Regular Guests

Jewish Presence at the Semmering, edited by Danielle Spera

Danielle Spera

• Publisher: Amalthea Signum Verlag
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9783903441392
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: European History
• Index: History

Jewish Presence on Semmering The Semmering – the popular summer and winter holiday destination has a long association with Jewish guests. This history dates back to the Jewish trade routes in the Middle Ages when merchants passed through the area, and it continues to the present day. With the expansion of the railway, elegant hotels were constructed, kosher infrastructure was offered, Jewish doctors opened facilities for treatments and cures, and sports and leisure culture developed. The Semmering became a destination for health tourism, as well as the center of vibrant social life: Celebrities like Sigmund Freud, Arthur Schnitzler, Berta Zuckerkandl, and others turned into regular guests. Some even purchased property, built lavish villas, and dressed in local costumes as a sign of their affiliation. However, the rise of National Socialism marked the end of carefree vacations, leading to the expulsion and expropriation of many. After the Second World War, the Semmering attracted a new range of visitors: survivors of the Holocaust from neighboring countries and their children, who longed to forget their painful past as quickly as possible. For the first time, this book takes a detailed look at Jewish life in the Semmering region.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• Foreword
• A Beautiful Moment
• «The Semmering is not a health resort in the strictest sense of the word …»
• «The Semmering is no molehill» – Travel Route and Trading Road from the Middle Ages to the Construction of the Railway
• «The shrill whistle of the locomotive sounded; the train had reached Semmering.»
• «… that dreams really have meaning» – Freud, Schnitzler, Altenberg, Farkas, Zuckerkandl, Herzl, and Many More Between the Rax and the Semmering
• I Feel My Mother’s Closeness There – Michael Hacker in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• Emancipation One Thousand Meters above Sea Level – Jewish Women at the Semmering
• Happy to be a Jew – Hanni Haber in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• Dressing (Up) for the Summer Holiday – Traditional Costume Fashion and Its Jewish Wearers Around Semmering
• A Jewish Story of Advancement – Anita Pollak in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• «I’m just heading to the Semmering … Come with me!» – Popular Hotels and Guesthouses Among the Jewish Clientele
• We Were a Big Family – Martin Engelberg in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• «Uncle from America» or «Latvian Jew»? – The Many Myths about William D. Zimdin
• It Was Like a Trip around the World – Michael Horowitz in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• Vienna’s Contested Health Resort – Medicine and Health Tourism at the Semmering
• Everyone Was Equal – Peter Teichner in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• Jewish Sports and Motion Cultures at the Semmering
• The Impression of the Big World – Edek Bartz in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• «First-class and strictly according to ritual» – The Advertising of the Semmering Region in the Jewish Press from 1900 to 1938
• Vienna Was Relocated to the Semmering – Marika Lichter in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• The Semmering Posters by Hermann Kosel
• Melancholy in the Air – Robert Liska in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• National Socialist Terror and the «Aryanization» of the Semmering Region
• Hunger for Life – Victor Wagner in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• Witnesses to History – Expropriated Jewish Villas in the Semmering Region—A Selection
• A Haymishe Atmosphere – Viktor «Wolvi» Klein in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• Kosher in the Mountains – My Jewish Semmering
• Treating Oneself to a Little Joy – Irma Neufeld in Conversation with Danielle Spera
• The Guests—A Biographical Glossary
• Appendix