Christian Social Anti-Semitism in Vienna: A Textual Analysis of "Die Reichspost," 1894-1897

Abstract

This Master's Thesis is a close textual analysis of the anti-Semitic argumentation of the <italic>Reichspost</italic>, a Catholic and anti-Semitic newspaper associated with the Christian Social Party and published in Vienna between 1894 and 1938. This micro study examines the newspaper from January 1894 through April 1897. During its early years, the <italic>Reichspost</italic> used economic, social, and political anti-Semitism, religiously motivated Jew-hatred, and historical misrepresentations against Jews and Judaism. In addition, the newspaper justified (but did not call for) anti-Semitic violence. The <italic>Reichspost</italic> moderated itself by rejecting racial anti-Semitism and leaving the possibility of baptism and conversion open to Jews. Moreover, the newspaper demonstrated state patriotism, dynastic loyalty, and some aspects of "positive" Christianity. The <italic>Reichspost</italic> molded these seemingly discordant views into consistent ideology with demands for the "re-Christianization" and "de-Jewification" of public life, and doing so differentiated it from racial and radical anti-Semites of its time and of later decades.