Exhibition folder
© Jewish Museum Vienna
Jewih Museum Vienna, October 25, 1996 to February 16, 1997
JudenFragen
Jewish Attitudes from Assimilation to Zionism
Jewish Attitudes from Assimilation to Zionism" (JudenFragen. Jüdische Positionen von Assimilation bis Zionismus). Beginning with the question of what constitues Judaism and "Jewishness" - to which Theodor Herzl"s Zionism proposed one possible answer - the most important Jewish attitudes theoretically developed and practically experienced in our century are introduced in this show. These attitudes range from efforts at total assimilation and the commitment to universalism or socialism to the various types of Zionism. All these attitudes are closely linked to existential issues and the personal decision of how to master the problem of being Jewish in a (partly hostile) majority society: what is the meaning of Judaism? How can one live Judaism? However, the exhibition will also emphasize some strands of the complex history that has brought about the creation of the State of Israel, whose basis was laid by Theodor Herzl, a citizen of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy and resident of Vienna. Yet beyond all historical facts, the significance of the Zionist idea as an identity-creating and cultural concept will be confronted with other typical Jewish identity models and conveyed by means of literary, pictorial and sound documents as well as by outstanding works of the visual arts.
Curator: Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek (JMW, Cilly Kugelmann (Jewish Museum Frankfurt)
Collaborators: Werner Hanak, Gabriele Kohlbauer-Fritz, Hannes Sulzenbacher (all JWM)
Exhibition Architecture: Pierre Weiss
Graphic Design: Maria-Anna Friedl