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.
- Cover
- Title page
- Copyright page
- Contents
- List of Tables and Figures
- Preface
- 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
- 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, elementsin 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
- Back cover
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