This book studies the role played by Jews in the explosion of cultural innovation in Vienna at the turn of the century, which had its roots in the years following the Ausgleich of 1867 and its demise in the sweeping events of the 1930s. The author shows that, in terms of personnel, Jews were predominant throughout most of Viennese high culture, and so any attempts to dismiss the "Jewish aspect" of the intelligentsia are refuted. The book goes on to explain this "Jewish aspect," dismissing any unitary, static model and adopting a historical approach that sees the "Jewishness" of Viennese modern culture as a result of the specific Jewish backgrounds of most of the leading cultural figures and their reactions to being Jewish.

Examines Jewish life in Vienna, outlining internal dissensions and conflicts between assimilationist and traditional Jews and focusing on the rise and evolution of modern Austrian antisemitism. Jews were attacked as both capitalists and Marxists, as racially inferior and as a corrupting element, from the time of Christian Socialist Karl Lueger to Hitler and the Nazi period. Describes the Holocaust period, the persecution and deportation of Austria's Jews, and the unwillingness of Austrians to deal with their Nazi and anti-Jewish past after the war, as shown by their reluctance to bring war criminals to trial and by Kurt Waldheim's election as president.

For a small, prosperous country in the middle of Europe, modern Austria has a very large and complex history, extending far beyond its current borders. In a gripping narrative supported by beautiful illustrations, Steven Beller traces the remarkable career of Austria from German borderland to successful Alpine republic.

This book examines Jewish life in Vienna just after the Nazi-takeover in 1938. Who were Vienna’s Jews, how did they react and respond to Nazism, and why? Drawing upon the voices of the individuals and families who lived during this time, together with new archival documentation, Ilana Offenberger reconstructs the daily lives of Vienna’s Jews from Anschluss in March 1938 through the entire Nazi occupation and the eventual dissolution of the Jewish community of Vienna. Offenberger explains how and why over two-thirds of the Jewish community emigrated from the country, while one-third remained trapped. A vivid picture emerges of the co-dependent relationship this community developed with their German masters, and the false hope they maintained until the bitter end. The Germans murdered close to one third of Vienna’s Jewish population in the “final solution” and their family members who escaped the Reich before 1941 chose never to return; they remained dispersed across the world. This is not a triumphant history. Although the overwhelming majority survived the Holocaust, the Jewish community that once existed was destroyed.

“Robert Wistrich’s exemplary scholarly analysis of the Viennese Jewish community in the 19th century is the first well-written, reliable study of its kind... gives elegant portraits of the crucial Jewish figures of the new Viennese politics at the turn of the century... focus[es] on the internal history of the highly diversified Jewish community... [Wistrich] analyzes effectively the genesis of Herzl’s Zionism from within the Viennese context. Although his sympathies for Zionism are clear, he is respectful of Jewish critics of Zionism. What is refreshing in his narrative is the absence of retrospective critical moralizing about assimilation and the remarkable participation of Jews in German culture. Assimilated Jewish aristocrats and intellectuals, even Jews who converted to Christianity, are presented with as much evenhandedness as those Viennese Jewish nationalists and traditionalist theologians whose mistrust of assimilation and acculturation as reliable defenses against prejudice seems to have been vindicated by the Holocaust. The Jews of Vienna in the Age of Franz Joseph is not merely a descriptive history of Viennese Jewry. It vindicates the centrality of Jewishness and anti-Semitism as dynamic and changing forces in the evolution of 19th-century Austro-German politics and culture... Mr. Wistrich’s poignant narrative reminds us that the struggle for civic equality, social acceptance and economic security by the Jews of 19th-century Vienna resulted, among other things, in a steady stream of diverse and unforgettable contributions to art, science and culture... Even if the hopes implicit in the political and social struggle of the Jews of Vienna before 1914 were dashed finally by the violence of Nazism, Mr. Wistrich’s book is a moving reminder of what high hopes they were.” — Leon Botstein, The New York Times Book Review “The excellence of his book lies... in the high quality of scholarship, the sensitivity to nuance, the desire to map the entire Jewish response to the crisis of the empire in all its complexity.” — Michael Ignatieff, New York Review of Books “Will be the standard work for some time to come... eminently readable.” — Peter Pulzer, London Review of Books “[A] monumental book which will be indispensible for a long time to come.” — Ritchie Robertson, German History “Wistrich draws all the strands of this complex story very clearly together... broadly conceived, his book has a compelling dramatic interest and is certain to remain a standard guide to its subject for a long time.” — Roger Morgan, Times Literary Supplement “A paradigm of fine Jewish historical writing and analysis... Wistrich builds his work by exhaustively treating the important trends and figures which Viennese Jewry produced.” — Sharon Fleisher, Jerusalem Post “... a veritable summa of the religious, cultural, and political history in which the Viennese Jews were the main agents of change during the decline of the Habsburg monarchy.” — Victor Karady, Liber

