Schnitzler Tells Why
As told to David Ewen
(Many of us would be hard put to give an
adequate answer to the question »why are you a Jew.« Arthur Schnitzler, the world famous novelist, answers that question in this
exclusive interview obtained for The Israelite and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency).
–
Some of us are Jews only because of an accident of birth. We are Jews only because
we
were born Jews. Others of us, however, are Jews for a much more potent reason. We
feel our race deeply within us, we react keenly and sensitively to it, we think ever
in terms of it; That is of a greater importance in branding us Jews than any accident
of birth can be.
Arthur Schnitzler, one of the greatest living
literary figures in the world, is one of the latter. He is one of our most desirable
Jews. Although he is primarily a novelist and a dramatist – one of the world’s finest
– he has time and again lent an eager pen for the cause of Judaism.
In play-form he has given us »Prof. Bernhardi« –
one of the most vicious attacks against the stupidity of anti-Semitism yet penned.
In
novel-form he has given us the »Open Road«, in
which Jewish problems are discussed with penetration, lucidity and power.
Besides this, there remains the mountain of articles which he has contributed in
order to clarify the position of the Jew in the modern world, and to attempt to
explain to him his inmost problems.
Schnitzler Tells Why
It was to talk about Judaism that I came to visit Arthur Schnitzler in his spacious home in a suburb of Vienna. And speak about Judaism he did in great detail, for it
is ever near to his heart. But most important of all he clearly explained to me why
it is that he is a Jew.
»If I am today deeply interested in my race,« he said, »the outstanding reason is
not
because I was born a Jew. Strange to say, as far as I am concerned, this is the most
negligible reason of all. True, if I had not been born a Jew I could not today have
been a staunch advocate of my race; that is self-evident. And yet, I must add that
accident of birth I feel has been the most negligible reason of all in making me
race-conscious. It was the most negligible influence of all in driving me ultimately
in the acceptance and in instilling into me a profound interest in and appreciation
for my race.
»There are those who, born to strictly pious parents, have been rigidly inculcated
in
Jewish principles and dogmas. Such people, it can be said, are Jews because they were
born Jews. But with me it is altogether different. My father, a very gifted and famous physician, had very slight
connections with his race. Religious education never entered into my early life;
religious thought of any kind never influenced it in the least. And so, in the early
years of my life, which stretched well beyond my adolescence, I could hardly be
called a Jew.
Objects To Chauvinism
»Why I am a Jew? Certainly, it is not because I think that Jewish culture is the
greatest of all possible cultures or because I feel that the Jew is the greatest of
all possible human beings.
»Chauvinism of any kind whatsoever, I have always felt keenly, is unforgiveably
stupid. It is true, of course, that it is the tendency of a persecuted race to be
chauvinistic, especially if it has sensitivity, culture and sensibilities. That is
why the Jew must always exert especial care in avoiding it. For chauvinism, after
all, defeats its own purpose. You cannot convince anyone of your profound
capabilities if you are continually trumpeting about them through bugles. Let your
actions speak louder than any words!
»Yes, we may be proud of our racial heritage and of our history, we may refuse ever
to conceal our identity; but modesty is always an enviable virtue. True, I have in
recent years come to realize that there is a unique importance to Jewish culture and
that the Jew contributed much to the world of thought. But every man of learning
realizes that the Jew has not been alone in this respect. We must always remember
that the Jew is only one part of a great civilization.
The Path Of Persecution
»Why, then, am I a Jew? I am a Jew, first of all, because foreign influences have
driven me willy-nilly
to my faith. I am certain that if I were living in the best of all possible worlds
where race-hatred, anti-Semitism, Jew-baiting were all unspeakable and unheard of,
I
would no more be conscious of my faith than the most stout-hearted skeptic. In such
a
world, I am sure, race consciousness would be of very little importance or necessity.
It would, as a matter of fact, be diminished a hundred fold. But since we are not
living in such a world, conditions everywhere have driven me into a greater and
greater race-consciousness.
»I was first made aware of the fact that I was a Jew during my university days, when, as a member of a philanthropic society which meted out sparse charity to needy students, I was made aware of the
fact that Jewish students were openly discriminated against. That made a profound
impression upon me. It opened my eyes to a condition which had always existed but
to
which I had been as blind as a mole.
»From that time on I realized how much injustice, how much blind and hot-tempered
hate, how much bitterness and stupidity were levelled against the Jew.
»Always an ally of the oppressed, I became once and for all deeply interested in the
Jew. Jewish problems became my own intimate problems. I absorbed myself with Jewish
thought and culture. I had become, suddenly, a Jew in heart and in soul.
Drawn To Jewish Studies
»Of course there must be other |reasons why I am a Jew. I might point to the fact
that my studies in Jewish history, culture and thought have awakened something deep
within me and that I have found something of myself in them. I might point to the
fact that I have come to realize that the problems of the Jew affect not only people
very near to me, but affect me personally as well. This, much more than any accident
of birth, has made me a Jew.
»I might add, in conclusion, that being a Jew requires a consummate grace and tact.
I
have already spoken about the stupidity of chauvinism.
»But chauvinism is not half so bad as a complete indifference to and an avoidance
of
Jewish interests. A Jew should strive to attain something of a golden mean: modest
and unassuming at some times, but loud-voiced when the emergency presents itself.
That is the type of Jew I have always strived to be.«
(Copyright Jewish Tel. Agency)
