Seite - 28 - in Entangled Entertainers - Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna

28 | Entangled Entertainers ish press not only ignored events, even those that involved Jewish participants, if they had no relation to Jewish religious or cultural life, but Jewish newspapers also often ignored everyday events that demonstrably infl uenced the Viennese Jewish community, or at least large swathes of the Jewish community—events that they might well have reported on according to their own publishing policies. We can see this illustrated in two examples that I discuss below. Subsequently, I formulate and substantiate a thesis explaining why these omissions in Jewish newspapers occurred. Th e fi rst example involves a case of fraud against banker Albert Vogl. He was accused of wresting an oral last will and testament from a mentally incapacitated client, Georg Herz Taubin, on his deathbed. Vogl was a well-known personal- ity in Vienna and maintained many friendships and acquaintances among so- cially respected circles. He was the owner of a currency exchange offi ce located at Vienna’s most respected business address, am Graben, which he had founded with money he had made in New York. His business, however, was not particu- larly successful. He speculated in the stock market, lost money, and was rescued from bankruptcy by the intervention of a handful of Viennese banks. Vogl’s ac- cumulated debts were seen as the motive that drove him to profi t fraudulently at Taubin’s expense.78 Th e fact that a person as illustrious as Vogl had to appear as a defendant in court was in itself a minor sensation. Th e contemporary media with their multi- page reports on the trial gave the aff air an additional touch of the spectacular. Th e biography of the alleged fraud victim, Georg Herz Taubin, also contributed to the interest. He had immigrated from Russia and possessed a small fortune that enabled him to lead an extravagant lifestyle in Vienna, well outside of established social conventions. He was considered an eccentric, on account of his clothes, his manner of speaking, and especially his behavior. At the same time, according to newspaper reports, he had a reputation for being well-read and was said to have even studied the Talmud. However, it was also said that a meaningful conversa- tion with him was scarcely possible, as his education was too superfi cial and his knowledge too diff use. Th ose who associated with him were usually suspicious of his idiosyncrasies and sometimes worried about how these idiosyncracies would aff ect them. He is said to have led a “life inclinded toward wild orgies” and also to have been “devoted to drunkenness in a boundless manner.”79 His alcoholism was seen as the cause of his mental disintegration, which manifested itself not only in radical mood swings but also in delusions of persecution and megalomania. He allegedly told the Zionist and later delegate to the Imperial Assembly (Reic hsrat) Isidor Schalit (1871–1954) that he was the Greek god Zeus and had come to punish people.80 While he was perceived to be an aff ectionate person during the short phases when he was sober, he was reputed to have been insane while in a drunken state, berating the people around him and regularly demanding sex from his domestic servant. This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY 4.0 license thanks to the support of Knowledge Unlatched.