Mad (about) Max

Medieval Jewish costume

In 1497, Maximilian I tossed the Jews out of Graz. This was the culmination of a bunch of lobbying work that pitted the Jews against the anti-Semites. The Jews were willing to pay to stay, the anti-Semites were willing to pay more to have them leave. I was lying awake steaming about for much too long. I mean, it was 1497 and that was a Really Long Time Ago. Right?

There’s a source to all this stewing. We were in Graz to see an exhibit about 500 years of Jewish life in Steiermark, our state in Austria. I was thinking it would be about, oh, 500 years of Jewish life, but really, it was more about 450 years of anti-Semitism and 50 years of pale revival. It seemed like there was a brief period under Emperor Franz Josef when things were pretty good for the Jewish community, but it didn’t last long and things went south even before WWII. By 1938, if you were a Jew, you either fled or died.

Husband told me that there was an article in the Alpenpost (a small local paper) about a guy that’s done research on the Aryanization of Bad Aussee. Bad Aussee is just up the road from us – it’s a very pretty and traditional village. Aryanization is a nice academic term for having your Jewish owned home and business seized by Nazis and handed over to someone else. I read a German article online about how the region used to apply a kind of seasonal anti-semitism before the war. During low season, you’d see signs about how “Jews and dogs are not allowed inside” but during high season, the tourist businesses would be all tolerance when wealthy Jewish families would come to spend their money. “Jewish money is the same as any other money,” they’d say, according to the report. I guess they were more opportunistic than the racists of Graz in the late 1400s.

The new synagogue in Graz is modern and quite striking, really, with Hebrew texts etched on the glass dome over the temple. We were there on a sunny day and a trio – harp, flute, violin – was practicing for their upcoming concert. The sound was sweet and a little sad and it was very beautiful. The composer, Erich Zeisl, according the crumpled flyer in front of me, left Vienna in 1938. The Requim Ebraico is a memorial to the composer’s murdered father. The building sits on the footprint of the old Graz synagogue, built in 1892 and destroyed by Nazis in 1938. The new synagogue is a mere 5 years old, with the exhibit being part of how they’re marking their anniversary. The exhibit is small but displays some precious artifacts of Jewish life along with anti-semetic propaganda dating back to the earliest days of the Jews in Austria. Hate is as old as time.

I should say (again) that I have never once personally experienced any antisemitism here in Austria. Not one time. Ever. A reluctance to discuss history, perhaps, but antisemitism, never. This doesn’t keep me from getting in a snit about the 1400s, apparently. Or the mid-1900s either. You can’t stare history in the face like that and walk away unscathed. Especially if it’s YOU.

Also, I predict some kind of serious Jewish revival in Austria, and soon. It’s happened in Warsaw and Bucharest, where all of a sudden it’s hip to be kosher. Seriously, this isn’t a joke. And we’re not talking celebrity nonsense, like Madonna and the Kaballah. We’re talking kids going klezmer. Eight crazy nights raves in Vienna. You heard it here first. If Bad Aussee is outing their Jewish past, anything is possible.

Note: Corrections on facts and translation errors heartily welcome.