Beyond the Scenes: Performing Jewish Visibility in Fin de siècle Vienna

By now »Fin-de-Siècle Vienna« is a formalized topos, predominantly referring to high culture and activities of well-known intellectuals. Vienna in the late Habsburg monarchy, however, was a venue for traditions and knowledge of diverse origins. In particular, Jews that migrated and fled from the Eastern regions of the monarchy were exposed to divergent reactions because of their »otherness«: rejection often culminating in anti-Semitism; and rapture up to romanticization.

Jewish actors and actresses addressed these reactions and thus created their own way of belonging. They played out the clash between »East« and »West« especially in popular forms. While the artistic examinations were diverse, they all had one thing in common: the dialectics between visibility/invisibility. Some engaged in what was recognized as specific Viennese tradition and thus tried to become somehow invisible by merging into local culture. They were performing Wienerlieder and founding Volkssänger-Gesellschaften – groups, that performed in traditional bars (Heurigen). Others broached their experience as Jews from the »East« more openly on the popular theatre stages. The play Klabriaspartie from the Budapester Orpheumsgesellschaft narrates this »otherness« with artificial acting methods, stereotypes and slapstick – and in this way became one of the most discussed theatre productions of the time.

On the basis of these examples the proposed lecture maps an alternative kaleidoscope of Fin-de-Siècle Vienna, where high culture and popular culture, theatre stage and public sphere interlock. Thereby the lecture will explore the »Theatre of Belonging« and how Jewish (in)visibility was performed on stage – and perceived beyond the scenes.