Helga Embacher, Gertrude Enderle-Burcel, Hanns Haas, Charlotte Natmessnig (Hrsg.): Sonderband 5. Vom Zerfall der Grossreiche zur Europäischen Union – Integrationsmodelle im 20. Jahrhundert (2000)
Von der alten zur neuen Ordnung - Marsha Rozenblit: The Crisis of National Identity: Jews and the Collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy
Marsha L. Rozenblit pendence. The largest pogrom occured in Lemberg (Lwöw/L’viv), where Polish soldiers led an attack on the Jewish quarter on November 21-23, 1918 that claimed 73 Jewish lives. Such anti-Jewish violence, launched by Polish soldiers, seemed to offer proof to the Jews of the dangers of life in independent Poland, of the problems inherent in nation-states, and of the calamity caused by the collapse of the Habsburg Monarchy. Jewish newspapers all over old-Austria reported the pogroms in Galicia in horrific, often exaggerated detail. They universally blamed the Poles, especially Polish soldiers, for either leading the pogroms or standing by while they raged. Writers often used very hostile language, branding the Poles brutal, barbaric, hypocritical cowards who should be punished by the Allies for their behavior.17 The Zionist press declared the Poles not mature enough to have their own state if their first action was to assault Jews and then lie about it.18 Viennese Zionists drew an explicit connection between the fall of the monarchy and anti-Jewish violence, regarding it as “die ersten katastrophalen Folgen” of the new political situation.19 The liberal Österreichische Wochenschrift agreed, declaring that Polish soldiers and the right- wing National Democratic Party had embarked on an “echt pharaonische Zerstö- rungs- und Vemichtungswut” against the Jews of Galicia in the name of Christianity and national chauvinism, thereby revealing their unworthiness for national independence.20 Jewish spokesmen of all political and religious orientations demanded that the Versailles Peace Conference take strong measures to guarantee Jewish rights in Poland.21 With Jews of Galicia facing so much violence, it was natural for Jews everywhere to mourn the passing of the Habsburg Monarchy. In the new Czechoslovakia, where Czechs rejoiced in their new-found independence,22 such mourning would have branded the Jews as traitors. It would have been politically stupid to mourn Austria amidst the nationalist euphoria of the Czechs in late 1918. Thus, unlike the Jews in Vienna, Jews in the Czech lands did 17 OW: (22 November 1918), pp. 739-46, (29 November 1918), pp. 756-57, (6 December), pp. 770,772-73,(27 December) 1918, pp. 829-31. 18 Jüdische Zeitung (in Hinkunft: JZ) (Vienna): (15 November 1918), p. 1, (22 November 1918), pp. 1-4, (29 November 1918), pp. 1-4, (13 December 1918), pp. 2-3, (31 January 1919), pp. 2-3; Selbstwehr; (29 November 1918), p. 1, (13 December 1918), p. 3; Jüdische Volkstimme (in Hinkunft: JVS) (Brünn): (22 November 1918), p. 5,(6 December 1918), pp. 1-3. 19 J Z : (8 November 1918), p. 3 and (6 December 1918), pp. 3-5. 20 O W : (3 January 1919), pp. 1-2 and (20 June 1919), p. 375. 21 Ibidem, (23 May 1919), pp. 309-10, (6 June 1919), pp. 341-43, (20 June 1919), pp. 375, 378- 79, (27 June 1919), pp. 393-94; Jüdischer Korrespondent (in Hinkunft: JKor) (Vienna): (1 May 1919), p. 2,(15 May 1919), p. 1, (6 June 1919), pp. 1, 3, (20 June 1919), pp. 2-3. 22 On Czechoslovakia see Mamatey, Victor S.-Luza, Radomir (eds): A History of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1918-1948. Princeton 1973; Sayer, Derek: The Coasts of Bohemia: A Czech History. Princeton 1998. 46
