The Invisible Jewish Budapest: Metropolitan Culture at the Fin de Siècle

269 Pages·2016·9.317 MB·English

by  Mary Gluck

the invisible jewish budapest
George l. Mosse series in Modern european Cultural
and intellectual history
Series Editors
steven e. aschheim, stanley g. payne,
mary louise roberts, and david l. sorkin
Advisory Board
ofer ashkenazi
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
annette becker
Université Paris X–Nanterre
christopher browning
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
natalie zemon davis
University of Toronto
saul friedla¨nder
University of California, Los Angeles
emilio gentile
Università di Roma “La Sapienza”
anson rabinbach
Princeton University
john s. tortorice
University of Wisconsin–Madison
joan wallach scott
Institute for Advanced Study
jay winter
Yale University
the invisible
jewish budapest
R
Metropolitan Culture at the Fin de Siècle
Mary Gluck
the university of wisconsin press
Publication of this volume has been made possible, in part, through support
from the George L. Mosse Program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
and the Program in Judaic Studies at Brown University.
The University of Wisconsin Press
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Copyright © 2016
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
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Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gluck, Mary, author.
Title: The invisible Jewish Budapest : metropolitan culture at the fin de
siècle / Mary Gluck.
Other titles: George L. Mosse series in modern European cultural and
intellectual history.
Description: Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, [2016] |
©2016 | Series: George L. Mosse series in modern European cultural and
intellectual history | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2015036814 | isbn 9780299307707 (cloth : alk. paper)
Subjects: lcsh: Jews—Hungary—Budapest—History. | Jews—Cultural
assimilation—Hungary—Budapest—History. | Popular
culture—Hungary—Budapest—History. | Budapest
(Hungary)—History—1872–1945. | Budapest (Hungary)—Ethnic relations.
Classification: lcc ds135.h92 b83445 2016 | ddc 305.892/404391209034—dc23
lc record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015036814
To the memory of my parents,
Ernő and Irén Gluck
R

c o n t e n t s
list of illustrations ix
acknowledgments xi
Introduction: Jewish Budapest as a Symbolic Space 3
1 Cultural Visions of the Emerging City 9
2 The Jewish Question and the Paradox of
Hungarian Liberalism 39
3 A Jewish Politician in a Divided Public Space 74
4 The Jewish Humor Magazine and Collective Self-Parody 104
5 The Scandal of the Budapest Orpheum 139
6 Critical Cross-Dressing and Jewish Bourgeois Identity 179
Epilogue: The Waning of Jewish Budapest after World War I 202
notes 209
index 235
vii

i l l u s t r at i o n s
Jewish figure surveying vista of Andrássy Avenue 10
Andrássy Avenue, ca. 1890 11
Kigyó (Ferenciek) Square with Klotild Palaces, ca. 1902 12
Elizabeth Bridge under construction, ca. 1902 12
Budapest Stock Exchange, ca. 1910 13
Procession during Millennial celebration, 1896 15
Etching of Király Street 23
Eszter Solymosi 42
Jewish ritual murder at Tiszaeszlár, 1882 43
Kossuth’s letter being read by supporters 52
Dohány Street synagogue, ca. 1880 65
Interior of Dohány Street synagogue, ca. 1930 66
Rabbi Samuel Kohn 68
Mór Wahrmann, 1892 75
Wahrmann’s funeral procession, 1892 76
Wahrmann as Jewish ambassador, 1878 82
Wahrmann in Lower House among colleagues, 1886 89
Wahrmann as Börzeviczy 91
Satiric representation of Wahrmann-Istóczy duel, 1882 101
Original meeting place of Borsszem Jankó 113
Reconciliation of Mór Wahrmann and Kálmán Tisza, 1881 117
Permanent social types of Borsszem Jankó, 1887 119
Itzig Spitzig 122
Salamon Seiffensteiner 128
ix