A new exhibition being presented at the Jewish Museum of Vienna and apparently seeking to disprove prejudices about Jews is attracting a lot of criticism due to a series of works presented in it that reinforce, according to the critics, anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli anti-Semitism.
The Jewish Museum of Vienna does not belong to the Jewish community but to the municipality of Vienna.
The exhibition called "100 misunderstandings about and between Jews" is intended, ostensibly, to present prejudices about Jews, common among the general population, and to shatter them through various works of art - mainly by Jewish and Israeli artists.
The exhibition deals with common opinions about customs and traditions in Judaism, the unity of the Jewish family, the tendency of the Jews to learn, the tragedies of Jewish history and the "Jewish sadness" derived from it, as well as the connections between the Jews of the world and Israel.
"The exhibition senses these misunderstandings, searches for their source, treats them as a parody or with a giggling wink," says the introduction to the exhibition, which also emphasizes the contemporaneity of the prejudices against Jews that were expressed in the protests against the corona restrictions and against the vaccinations in which some of the minds presented themselves In the context of the "figure of the Jewish victim" (for example, the use of a yellow patch as a symbol of the establishment's "persecution" of the opponents of vaccinations and restrictions).
A piece in the Jewish Museum in Vienna, photo: Momentosphere collection, photo: Tobias de Saint Julien
The works of art that provoke controversy are mainly those that make use of mirrors that symbolize the Holocaust for the purposes of parody or to convey amusing messages.
In one work referring to the claim that Jews are doing business from the Holocaust, the entrance gate to Auschwitz can be seen with the inscription "Buying is liberating" instead of the original inscription "Work is liberating".
In the work of the artist Alan Schachner, the artist is seen photographed with a can of Coke against the background of a picture of prisoners from the Buchenwald concentration camp.
A performance by the artist Boris Lowry shows a naked woman against the background of a pile of corpses in an extermination camp.
Another piece shows a video in which a Holocaust survivor dances the dance of life in various concentration and extermination camps, and visitors to the exhibition receive instructions on how to dance the dance.
Other works in the exhibition give expression to an anti-Israel attitude: in reference to the common claim that "the Jews learned nothing from the Holocaust" a model of the separation fence in Israel made of 12 pieces of olive wood is presented.
This work does not challenge the claim that the Jews learned nothing from the Holocaust, but rather reinforces the opinion of those who claim that Israel treats the Palestinians the way the Nazis treated the Jews.
Regarding the claim that the Jews do not criticize Israel, a video is shown that reinforces this claim and does not refute it.
The exhibition seeks to ridicule the supporters of Israel in Europe, usually from the right-wing camp, who exaggerate the miracle of Jewish-Christian heritage.
Here appears an image of the Israeli flag hoisted above the Austrian Chancellor's office, in solidarity with Israel in the face of the Hamas rocket attacks in May 2021, accompanied by quotes from journalists who expressed criticism of the gesture taken by former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
In connection with the claim that Jews do not joke about fascism, the video "Fascism" by former minister Ayelet Shaked is shown.
A piece in the controversial exhibition in Vienna,
Officials in the Jewish community in Vienna emphasize that the exhibition creates the opposite effect of what it seeks to achieve, in that it assimilates and justifies prejudices against Jews and strengthens them instead of fighting them.
A reference to the "Zionist expansion policy", which was included in one of the exhibits, has already been removed from the exhibition at the request of the Jewish community of Vienna, but remains in the catalog of the exhibition.
This is not the first time that a Jewish museum in Europe holds exhibitions with anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli anti-Semitic overtones.
The most prominent case so far has been the Jewish Museum of Berlin, which also does not belong to the local Jewish community but is financed by the German government and the municipality of Berlin.
The response of the Jewish Museum in Vienna has not yet been received as of the publication of the news.
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