Page - 83 - in Entangled Entertainers - Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna

Jewishness and the Viennese Volkssänger | 83 Goldener Luchs, was said to have been massively overcome by such a fear a year and a half before. Th is fear allegedly plagued him to such an extent that it drove him “insane.” Initially, Spacek experienced this anxiety only in the form of “ner- vous headaches.” But after a time, he fell into despair and believed that the only way to escape the distress and misery that he felt was to end his own life. While in this mental state, he wanted to jump from a window to his death, but he was saved at the last moment before this could happen.17 It took a while for him to recover from depression and be able to resume his job. Th e fact that the city did not recognize the Volkssänger as craftsmen or trade professionals further exacerbated the already diffi cult social conditions that the Volkssänger experienced. Although they paid taxes and dues like trade profession- als did, health insurance did not cover them. So that they would at least have a rudimentary social network, the performers established their own organizations, which they could join by paying a small fee. In addition to the League (Zwölfer- bund), we should also mention in this context the Jolly Knights and the General Viennese Volkssänger Health Fund (Allgemeine Wien er Volkssänger-Kranken- verein). Th e Jolly Knights were fi rst and foremost known for running a home that they provided as a shelter for their impoverished members.18 Without these kinds of privately run benefi ts that would have otherwise normally been off ered by public insurance, unemployed Volkssänger could hardly lead a life of dignity. Th ere were Volkssänger, such as Josefi ne Schmer, who had been extremely popular during their days of actively performing (see chapter 2). But despite her success- ful career, Schmer was not able to save enough to provide for her retirement. For this reason, she was forced to spend her golden years in a nursing home where she shared a room with sixteen other women. Since she could not aff ord even the bare essentials for everyday life, she was also dependent on donations.19 Not a few of Schmer’s colleagues shared a similar fate.20 In his speech at the Goldener Luchs, Rötzer proposed to improve the social situation of the Viennese Volkssänger by prohibiting foreign folk singers from performing. In this context, he told his audience the story of two innkeepers who had recently applied to the Viennese authorities for licenses for Czech ensembles. Rötzer encouraged his fellow Volkssänger to prevent this from happening. For this purpose, Rötzer proposed that they form a deputation that would bring their objections to the attention of the governor. Th e deputation would also request that licenses be awarded for life, without the need for annual renewal. In addi- tion, they wanted to no longer allow the leasing of these licenses to third parties, requiring instead that all individual licensees perform using the license they had been awarded.21 Th e intention behind this plan was to guarantee a certain de- gree of occupational security for licensed, and in some sense already established, Volkssänger. Recher once again took the fl oor after Rötzer. Th is time, he too ignored the meeting’s agenda and joined Rötzer in discussing the urgent problems that This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched.