Rector of the University of Vienna: “We Must Prioritize the Safety of Our Jewish Students”

Der Standard, May 18, 2024

German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000220647/rektor-der-uni-wien-muessen-die-sicherheit-unserer-juedischen-studierenden-in-den-vordergrund-stellenInterview

Interview
Anna Giulia Fink, Oona Kroisleitner

Sebastian Schütze on the pro-Palestinian protests on campus, the rules of the discourse and hardened fronts

There is fierce debate and controversy at universities around the world. The protests for a quick end to the Gaza war began at universities in the USA. They have gradually spread throughout Europe - and have now even spilled over into Austria.

Activists recently camped out on the campus of the University of Vienna for three days to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people. Shortly after they pitched their tents on a meadow in the old general hospital on Alsergrund, hung up their banners and distributed flyers, the University of Vienna distanced itself from the protest. Two days later, the tent camp was cleared by the police.

The University of Vienna is the largest university in the country and has been headed by Sebastian Schütze as Rector since October 2022. It was his second occupation in his short time in office. Two years ago, hundreds of students occupied a lecture hall under the title “Earth is burning” - also on the grounds of the Old General Hospital. They demanded stricter measures in the fight against climate change.

Universities traditionally provide the framework for major social debates. But how much controversy does a university actually have to put up with? When can and when must the university management intervene? Who are the young people who claim to want to support the people in Gaza, but who others say are anti-Semites? In the STANDARD interview, Schütze explains the university's actions. Evictions, the ending of a protest by the university, are always only the “last resort”, he says.

STANDARD: The University of Vienna quickly distanced itself from the pro-Palestine camp. Nevertheless, it continued for a few days. How much protest does a university have to tolerate?

Schütze: A university must allow protest. That's why we always take a look first when something happens: What is it about? Who is involved? In which direction is it going? We did the same in this case. In the beginning, solidarity with Palestine was shown, but then it moved more and more in the direction of the intifada camp. Legitimate criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu's government or calling for solidarity with Palestine is of course fine. But if it goes in a direction that has anti-Semitic undertones, then that is not acceptable. As a university, we have to prioritize the safety of our Jewish students and staff.

STANDARD: The camp was based on the protests in the USA - also in its demands.

Schütze: The situation in the USA is completely different to that in Vienna. That also has something to do with our history. Regardless of that, a critical discussion doesn't start with banning things or, for example, canceling cooperation with Israeli universities or the Erasmus program with Israeli universities, as has been demanded. For me, that is the opposite of diversity of perspective. How do we want to remain in dialog if we no longer talk to each other and no longer ensure that people can see for themselves on the ground or come to us? That's the wrong approach. The call for a boycott of Israeli institutions is also one of the central demands of the BDS movement, which is clearly classified as anti-Semitic in Austria and Germany.

Various groups had called for the occupation of the Vienna campus, including the BDS movement mentioned by Schütze. The “Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions” movement is a loose international association that advocates a boycott of Israeli goods. Der Funke is also said to have been significantly involved in the campaign. The Trotskyist organization is repeatedly criticized for its positions on Israel. Among other things, it has called for an “intifada until victory”.

A group calling itself “Palestine Solidarity Encampment Vienna” raised demands on social media, while “Camp4Palestine” organized the day's programme on site. According to the police, around 100 people, some of them organized, others students or people who sympathized with their positions, followed the call at the beginning on 6 May. In the end, there were still around 40 when the police carried out the eviction on the night of May 9. Prior to this, the security authorities had identified a radicalization at the Altes AKH.

STANDARD: But how does the university actually decide that it has gone too far?

Schütze: Issues like this are highly complex and characterized by a great deal of sensitivity on all sides. That's why we took a close look at the camp. We also followed the international protest that started in the USA and is now taking place throughout Europe. At a university, freedom of expression is a very valuable asset - evicting or ending a protest can only ever be the last resort.

STANDARD: Where do you see the limits of freedom of expression at university?

Schütze: For me, the limits are reached when the freedom of one person comes into conflict with the rights and freedoms of others. We have a very open space for discourse at the university, which we want to maintain. However, this requires rules. For me, these are no longer respected when freedom of expression is used for positions that are openly racist, openly anti-Semitic, openly glorifying violence; or for positions that argue directly against the foundations of our democracy. It should be possible for us to have objective, fact-based discussions - even on controversial topics.

The worldwide demonstrations against the Israeli military operation in Gaza began immediately after it started. People also took to the streets in Austrian cities to demonstrate against Israel's reaction to the massacre by the terrorist organization Hamas on 7 October.

Universities soon became the centers of these demonstrations - especially those in the USA. From mid-April, tents were set up at Columbia University and Harvard, rooms were stormed and halls occupied. This was followed by the University of Amsterdam, the Science Po in Paris, the Technical University of Berlin and the British University of Oxford - to name just a few examples. And finally: Vienna.

However, the University of Vienna is not the first university in Austria to be affected by the issue. At the end of last year, a video made the rounds that was recorded by the representative body of Jewish students in Austria (Jüdische österreichische Hochschüler:innen, JöH) as part of a protest action. It showed a speaker calling for the Hamas attack to no longer be mentioned: It had never happened. The filming JöH president Alon Ishay was urged to leave. He stayed. In the end, he had a “constructive conversation” there, Ishay said later. The art university distanced itself and condemned the “completely unacceptable” scenes.

STANDARD: Why are these debates erupting like this at universities?

Schütze: Traditionally, there has always been a lot of space and freedom for discussion at universities. That's right, and it will stay that way. The responsibility is great, we are fully aware of that.

STANDARD: In other countries, debates at universities are much more radical than in Austria. Are you worried that this “culture war”, as it is called in the USA and Germany, for example, will also become tougher in Vienna?

Schütze: We have done a lot to ensure that it is possible to talk to each other in a reasonable way and that this hardening of fronts, which then culminates in a so-called culture war, does not occur. It must be the aspiration of a university to find common ground in discussions, even when there are opposing positions. That is the responsibility of the university and also of those who study or teach here.

STANDARD: What can universities do to counter the growing radicalization?

Schütze: Even a university does not exist in a vacuum. We operate within a larger discourse space that we can only influence to a limited extent. What we can do is work within the university to ensure that positions are discussed with objective arguments and that it is also allowed if someone has a different opinion. However, especially with the war in the Gaza Strip and criticism of Israel, we can see that this radicalization is taking place. We are therefore considering which formats are suitable for enabling dialog at the university.

The slogans that were already written on posters in other cities were also found on the banners in Vienna. Among other things, Israeli warfare was criticized and a ceasefire was called for. Many banners accused Israel of “genocide” - and the University of Vienna of “complicity” due to its cooperation with Israeli educational institutions. According to most international law experts, the accusation of systematic genocide is unfounded. In its response to South Africa's complaint, the International Court of Justice also did not declare genocide to be plausible, but that the Palestinians were entitled to protection from genocide.

Photos of banners with the inscription “Student Intifada Camp” also circulated on Twitter. The term “intifada” refers to the Palestinian uprisings against Israel that began in 1987 - initially against soldiers - and led to a wave of terrorist attacks against civilians from 2000 onwards. Since then, Hamas has repeatedly called for a new intifada - even after October 7.

Some condemn the protests against the Gaza war as an expression of hatred of Jews. Others see this as an attempt to discredit these voices. The fronts are hardening. However, this has not only been happening since the war in the Middle East flared up again. Opinions are already strongly divided on climate change, gender issues and measures in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Is this also dividing society?

STANDARD: What role do universities play in the overall social discourse and in the political structure?

Schütze: First of all, politicians are responsible for politics - this is a discourse space that is fundamentally different from ours. We have two different tasks with partly similar responsibilities and, if all goes well, similar intentions. For example, the university sees itself as having a very strong responsibility to promote democracy. But a university or academia has lost out if it gets involved in day-to-day business or allows itself to be taken over by certain political tendencies.

STANDARD: To what extent is it the task of a university to uphold and promote the rules of democracy?

Schütze: That is one of the central tasks of the university. Academically trained people contribute more knowledge and often also more commitment to civil society discussions, for example. This strengthens a democratic system. Education is one of the cornerstones of democracy and the preservation of democracy. This also includes a certain culture of discussion. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult in the wider political discourse. It is becoming more and more populist, less about the exchange of factual arguments and more about ideologies and confrontation. We will do everything we can to ensure that factual discussion can take place here, even on controversial topics, and hope that this will serve as a model for society.

A space of knowledge, fruitful exchange and progress - that is one view of the universities and the debates that students and lecturers conduct there. Another assessment is that the issues that universities, as well as the arts and cultural sector, deal with are increasingly elitist and unrealistic.

STANDARD: How great is the discrepancy between what is discussed at universities and what the general public is interested in?

Schütze: The two sides are not congruent and never will be. Nevertheless, universities make an important contribution to society - even with things that are not always immediately obvious what they are good for. It's about forming theories, developing new methods and discussing alternatives. One of the fundamental principles of science is I put forward a hypothesis in order to verify or falsify it. Falsifying it is also an important result because it makes the next step possible. Innovation and progress are based on this.

STANDARD: In the natural sciences, however, this process is often more comprehensible than in the humanities and social sciences.

Schütze: Let me give you an example: one of our major future topics that affects everyone is artificial intelligence. It is wrong to assume that it is enough to deal with the technology or the algorithms behind it. We also need to look at the ethical and legal issues that arise. We will not be able to tackle the topic without a social science perspective. And that applies to a great many topics. The same applies to climate change, for example.

STANDARD: Climate change, corona or genetic engineering, for example, are also topics where scientific skepticism is clearly evident.

Schütze: The debate about scientific scepticism must be conducted in a differentiated manner. It is true that it has increased or at least become more visible. But a large proportion of the population has also seen what science can achieve - for example in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. However, it is sometimes difficult to convey that it is part of the DNA of science to change your mind based on new findings.

Most of the courtyards on campus are now closed overnight due to “disruption and damage”. At least for the time being, this is to remain the case. The large courtyard where the demonstration took place and where several pubs are located will remain open. More security personnel are now patrolling there. (Anna Giulia Fink, Oona Kroisleitner, 18.5.2024)

Chancellor Spoke With Religious Representatives About Antisemitism

ORF (Austrian Public Broadcasting), May 14, 2024

German original: https://religion.orf.at/stories/3224996/

Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) invited religious representatives to a round table on Tuesday to discuss current issues. The effects of the Middle East conflict and the increasing number of antisemitic attacks were also discussed.

