Zu wenig Gerechte: Österreicher und Judenverfolgung 1938-1945 (review)

Book Reviews 131 Zu wenig Gerechte: Osterreicher und Judenverfolgung 1938-1945, by Erika Weinzierl. Graz: Styria Verlag, 1997. 257 pp. DM 248. The volume at hand is the fourth revised and expanded edition ofWeinzierl's study on Austrian antisemitism, the persecution ofthe Jews after the Nazi invasion, and actions taken by Austrians to help Jews. Inspired by the desire to examine and publicize the courageous acts of individuals, some of whom were designed "Righteous" by Yad Vashem, Weinzierl sketches a broad historical panorama tracing the history ofthe Jews in Austria since the 10th century, a history of disruption, expulsion and resettlement, massacres and conditional toleration. Weinzierl considers this spectrum necessary to understand the willingness on the part ofthe Austrian majority to make common cause with the Nazis and to highlight the exceptional self-determination and courage ofthose who refused to follow orders, if only in one instance and for one person. Ultimately Weinzierl, an expert in the history of the Austrian resistance, the documentation of which is the mission of the Vienna Dokumentationsarchiv des osterreichischen Widerstands, is unable to document a widespread resistance against the anti-Jewish legislation and actions taken by the Nazis. It is important to note that anti-Nazi resistance had many reasons, political, social, personal, but in most cases it did not include opposition to the anti-Jewish initiatives ofthe National Socialists. The short list ofthose who helped one or several Jews to survive-only in exceptional cases were more than a few individuals involved-is a shocking reminder that those who did lend assistance were few compared to the jubilant masses welcoming Hitler's army on the Heldenplatz in 1938. Moreover, the affidavits ofpersons stating that they did assist the persecuted reveal that for them "helping Jews" often consisted in refraining from harming or denouncing them or in helping them for a short while. In view ofthe facts presented, Weinzierl's objections to Daniel Goldhagen's findings in the controversial study Hitler's Willing Executioners, her refusal to acknowledge the phenomenon of "eliminationist antisemitism" within German-speaking culture, promoted and sustained by consistently anti-Jewish discourses, is surprising (pp. 206-207). Weinzierl's own documentary, which does not mince words when it comes to discussing acts ofbrutality perpetrated by Austrians against Jews, strongly suggests that for the most part Germans and Austrians did not have to be forced to give their tacit consent to or collaborate with the engineers ofthe genocide. In many respects Weinzierl's study has remained relevant over the years: in a clear and honest fashion it delineates the prehistory ofthe Shoah, describes the atmosphere in pre-Nazi and Nazi Austria, and positions the author within this history by revealing her background and reasons for conducting this type of research. On the other hand, some ofthe problems regarding representation and point ofview are specific to the time of the first publication when this book was by and large a pioneering study. Now, in spite of its many good insights and detailed information, the book is dated. The mere 132 SHOFAR Winter 2000 Vol. 18, No.2 concept (and the question Weinzierl asked in the media to gather information) of "helping" Jews relegates the persecuted Jews to an object status while assigning the non-Jews a position ofagency. Whether they harm or help, the Jews are acted upon. To be sure, mention is made in passing ofJews helping other Jews, but Weinzierl's overall perspective prevents Jews from being perceivedas autonomous agents, as human beings who had reasons oftheir own for reacting the way they did react under duress, and who did develop strategies for facing the unprecedented catastrophe. The focus on gentile agency is characteristic ofthe entire study, including the historical sections. Zu wenig Gerechte implicitly sets gentile society in its positive and its negative aspects as the cultural norm and overlooks the inner dynamics ofthe Jewish communities that inform Jewish responses to the historical events under discussion, whether in the period ofthe Toleration Edict, or at the time ofthe deportations. Today's reader may wonder about the reasons for Jewish remigrations aftermassacres andexpulsions, abouttheir apparent (and only apparent) defeatism in the face ofpogroms and anti-Jewish legislation. With regard to the...