A memoir of family history, personal identity, and WWII Vienna—a “well-researched, intimate, evocative look at some of the 20th century’s foulest days” (Kirkus). In autumn 1942, Anna Goldenberg’s great-grandparents and one of their sons are deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Hans, their elder son, survives by hiding in an apartment in the middle of Nazi-controlled Vienna. But this is no Anne Frank-like existence; teenage Hans passes time in the municipal library and buys standing room tickets to the Vienna State Opera. He never sees his family again. Goldenberg reconstructs this unique story in magnificent reportage. She also portrays Vienna’s undying allure. Although they tried living in the United States after World War Two, both grandparents eventually returned to the Austrian capital. The author, too, has returned to her native Vienna after living in New York herself, and her fierce attachment to her birthplace enlivens her engrossing biographical history. I Belong to Vienna is a probing tale of heroism and resilience marked by a surprising freshness as a new generation comes to terms with history’s darkest era.

Weyr supplies a compelling account of Hitler's destruction of Vienna, which he called "a pearl to which he would give a proper setting" upon seizing it in the Anschluss of 1938.

Unknown to many, Bratislava, presently the capital of Slovakia, used to be in the Habsburg Austro Hungarian Monarchy, a multi national city. German, Hungarian, and Slovak speaking residents represented the majority of the population, explaining why the city had multiple names Pressburg, Pozsony, and Bratislava. But it took a long time before the Jewish community in this city was given the same privileges and rights that other religious groups enjoyed. Legal emancipation of Jews was achieved in 1867, after the conversion of the Empire into the Dual Austro Hungarian Monarchy (Bratislava being in the Hungarian part). Having lived in this city for thirty one years, author A. Robert Neurath, through this book, valiantly attempts to capture the story of the emancipated Bratislava Jews and their vital contributions to the city's economy, culture, education, and political life. A richly layered book about history and non religious endeavors, BRATISLAVA PRESSBURG POZSONY: Jewish Secular Endeavors (1867-1938) offers a fascinating narration that begins with architecture providing documents "written in stone", and continues with the arts, sports, politics, business, and medicine. It is an informative page turner perfect for teachers, students, and anyone who wants to learn about the history of a captivating city and its extinguished and dispersed Jewish population. ISBN 9781453561581 $ 62.49 Softcover Color Picture Book 322 pp. 11.0 x 8.9 inches ISBN 8781453561591 $ 66.99 Hardcover Color Picture Book. 322 pp. 11.0 x 8.9 inches ISBN 9781462865992 $ 62.49 Softcover Color Picture Book 322 pp. 11.0 x 8.9 inches (Ingram version; binding on long axis) All prices may be subject of discounts. A color audio-flash-flip book is in production

The position of women in Austrian society, politics, and in the economy follows the familiar trajectory of Western societies. They were expected to accept their "proper place" in a male patriarchal world. Achieving equality in all spheres of life was a long struggle that is still not completed in spite of many advances. The chapters in Women in Austria attest to the growing interest and vibrancy in the area of women's studies in Austria and present a cross-section of new research in this field to an international audience. The volume includes with book reviews on Austrian business history, the Waldheim memoirs, Jews in postwar Austria, and political scandals in twentieth-century Austria. Women in Austria covers a plethora of significant social issues and will be essential to the work of women's studies scholars, sociologists, historians, and Austrian area specialists.