensive research project, and now a revocation has been announced: Walther Kastner (1902-1994), a longtime director of the Austrian Control Bank for Industry and Trade, was instrumental in the systematic "Aryanization" of Jewish businesses. WU revoked his award on Monday.

The fact that anti-Semitism was virulent in Austria long before 1938 was the topic of Israeli historian Dina Porat's lecture. The long-time chief historian of the Israeli memorial Yad Vashem spoke about Jewish life in Vienna from the end of the 19th century until 1938, a life between social acceptance and rejection. In an interview with the STANDARD, she pleaded for contextualizing problematic pasts without covering traces.

STANDARD: Ms. Porat, you have been researching Jewish life in Vienna in the decades before Nazi rule. How widespread was anti-Semitism in the imperial city at the beginning of the 20th century?

Porat: I have the impression that there was a kind of division in Viennese society from the end of the 19th century until the Anschluss. There were intellectual and cultural circles in which Jews were very prominently represented. They were a small minority in the population, but in intellectual life, in art and in science, they played leading roles and were recognized. At the same time, however, anti-Semitism grew as a reaction to the emancipation of the Jews.

STANDARD: In 1867, Emperor Franz Joseph had signed the Basic Law of the State, which meant legal equality for Jews after centuries of persecution and discrimination. Did that spur anti-Semitism?

Name: When Jews began to claim their civil rights and increasingly participate in society, to be involved, there was a backlash. Suddenly it was said: They're everywhere and taking over everything. On top of that came Karl Lueger ...

STANDARD: ... the mayor of Vienna from 1897 to 1910, who played politics with anti-Semitism.

Porat: Lueger was an avowed racist and anti-Semite who openly agitated against Jews. This went down well with parts of the population; as is well known, it also made a big impression on Hitler. He mentioned Lueger in Mein Kampf and said that he was a role model for him in terms of ideology and rhetoric. But Lueger also influenced someone else, in an entirely different way.

STANDARD: Who do you mean?

Porat: Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism. Herzl also lived in Vienna, and when Lueger was elected mayor, that was a sign for Herzl that the situation for Jews in Austria-Hungary was not stable. He wrote in his diary that the emancipation and civil rights of Jews in the Danube Monarchy were not secure and therefore another solution was needed. Lueger's success in Vienna thus had very different effects.

STANDARD: Lueger and his legacy continue to preoccupy Vienna to this day. His monument stands on the square named after him in the first district - for years there has been a dispute about how to deal with it. Just last week, the city announced that the controversial Lueger statue would be tilted 3.5 degrees to the right as part of an artistic contextualization. For some, that's not enough; they're calling for the square to be removed and renamed. In your view, what is the right way to deal with historically charged names and monuments?

Porat: I have thought a lot about this question. But I think you can't erase history and culture. I don't think statues should be torn down, I'm in favor of contextualization. A plaque that everyone can see, that explains everything: this is Karl Lueger, former mayor of Vienna, who propagated racist and anti-Semitic ideas. By the way, I see it the same way in art, in music. There, too, we encounter anti-Semitism in many facets.

STANDARD: How can anti-Semitism be contextualized in pieces of music?

Porat: Think, for example, of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion. It's great music, wonderful, but the text is tinged with Christian anti-Semitism. Should that no longer be performed? Of course not. But do you know what the Israeli Philharmonic does when they play the St. Matthew Passion? When they get to the worst passage, they stop playing briefly, it's quiet for half a minute, and then they go on.

STANDARD: Your lecture on the acceptance and rejection of Jews in early 20th century Vienna also deals with the writer and salonnière Berta Zuckerkandl. What fascinates you about her person?

Porat: Berta Zuckerkandl ran a Viennese salon until 1938, interrupted by the First World War. It was the salon par excellence, everyone was there - even though she only served tea. It was a cultural center; Auguste Rodin and Gustav Klimt met in Berta's salon, and the later Alma Mahler-Werfel met Gustav Mahler there. Berta was also a talented writer and a respected journalist. She also helped Austria enormously after World War I.

STANDARD: How so?

Porat: Berta had a sister, Sophie, and she married a brother of the French prime minister, Georges Clemenceau. When the war was over, Austria was in ruins: The monarchy had fallen, there was no more foreign investment, there was a lack of everything. The victorious powers were not ready to support Austria. In this situation, Austrian politicians approached Berta and asked her to use her contacts in France. She did: she wrote to Clemenceau, with whom she was closely connected. And he actually changed his attitude.

STANDARD: Then it became dangerous for Berta Zuckerkandl as a Jew in her hometown.

Porat: Despite everything she had done for Austria, she had to leave her Vienna in 1938. No one helped her here. She fled with the help of a French friend, but had to leave behind her large house full of works of art. The Nazis came two days later. There were paintings by Klimt in her Vienna house, but she died penniless. Klimt, by the way, painted Berta's cousin Amalie, the picture hangs today in the Vienna Belvedere. It was not restituted. (David Rennert, 10.6.2023)