Page - 50 - in Entangled Entertainers - Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna

50 | Entangled Entertainers Th e fi rst play, Th e Soldier of Plevna, takes place in the historical context of the Russo-Turkish War and the Siege of Plevna (1877), during which a unit of Russian and Romanian troops defeated the Turks.28 Max, the play’s central char- acter, fi ghts on the side of the Romanians and distinguishes himself on account of his extraordinary valor. Deeply impressed by his courage, Max’s comrades ask him who he is once the battle is over. Max answers, “I am a Jew and will always be a Jew.” In a subsequent scene, which highlights his domestic sphere, Max converses with Chaim, the father of his bride. His father-in-law is surprised by Max’s military involvement and asks him why he is so fearless. Max explains that he considers defending his homeland to be his duty. Chaim fails to understand Max’s response. He asks Max what part of Romania he views as his homeland and whether he is paid for being a soldier. In response, Max refers to the rights he en- joys in Romania, which for him are suffi cient motivation for his military service. Th e Soldier of Plevna depicts the tensions between two Jews. Th e fi rst, Chaim, lives in a traditional Jewish environment and therefore cannot understand Max’s patriotism. Max, on the other hand, demonstrates an interest in the legal eman- cipation of the Jews and thus considers the divisions between the Jewish and non-Jewish worlds to be of no consequence. As a result, Max’s Jewishness and his participation in the war are not incompatible. On the contrary, these two aspects are for him directly connected with one another, as his response to the question posed by his comrades shows. When they ask him who he is, he does not give his name, but rather refers to his Jewishness. Th e play portrays Max’s Jewishness not through religious plotlines, nor through the observance of religious laws, but rather through his heroism. Th e audience was thus presented with values that were of little signifi cance in a Jewish environment marked by religiosity. In this context, it is worth noting that the Zionists of the time praised qualities such as valor and a willingness to participate in military combat as characteristics of a “new” Jew in Palestine. Th e idea was that the “new” Jew discarded attributes such as cowardice and physical weakness, which were sometimes used to characterize Jews in the Diaspora.29 Th e Soldier of Plevna, however, combines the Zionist idea of the heroic Jew with a Diaspora nationalism. Th is play that the Lemberg Singspiel Society performed thus critiques the Zionist interpretation of Jewish life in non-Jewish “majority societies,” as well as the values of the traditional Jewish world. Th e second play that I wish to discuss in this context is Jüdaly with His Trav- eling Bag.30 Dalinger describes it as “the fi rst [play] performed in Vienna with a Zionist tendency” that can be found in the Archiv für Th eaterzensur (archive of theater censorship).31 Th e primary protagonist is a wealthy Jew by the name of Bauchfett, who wishes to marry his daughter Rebecca to a baron. Th e non-Jewish aristocrat is however only interested in Bauchfett’s fortune and uses Rebecca in an attempt to take control of it. Meanwhile, Rebecca, who refuses to marry the baron, is in love with a poor teacher named Albert Kohn, a staunch Zionist. For a time, it appears to be a tricky situation with no way out. Ultimately, one of Albert This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched.