August 24th, 2009
I got lost in the city today. I wasn’t really lost, per se; I just got on the wrong tram and didn’t turn around! I felt like this would be a good way to see new district of Wien that I probably would not have seen otherwise. I ended up going into a district with a lot more housing and local shops. I like to see the way that other cultures live, and in the inner city of Wien that is normally in apartment buildings. These buildings seem rather large, 10-15 stories, and most of the windows have colorful foliage growing out of them in various directions. Even though the apartment building are relatively “city” look for American standards they still give me a home-ier feel than I get from apartments in the States.
I decided to get off the tram at a cool looking church to try and look inside. Unfortunately it was closed, so I was only able to take pictures from a little viewing area. From there I walked to the first subway that I could find because I actually had a lot of different activities planned for the day.
One museum that I really wanted to check out was Palais Elkeles, the Jüdisches Museum. Fellow students were giving me a lot of negative impressions of the museum, and one guy in particular told me that he only spent fifteen minutes in it because of how small it is. Even with the negative comments I wanted to check out the museum because it has obvious close ties with my Jewish history and I don’t always trust everyone’s opinion.
I am really disappointed that my fellow classmates did not get the message of the museum, since I was in there for two hours! The first floor is dedicated to stereotypes in all cultures, which I think confused people. There is a wall of noses, where prominent Jews were asked to take a bust of their nose to show that not all are large (a major stereotype). The Barbie doll collection through students for a loop, but what the exhibit was saying is that the only characteristics than define a person (in a Barbie world) is their hair and skin color. There was also a picture of Michael Jackson that SO MANY people got caught up on! It makes me sad that they not only missed the message of the exhibit, but also failed to see the other Jewish history that was around them.
In a small, clear box off to the side I saw the original fabric that was sewn on to Jew’s clothing to distinguish their heritage. It is a yellow Star of David and was a fixture in many people’s lives during Nazi occupation.
After taking the elevator upstairs, and getting in trouble for taking pictures, I came to a room full of holograms. Someone who was not paying attention the tour could easily pass it, but it was actually very interesting. Each hologram was a different story and depiction of a Jewish person, and as you would walk by the figure would fade in and out of view. The reasoning behind this is that it mirrored Jewish culture in Wien, one minute it’s present and the next it is being extinguished. An interesting story that I learned was that the man who brought the world-famous Ferris Wheel to Wien was a Jew and he subsequently got run out with the Nazi occupation. It’s ironic that such a tangible staple of Viennese culture was preserved while it’s origins, the Jewish people, were cast out.
On the third story of the tour there was a room full of treasures from various synagogues. I unfortunately was not able to take any pictures, but some of the gold was blackened. I found out through the tour that this is because they survived Kristallnacht, "the night of broken glass" when a large amount of Jewish synagogues, homes and businesses were destroyed. It saddens me that some of my fellow students did not take the time to learn about this important history. In Ruth Kluger’s memoir, Still Alive, she talks about how people go through the actions of trying to care, or feeling like they should care, when they are at Jewish memorials. It is disappointing that some of my peers were falling into her stereotype. The trip to Mauthausen is tomorrow and I am interested in seeing the reactions that people are going to have after gauging their reactions at the museum.
After the trip I decided to completely switch things up and check out the Kapuzinerkirhe. The Kapuzinerkirhe is an imperial tomb of the Habsburg monarchy and holds the remains of such legendary rulers as Maria Theresa, Josef II and Franz Josef. I felt strange taking pictures while in the underground tomb because it felt like I was being disrespectful to the dead. I mentioned this before, but I have had problems this entire trip of deciding what is appropriate when being a tourist and what is unacceptable behavior. I eventually gave in because I saw other people taking pictures, so I joined the club.
The mortuary ritual of the Habsburg monarchy is quite interesting. Their entrails have been split up in various places across the city because, basically, everyone wants a piece of them! This is the same with saints because their entrails are considered sacred and will bring fame upon the church or tomb they are at. People make pilgrimages to see the sites so it is common to have a deceased person spread throughout a given city. The Kapuzinerkirhe is impressive because it was built to house the deceased monarchy in a way that equates them with being almost God like. They have an ornate shrine and coffin where people can come in lament their passing. Normal people get buried in a graveyard, if they are lucky! There were some absolutely beautiful and grandiose coffins in the Kapuzinerkirhe, of which are some shown below.
Maria Theresa’s was one of the most ornate and resembles a bed where she is looking into the eyes of her deceased husband. Apparently, although he had many mistresses, she wanted him to be the first person she looked at in the afterlife. This sarcophagus is in stark contrast to her sons, the enlightened monarch Josef II. His coffin is small and simple while hers is this grandiose baroque structure. It was quite interesting too look at the difference.
I also saw the tomb of Franz Joseph I, the Emperor of Austria and King of Bohemia. Today his coffin is still highly decorated. He died at the age of 86 and was one of the longest ruling and most beloved emperors in Austrian history.
LATER THAT NIGHT…
I feel nauseous about going to Mauthausen tomorrow. If I didn’t feel like it was so important to go then I wouldn’t. After reading Ruther Kluger’s memoir, Still Alive, I understand that she feels that the concentrations camps across Europe have become nothing more than modern tourist attractions meant to “whitewash” the past. One of the parts that stuck out for me was the two students who were doing their service to the community by giving guided tours of former concentration camps. They seemed startled by the fact that Kruger argued against the tours and against the public viewing of the death camp. She believed that the Holocaust needed to have a name, so that by default holocaust would suffice, but that to show people a cleaned up version of a death camp was like showing them nothing at all.
Without sounding pompous, and without having viewed the camp yet, I believe otherwise.
So soon people forget the horrors of only sixty-four years ago. Sixty-four years, like in the big scheme of life this is any time at all! Even in my generation people have issues trying to grasp the anti-Semitism that was, and in many ways still is, focused at Jews. They spend fifteen minutes at a Jewish museum in the heart of Vienna; a city filled with the rich history of the “chosen people”, and all the students can do is focus on the Michael Jackson exhibit at the beginning of the museum that was based on cultural clichés. It’s like they didn’t even try to understand. Or didn’t care.
My point is that without these “tourist attractions” people will forget the atrocities that have gone over the last century. They will forget because they won’t take the time to look them up. Even a whitewashed concentration camp is better than not remembering that anything was there before.
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