All participants agreed that the churches and religious communities in Austria will continue to work towards peaceful and safe religious coexistence, the Chancellery announced. The tenor of the meeting was that all believers, especially Jews in Austria, must be able to practice their faith without fear, celebrate masses and events together and wear religious symbols in public.

“Preventing extremism and terror”

“We must do everything we can together to prevent extremism and terror. Religion must not be misused by extremist ideologies - we stand firmly against this,” the Chancellor was quoted as saying in a press release.

In addition to Nehammer and Culture Minister Susanne Raab (ÖVP), the Roman Catholic Archbishop Franz Lackner, the Evangelical Lutheran Bishop Michael Chalupka, the Christian Orthodox Metropolitan Arsenios Kardamakis, President Ümit Vural of the Islamic Religious Community and the President of the Jewish Community of Vienna, Oskar Deutsch, took part in the meeting. A central topic was also the intensification of interfaith cooperation.

Van der Bellen: Not every criticism of Israel is antisemitism

Austria's Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen explained with regard to the Middle East conflict that not every criticism of the Israeli government can be identified as anti-Semitism. “I think the Israeli government makes it too easy for itself in some cases,” said the head of state on Ö1-Mittagsjournal. At the same time, he warned of burgeoning anti-Semitism in Europe. In Austria, efforts are being made to “nip this in the bud”.

“It really is a serious problem,” said Van der Bellen about the anti-Semitic protests across Europe, some of which have been registered worldwide since the terrorist massacre by the radical Islamic Hamas on October 7 and Israel's military response to it.

red, ORF.at/Agencies

Pro-Israeli Demonstration Against Protest Camp on Vienna University Grounds at the Old AKH

Der Standard/ David Krutzler, May 9, 2024

German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000219346/proisraelische-demo-gegen-protestcamp-auf-wiener-uni-areal-im-alten-akh

Around 200 police officers on the grounds of the AKH. A pro-Israeli demonstration against the protest camp took place beforehand

The police began clearing the pro-Palestine protest camp on the campus of the University of Vienna on the grounds of the Altes AKH in the Alsergrund district late on Wednesday evening. This was confirmed by a police spokesperson to APA. Activists had previously reported by email that “around 200 police officers” had surrounded the students' camp and given the protesters 15 minutes to leave the site.

According to an APA cameraman, more than 100 people gathered in front of the campus to show solidarity with the protesters. They chanted slogans and blocked traffic on Alser Straße. It was initially unclear whether they were new arrivals or whether they were pro-Palestinian demonstrators who had already left the camp.

According to the police, 100 people had pitched their tents on the campus of the University of Vienna at the Altes AKH following a “pro-Palestine” demonstration on Monday. The University of Vienna “firmly” distanced itself from the protesters' concerns. Camps had also previously been set up and buildings occupied at universities in the USA and Europe. Violence broke out in some cases during their eviction.

Counter demonstration in the afternoon

On Wednesday afternoon, a counter-demonstration against the protest camp set up by pro-Palestinian activists took place with a massive police presence. The police set up barriers at several entrances to Courtyard 1 of the university campus to separate the two groups. Numerous students had to plan detours on the way to their lecture halls. Around 70 to 80 people responded to the call for a counter-demonstration by the Jewish Austrian University Students (JöH) and the Alliance against Anti-Semitism (BGA) Vienna, which was distributed via social media. They were separated from the pro-Palestinian activists by only around 15 meters behind police barriers and protective fences at the start of the demonstration at around 1 pm. While the protest camp loudly chanted slogans such as “Free, free Palestine”, “Uni Vienna shame on you” and “Israel is a Terror State”, the counter-demonstrators' camp remained quiet for the time being.

Initially, Israel flags were waved, one poster read “Rape is not Resistance” and the hashtag #BringThemHomeNow was used to call for the release of the Israeli hostages from Gaza. It was not until around 1.20 p.m. that slogans from the camp of the counter-demonstrators followed: “Against, against anti-Semitism”, “Shame on you” or “Free Gaza from Hamas”. In the protest camp, where more than ten tents had already been set up, the reaction was a poster reading “Jews against genocide”.

Isolated Criminal Complaints

The police used loudspeaker announcements to point out that the demonstrators had to keep a safe distance. According to the Assembly Act, a safety zone of 50 meters must be maintained between demonstrations, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate also announced via the X news service.

This was by no means the case at the beginning, later the police tried to enforce this on the side of the counter-demonstration. This had not been registered, police spokesman Mattias Schuster said in response to a STANDARD inquiry. “After the request was not complied with by everyone, we also had to respond with identity checks and individual reports.” There was no encirclement. The demonstration was gradually breaking up at around 3.15 p.m. According to the police, there had been no riots up to that point.

Officers from the State Office for State Protection and Counter-Extremism (LSE) were also present at the demonstration. According to the police, the content of the slogans, some of which were also spoken in Arabic at the protest camp, was being examined for possible criminal content. In the call for the counter-demonstration, the Jewish Austrian University Students pointed out that speeches at the protest camp called for a “student intifada” and spoke of a “Zionist entity”. The protest camp was led “by the anti-Semitic groups Dar-Al-Janub, BDS Austria and Der Funke”.

Around 100 people were at the protest camp on Wednesday afternoon. According to the police, there were initially “no reasons to disperse”, said spokesman Matthias Schuster. However, the situation would be evaluated on an ongoing basis. On Wednesday afternoon, the University of Vienna once again “firmly distanced itself from the ‘Student Intifada Protests’ on campus” via Platform X. An eviction was “currently not possible according to the assessment of the executive”. However, the university had “continued to examine all legal options” in coordination with the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate.

IKG President Deutsch criticizes the actions of the police

Oskar Deutsch, President of the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG), strongly criticized the actions of the police. “Where do we live? There are calls for terror against Jews at the Intifada camp and the police don't intervene. The next day, students protest against the calls for violence, and the police protect the terror supporters, arrest the peaceful people holding up signs with inscriptions such as 'Free Gaza From Hamas' and report them.” The officers had thus contributed to “greater fear among Jews in Austria”, Deutsch said in a statement to STANDARD. He pointed out that protest camps had been broken up in other cities abroad. “That's why it's now time to scrutinize the operations management on the campus of the University of Vienna, replace it if necessary and finally dissolve this intifada camp.” (David Krutzler, 8.5.2024)

More Than a Bad Joke

Die Presse, guest commentary Dr. Florian Herb, May 9, 2024

German original: https://www.diepresse.com/18448348/mehr-als-ein-schlechter-scherz

Anti-Semitism. The paint bag attack on Minister Edtstadler proves that the anti-Israeli protest has reached Vienna

Not a terrorist attack, just a paint bag from a bucket. Nevertheless, anyone who sees an “attack” at close range in the middle of the day in Vienna's city center is initially in shock in these difficult times. The possibility of acts of violence is too strongly imprinted in our minds. Hybrid wars and politically motivated crime are worrying us. In Germany, the lead candidate of the Social Democrats for the European elections has just been seriously injured by four unidentified people while putting up posters. Attacks on politicians are on the increase.

At 9.15 a.m. on Monday, a well-known activist targeted Karoline Edtstadler, Minister of the Constitution, with fake blood in front of the Academy of Sciences in the city center. The minister opened the renowned and important anti-Semitism conference a few minutes later. The activist, himself a member of the Jewish community in Vienna, is no stranger to anti-Semitism. In January 2023, he blocked a street in Vienna as a radical climate activist, a member of the “Last Generation”. His loudly shouted protest was directed “against the normalization of genocide” and for a “ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip. After he threw himself on the ground, he was taken away by the police, who were already standing by.

Such actions do no favors for seriousness. After all, anti-Semitic incidents are on the rise not only in Vienna, but throughout Europe. As the European Commission summarizes: “Europe's Jews are living in fear again. We are witnessing a resurgence of anti-Semitic incidents and anti-Semitic rhetoric within the European Union and worldwide: Molotov cocktails are thrown at a synagogue in Germany, Jewish stars are thrown at public buildings in France, a Jewish cemetery is vandalized in Austria, Jewish stores and synagogues are attacked in Spain, while protesters chant hate slogans against Jews.”

On October 7, 2023, Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel barbarically reinforced the existing “world disorder” outlined at the beginning and initiated a war - with a direct impact on us too. Anti-Semitism is spreading, in Islamism, in right-wing extremism and also in left-wing extremism. Minister Edtstadler only pointed this out shortly before the conference. Perhaps this is another reason why she should be “intimidated”?

Rifts are opening up

We know: The longer the Israeli campaign against Hamas lasts, the more rifts open up in Europe's societies. The strange statements made by climate icon Greta Thunberg, for example, show how strongly pro-Palestinian views are being lobbied and supported. Major protests have been taking place for weeks in many countries, especially at universities. However, only a small proportion of these have been directed against Hamas, but the majority against the reactions expected from Israel. The action in Vienna unfortunately fits in here and probably does not coincide with the setting up of a “Pro Palestine” protest camp on the university campus in the Old General Hospital. Of course, protest in a democracy is fundamentally desirable and legitimate, but the motives and the “how” should be critically scrutinized.

About the author:

Dr. Florian Hartleb (*1979) is Research Director at the European Institute for Counter-Terrorism and Conflict Prevention, where he has just published a study on the rise of anti-Semitism.

Festival of Joy on Heldenplatz

ORF (Austrian Public Broadcasting), May 8, 2024

The Festival of Joy took place on Heldenplatz for the twelfth time on Wednesday evening. The Vienna Symphony Orchestra and a contemporary witness commemorated Austria's liberation from National Socialism. However, there were also some downsides.

For Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, the celebratory mood was not unclouded in view of the sharp increase in anti-Semitic incidents. There must be “zero tolerance” for anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews. In his speech on Wednesday evening, he called for civil courage. “We must confront hatred of Jews and anti-Semitism with zero tolerance. Resolutely. Every day. Everywhere.”

Behind the statistics on anti-Semitic attacks are people who are shamed, insulted and, in the worst cases, physically attacked. The fact that a boy with a kippah was threatened with death by three youths on the streetcar, as happened some time ago, “simply must not happen in Austria”, he emphasized. “Jewish life belongs to Austria and, in particular, Jewish life belongs to our common home of Vienna.”

No IKG representatives at the celebrations

The Jewish Community (IKG) criticized the inadequate reaction to the march of an activist with a Palestine flag at the Mauthausen memorial service last Sunday. This was an “affront to all those murdered during the Shoah”. As a reaction to this and the, in their opinion, inadequate reaction of the Mauthausen Committee (MKÖ), no official representatives of the IKG will be present at the “Festival of Joy”, the IKG told APA.

