Page - 33 - in Entangled Entertainers - Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna

Jews in Viennese Popular Culture around 1900 as Research Topic | 33 specifi cally targeting a Jewish audience also appeared in the non-Jewish press. Th ese ads make it clear that Jews—and sometimes very religious, Orthodox Jews—read and consumed non-Jewish media. We can see further evidence of this phenomenon in an advertisement that can be found in an 1870 edition of the Neues Wiener Tagblatt. In it, the “exchange offi ce Jos. Kohn & Komp” featured its slogan, “May God bless Kohn in Vienna.”103 Th is slogan refers to the Jewish custom of being blessed by the kohan im in the synagogue during the H igh Hol- idays.104 Th is ad would not have made sense if the company that paid for it had not been trying to reach potential Jewish customers. Th e third piece of evidence that supports my thesis that Jews read general newspapers can be found in the Volkssänger scene and its performances. At times, audiences would have understood aspects of these performances only if they were aware of the larger events that unfolded in everyday life in Vienna. An example of such an event was the “Jellinek aff air,” to which the Budapest Orpheum Soci- ety alluded in some of their pieces. Edmund Jellinek had embezzled almost fi ve million crowns (Kronen) in his capacity as an offi cial of the state bank (Länder- bank). He had invested the money in industrial ventures and tried his hand at stock market speculation. He escaped imminent arrest at the end of September 1902 by fl eeing to Krems via Saint Pölten, a town in Lower Austria. Th ere, on the banks of the Danube, he disappeared without a trace. Although some evidence suggested he comitted suicide, police suspected that Jellinek had only faked his death,105 which is why they continued their intensive search for fugitive. In the following days, the rumor spread that Jellinek had boarded a ship and was sailing overseas. According to another story, he had been spotted in Lon- don.106 Austrian readers outside Vienna also closely followed news of the Jellinek aff air. A reward of 1,000 crowns for information leading to Jellinek’s arrest also certainly contributed to public interest in the case. Given this atmosphere of suspicion, it comes as no surprise that strangers who exhibited conspicuous be- havior were sometimes suspected of involvement in the aff air. In the Upper Aus- trian town of Enns, for example, police arrested a man who spent an unusually large amount of money. Th e police believed that the man was Jellinek, who had changed his appearance and adopted a new identity.107 Ten days after Jellinek’s disappearance, a body was discovered in the Danube. After initial doubts, authorities were able to make a positive identifi cation. Jel- linek had been found. Th e body was taken to Kirchberg am Wagram, where a funeral was organized for him with the help of the Viennese Jewish Community (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien, or IKG).108 Th e Jellinek aff air dominated the the Austrian media for over a week and a half. In part, descriptions of Jellinek’s escape were drawn out over several pages, complete with illustrations. In contrast, the Jewish press devoted nary a line to the Jellinek case. As I have argued above, this comes as no surprise because Jewish newspapers devoted themselves to Jewish—that is, religious—culture. After all, This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched.