The city without Jews : $b A novel of our timeBettauer, Hugo
General
The city without Jews : $b A novel of our time
Bettauer, Hugo
Antisemitism -- Austria -- Fiction; Jews -- Austria -- Fiction
After the expulsion all Vienna was transformed into an armed camp of
_Hakenkreuzler_. Practically every man, woman, adolescent and child
wore the emblem that was displayed on all the posters, flags and
standards. But when things came to such a pass that every “drunk” and
pickpocket was wearing it, when the police mentioned regularly that
“the prisoner wore a _Hakenkreuz_,” then the more intelligent people
began to discard it, soon to be imitated by the middle class and the
masses.
It was not long before it became evident that all the parties, the
Christian-Socialist as well as the Social-Nationalist, had as their
common basis the portrayal of the Jew as an evil spirit, a bogeyman,
and a scapegoat. Now that there were no Jews or people of Jewish
descent in Austria this no longer attracted the public, and party
politics became even more stupid and boring than before.
Misery, unemployment, and the cost of living increased, and demagogues
were at a loss to find someone to blame. For now the rich were good
Christians, as were also the exploiters and usurers, (though the latter
were not to be mentioned, for that would have been an admission that
Christians, as well as Jews, could be profiteers and usurers).
Formerly the _Hakenkreuzler_ had attracted notice and aroused the
masses with their posters. Bosel and other Jewish plutocrats had
been called the rulers of Austria, had been reviled as vampires and
oppressors. But now Bosel was living in London, and the _Hakenkreuzler_
posters had become so colorless that no one bothered to read them any
more.
One after the other the papers that displayed the _Hakenkreuz_
suspended publication; _Hakenkreuzler_ meetings no longer drew an
audience, no more money poured into the party treasury, and the leaders
found themselves in a pinch when they could no longer fleece rich Jews,
and when there were no more Jewish banks to give them money. For the
Christianized banks did not need to contribute--and could not have done
so had they wished, for their situation became worse every day.
The leaders of the _Hakenkreuzler_ made a last effort to save
themselves and their slowly dying party. On enormous posters and a
million leaflets they informed the populace that it was again the Jews
who were to blame for all the misery of Vienna. It was international
Jewry, said they, that was shooting poisoned darts into Austria from
foreign countries, that was hatching vengeance, that was forcing down
the krone and, through the powerful organization of Freemasonry, was
draining Austria and isolating her from international life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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