Seite - 356 - in Wien und die jüdische Erfahrung 1900-1938 - Akkulturation - Antisemitismus - Zionismus

Sandra Goldstein traditional German names. The successful acculturation of Jews has a further sig- nificant illustration in the novel to the effect that the reader is not told who among the characters is Jewish and who is not. The union between the Jewish intellectual and the Viennese Baroness is depicted by Vogel as a matter of normality, wishing to tell us that Jews have an existence other than the nationalist, the Zionist. When reflecting on their union, Gordweil feels secure for the first time in his life, he says, and concludes that after all it is a natural liaison as it brings together descendants of the two great ancient races. Gordweil comes from an ancient Jewish family and can trace his descent to a great and famous rabbi from Prague. Thea, or rather Dorothea, as her cousin Rudolf prefers to call her because it sounds more dignified and tradi- tional, is the scion of an ancient race, her cousin tells her. The latter, of whom Thea says “Mein Vetter heißt auch Rudolf. Er ist etwa zwei Kopf größer als Sie — aber er ist ein Rindvieh“, likes to add : “Die Vorfahren haben zu den Kreuzfahrern gezählt, vergiss das nicht. Du musst dich vor allem vor den Juden in acht nehmen. Die Stadt Wien ist vom einen Ende zum anderen verjudet. Es wird nicht mehr zwischen Blut und Blut unterschieden. Sie verpesten die Luft.“ But Gordweil and Thea agree that he is an ass, and himself after a little Jewess, as Thea tells Rudolf. Indeed, antisemitism and assimilation went together in 1920s-Vienna. We learn that the married couple are a little mousy looking Jew and a blonde, tall, strong, baroness ; between the feminine spineless neurotic Jew with destructive tendencies, usually seen in Egon Schiele’s and Oskar Kokoschka’s paintings , and a noble Brunhilde. Rudolfinus is her name for Gordweil from the start on account of his short stature and Rabbit is her pet name for him for his quick movements. Intentionally or not, Vogel like so many of his generation was familiar with the antisemitic discourse of the time concerning the crippled Jewish body . The marriage ceremony takes place in the temple in Seitenstettengasse after Thea has gone through a process of conversion. Having a Jewish ceremony is the Baroness’ idea, as she wants to have “a real marriage“, she says — as if it were just a formality like any other civil marriage. See Frederik Grunfeld, Prophets without Honor, London 1979. David Vogel, Eine Ehe in Wien, trans. By Ruth Achlama, München, Leipzig 1992, p. 44, 45. Ibid., p. 48. “Gordweil blieb in einiger Entfernung stehen und sah den Arbeitern neidisch zu. Nein, mit denen konnte er sich wahrlich nicht messen ! Verächtlich blickte er an seinem mageren kleinen Körper hin- unter, der ihm nur aus Nerven und Hirn zu bestehen schien, und löste sich von der Stelle.“ For further reading see Daniel Boyarin, Unheroic Conduct, Berkeley 1997 ; Sander Gilman, The Jew’s Body, New York, London 1991 as well as the illustration of the topic in Theodor Herzl’s Altneuland, 1902.