Arnold Schönberg and summer retreat antisemitism in the Salzkammergut
Online memorial exhibition
Shaken awake
Object #49
Shaken awake
Arnold Schönberg to Stephen S. Wise
12 May 1934
The Library of Congress, Washington, DC
“In 1916, after enlisting in the army as an enthusiastic soldier, I suddenly became aware that the war was being fought not only against outside enemies, but at least as fiercely against internal ones.
And apart from all those who appeared interested in liberalism and socialism, the internal ones included the Jews. Some years later, I had a nice adventure in the Salzkammergut, near Salzburg; I was perhaps one of the first Jews in Europe who was obliged to experience an expulsion.
“Those two experiences shook me awake and made me recognize the madness of internationalism (which, however, had always been alien to me), like the impossibility of all theories proceeding from liberalism: pacifism, democracy (against which I had turned long ago) and particularly the untenability of attempts at assimilation. From there, it was easy for me to define assimilation as undesirable and to press forward to healthy – and severe - Jewish nationalism based on our national and religious belief in our chosenness. I made the decision at that time to devote myself to Jewish propaganda.”
Cf. Therese Muxeneder: Arnold Schönbergs Konfrontationen mit Antisemitismus (III), in: Journal of the Arnold Schönberg Center 16/2019. Edited by Eike Feß and Therese Muxeneder. Wien 2019, p. 165–254