An activist from the left-wing splinter group “Party of Labor” had turned up at the celebration with a Palestine flag and caused a stir. Because a concentration camp liberation ceremony is “no stage for such a show”, as one participant put it. It is fitting that the “Party of Labor” is considered a prime example of left-wing anti-Semitism and that after the Hamas massacre it was stated on its homepage that the “Palestinian resistance against occupation and oppression is a just cause”.

MKÖ Chairman Willi Mernyi reacted with regret to the cancellation: “For us, the focus on this day is on commemorating the victims and liberation from the Nazi terror regime. We regret that the IKG has canceled its participation in the Festival of Joy.”

Focus on the Nazi legal system

May 8 marks the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht exactly 79 years ago. In memory of the end of National Socialism, the Mauthausen Committee Austria (MKÖ) is organizing a solemn commemoration ceremony at Heldenplatz at 7.30 pm.

The Festival of Joy was organized this year with a focus on “Law and Justice under National Socialism”. The Nazi legal system was used specifically to persecute minorities. Criticism was nipped in the bud. Offenders were sentenced and executed without a fair trial, the Mauthausen Committee recalls.

This examination of the Nazi understanding of the law is intended to show how far apart law and justice can be. But it is not only the memory that counts, the present is also to be examined as part of the commemorative event, according to the organizers.

Speech by contemporary witness Rosa Schneeberger

Following the withdrawal of the IKG, the event is now being supported by the Gedenkdienst association and the Documentation Archive of Austrian Resistance. Together they want to inform, educate and, above all, sensitize the younger generations. The event will be hosted by actress Katharina Stemberger and Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen will give a speech. Contemporary witness Rosa Schneeberger will also speak at the event.

When Schneeberger was three years old, in 1939, her father and his brothers were arrested by the Nazi terror regime and deported to Dachau concentration camp and later to Buchenwald concentration camp. Rosa Schneeberger was five years old when she was arrested together with her mother and siblings as a Sintizza and deported to the Lackenbach camp. Schneeberger and her family survived in the Lackenbach camp until they were liberated by the Red Army in April 1945.

The eyewitness recounts what happened to her out of fear that history could repeat itself and that the atrocities of the Nazi terror regime could be committed again today. Schneeberger speaks to warn and admonish young people in particular and to appeal for a “never again”.

Concert in any weather

The free concert by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra will take place whatever the weather. Seating is limited and is primarily intended for the elderly and people with special needs. It is not possible to reserve seats. This year's concert will be performed by various chamber music ensembles of the orchestra. You can hear “Wiener Blut”, “I got rhythm” or the “Moritat” from the Threepenny Opera. This year's finale will once again be the “Ode to Joy” from Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

Omri Boehm Calls for the Nation State to be Overcome

ORF (Austrian Public Broadcasting), Gerald Heidegger, May 7, 2024

German original: https://topos.orf.at/wiener-festwochen-omri-boehm100

Those who want to defend human dignity cannot do so in the categories of the nation state. The German-Israeli philosopher Omri Boehm appeared on Vienna's Judenplatz on Tuesday evening with a perspective on how universal values could also overcome the sovereignty claims of victim groups. His “Speech to Europe” was accompanied by protests. At the beginning, Boehm called on the protesters from the Jewish community standing in front of him to listen and respect each other. He would also listen to them.

Boehm also positioned himself in the current dispute over the interpretation of the Middle East crisis with a call to abandon one's own myths and to defend one's own universal values against the burden of one's own history. His “Speech to Europe” (“Shadows of History, Spectres of the Present: The Middle East War and Europe's Challenge”) was held in front of Rachel Whiteread's Shoah memorial on Vienna's Judenplatz amid protests from Jewish groups. The Jewish Community had raised serious concerns about Boehm's speech at this location last week.

Anyone who wants to defend human dignity today must abandon the concept of national sovereignty, Boehm said, also referring to the history of Israel's founding based on the experience of the Holocaust. “We must respect history because we are committed to its ideals,” said Boehm. However, ideals could degenerate into myths, not least “national myths”. Now that right-wing governments are using national myths, the unifying ideals of history must once again be upheld, said the philosopher, who also recalled that the personal history of his wife and her expelled Jewish family from Vienna connected him to the Judenplatz.

“The proposal to begin an Israeli constitution not with the sovereignty of the Jewish people, but with respect for human dignity as the origin of law, would, so the argument goes, amount to imposing European cosmopolitan ideals on them, thus calling Jewish sovereignty into question. One side interprets such a universalist policy as racism or colonialism, the other as anti-Semitism. And since all sides see this sovereignty as a zero-sum game and a condition of their own existence, these doctrines are now no longer just in conflict, but on a collision course: the situation is so violent and the debate so heated, not because the two sides are so different, but because they are so similar. It is our task to understand where this logic comes from and to overcome it.”

- Omri Boehm at Vienna’s Judenplatz

If Europe proclaims that human dignity is inviolable, then it must see this against the backdrop of its own history and the transgressions of this history. Because even the sentence that human dignity is inviolable can quickly turn into a myth.

Europe and the overcoming of national sovereignty

In its founding, the European Union was the only productive answer to the question of what would become of the world after the end of the great empires. It is not the national sovereign, but the overcoming of this principle that is Europe's mission.

The decisive question for Boehm was whether the European doctrine of overcoming national sovereignty could also be applied to the victims of European history, specifically the Jews and the Holocaust. For only in a sovereign nation, according to the victims' doctrine, was it possible to escape systematic persecution and murder. And how, according to Boehm, could an Israeli constitution be based on historical experience, not first and foremost on the sovereignty of the Jewish people, but on universalizable human rights? This question is now being applied by some to the situation of the Palestinians - what, some Europeans ask, could lead us to criticize the Palestinians in their use of violence when they themselves are not protected by any law?

If Europe's answer to the downfall of empires is that human rights should be the guiding principle, the victims on the other side have always relied on the right of national sovereignty. Europe could only stand by its universal principles in the face of this conflict. The constant focus on its own historical responsibility could ultimately only lead to the contradictions described above.

“You are lying”, some of the Jewish demonstrators on the square countered Boehm. Some of their placards described October 7 as a continuation of the Shoah. On the square, the executive made an effort to give all voices their due and to maintain the boundaries between lecture, audience and protest.

ORFOmri Böhm also recalled the fate of his wife's family, who came from Vienna, on Vienna's Judenplatz

Milo Rau is surprised that Boehm is polarizing

The speech is jointly organized by the Institute for Human Sciences and the Festwochen. The First Foundation recently withdrew its support following protests from the Jewish Community.

In his introductory remarks, the new director of the Festival, Milo Rau, was surprised that a speaker “who wants to reconcile” like Boehm had led to the negative reactions in the run-up to the event. Rau also recently stated in an interview with journalist Heinz Sichrovsky in the magazine “News” that anti-Semitism was being “carelessly used and instrumentalized”.

“The term anti-Semitism has recently been extended by right-wing parties to more or less any position that doesn't suit them. But anti-Semitism is a crime, the term stands for the desire to persecute, marginalize and exterminate Jews all over the world. [...] The justified sensitivity of the two perpetrator nations, Germany and Austria, is being instrumentalized here, which is completely counterproductive and also absolutely transparent. Especially for me, who also has Jewish family roots, this is terrible and unacceptable. We have lost our moral compass in the political infighting between left-wing and right-wing parties.”

- Milo Rau in the current issue of “News”

Boehm sticks to his ideas on the Middle East

In the run-up to the event, Boehm defended the concept and the Judenplatz as the venue for his speech. “I am deeply connected to the history of the Holocaust and therefore also to the need to pay respect to its memory,” Boehm said on ZIB2 on Sunday evening: “But I believe we have developed ways of being disrespectful to this memory when we sometimes misuse it for the wrong purposes.” The Jewish Community (IKG) had spoken out in favor of moving Boehm's speech.

The philosopher maintained his criticized view of the Middle East conflict and the future vision of a “binational Israel” in the TV programme. He argued that the Middle East conflict could only be resolved through an Israeli-Palestinian federation, even if this was currently difficult to imagine. A two-state solution was unrealistic for various reasons.

The philosopher also told the “Standard” (Monday edition): “I understand the doubts about the federal direction, which I support. The situation has become unbearable since October 7. But it would be much further from reality to speak of a two-state solution today. Or that there is no need for mediation. These two illusions have led us to the current catastrophe.” His demands are more realistic than a two-state solution, which also breaks down in reality, for example when land claimed by Israel leads to Palestinians being “deprived of their democratic rights” at the same time.

In his book essay “Israel - A Utopia”, published in 2020, Boehm sees a blatant contradiction between a Jewish state and a liberal democracy. He advocates the vision of an “ethnically neutral state”, which would also overcome its Zionist foundation.

“It is perfectly consistent that he should actually say that as a utopia it must be possible, desirable and aspirational for Jews and Palestinians to live as equal citizens in a democratic state at some point. I understand anyone who says that this is too utopian for me, I have objections, I have a need for discussion, but I cannot understand someone who then says that it is a disgrace that such a person should step forward, appear and speak in this or that place.”

- Daniel Kehlmann on Ö1-Mittagsmagazin

Muzicant against Boehm in the run-up to the event

If he were 30, he would go to Vienna's Judenplatz and throw eggs. This is how the former president of the Jewish Community (IKG), Ariel Muzicant, commented on Boehm's appearance on Vienna's Judenplatz in the run-up to the event. Muzicant, currently Interim President of the European Jewish Congress and Vice President of the World Jewish Congress, considers the square to be an unsuitable location for the Jewish philosopher's speech. According to his own statements, he intervened with the City of Vienna and the Erste Foundation, one of the sponsors of the event. This was successful with the Erste Foundation (which withdrew its support for the event), but unsuccessful with the City of Vienna. City Councillor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler was in New York when the debate broke out and discussed the roots of anti-Semitism in Vienna around 1900 at an international conference.

Boehm called Muzicant's criticism “disrespectful” because it could encourage people to throw eggs at this very place of remembrance. “People like Muzicant” who complain that he introduces post-colonial thinking into the Israeli context are ill-informed, Boehm said: “I am a vocal opponent of post-colonialist thinking, theoretically and in the Israeli-Palestinian context. What seems to bother Muzicant about my position is not my alleged 'postcolonialism', but the fact that, with Kant, I represent the universalism of the Enlightenment. That is of course legitimate, albeit worrying.”

