From Monarchy to Republic - History of the Jews in Vienna

Zionism and workers' movement

With his efforts Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) contributed essentially to the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948.

"If you will, it is no fairytale" - these words of Theodor Herzl are true both of the emerging Zionist movement and the budding emancipation of the working class. In 1878, Theodor Herzl transferred from Budapest to Vienna. As an editor of the Neue Freie Presse newspaper, he was confronted with virulent religiously as well as politically motivated anti-Semitism. In 1896, Herzl's visionary book "The Jewish State" put political Zionism on the map.

The physician Viktor Adler, too, was concerned with political issues. Aware of the social tensions of his time, he ceaselessly drew attention to the miserable conditions of life and work of the Proletariat and taught the workers to fight. Viktor Adler died on 11 November 1918, one day before the proclamation of the Republic. In its obituary, the Arbeiter-Zeitung newspaper compared him to Moses, "who, like Adler, never set foot inside the Promised Land".

The First Republic and "Red Vienna"

In May 1919, the first general, democratic municipal elections entitling men and women to vote took place in Vienna and brought victory to the Social Democrats. Jakob Reumann became Mayor of Vienna, initiating a comprehensive reform policy that met with worldwide acclaim. Names such as Julius Tandler, Hugo Breitner and Robert Danneberg are emblematic of the social, sanitary and housing policies of that period.

The era of "Red Vienna" came to an end in 1934, when the Social Democrats were violently removed from Vienna City Hall by representatives of the corporative State. Despite all political problems, Jews played an important part in Austrian society during the monarchy and the First Republic. The majority of Austrian Nobel Prize winners, many well-known writers, musicians, stage and visual artists or physicians came from Jewish families. Yet anti-Semitic propaganda fomented envy of the attainments of these successful scientists and artists.