Jewish life in Austria and Germany since 1945 identity and communal reconstructions / Susanne Cohen-Weisz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cohen-Weisz, Susanne.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Jews--Austria--Identity--History--20th century.

Jews.

Jews--Austria--Vienna--Social conditions--20th century.

Jews--Austria--Vienna--History--20th century.

Jews--Germany--Identity--History--20th century.

Jews--Germany--Social conditions--20th century.

Jews--Germany--History--1990-.

Jews--Germany--History--1945-1990.

Austria--Ethnic relations.

Austria.

Germany--Ethnic relations.

Germany.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (426 pages) : illustrations, tables

Manufacture:

Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2016

Place of Publication:

New York : Central European University Press, 2015.

Summary:

Based on published primary and secondary materials and oral interviews with some eighty communal and organizational leaders, experts and scholars, this book provides a comparative account of the reconstruction of Jewish communal life in both Germany and in Austria (where 98% live in the capital, Vienna) after 1945. The author explains the process of reconstruction over the next six decades, and its results in each country. The monograph focuses on the variety of prevailing perceptions about topics such as: the state of Israel, one’s relationship to the country of residence, the Jewish religion, the aftermath of the Holocaust, and the influx of post-soviet immigrants. Cohen-Weisz examines the changes in Jewish group identity and its impact on the development of communities. The study analyzes the similarities and differences in regard to the political, social, institutional and identity developments within the two countries, and their changing attitudes and relationships with surrounding societies; it seeks to show the evolution of these two country’s Jewish communities in diverse national political circumstances and varying post-war governmental policies.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Tables and Figures

Preface

Glossary

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 1945–1953 Two Parallel “Communities” and the Short-Lived Revitalization of Jewish Life

Chapter 3 1953–1980 “Sitting on Packed Suitcases”

Chapter 4 1980–2015 Settled and Flourishing Jewish Communities

Chapter 5 European-Jewish Identity and Cooperation: The Future Direction of Austrian and German Jewries?

Chapter 6 Conclusion

Appendix

References

Laws, treaties, and rulings

Interviews conducted by author

Index

Notes:

"Based on published primary and secondary materials and oral interviews with some eighty communal and organizational leaders, experts and scholars, this book both provides a comparative systematic account of the reconstruction of Jewish communal life in Germany and Vienna (representing 98% of Austrian Jewry) after 1945 as it developed over the next six decades, and explains the process of communal reconstruction, and its outcomes in the two countries. In particular, it focuses on the similarities and differences between the communities in regard to their political, social, institutional and identity developments, and their members' changing attitudes toward and relationship with the surrounding societies, and seeks to show how these developed in diverse national political circumstances and varying governmental policies. It will eventually prove that more influential than national politics were domestic Jewish development processes - especially changes in Jewish group identity, which shapes not only the Jewish community itself but also its view of the gentile world and its interaction with it at the national level. The comparative perspective is then broadened to reveal the key variables and their pattern of influence responsible for the developments of and within the European Jewry and European-Jewish organizations"--Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-003-72031-5

963-386-240-X

963-386-080-6

9781003720317

OCLC:

961187680