Edtstadler: “Pure anti-Zionism and therefore anti-Semitism”

IKG President Oskar Deutsch recently criticized the fact that requests to postpone Boehm's speech had been rejected. Sharp criticism was also voiced on Monday by Constitutional Minister Edtstadler, who is currently holding an international conference on anti-Semitism herself. It is high time to reconsider actually giving someone who criticizes Israel here, which is not criticism of Israel, but pure anti-Zionism and therefore anti-Semitism, a stage in the middle of Vienna, Edtstadler was heard saying on Ö1-Mittagsjournal.

The difficult mission for peace: Interpreted by British artist Banksy in Bethlehem 2007 | Jim Hollander / EPA / picturedesk.com

Kehlmann outraged by Muzicant

Boehm's companion Daniel Kehlmann defended Boehm's approach on Ö1-Mittagsjournal on Monday. According to Kehlmann, Boehm represents the idea that ethical norms, rights and human dignity cannot be divided into groups in any way: “And for this reason, it is completely consistent that he must actually say that as a utopia it must be possible and desirable and aspirable that at some point Jews and Palestinians live as equal citizens in a democratic state. I understand anyone who says that this is too utopian for me, I have objections, I have a need for discussion, but I cannot understand someone who then says that it is a disgrace that such a person should step forward, appear and speak in this or that place.”

Of course, according to Kehlmann, Boehm's proposals touched on an internal Israeli debate. “But there are also many Israeli intellectuals, such as my close friend Etgar Keret, who also say that there must be a way to live Jewish lives safely and peacefully in Israel without having to define the state as Jewish in any way.” There must also be the idea that Israel can be a state like any other, without having to put up with threats of violence when advocating this position. “Anyone who throws eggs is quick to throw something else. I find that absolutely outrageous,” said Kehlmann, addressing Muzicant.

Color Attack on Edtstadler at Antisemitism Conference, Harsh Criticism Before Boehm Speech

Der Standard/ Eric Frey Ronald Pohl Clara Wutti, May 6, 2024

Constitutional Minister Edtstadler and IKG President Deutsch bring the Jewish philosopher close to anti-Semitism. He is due to speak on Judenplatz on Tuesday evening.

Vienna - The annual international conference against anti-Semitism will be held in Vienna on Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday, the German-Israeli philosopher Omri Boehm is to give this year's “Speech to Europe” as part of the Vienna Festival. Both events caused controversy on Monday.

Early on Monday morning, an activist allegedly tried to throw red paint on Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) in front of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), where the anti-Semitism conference is taking place. This was reported by the Kurier and Kronen Zeitung newspapers. The activist is said to have held a poster that read “genocide”. According to a spokesperson for the minister, Edtstadler was only able to escape the attack because an employee warned her at the last second. “The attack was clearly aimed at her and the conference against anti-Semitism,” the spokesperson told Kurier and Kronen Zeitung. She assigns the man to the “left-wing spectrum”.

Pictures show large sheets of red paint on the ground in front of the ÖAW. Other conference participants such as Oskar Deutsch, the President of the Jewish Community of Vienna, are said to have been brought into the building via other entrances after the attack. Edtstadler thanked the Vienna police for their swift intervention. “It is shameful that a conference in Austria, which is dedicated to international networking in the fight against anti-Semitism, can no longer be held without police protection”, said the Minister. Only last week, she had warned of increasing left-wing anti-Semitism.

Activist of the “last generation”

The activist was a former member of the “Last Generation” protest movement. The protest was directed against the “normalization of genocide” and for a “ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip, activist David Sonnenbaum told APA. “This is not about anti-Semitism. This is about suppressing any criticism of the actions of the state of Israel,” said Sonnenbaum, who is himself a member of the Jewish community in Austria.

Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) expressed his shock at the color attack on Edtstadler and the other conference participants on the sidelines of the Europe Day ceremony. “Anti-Semitism is the poison of every democracy”, emphasized the Chancellor. Everything must be done to combat anti-Semitism in society. Violence would be prosecuted by the police. Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler also commented on X and spoke of a “completely unacceptable attack” that was “to be condemned in the strongest possible terms”. Kogler identified an “anti-Semitic breach of taboo”.

National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) also condemned the paint attack in the strongest possible terms. “Just last weekend, an SPD politician in Dresden was the victim of an attack with a right-wing extremist background and had to be seriously injured and operated on in hospital. We must not allow extremists of any persuasion to use brute force to enforce their crude views and world views. A clear stance is needed here too, and not just fine words,” said Sobotka in a statement to APA.

“Pure anti-Zionism and therefore anti-Semitism”

On Monday, Edtstadler also commented on Omri Boehm's controversial speech on Vienna's Judenplatz, which is due to take place on Tuesday, and accused the German-Israeli philosopher of anti-Semitism. It was “urgently time to reconsider whether someone who criticizes Israel, which is not criticism of Israel, but pure anti-Zionism and therefore anti-Semitism, should actually be given a stage in the middle of Vienna”, she was quoted as saying on Ö1-Mittagsjournal. At the anti-Semitism conference, Oskar Deutsch also intensified his attacks on the Vienna Festival, which had invited Boehm, and also criticized the City of Vienna in this context.

Boehm, who advocates a common state for Jews and Palestinians in his books, represents neither Israelis nor Jews and would “pave the way for anti-Semites all over the world”, said Deutsch. The fact that the festival held on to the speech on the highly symbolic Judenplatz despite all the protests was a “sign of bad faith”. He also wondered why the City of Vienna, the sponsor of the festival, was allowing this, said Deutsch. The fact that Boehm himself was Jewish did not change anything, Deutsch said, drawing a comparison with the former mayor of Vienna Karl Lueger, a radical anti-Semite who was nevertheless friends with Jews and justified this with the popular phrase: “I decide who is a Jew.”

Deutsch concluded his speech at the conference with the words: “We cannot accept that those who stir up hatred against Israel and Jews are invited.” In his book Israel - A Utopia 2020, Boehm spoke out in favor of a binational federation as an alternative to the ongoing occupation and also to the two-state solution. He also criticizes the instrumentalization of Holocaust remembrance for political purposes, especially by the Israeli right, and speaks of “Holocaust messianism”. He teaches at the left-progressive New York New School. In March, he was awarded the “Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding” for his latest book Radical Universalism. Beyond Identity.

Common basis of equality

Boehm's argument is based on an extremely conscientious interpretation of Kant's concept of universalism: before assigning people nationalistically, one must be aware of the indivisibility of their dignity. Only by reflecting on the “common” possession of fundamental rights is it possible to critically exchange opinions. According to Boehm, it is the common basis of equality on which the idea of friendship can flourish. With a view to Israel's future, but also to Europe, Boehm speaks of the need for a coexistence that is organized federatively.

The “Speech to Europe” is taking place for the third time on Vienna's Judenplatz, where the Holocaust memorial is located, and has not caused any controversy in previous years. Boehm's speech is to deal with the Middle East conflict and the challenge for Europe, the exact content is not publicly known.

Due to massive pressure from the IKG and the President of the European Jewish Congress, Ariel Muzicant, the Erste Foundation has withdrawn as a sponsor. Muzicant had attracted attention with the remark that if he were 30 years younger, he would be throwing eggs at the speech. The author Daniel Kehlmann, who published a book of conversations about Kant with Boehm, described Muzicant's statements on Ö1-Mittagsjournal as an “incitement to violence” and “absolutely outrageous”. Muzicant had never explained what really bothered him about Boehm.

Kehlmann described the entire debate as a “laughable misunderstanding” and said he was watching what was happening with “amazement and incomprehension”. He sees Boehm as a “compromise candidate that everyone could actually agree on”. Boehm is an “absolute representative of universalism”, so it is only logical that he is in favor of “Jews and Palestinians being able to live as equal citizens in a democratic state at some point”. (Eric Frey, Ronald Pohl, Clara Wutti, APA, 6.5.2024)

Philosopher Omri Boehm: “Opponents are Bothered that I Represent the Enlightenment”

Der Standard/ Interview by Ronald Pohl, May 5, 2024

The Israeli-German thinker gives a “Speech to Europe” on Vienna's Judenplatz on Tuesday. He counters criticism with a reference to Kant.

In his book Radical Universalism, he took the wind out of the sails of overly zealous advocates of identity politics with dazzling arguments. Now the Israeli-German philosopher Omri Boehm has received fierce criticism in advance: He is giving a “speech to Europe” on Tuesday evening on Vienna's Judenplatz. The donation of ideas initiated by IWM and Wiener Festwochen is taking place at an allegedly “inappropriate” location. Ariel Muzicant (former president of the IKG) even spoke of a “wrong speech in the wrong place”. The reason: Boehm unwaveringly advocates the future vision of a binational state of Israel. But what does the universalism he advocates mean?

STANDARD: In your book Radical Universalism, you retell an Old Testament biblical scene with reference to Kant: Abraham basically refuses to sacrifice his son Isaac. The idea of absolute justice ranks even higher than God's omnipotence. Is the idea of universal justice only made visible through disobedience?

Boehm: It is not disobedience that makes the difference. The idea of absolute justice is not revealed through it. Obedience always involves various authorities. Disobedience only becomes possible through another superior authority. If we are disobedient, we are obeying someone. Even if Abraham disobeys God, he obeys an even higher authority. This is above God.

STANDARD: Absolute justice.

Boehm: The question arises as to whether this is still obedience. This is where Immanuel Kant comes into play: If I am autonomous, I obey something unconditional, but not in the sense of an external authority, because I obey the rules that I impose on myself. Kant taught us that only a law that we give ourselves can be absolute. However, this does not mean that I merely follow my subjective will or some whim. By giving myself a law and following the categorical imperative, I am following my own will. That is not obedience.

STANDARD: The general, mediated by personal insight into its necessity?

Boehm: Exactly. The beings that are capable of imposing a law on themselves, namely human beings, possess dignity.

STANDARD: You are giving a “Speech to Europe” in Vienna. How do you manage to create a community of like-minded people on a European level? Of people of good will?

Boehm: The idea of equality is of the utmost importance because of dignity. Equality presupposes that human dignity is inviolable. This applies above all to our basic rights. But thank God we are not all like-minded. When we respect the dignity of others, we do so even and especially when we are not of one mind. If a person thinks something completely different from me, the best way to honor them is to acknowledge the following: Their purposes are very different from mine, but they are considered important by me. This is why the idea of friendship, which I tried to explain in my lecture in Leipzig for European understanding, is crucial: it shows us what it means to consider another person's purposes as important, even if they are not our own. We always respect the views of others up to a certain limit, of course. That limit is reached when the opinion in question violates human dignity. I don't accept that, and that makes an opinion illegitimate.

