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@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@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@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
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