Since 1968, 267, 000 Russian Jews have passed through Vienna. As emigration from the Soviet Union has slowed to a trickle of late, the Jewish Agency maintains only a skeleton staff here. Dov Sperling, the director of the Jewish Agency, meets the Russians at the train station or the airport and those who want to go on to Israel are gone within three days.
Austria will always remain open to refugees, said Erich Kussbach, the diplomat in charge of refugee affairs in the Austrian foreign ministry. "We’re ready to receive and help Russian Jews. Our attitude is positive."
Austria which provides police protection for the arriving emigrants, has not come under Arab pressure to bar the theoretically Israeli-bound Russians from its gates, he said. Tight security is necessary because Palestinian terrorists, on the eve of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, abducted a handful of Russian immigrants in Vienna and triggered an international crisis which marred Israel’s relations with Austria.
TERRORIST INCIDENTS SHAKE JEWISH COMMUNITY
Iron-clad security is also strictly applied to Jewish community buildings. Policemen, conspicuously cradling submachine guns, guard schools, synagogues and even the local Kosher restaurant. The show of force is the result of terrorist incidents which occurred in 1979 and 1981.
Seven years ago, Palestinian terrorists left a bomb in the courtyard of the venerable Seitenstettengasse Synagogue. It blew up without causing any casualties. Two years later, terrorists associated with the extremist Abu Nidal Palestinian faction Killed three Jews and wounded 16 in a grenade and pistol attack on the same synagogue.
To add insult to injury, a bomb exploded on the doorstep of the Chief Rabbi’s house. A German neo-Nazi confessed to the crime. The community was further shaken when two small bombs went off in a garden adjacent to the Israeli Embassy. Despite these incidents, the community is in no physical danger, real or imagined. If anything, the threat to its viability is spiritual.
Because of Austria’s Nazi past and its long anti-Semitic tradition, the young generation of Jews here do not feel unreservedly Austrian. And consequently, more than a few do not see their future in this nation of historic cities and Alpine scenery.
Leon Zelman, head of the Jewish Welcome Service, a state-subsidized organization which promotes Jewish tourism to Austria, said he doubts whether they can feel like Austrians "in our generation. Look at Austria’s history. Then you can understand."
III AT EASE ABOUT THE PAST
But the past does not explain everything. "After the (Kurt) Waldheim affair, it’s hard for a Jew to feel Austrian, " said 17-year-old Judith Mirecki, whose mother serves as the Jewish community’s lawyer.
The problem, of course, transcends Waldheim. Judith said her non-Jewish friends feel ill at ease when the Nazi era is brought up. "They’re tired of hearing about the Holocaust." And Judith said it is difficult "to live among people who may have been Nazi Party members."
Does she feel at home in Austria? "Yes and no. My whole family lives in Vienna, but I’m not sure Israel is where I belong."
Doron Rabinovici, who is studying medicine at the University of Vienna, is more definite in his views. "Austria is not my home, though I feel very comfortable in Vienna’s coffee houses." He intends to emigrate to Israel.
For Rabinovici, anti-Semitism is not the only problem. His encounter with this has enraged him. But equally insidious, he said, is the excessive philo-Semitism to which he has been exposed.
Michael Hercovici, 22, also doubts whether he’ll stay in Austria. Chairman of the Union of Jewish Youth Organizations in Austria, he intends to continue his business administration studies in the U.S. and, if he likes it there, will become an American. He claims that many of his friends have similar plans.
"Austrians don’t let you feel Austrian. You’re a Jew for them, for the majority of Austrians. I really realized this at university. I always had the feeling that as a Jew I couldn’t criticize Austria. You can be an Austrian if you forget your Jewishness."
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