STANDARD: What does this mean with regard to the withdrawal of the Erste Foundation, which suddenly no longer wants to support your “Speech to Europe”? Because Vienna's Judenplatz now seems “inappropriate” as a venue for the event?

Boehm: You should ask the Erste Foundation that. I would add that if the legitimacy of this speech is called into question, it is not because I am against human dignity, but because I support it. This trend should worry us, I think, especially if we are concerned about Europe amid the rise of the nationalist populist right.

STANDARD: What do you mean by that?

Boehm: People like Ariel Muzicant, who complained that I am introducing post-colonial thinking into the Israeli context, are ill-informed. I am a vocal opponent of postcolonialist thinking, theoretically and in the Israeli-Palestinian context. What seems to bother Muzicant about my position is not my alleged “postcolonialism”, but the fact that, with Kant, I advocate Enlightenment universalism. That is of course legitimate, albeit worrying.

STANDARD: With regard to Israel and future coexistence in the Middle East, you propagate a “realistic binational utopia”. Doesn't this seem more utopian than ever after October 7, 2023 and the expansion of the Gaza war?

Boehm: I understand the doubts and questions of the federal direction, which I support. Since October 7, the situation has become unbearable. But it would be much further from reality to speak of a “two-state solution” today. Or that there is no need for mediation. These two illusions have led us to the current catastrophe. My argument was never just “utopian”, but also “dystopian”: if we don't develop alternatives to the widespread illusions, we will cause a catastrophe. People thought I was exaggerating. They should think again when they now offer the two-state solution or no solution and pretend that this is reasonable or somehow realistic.

STANDARD: And we are currently experiencing this catastrophe?

Boehm: Unfortunately, yes. And it is precisely those who cling to the two-state illusion who are making the catastrophe worse by still not calling for a ceasefire. Those who are interested in a political, not a military solution, must begin to steer the talks on two-statehood in the direction of a federation.

STANDARD: What do you do with all the potential partners who don't have the slightest interest in Israel's right to exist?

Boehm: Of course Israel's right to exist is beyond question. The question is how to maintain the vision of a democratic Jewish state, even if there is no two-state solution and the majority of the Israeli population is de facto not Jewish. We need to think in terms of a federation - which, by the way, also touches on the issue of Europe. Such a federation should be based on the idea of human dignity. Every national identity, every commitment to it, should be maintained precisely out of respect for human dignity. Precisely because it is indispensable for preserving his dignity. The recognition of national sovereignty cannot be placed at the beginning - and human dignity only added afterwards. That's what both sides are doing today, and it leads to disaster. That is the logic I am trying to break through, also in my “Speech to Europe”.

STANDARD: Does that mean on a concrete level?

Boehm: Who could be the potential partners in such an agreement? Small steps in the right direction could be taken by the Israeli Palestinians, i.e. by Israeli citizens. There are initiatives such as “A Land for All”, in which Jews and Palestinians have been working together for several years. Those organized there are not explicitly against a two-state solution, but they are not repeating the old rhetoric of the Oslo Accords either. The model for such new ideals of thinking is what I am doing with Haifa Republic. The makers of “One Country for All” are very close to my thinking and we are looking forward to working together. How such thinking can be transferred to the West Bank, to Gaza, is really not easy. It was possible to hold such talks in the West Bank - before October 7, of course. It's just much less realistic not to keep these options.

STANDARD: What would you say to skeptics today?

Boehm: Skepticism is based on the mistaken assumption that reality is simple. The situation is very complex, almost impossible, and therefore it is unrealistic to believe that the solution can be simple and familiar. True skeptics are those who question their own assumptions; the “skeptics” here are too often dogmatists who refuse to do so. If they did, they might take positions that are difficult and far-fetched, but more realistic. (Ronald Pohl, 5.5.2024)

The Israeli-German philosopher Omri Boehm (45) - who teaches at the New School for Social Research in New York - was awarded this year's Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding for his book “Radical Universalism”. On Monday, he will be speaking about Immanuel Kant together with Daniel Kehlmann at the Volkstheater in Vienna under the title “Der bestirnte Himmel über mir” (8pm).

Parliament Commemorates the Victims of National Socialism

ORF (Austrian Public Broadcasting), May 3, 2024

High-ranking representatives of the Republic commemorated the victims of National Socialism yesterday on the occasion of the Day of Remembrance against Violence and Racism.

In his opening speech in Parliament, National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP) called for unconditional solidarity with Israel and criticized the EU for not having sufficiently condemned the terrorist organization Hamas in the Middle East conflict.

Sobotka began by referring to Austria's history. In the 1920s and 1930s, German eugenics led to repression against Jews, while today it is “postmodernism”, “where Israel is denounced as an apartheid state”, which leads to attacks on the Jewish community.

“The far-right face” has been known for a long time, and the attack on Israel by the radical Islamic group Hamas has led to open anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism on the left. Sobotka once again emphasized that Austria had “imported anti-Semitism through migration from Islamic countries”.

Many types of anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism researcher Monika Schwarz-Friesel added to the three “currents” of “left-wing, right-wing and Muslim anti-Semitism” mentioned by Sobotka with “centrist anti-Semitism”, the “anti-Semitism that has always been educated and morally superior”.

On 7 October, Jews everywhere, not just in Israel, were hit by the force of re-traumatization. The current hatred of Israel is not rooted in the Middle East conflict, but has its origins in “old anti-Semitism”, said Schwarz-Friesel.

“Since its foundation, the Jewish state has been hated because it exists and not because it does anything,” said the researcher towards the end of her speech, for which she received a standing ovation.

Anti-Semitic Slogans Sprayed on Jewish Stores

Heute, May 2, 2024

German original: https://www.heute.at/s/antisemitische-parolen-auf-juedische-geschaefte-gesprueht-120034577

Anti-Semitic slogans were sprayed on Jewish-owned stores in Vienna's Leopoldstadt district. Stones were also thrown at young people.

Another anti-Semitic incident is currently shaking the capital city of Vienna. On Wednesday night, anti-Semitic hate slogans were sprayed on several buildings in Leopoldstadt.

According to information from the APA, in addition to the walls of houses, it is also said to be the walls of stores owned by Jewish people. As photos on social media show, the words “Death to Zionism” were sprayed alongside “Victory to Palestine”. The Vienna police have launched an investigation.

Oskar Deutsch, President of the Jewish Community, is deeply shocked by the incidents. “First the word, then the deed: the ground is being prepared for anti-Semitic attacks in Vienna”, he told APA.

The anti-Jewish graffiti was not the only incident. In addition to public calls for the destruction of Israel in the course of a May Day demonstration on the Ring, young people are said to have been attacked in Vienna on Wednesday afternoon. Several people are said to have thrown stones at the teenagers, who were recognizable as Jewish because of their clothing, while chanting “Free Palestine”.

“Deeply shocked and disgusted”

On Thursday afternoon, Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler also reacted to the incidents. “I am deeply shocked and disgusted by the anti-Semitic graffiti on the store of a descendant of Holocaust survivors in Vienna. Anti-Semitism has no place in Austria. I am glad that the police have already started an investigation,” the ÖVP politician told ‘Heute’.

Edtstadler will therefore consult with international partners as early as next Monday on the occasion of the European Conference on Anti-Semitism. “Close cooperation and global networking are crucial in order to take action against this across society as a whole,” the minister concludes.

“Scares me”: Antisemitic Slogans on Jewish Stores in Vienna

Die Presse/ Eva Schrittwieser, May 2, 2024

German original: https://www.diepresse.com/18426645/macht-mir-angst-antisemitische-parolen-auf-juedischen-geschaeften-in-wien

One of the businesses affected is a travel agency. The owner feels that this takes him back to the Nazi era, he says in an interview with the “Presse”. The Jewish Community has noticed an increase in anti-Semitic incidents.

Several Jewish businesses in Vienna's second district have been sprayed with anti-Semitic slogans. One of them is Isaak Pretzel's travel agency. “I was walking past my store in the morning on the holiday (May 1st, note) and saw this,” he told the newspaper Presse. “We are all shocked and devastated”.

Several houses in Heinestraße in Vienna's second district were affected. Slogans such as “Death to Zionism” and “Victory to Palestine” can be read. There had never been anything like this before, says Pretzel, not on this scale. It is more than just an anti-Semitic incident. “I see it as a death threat,” says the managing director of the travel agency, which specializes in trips to Israel. His parents survived the Shoah, he explains. This action takes him back to that time. “That scares me.”

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Israeli ambassador David Roet immediately spoke out about the “anti-Semitic graffiti”: “The ugly face of anti-Semitism is once again visible”. He also referred to Austria's National Socialist past: “It is always astonishing how little people have learned from history”. Moreover, no one should be fooled by the use of Zionism instead of Jews. “The vast majority of Jews are Zionists,” said Roet. Constitution Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) was “deeply shocked and disgusted by the anti-Semitic smearings”.

Stones thrown at them

The President of the Jewish Community (IKG), Oskar Deutsch, reported to the APA that there had recently been an increase in anti-Semitic incidents. A public lecture by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese at the University of Vienna on Tuesday was followed by a march by an anti-Semitic group chanting hate slogans. The following night, the anti-Semitic smearings were placed on the walls of houses in a Jewish neighborhood.

On May 1st, “terror slogans” were also chanted at a demonstration on the Ring and calls were made for the destruction of Israel. In the afternoon, young people who were recognizable as Jewish because of their clothing were then pelted with stones while shouting “Free Palestine”. “First the word, then the deed: the ground is gradually being prepared for anti-Semitic attacks in Vienna,” he says. Pretzel also says that he has recently noticed an increase in anti-Semitism.

Hate Slogans and Stone Throwing: Increasing Number of Antisemitic Incidents in Vienna

Der Standard, May 2, 2024

Following recent incidents, IKG President Oskar Deutsch warns that “zizerlweise” the ground is being prepared for anti-Semitic attacks in Vienna

Vienna - In Vienna's Leopoldstadt district, anti-Semitic slogans were sprayed on the walls of stores owned by Jews and on the walls of houses on Wednesday night. The district is home to a large Jewish community. Overall, there has recently been an increase in anti-Semitic incidents, the president of the Jewish Community (IKG), Oskar Deutsch, told APA. “First the word, then the deed: the ground is gradually being prepared for anti-Semitic attacks in Vienna.”

