Entangled Memories: Jewish and Non-Jewish Discourses on the Great War in Interwar Austria

The traumatic experiences as well as the great human losses of the First World War made it necessary for Jews and non-Jews to give it meaning. This creation of meaning took place during the war through patriotic and nationalistic propaganda and manifestations and found its continuation in the discourses of war memory in the interwar period. These memory discourses were always political discourses and within them, belonging to the national community was negotiated as well as exclusion from it.

In those memory discourses it becomes evident that for Jewish memory actors both the desire for social and cultural equality and the necessity of difference were significant. This presentation will discuss Jewish and non-Jewish war memory discourses in Austria and their entanglements. Similarities and differences in the discourses and their impact on Jewish self-understanding will be analyzed.