1848 - The First Step towards the Jewish Community

Adolf Fischhof (1816-1893), physician, revolutionary and Liberal

The revolutionary year 1848 was also an important and seminal year for the Viennese Jews, especially because of the leading role some of them played in these events. For example, it was the Jewish physician Adolf Fischhof who on 13 March 1848 formulated the key demands of the revolution - freedom of religion, of the press, of teaching and learning - in front of the "Landhaus" (provincial assembly) in Herrengasse. Many other Jewish Citizens followed in his footsteps and thus contributed significantly to the long road towards the Austrian Constitution finally adopted in 1867.

One of the belated consequences of the 1848 revolution was the permission granted in 1852 to establish a Jewish Community of Vienna (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde). This paved the way for the rise of the Jewish population to the haute bourgeoisie and aristocracy. Jewish families played a prominent role in the economic and cultural upswing that characterised the second half of the 19th Century. The liberation from prohibitions and re-strictions stimulated a flourishing Community that contributed essentially to the development of Vienna in these decades. The Viennese Jews identified with Habsburg Austria, with the liberal ideas of the period and with what is commonly considered "German-language culture and thought" while yet preserving their own identity - a difficult tightrope walk that was not facilitated by the religiously motivated anti-Semitism of Vienna's Mayor Karl Lueger.