In
Vienna: Hitler And Hertzl vs Mozart, Popper, And Freud
06 July 2010By Mazin Qumsiyeh
Everything is ordered in Vienna where I gave two talks
on the popular resistance in Palestine. Rows after
rows of colorful buildings all with 5-8 floors with
housing complexes and offices. Public transportation
and public housing in a socialisty city that seems to
function uniformally in many ways. But ofcourse this
is a city that also generates out of the ordinary
characters. My thoughts wonder on the variety of those
sons of Austria:
Mozart, Hitler, Hertzl, Scwartzenneger. They were/are
extraordinary individuals that went beyond other
countrymen. Perhaps each individual has those two
sides, the angel and the devil whispering in our ears.
Ordinary people live ordinary lives not having the
courage to pursue the whispering
dreams of their angels and/or devils. The exceptional
individuals go for the maximum deams some of them in
the most creative and positive way while others in the
most destructive ways. We pass by the Landstmann Café
where Theodore Hertzl sipped his coffee and planned to
create a Jewish state. Most Viennese pass by hundreds
of plazas and their names evoke no emotion andmost
indeed today do not know who is Theodore Hertzl or
what he stood for.
Like that other Austrian Adolf Hitler, Hertzl built a
reputation by playing to the most basic and banal of
human emotions: fear, greed, hate, tribalism. Other
Austrians built a career appealing to the most
uplifting of human emotions: love, hope, generocity,
humanism. We are always inspired by the music of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johan Strauss. We are
blessed byAustrian inventors like Josef Madersperger
(invented the sewing machine in 1818) and Peter
Mitterhofer (inventor of the typewriter). And I am
hardpressed when asked to name decent politicians from
anywhere but the very few names that pop to mind
certainly include the Austrian Bruno Kreisky,
Chancellor from 1970-1983 and the first Jewish
Austrian in that office who opened Europe to the PLO
in the early 1970s to the chagrin of the Zionist
movement.
There are controversial Austrians who come to mind and
would receive mixed reviews: Kurt Waldheim, diplomat
and politician, Secretary-General of the United
Nations 1972-1982 and President of Austria 1986-1992;
Martin Buber, and Jewish philospher.
But as a scientist, I have always admired Karl Popper
a philosopher of science who was born in Austria,
became British and developed some of the best
description of what constitutes scientific methods.
When I wear my geneticist, Gregor Mendel is there with
me and when I put my Zoologist hat, I cannot help but
think of Konrad Lorenz.
But back to Hertzl who contributed to 110 years of
conflict and suffering for millions of people. Hertzl
wrote in his diaries that “Anti-Semites will become
our surest friends, anti-Semitic countries our
allies.” Instead of working to better life for all
people, he chose to mimic ethnocentric chauvinistic
nationalism in Europe and export it to another land
whose people had nothing to do with what was happening
in Europe. Another famous Austrian Jew, father of
psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud, rejected Zionism because
it has within it the same seeds of human frailty that
he could easily comprehend. To wit, Freud wrote once
to a Zionist who tried to recruit him:
*“I cannot do as you wish. I am unable to overcome my
aversion to burdening the public with my name, and
even the present critical time does not seem to me to
warrant it. Whoever wants to influence the masses must
give them something rousing and inflammatory and my
sober judgment of Zionism does not permit this. I
certainly sympathize with its goals, am proud of our
University in Jerusalem and am delighted with our
settlement’s prosperity.
But, on the other hand, I do not think that Palestine
could ever become a Jewish state, nor that the
Christian and Islamic worlds would ever be prepared to
have their holy places under Jewish care. It would
have seemed more sensible to me to establish a Jewish
homeland on a less historically-burdened land. But I
know that such a rational viewpoint would never have
gained the enthusiasm of the masses and the financial
support of the wealthy. I concede with sorrow that the
baseless fanaticism of our people is in part to be
blamed for the awakening of Arab distrust. I can raise
no sympathy at all for the misdirected piety which
transforms a piece of a Herodian wall into a national
relic, thereby offending the feelings of the natives.
Now judge for yourself whether I, with such a critical
point of view, am the right person to come forward as
the solace of a people deluded by unjustified hope.”*
Thus, as we leave this beautiful orderly city that
generates amazing characters of all sorts, we reflect
on the brilliance of insight and ingenuity of its
people as well as the common human frailty which still
infects our species today. Those like Herzl and Hitler
and Netanyahu who build careers catering to the worst
of our characters (greed, racism, fear) and those
brilliant individuals who go after their dreams of
leaving the earth a little better. Creating something
that is beautiful instead of
ideas that lead to hate and wars. Unfortunately most
people are apathetic and chose neither course. But
those that go after the positive energy leave us with
something to celebrate. Those that create systems
based on fear and greed create conflicts and war and
history only relegates them to the dustbin of infamy.
The Austrians I met with were ashamed to Hitler and
Hertzl and justifiably proud of Mozart and Freud.
There are more of the latter in every country today
than in the dark days 100 years ago.
PS: Thank you to our wonderful hosts in Vienna
especially Frigga Karl and Dr. George Nicola. And we
were honored to meet so many good people who enriched
our experiences.
Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD http://qumsiyeh.org now in Parma
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