The German word of the day is Autobahn, or in English, freeway

Vienna has had a long, tortuous past treating the Jewish population of their city.  The Jews who lived in Vienna during the fifteenth century were cordoned off in what we today call ghettos where they lived their lives in total seclusion from the rest of the Christian population.  Some were allowed to enter into the everyday world of larger Vienna, but these individuals were usually traders that the rest of the Viennese population believed were a valuable economic asset.  The Jews of Vienna lived through several pogroms even before the Anschluss in 1938.  These pogroms did not just involve harrassement and violence against the Jewish population but also ordered the complete expulsion of the Jews from Vienna.  These pogroms would continue on throughout Austrian history with leaders such as Emperor Leoold and Empress Maria Theresia continuing an anti-semetic mentality that would prove unhelpful in creating detente between the two groups.  It was only around the time of Emperor Joseph II and his reforms that the Jews of Vienna were given basic rights that allowed them to live like the rest of the population.  But as history tells us, animosity and distrust towards Jews would continue on for centuries and finally culminate with the Holocaust.  While Vienna today is widely respectful of its Jewish citizens, its past continues to haunt the Viennese as one of its greatest stains and much care has been made to honor those Jews who were subject to the demeaning treatment of certain Austrians.

Visiting the Jewish quarter of Vienna takes you to three different location: the Jewish museum, the synagogue, and the Judenplatz.  I was interested in visiting the Jewish museum to see what it was like to live in Vienna during the Nazi period but the museum sadly did not invest time in this part of the city’s history.  The only connection the museum had to this time period was the family heirlooms that survived the war that were given to the museum.  These included menorahs, cups, utensils, and a variety of Jewish items used in ceremonies.  What I found confusing about the museum is its all-inclusive nature to not just Jews but all other peoples who have been subjugated and oppressed at one time or another.  Thus, I have determined the Jewish museum is closer to the museum of tolerance since there really was nothing about the Jewish experience in Austria.  Every room showed the cultural malfeasance that even exists today in portraying certain ethnicities in poor or sterotypical fashion.  This is all well and good but these rooms don’t teach me about the history of Vienna, or at least, an important facet of the city that would be fascinating to learn about.  Therefore, the Jewish museum was surprisingly disappointing to me because of its lack of historical insight and focus on the problems with modern commercialism in the western world.  I left the museum with a ticket for a two o’clock tour of the Vienna synagogue and left with the hope that the rest of the tour would be much better.

The synagogue was actually quite intriguing, both on an architectual and historical level.  The synagogue from the outside looks like nothing more than an apartment complex and this was expressly decided upon by the city of Vienna so that no one would know that inside Jews were attending worship.  This decision was ironic, for several decades later the Nazis decided not to burn the synagogue because of its benign exterior and its proximity to Christian churches, which could become engulfed by the flames.  Thus, this synagogue was the only one saved from the Nazis during the occupation.  The interior of the church is lovely, with nearly all parts of the hall given some metaphorical or philosophical role.  It was also interesting to particpate and learn about the Jewish culture; upon entering the synagogue I was required to wear a yarmulke and learned that in the Orthodox tradition of Judaism, women are required to sit on the second floor while men sit on the first floor.  The women on the tour did not have to do this since we weren’t witnessing an actual service, but learning minor traditions and dictates like that is interesting.  Overall, the synagogue was a great way to learn about the history of the Jews in Vienna, granted I learned it orally from a tour guide rather than on my own by viewing artifacts the way I originally thought I was going to, but it was a great learning experience nonetheless.

The last part of the tour, the Judenplatz, was sadly another disappointment.  The outside is interesting to behold with its Holocaust memorial and names of the camps in which Jews were sent.  I had hoped the museum would have an emphasis on Jews living through the Holocaust since it is an area of history that I have frequently studied but sadly this was not the case.  The Judenplatz is more of an exhibition museum with only a small part of its grounds holding permanent exhibits on Jews living in Vienna.  The permanent exhibit they had was fascinating, showing you the remains of the city’s first synogogue but this was the only permanent part of the museum.  Being that the rest of the museum contained a portrait gallery of Broadway’s version of The Merchant of Venice I felt the building slightly misses the mark on presenting Jewish culture.  Others may find such small specialty exhibits interesting but again, I came here to learn about history, not Broadway.

Though I was disappointed with the majority of the museums Vienna offers about Jewish history, it does not mean that I haven’t been able to find monuments and museums describing Jewish life in Europe elsewhere.  Eisenstadt had a very interesting statue depicting Jews in Medieval wear, which was probably a propoganda tool to create mistrust between the different religious groupings of Christianity and Judaism.  Also, I recently visited Hungary and saw that they have a great deal more about Jewish culture because it was a refuge for Jews throughout much of the country’s history.  In the near future, we will also be visiting Mauthausen concentration camp, so there’s still more to see that discuss the history of Jews in Europe.  I think Vienna could have done a better job bringing to light its country’s Jewish history but for all the things I’ve seen, both in Vienna and elsewhere, I feel like I’ve at least gained a greater insight into the different forms of respect and derision Central Europe has bestowed upon its Jewish citizens.