Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2017/07/14
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]If any one place can symbolize the struggle between tolerance and intolerance in Europe, the Judenplatz in Vienna is a worthy candidate. At one end of the square is a statue of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, a key Enlightenment writer and philosopher, and pioneering dramatist of the German-speaking world. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/24844563 at N04/35910082945/in/dateposted-public/> Lessing's play "Nathan the Wise," set during the Third Crusade, was a plea for religious tolerance. The title character was based on Lessing's lifelong friend Moses Mendelssohn, today considered the spiritual father of liberal Judaism. Other characters are the Sultan Saladin and a Knight Templar. They discuss which of their three religions is the true one. Lessing's answer: "Of this you may be sure: Your father loved you all, and it was his ardent wish that all of you should love one another." This was such a radical idea that the Church banned the play during Lessing's lifetime. In some quarters, it is still a radical idea. Now let's turn around with our backs to the statue. We see this: <https://www.flickr.com/photos/24844563 at N04/35869709356/in/dateposted-public/> This is the Holocaust memorial, in the form of a library turned inside-out, dedicated to the more than 65,000 Austrian Jews killed by "the Nazis" between 1938 and 1945. <https://www.flickr.com/photos/24844563 at N04/35910083045/in/dateposted-public/> Behind and to the right of the memorial, you can see a building with several traffic barrier posts in front. This is the Jewish museum and community center. Such barriers, which surround most Jewish synagogues, schools and institutions in Europe, are a reminder of the real threat of terrorism. We could hear children singing Hebrew songs inside. The guard became *very* nervous when anyone walked near the barriers. The Judenplatz was the center of Viennese Jewish life during the Middle Ages. Until 1420-21, when Archduke Albert V instituted a series of persecutions against the community of 1400-1600 Jews. It culminated in the last 200 surviving Jews burned at the stake, all Jewish property confiscated, and Jews banned from Austria. The Holocaust Memorial sits atop the foundation of the destroyed medieval synagogue. The statue of Lessing is the second one to stand in the square. The Nazis tore down the first one and melted it down for munitions. "Nathan the Wise" was playing at Vienna's Volkstheater during our visit. With supratitles in English and Arabic. <http://www.metropole.at/nathan-with-strings/> Today, who embraces Lessing's still-radical idea, and who its malignant opposite? It's a question we need to ask, and keep asking. --Peter