Antisemitism in Austria

Discusses antisemitism in Austria in the 1880s-90s, focusing on two political parties. Notes the political use of ritual murder accusations, including Rohling's claims that the Talmud encouraged the killing of Christians. Extension of suffrage in 1882 increased the pool of voters susceptible to antisemitism. Vienna was associated with Church and state while the Jews became associated with capitalism, socialism, and modernism. Karl von Vogelsang, the editor of "Vaterland", was influential in his conservative criticism of "Jewish" modernism. His arguments appealed to many people who felt threatened economically and/or socially. One of the parties that gained influence via antisemitism was the Christlich Soziale Verein, which was used as a vehicle by Karl Lueger, who exploited antisemitism to eventually become mayor of Vienna. Georg von Schönerer was the founder of the opposing German Nationalist Party and was a model for Hitler. Highlights the inevitability of a split in Austria's antisemitic Christian Unity movement. Concludes that conditions in Austria made impossible a more stable right-left antisemitic unity such as existed in France. The Nationalists rejected the clericalism of the Christian Social Party, focusing instead on racist antisemitism. Claims that after gaining power, Lueger's party was not very antisemitic in practice. The Nationalists failed politically when their leader, Schönerer, lost popularity, but their ideas were carried on later by those Austrians who welcomed Hitler and the Anschluss. (From the Bibliography of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism - The Hebrew University of Jerusalem)