According to recordings obtained by APA, “Victory to Palestine” and “Death to Zionism” were sprayed on the walls of several houses in Leopoldstadt. Israel's ambassador David Roet reacted with shock in a statement. “The ugly face of anti-Semitism is once again visible” - and this in the week of the commemorations in Mauthausen and Gusen. He also emphasized that the vast majority of Jews are Zionists, so the use of “Zionism” instead of “Judaism” should not mislead anyone.

Constitutional Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) expressed her “deep shock and disgust at the anti-Semitic graffiti on the store of a descendant of Holocaust survivors in Vienna”. Anti-Semitism has no place in Austria. “We will continue to take a firm stand against all forms of anti-Semitism.” For Maximilian Krauss, head of the Vienna FPÖ parliamentary group, the slogans were evidence of a “dangerous left-wing and imported anti-Semitism”.

Calls for murder in the second district

Deutsch also listed other incidents from the recent past. A public lecture by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese - Deutsch described her as a “notorious demonizer of Israel and anti-Semite” - at the University of Vienna on Tuesday was followed by a march by an anti-Semitic group chanting hate slogans. The following night, anti-Semitic graffiti and calls for murder were posted on the walls of houses in a Jewish neighborhood. On 1 May, “terror slogans” were chanted at a demonstration on the Ring and calls were made for the destruction of Israel, and in the afternoon, young people who were recognizable as Jewish because of their clothing were pelted with stones while shouting “Free Palestine”.

“All of this is not happening in a vacuum,” emphasized Deutsch in his statement, in which he also saw the Vienna Festival, which starts in mid-May, as having a duty. The appointment to the virtual body “Council of the Republic” legitimizes supporters of the Israel boycott campaign BDS such as Annie Ernaux and Yanis Varoufakis, which is partly responsible for “a climate of hostility against Israel and thus against Jews in Austria”. Vienna's cultural policy is thus “indirectly supporting the radicalization of anti-Semitic groups” and the city government must act immediately.

Criticism of the Vienna Festival

The ÖVP demanded on Thursday that funding for the festival should be withdrawn if necessary. Director Milo Rau had only recently said in an interview that he could not detect any anti-Semitism in Ernaux and Varoufakis, said local councillor Laura Sachslehner angrily. The latter had even described the terrorist attack on October 7, 2023 as an “act of resistance” by Hamas, she pointed out in a press release. If the festival does not adapt its invitation policy, it will have to pay back the funding it has received, Sachslehner demanded. (APA, 2.5.2024)

Former Synagogue in St. Pölten in New Splendor

ORF (Austrian Public Broadcasting), April 17, 2024
German original: https://religion.orf.at/stories/3224647/

After extensive renovation and adaptation into a cultural center, the former synagogue in St. Pölten presents itself in new splendor. The Art Nouveau building, built in 1913, opens its doors at the weekend.

The synagogue was built by the architects Theodor Schreier and Viktor Postelberg. Admission to the open days, from Friday to Sunday, is free. Exhibitions, concerts and an educational program will be on offer until 10 November. The synagogue, which was severely damaged during the National Socialist pogroms in November 1938, was restituted by the City of St. Pölten to the Jewish Community of Vienna in 1954 as the legal successor to the Jewish community of St. Pölten, which had been wiped out.

The building became increasingly dilapidated in the following years, but demolition - as happened in Krems - was prevented. The city, state and federal government made it possible to carry out an initial restoration from 1980 to 1984. As part of the "Kultur St. Pölten 2024" project, a new two-year renovation was carried out and a new usage concept was drawn up based on the scientific findings of the Institute for Austrian Jewish History, which is located in the former cantor's house.

"A place of family history"

The director of the Institute for Jewish History Austria, Martha Keil, has curated a vivid permanent exhibition entitled "The Synagogue and its Community" in the women's gallery. The exhibition not only contains a number of objects, photos and documents as well as interviews with survivors at media stations, but also highlights the sometimes insensitive renovation work carried out in the 1980s. In addition, one of the 321 Shoah victims from St. Pölten is commemorated every month.

From May 17, there will also be a special exhibition entitled "Things move. Objects and their Jewish stories". In June, Johann Kneihs will curate "Jewish Weekends", a festival for Jewish culture. Keil hopes that the former synagogue will also become a "place of family history and a meeting place for regular visits" outside of events. The next follow-up meeting is planned for September 2024. For example, there is contact with pianist Irene Schreier Scott, 94-year-old granddaughter of Theodor Schreier, who perished in Theresienstadt in 1943, and her daughter and granddaughter.

Historic building

A special feature is the installation placed in the room by Johann Moser in the form of a beam of light. On the one hand, it is a reminder of the building's history of violence, and on the other, it symbolically illuminates a trace of survival.

The National Fund of the Republic of Austria, the Federal Monuments Office, the Province of Lower Austria and the City of St. Pölten have jointly acquired 4.6 million euros for the restoration and adaptation of the building. The structural measures, such as a new entrance area and barrier-free access thanks to the addition of a lift, were carried out by the architectural firm Wolfgang Pfoser. An inventory contract between the Jewish Community of Vienna as the owner and NÖ Museum Betriebs Gmbh regulates the long-term use of the building.

If You Want Citizenship, You Have to Visit a Concentration Camp Memorial

Kurier, April 3, 2024
German original: https://kurier.at/chronik/oesterreich/mikl-leitner-landeshauptleutekonferenz-st-poelten-oevp/402842788

At their conference in St. Pölten on Wednesday, the provincial governors passed resolutions on housing, voluntary work and the fight against anti-Semitism. They are pushing for a further relaxation of lending rules.

In addition, the federal states want to be able to intervene in housing demand through a vacancy tax. Lower Austria's Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner (ÖVP) called for insurance cover for informal volunteering.

The federal states would like to have more control over "public housing". According to Carinthia's governor Peter Kaiser (SPÖ), a resolution passed by the provincial conference called for the introduction of a vacancy tax. This should be possible in a volume that could also have a controlling effect.

"Will not let up"

When it comes to property, Mikl-Leitner, who is currently chairing the LH Conference, believes that the federal government's housing package and the first relaxation of the KIM ordinance have already achieved a great deal. The state representatives have agreed "not to let up" until the Financial Market Authority abolishes the lending guidelines.

"We do not want to and will not accept the rise in anti-Semitism," emphasized Mikl-Leitner. On the one hand, all pupils should visit a concentration camp memorial or a Jewish museum in Austria at least once. On the other hand, such a visit should also become part of the integration or naturalization process, said the Governor. "Anti-Semitism has no place in our country - regardless of whether it comes from the right, the left or Muslims," she stated.

In terms of volunteering, the LH Conference unanimously spoke out in favor of nationwide insurance cover for informal volunteering. Mikl-Leitner announced that Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) would be invited to negotiate with the federal states on the joint financing of such a project. There is currently no or no suitable protection for neighborhood help.

The decision on wolves was also unanimous. The protection status of the animal should be lowered, demanded Kaiser. This was also proposed by the EU Commission. A joint statement by the federal states was launched in February.

Demands for less bureaucracy

Mikl-Leitner called on Europe to reduce bureaucracy in order to maintain competitiveness. The European Union should take care of the big issues and withdraw from those areas that can be better regulated in the regions, explained the Governor. Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP), Governor of Upper Austria, also believes that a reduction in bureaucracy is "highly urgent". He also brought sunset legislation into play, whereby laws expire if they are not extended.

Renewable energies were also a topic at the conference. Here, the provincial governors are pushing for an acceleration law so that plants can be built as quickly as possible, said Stelzer.

Emergency Arrest in the Classroom: a School Revisits its Nazi History

Der Standard, March 28, 2024
German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000211342/not-arrest-im-klassenzimmer-eine-schule-arbeitet-ihre-ns-geschichte-neu-auf

Gudrun Springer

A school in Vienna's Karajangasse became a prison in 1938. The brutality there was long underexposed. Now the school wants to modernize its memorial.

It was a beautiful early summer afternoon. The doorbell rang at an apartment in Karl-Marx-Hof. 13-year-old George Czuczka opened the door. A policeman stood in front of him and asked for his father, who came in. The inspector told him he was under arrest. "Should I take my coat with me?" asked Fritz Czuczka. The officer said yes and advised him to take his "toothbrush" with him, George recalls. "The next time we heard from my father was when he was in the collection camp in Vienna, in the 20th district in Karajangasse."

George Czuczka's account dates back to 2008, when he was interviewed for the Austrian Heritage Archive, a collection of interviews with people who emigrated during the Nazi era. The "collection camp" mentioned by Fritz Czuczka was a temporary prison set up by the National Socialists when the conventional prisons were bursting at the seams.

A memorial site since the 1980s

The so-called Not-Arrest in Karajangasse was located in a disused elementary school, the premises of which now belong to the Gymnasium am Augarten. The grammar school set up a memorial early on with general information about the Nazi era and events at the former elementary school. Now the school wants to revise the exhibition.

The Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI) found out about the request by chance. The historian Philipp Rohrbach works there and has been researching emergency remains in Vienna for years. He is now helping the school to modernize the exhibition. Rohrbach finds the project remarkable in that it is a "bottom-up project", i.e. it was created through the commitment of individuals and not realized according to plans "from above".

Several emergency shelters in Vienna

There were also emergency detention centers in Vienna, for example in the Sofiensäle, in Pramergasse and in the former Kenyongasse convent school - Rohrbach and historian Regina Fritz were already intensively involved in this in 2011. The topic still occupies both of them today. There were also shootings in Kenyongasse. The emergency detention center in Karajangasse is known to have been the scene of severe abuse and threats of executions.

A particularly large number of people were imprisoned after the Anschluss in the spring of 1938, when a large wave of arrests of political opponents and Jews took place. A further wave of arrests, then of Jewish people in particular, took place at the time of the November pogrom.

Little noticed for a long time

To this day, relatively little attention has been paid to the provisional prisons of that time. "There is no place dedicated to the emergency detention centers," says Rohrbach. "The radical nature of the National Socialist policy of persecution and extermination in the years that followed has probably pushed research into the brutality that took place in these buildings into the background."

There has been a memorial in the basement of the current Gymnasium am Augarten, where the elementary school used to be, since 1988. The fact that it is down there is somewhat misleading for visitors, as no one was imprisoned down there. Rooms on the upper floors, including classrooms, were used as prisons, as can be seen in the memoirs of Erich Katz, a Jewish student who was sent to the emergency detention center in Karajangasse as a result of the November pogrom. At this time, "the brutality there had reached its peak", says Rohrbach.

