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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.
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Entangled Entertainers
Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna
- Titel
- Entangled Entertainers
- Untertitel
- Jews and Popular Culture in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna
- Autor
- Klaus Hödl
- Verlag
- Berghahn Books
- Datum
- 2019
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-1-78920-031-7
- Abmessungen
- 14.86 x 23.2 cm
- Seiten
- 196
- Kategorien
- Geschichte Vor 1918
- International
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- Introduction 1
- 1. Jews in Viennese Popular Culture around 1900 as Research Topic 13
- 2. Jewish Volkssänger and Musical Performers in Vienna around 1900 44
- 3. Jewishness and the Viennese Volkssänger 78
- 4. Jewish Spaces of Retreat at the Turn of the Twentieth Century 121
- 5. From Difference to Similarity 148
- Conclusion 163
- Bibliography 166
- Index 179