Jewish Life in Austria and Germany Since 1945

Identity and Communal Reconstruction
ISBN: 
978-963-386-079-3
cloth
$111.00 / €95.00 / £90.00
Kindle edition is available through Amazon
Publication date: 
2016
424 pages

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.

List of Tables and Figures
Glossary
chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Identity, Group Identity, and Jewish Group Identity Theory
1.3 On Anti-Semitism
1.4 Methodology
Comparative Analysis
Sources

chapter 2 1945–1953 ⋅ Two Parallel “Communities” and the Short-Lived Revitalization of Jewish Life
2.1 Communal organization
Organizational framework
Communal leadership
2.2 Demography
2.3 Jewish Group Identity
Variations of Jewish group identity
The Shoah in Jewish group identity
The State of Israel in Jewish group identity
Austrian, respectively German, elements in Jewish group identity
2.4 Communal Reconstruction
Institutional developments
Communal unity
2.5 External Communal Representation
2.6 Austrian and German Politics and Attitudes toward Jewry

chapter 3 1953–1980 ⋅ “Sitting on Packed Suitcases”
3.1 Communal Organization
Organizational framework
Communal leadership
3.2 Demography
3.3 Jewish Group Identity
Variations in Jewish group identity
The Shoah in Jewish group identity
The State of Israel in Jewish group identity
Austrian, respectively German, elements in Jewish group identity
3.4 Communal Reconstruction
Institutional developments
Communal unity
3.5 External Communal Representation
3.6 Austrian and German Politics and Attitudes toward Jewry

chapter 4 1980–2015 ⋅ Settled and Flourishing Jewish Communities
4.1 Communal Organization
Organizational framework
Communal leadership
4.2 Demography
4.3 Jewish Group Identity
Variations in Jewish group identity
The Shoah in Jewish group identity
The State of Israel in Jewish group identity
Austrian, respectively German, elements in Jewish group identity
4.4 Communal Reconstruction
Institutional developments
Communal unity
Organizational framework and communal unity
4.5 External Communal Representation
4.6 Austrian and German Politics and
Attitudes toward Jewry
4.7 Conclusion

chapter 5 European-Jewish Identity and Cooperation: The Future Direction of Austrian and German Jewries?
5.1 European Identity
5.2 European-Jewish Identity
5.3 European Jewish Cooperation
5.4 Conclusion

chapter 6 Conclusion

Appendix
References
Laws, treaties, and rulings
Interviews conducted by author
Index