Page - 322 - in Wien und die jüdische Erfahrung 1900-1938 - Akkulturation - Antisemitismus - Zionismus

Michael Laurence Miller concern when one considers the further, successful development of the universities. A further increase in the number of students will, however, inevitably lead to unbear- able conditions and to a decrease in the level of research and instruction. In light of the financial situation, an expansion of the facilities of the Austrian universities is unfortunately out of the question.” The Austrian government did not want to restrict “the influx of citizens into the universities” (den Zustrom von Bundesbürgern zu den Hochschulen), and instead, decided on “measures to contain the attendance of foreign students” (Verfügungen zur Eindämmung des Besuches ausländischer Studieren- der). Nowhere is the religion of these “foreign students” mentioned, but the follow- ing sentence indicates that the Foreign Ministry may have had Jews in mind. As the ministry explained, “containing the attendance of foreign students” was particularly desirable, due to the “disturbance of peace and order at the university, quite often by foreign students” (oft gerade durch Hochschulfremde gestörten Ruhe und Ordnung auf akademischen Boden). Apparently, this was a case of blaming the victim. Hungarian Jewish students continued to attend Austria’s universities until 1938, when a numerus clausus, and then a numerus nullus, were finally introduced. On April 24, 1938, the number of Jews studying at Austria’s institutions of higher learning was limited to 2 % (at a time when Jews were approximately 2.8 % of the population). On December 8, 1938, the few remaining Jewish students were excluded and the remaining Jewish professors were dismissed from their posts. Ironically, in the preceding year, Erzsébet Zsusanna Kulcsár, a 24-year-old Hungar- ian Jew from Budapest, had been awarded a Hungarian state scholarship to conduct research at the Count Kuno Klebelsberg Institute for Hungarian History in Vienna. The topic of her research : the relations of the Pan-German movement to Hungary. Indeed, by April 29, 1938, these relations had become menacingly clear, as Hungary’s government approved the First Jewish Law, which introduced Jewish quotas to the free professions and large business enterprises. „Die Hörerzahl der österreichischen Hochschulen ist im letzten Dezennium von Jahr zu Jahr ange- wachsen und hat eine Höhe erreicht, die nicht ohne Sorge für die weitere gedeihliche Entwicklung der Hochschulen betrachtet werden kann. Ein weiteres Ansteigen der Hörerzahl muss jedoch unweigerlich zu unleidlichen Zuständen und zu einer Senkung des Niveaus von Forschung und Lehre führen. Eine Erweiterung der Ausstattung der österreichischen Hochschulen ist angesichts der bundesfinanziellen Lage jedoch derzeit leider ausgeschlossen.“ Magyar Országos Levéltár (mol), Vallás- és Közoktatásügyi Minisztérium (Vkm), K636/20.105, pp. 37–40. Ibid. Bruce F. Pauley, From Prejudice to Persecution : A History of Austrian Anti-Semitism, Chapel Hill & Lon- don 1992, p. 290. A külföldi Magyar intézetek működése és a magas műveltség célját szolgáló ösztöndíjak az … tanévben (Bu- dapest 1938).