Detainees were desperate

Hundreds of them were crammed into a classroom without desks, Katz describes. There was "no place to sleep, no mattress, nothing". "As it was a former school building, there were no bars on the windows. In desperation, some prisoners threw themselves from the windows of the upper floor into the courtyard to commit suicide," Katz describes. The next morning, a policeman ordered every tenth prisoner to step forward. "Then came his threatening voice: 'If one more of you Jews jumps from the windows to commit suicide, every tenth person will be shot. And anyone who comes near a window will get a bullet."

Katz was transferred from Karajangasse to the Elisabethpromenade police prison ("die Liesl"), where Gestapo officers took personal details, took the prisoners' belongings and where he was repeatedly beaten and kicked in the boots. They were then transported to the Westbahnhof and from there to Dachau. Katz wrote about this: "The suffering we were subjected to can hardly be described in words."

In 1999, the memorial was officially opened in the school in Karajangasse. It has been open to the public ever since, currently on Thursdays (school days only) from 4 to 8 pm. The posters, which are dedicated to the Nazi era and knowledge about the emergency detention within the walls of the building, were designed as a school project by teacher Michael Zahradnik and pupils back in 1988. The posters were later made more durable, but their content corresponds to the originals. For example, they show who was among the prisoners in Karajangasse - one of them was called Bruno Kreisky.

Later, a committed teacher started a letter project with former pupils who had been expelled from the grammar school during the Nazi era. Copies of the letters are available in the exhibition as a thick book. Additions to the exhibition were repeatedly realized as school projects, for example researching how many pupils were murdered by the Nazi regime.

Archive at school?

However, the exhibition is no longer up to date. "The memorial is no longer up to date - both in terms of content and in terms of how knowledge is conveyed today," says Sarah Leitgeb, director of the memorial and teacher at the Augarten grammar school. For example, no sources are cited, and much of the content could be read by pupils today on the internet instead of in damp, cold cellar rooms, where electronic devices would also quickly break. "The collection of information could grow and be continuously added to on site," says Rohrbach. For example, an archive could be set up in the school, is one of the ideas. It would also meet the wishes of relatives who would like to know more about what happened to their ancestors at the site.

George Czuczka's father, the subject of this article, only wrote a short letter from the emergency detention center. The son later estimated that his family did not hear from him for two or three weeks. The next letter came from Dachau concentration camp. But the father was lucky: he was released again. The family fled to the USA in 1939. Son George still lives there. (Gudrun Springer, 28.3.2024)

Sobotka: "We must prevent Jews from packing their bags again"

Der Standard, March 21, 2024
German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000212719/sobotka-muessen-verhindern-dass-juedinnen-und-juden-wieder-koffer-packen

The Antisemitism exhibition in Parliament has been reopened. National Council President Sobotka warns of a new climate of fear for Jews.

His grandfather was not just a follower. He was an SA leader. And an avowed National Socialist at a time when not many people professed this ideology. Coming to terms with his own family history was not easy at first, says National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP). But once the initial fear of confrontation has been overcome, it opens up the potential for liberating processes. "And the fight against Antisemitism is not the job of Jews," says Sobotka. "It is our task."

The Antisemitism exhibition in the parliamentary library, which was reopened on Tuesday, is intended to make a contribution to this. The exhibition has been on display since the reopening of the parliament building last year. However, the original design did not fulfill its purpose sufficiently, says the President of Parliament. Too text-heavy, too unwieldy, no longer up-to-date enough. It was therefore decided to revise the entire exhibition, make it more interactive and add digital elements such as screens and videos. This is intended to appeal more specifically to young people.

Cooperation with Yad Vashem

In the newly opened exhibition entitled "Tacheles reden. Antisemitism - A Danger to Democracy" also includes key events from recent history such as the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 or the Antisemitic depictions at the Documenta 2022 in Kassel. However, Jewish life in Austria is now also being presented more intensively - and with a focus on its diversity. In addition to the Jewish Community, the German Antisemitism researcher Monika Schwarz-Friesel and the Jewish scholar Armin Lange were involved in the concept development. There were also regular exchanges with the Israeli Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem.

The exhibition is accessible to all visitors to the Hohes Haus am Ring. It will also form the basis for workshops at the parliament's democracy workshop. "Antisemitism is always anti-democratic," Sobotka told journalists on Wednesday evening. This is another reason why it is the task of parliament to fight against it.

Dealing honestly with Austria's history

The exhibition covers a wide range of topics, from the origins of Antisemitism in the Bible and its excesses in the Middle Ages to National Socialism and its lack of reappraisal in post-war Austria to current events. "The origins of hostility towards Jews lie in Christianity," said Sobotka during the tour of the exhibition.

The persistent attempts in the Second Republic to cover up the Holocaust and the crimes of the Nazi era instead of coming to terms with them are also dealt with in detail and honestly in the exhibition, as are the decades-long attempts to portray Austria exclusively as the "first victim" of National Socialism. A self-critical perspective that was anything but a matter of course for a long time, even in Sobotka's own party. Is it today? "Even in the Waldheim era, a lot has not yet been dealt with," said Sobotka. In general, research into how the Nazi era was dealt with from the 1950s onwards is still a very rewarding field - for university students, for example.

Israel as a "promise of security"

Israel is also a promise of security for Jews worldwide, said Sobotka. One for which Germany and Austria had a special responsibility due to their history. In his solidarity with Israel, however, he made a clear distinction between the state and the Netanyahu government, emphasized the President of the National Council. "They don't make it easy."

Many people from Jewish communities, including in Austria, are now reporting that they have packed their bags again so that they can leave the country quickly in an emergency. Despite the current situation and the new war in the Middle East, Israel is still a potential exit scenario for many. Preventing Jews in Europe from having to live in fear of attacks and assaults again is the task of the majority society, said Sobotka. "We must prevent Jews from packing their bags again." (Martin Tschiderer, 21.3.2024)

Info:

The exhibition "Tacheles reden" is freely accessible during parliamentary opening hours (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Prior online registration on the website is recommended: www.besuchen.parlament.gv.at

Public Prosecutor's Office Investigates Viennese Imam for Incitement to Hatred

Der Standard, March 19, 2024
German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000212545/staatsanwaltschaft-ermittelt-gegen-wiener-imam-wegen-verhetzung

The man resigned in mid-February following anti-Semitic Facebook postings. A house search was carried out at his address on Monday.

Vienna - The Vienna public prosecutor's office is now officially investigating an imam for incitement to hatred, who resigned from his position in mid-February following several antisemitic Facebook posts. This was confirmed by authority spokesperson Nina Bussek. Accordingly, proceedings were initiated following a detailed examination of the text posts. Bussek also announced that a house search was carried out at the man's address last Monday. The "Kurier" first reported on the house search.

For the time being, there was no information on what was seized. The corresponding report or the evaluation is not yet available, the public prosecutor's office said Wednesday afternoon in response to an APA inquiry.

The imam of the Assalam mosque at the Schöpfwerk in Vienna-Meidling had come to the attention of the prosecution authorities with antisemitic remarks. "Oh Allah, defeat the Jews and support the Mujaheddin who are fighting for Allah in Palestine", he posted on Facebook. He also said "Murder flows in their veins, they are the Jews! A despicable people, criminals, bloodthirsty people ... They only understand the language of blood and murder" and "Allah, (...) don't let any of them (meaning: Jews, note) live". The Facebook profile can no longer be found.

Islamic religious community imposes ban on activity

After the postings became known, the Islamic Religious Community (IGGÖ) described his statements as an "unacceptable reaction to the Middle East conflict" and imposed an activity ban on him. A spokeswoman for the IGGÖ told APA on Wednesday that this ban would remain in place until revoked, irrespective of the criminal investigation. Like all other Muslims in Austria, he remains a simple member of the IGGÖ. The IGGÖ does not recognize excommunication per se, the possibility of exclusion only exists in the case of a legally binding conviction with a prison sentence of more than one year, the spokesperson said.

The Assalam Mosque is largely frequented by people with Egyptian roots. It has been part of the IGGÖ since 2016. In an audit, the IGGÖ was unable to identify any problematic content in the sermons given there, but emphasized "that he has responsibility for his behaviour on social media". (APA, red, 20.3.2024)

Tribute to Nazi Eyewitness Lucia Heilman

ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation), January 15, 2024
German original: https://wien.orf.at/stories/3240746/

Lucia Heilman, now 94, survived the Nazi era in Vienna as a Jewish child. She still talks about this in schools. On Monday, she was honored with the state's Golden Medal of Merit at Vienna City Hall.

Heilman was born Lucia Johanna Treister in Vienna in 1929 and grew up in Alsergrund. In 1938, Lucia was expelled from school due to her Jewish background. In 1941, after her grandfather had already been deported to Buchenwald in 1939, a close friend of her father's hid Lucia and her mother in his workshop in Mollardgasse. After a bomb hit, they spent almost six months in a musty, dark cellar in Gumpendorfer Straße. Heilman still remembers the formative feeling of fear today.

"The fear, the uninterrupted fear that lasted day and night. The fear that the doorbell would ring, that someone would come and take me and my mother to Buchenwald or another concentration camp," Heilman told "Wien heute."

"I cannot forgive"

Family members and acquaintances were murdered during the war. But some of the people in Vienna remained the same after the end of the war, she says: "After the war, my mother sent me to fetch milk. I came into the store and they said I don't sell milk to Jews."

Nevertheless, Heilman stayed in Vienna, graduated from high school and studied medicine in Vienna. She became a doctor, married and raised two daughters. She first spoke about her survival as a "submarine" in Vienna in connection with Israeli photographer Alisa Douer's film project "Whoever saves a life saves the whole world" (1993). She has been active as a contemporary witness ever since. She continues to work against forgetting Nazi crimes, but she does not forgive: "No, I can't forgive."

"Sad" about the resurgence of antisemitism

She tells her story to children and young people in schools. "They should only know, and what they do with their knowledge is up to them," said Heilman. When asked how she feels about the fact that anti-Semitism is resurfacing today, she says: "I'm sad, sad that people haven't moved a millimeter in human terms."

In the 2013/2014 season, Heilman took part in the production of "The Last Witnesses" at Vienna's Burgtheater, and in 2017 she was a speaker at the Festival of Joy. Her story and that of her rescuer Reinhold Duschka is written down in the book "Am Seil - Eine Heldengeschichte" by Erich Hackl.

"You have honored this city"

"In her later life, Lucia Heilman worked tirelessly as a bridge builder and admonisher against anti-Semitism and racism," emphasized City Councillor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler (SPÖ). "It is not the city of Vienna that is honoring her, but you have honored this city with your work, whether as a doctor or as a contemporary witness. Especially now, when we have to lament the flare-up of anti-Semitism and xenophobia all over the world, it shows how important it is for a society to speak out and that each of us must not tire of raising our voices loudly against injustice and for humanitarian values," said Kaup-Hasler.

Churches Celebrate the Day of Judaism

ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation), January 12, 2024

German original: https://religion.orf.at/stories/3223019/

The churches in Austria are celebrating the 25th Day of Judaism on January 17. Numerous events and services will be held from Monday. Christianity is essentially linked to Judaism in terms of its self-image.

In order to raise awareness of this, the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Austria (ÖRKÖ) introduced 17 January as a separate day of remembrance in the church year in 2000. Christians should become aware of their roots in Judaism and their communion with Judaism in a special way.

At the same time, the injustice committed against Jewish people and their faith in history should also be addressed. This takes place in the context of church services and commemoration and learning events.

Not forgetting the roots

The initiative for the Day of Judaism goes back to the Second European Ecumenical Assembly in Graz in 1997. The day is also celebrated in Italy, Poland and the Netherlands. The date was chosen deliberately. The churches are to carry the spirit of this day into the subsequent worldwide "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity" (January 18-25).

For despite all the divisions between Christians, all churches have in common that they are rooted in Judaism, according to the organizers, including the Coordination Committee for Christian-Jewish Cooperation.

Events and services

The Day of Judaism will be celebrated throughout Austria with various events and services. The central service of the ÖRKÖ on the Day of Judaism will take place on Wednesday, January 17 at 6 p.m. in the Catholic Church of St. Josef-Weinhaus in Vienna (1180, Gentzgasse 142).

The Armenian Apostolic Bishop and ÖRKÖ Chairman Tiran Petrosyan, the Romanian Orthodox Bishop Vicar Nicolae Dura, Walter Fürsatz from the Old Catholic Church and the President of the Coordination Committee for Christian-Jewish Cooperation, Martin Jäggle, will celebrate with the congregation. The sermon will be given by the Protestant Methodist pastor Esther Handschin.

Coming to terms with history

The motto of the service is "As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live." The motto is taken from the biblical book of Ezekiel. The service will also be broadcast via Radio Maria.

According to the coordination committee, the choice of St. Josef-Weinhaus is the first time that a church has been chosen that was "a historical site of anti-Semitic propaganda" after its construction (1883). Pastor Josef Deckert, after whom the square in front of the church was named, held "anti-Semitic conferences" in the church.

Since the 1960s, efforts have been made to rename the square. Finally, the parish of Weinhaus under Pastor Peter Zitta came to terms with its history and took several pioneering measures.

Learning, remembering, celebrating

In 2019, the Coordination Committee for Christian-Jewish Cooperation worked with partners to divide the Day of Judaism into three parts: a day of learning, a day of remembrance and a day of celebration (on the actual Day of Judaism on 17 January).

January 15th is the Day of Learning. The event at 6 p.m. in the community center of the Jewish Community Vienna (Seitenstettengasse 4) will be opened by representatives of the Jewish Community and ÖRKÖ Chairman Bishop Tiran Petrosyan. Speakers include Rabbi Arie Folger on the topic "Between Jerusalem and Rome. Reflections on 50 years of Nostra Aetate" and the Protestant professor Susanne Heine with the topic "Lessons from Jewish ancestors for Christian descendants".

This year, the Day of Remembrance on January 16 is dedicated to the memory of the former synagogue in Simmering. The event organized by Vernetzte Ökumene Wien will take place at 7 p.m. in the Stephanisaal (Stephansplatz 3). Speakers will include the Secretary General of the Jewish Community, Benjamin Nägele, Coordination Committee President Jäggle, Cathedral Dean Rudolf Prokschi, Simmering Protestant Pastor Anna Kampl and Simmering District Head Thomas Steinhart.

On the day of the celebration (January 17), the ecumenical service of the ÖRKÖ will take place.

Events in the federal states

On January 16, the Catholic Private University (KU) Linz will be dedicating a lecture entitled "Everything kosher?" at 19:00 to the topic of "Food as a question of faith and identity". In a lecture, the Viennese rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister will provide insights into Jewish traditions, regulations and everyday actions and shed light on the connection between diet, identity, demarcation and community. This will be followed by a discussion with the Catholic moral theologian Prof. Michael Rosenberger from Linz.

In Graz, an ecumenical service to mark the Day of Judaism will take place on January 17 at 7 p.m. in the parish of the Holy Blood (Herrengasse 23). At the Bildungshaus St. Hippolyt in St. Pölten, Jewish Studies Professor Klaus Davidowicz will give a lecture on January 17 at 7.00 pm on the topic of "Judaism in film. Film as Midrash" (Midrash: teaching, mediation; note). He will shed light on how Jewish motifs have found their way onto the silver screen.

Anti-Semitism and "toxic language"

The Salzburg Faculty of Catholic Theology is hosting an afternoon of study on January 17 on the topic of "Toxic Language: Anti-Semitism from the Bible to the Present" (Universitätsplatz 1, HS 101). Starting at 3 p.m., Berlin linguist Monika Schwarz-Friesel will speak about language and power in the context of anti-Semitism and Salzburg biblical scholar Kristin De Troyer will talk about the Book of Esther.

The event is organized by the Center for Jewish Cultural History at the University of Salzburg, the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Salzburg, the Edith Stein University of Education Salzburg, the University of Education Vienna/Krems and the Archdiocese of Salzburg.

Middle East conflict at the Jewish Museum

In Innsbruck, Salzburg fundamental theologian Elisabeth Höftberger will be giving a lecture on a new form of Jewish-Christian dialog on 17 January at the Haus der Begegnung (Rennweg 12) from 6.30 pm. Bishop Hermann Glettler and the Protestant Superintendent Oliver Dantine have also issued a special invitation to this lecture.

In Vienna, the Director of the Jewish Museum Barbara Staudinger will also be speaking on January 17 as part of the "Theological Courses" (Stephansplatz 3) on the topic of "The Jewish Museum Vienna, the war in Gaza and the need for solidarity". According to an announcement, the Jewish Museum Vienna is taking on the task of addressing the Middle East conflict, although such exhibitions have often turned into scandals in the past.

Conspiracy theories past and present

The Jewish Institute for Adult Education's contribution to the Day of Judaism will focus on "Anti-Jewish conspiracy narratives from antiquity to the Black Death". At 6.30 pm, the motifs of conspiracy narratives against Jewish communities from antiquity to times of epidemics, hardship and religious agitation will be examined.

On January 16, the Jewish religious scholar Yuval Katz-Wilfing and the Viennese dean Ferenc Simon, member of the board of the coordination committee, will comment on the Christian-Jewish dialog on Radio Maria (8.30 pm).

An overview of all services and events can be found on the website of the Coordination Committee.

No, Gaza is Not Auschwitz. Stop the Perpetrator-Victim Reversal!

Die Presse, January 11, 2024

Guest Commentary by Ariel Muzikant and Yonathan Arfi

By declaring the war in Gaza to be "genocide", the state of Israel is being labeled the ultimate crime. This accusation is materially and legally unfounded.

Among the accusations leveled against Israel, the comparison between the fate of the Palestinians today and that of the Jews during the Shoah, as well as the false accusation of "genocide", are a reprehensible highlight.

The formula is well known: "To call things by the wrong name is to increase the misfortunes of this world", wrote Albert Camus in 1944. While Israel's hearing against South Africa is due to take place at the International Criminal Court this week, there are many actors in the public debate who are resorting to these false accusations, from Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who was voted out of office for anti-Semitism, to Turkish President Erdogan, who compares Netanyahu to Hitler, from the many Hamas supporters who shout "From the River (Jordan) to the (Mediterranean) Sea" at demonstrations, to certain international bodies.

Without diminishing the justified sympathy for the suffering of the Palestinian civilian population, the Israeli victims and hostages of this war started by Hamas, these accusations by South Africa must be firmly rejected.

What does this accusation mean?

What does this accusation of genocide mean? What does this Nazification of Israel mean? By casting the war in Gaza in the image of genocide, the state of Israel is being labeled the ultimate crime. This accusation is materially and legally unfounded, a perversion of events and actually aims at other, political goals.

Firstly, this reversal transforms Israel, the state of refuge for the victims of the Shoah and all those who are still fleeing anti-Semitism today, into a state of perpetrators and aims to change the public's moral compass. The symbolic designation of Israel as a Nazi and apartheid state exonerates the accusation of the European conscience of guilt for the Shoah. Finally, by maximizing the narrative of Israel's moral culpability, the accusation minimizes the gravity of Hamas' massacres, mass rape, arson and hostage-taking on October 7. Accusing Israel of genocide is essentially the most effective strategy for ignoring the Hamas pogroms of October 7 and the extermination impulse that motivated Hamas terrorists to massacre, rape and torture Israeli civilians ...

This accusatory reversal is not new. Palestinians have often used the mirror of Jewish history to formulate their own narrative. Thus, the choice of the word Nakba ("catastrophe" in Arabic) to describe the historical date of the independence of the State of Israel and the expulsion of part of the Jewish and Arab population present at the time corresponds to the meaning of the word "Shoah" in Hebrew.

But above all, this accusatory reversal disinhibits all violence against Jews worldwide. Accusing Israel of committing genocide and being the new Nazi state justifies the most radical speech and even goes so far as to justify the call for the dismantling of Israel. What violence would not be legitimate in the face of an allegedly genocidal state?

Let us not be naïve: those who use this terminology do so only to attack Israel. Their selective outrage spares the abuses of the world's worst authoritarian criminal regimes and ignores the victims of the Uyghurs in China, the Rohingyas in Burma or the Christians in Nigeria, etc. and of course they have never criticized Western military operations against ISIS against Daesh in Mosul and Raqqa, or against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, although unfortunately there have been numerous civilian casualties there too.

We Jews have the responsibility

This accusatory reversal of the facts is therefore in fact a deliberate and calculated stigmatization of the Jewish state alone. And unfortunately we know that the resulting accusation is automatically extended to all Jews, wherever they live.

We, the Jews in Austria and Europe, have a responsibility to denounce these dangerous developments while there is still time.

Those who do not fight this scandal should not hypocritically commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27, because no, Gaza is not Auschwitz.

Ariel Muzicant, President of the European Jewish Congress. Yonathan Arfi, President of the Crif (umbrella organization of French Jews)