Schnitzler: The Jew in Me and my Works, 20. 8. 1926

The Jew in Me and My Works
Confessions of Literary Luminaries on Their Intimate Attitude Toward the Jewish Complex
(Copyright, The American Hebrew. All Rights Reserved)
Religion has become a current topic even on the crowded front pages of the metropolitan newspapers. In the general recension of thought following the intellectual upheaval that is an aftermath of the war, men and women have turned the searchlight of inquiry to the fundamentals of life; and religion whether positive or negative is one of the basic impulses of the human soul. With this in mind The American Hebrew has requested several well-known American and European writers to subject themselves to a spiritual X-ray, and record the findings graphically for our readers. We present herewith the first two of these self-dissections by Arthur Schnitzler, keen analyst of human motives and emotions, and by Arthur Guiterman, most popular of American mirthful bards
Arthur Schnitzler – Social Satirist
The Viennese playwright-philosopher-novelist is best known for the human warmth that permeates his writings and the courage with which he scourges social sham. His irony and wit is akin to that of Bernard Shaw, whose spiritual brother he undoubtedly is. »None but the Brave« (Simon and Schuster) is the latest of his many works to be published in America.
I Spurn Dodge of Baptism
By Arthur Schnitzler
I am inclined to say that there is no basic individual Jewish characteristic apart from certain traits acquired through force of environment. I do not believe that the Jew is essentially different from his Gentile fellow being; there is no difference of spiritual rhythm between them. The attitude of the world towards him has produced certain psychological modifications. Remove this attitude and those modifications will vanish.
I believe that if a child of Jewish parentage, even of the humblest sort, were to be taken to another country, kept in ignorance of its origin, and if that origin were also kept from its associates, this child would grow up absolutely unconscious of a difference between its playmates and itself – save perhaps that it might develop and become aware of a keener and quicker brain.
I have no hesitancy in affirming that the Jews are a creative people. We may be on the verge of a great artistic Jewish renaissance. Just what is the nature of the artistic message Judaism has to convey to the world, I am unable to say. Time alone will tell.
As for the so-called Jewish problem, there is no general solution for it. Zionism does not seem to me to be a solution at all. It seems to me actuated too much by sudden impulses, by resentment, by a mere desire to escape from one’s environment and scarcely ever to spring from a wellreasoned decision. Though I admire people who dream so splendidly, they cannot ever convince me. The Zionist plays actively into the hand of the anti-Semite; he confesses a weakness in our position which, to my mind, does not exist.
I regard Zionism as the worst affliction that has ever burst upon the Jews. . .  I do not mind recognizing Zionism as a moral principle and a social movement, if it could honestly be regarded in that light, but the idea of the foundation of a Jewish State on a religious and national basis strikes me as a nonsensical defiance of the whole spirit of historical evolution.
My parents, for instance, came from Hungary, but I have no desire to return either to Hungary or to Palestine. I am rooted here in Vienna, I am an integral part of its highly individual culture; it in turn is a part of me. What care I about the opinion of a few ill-bred fools toying with anti-Semitism.
However, I’ll admit that in spite of my complete indifference to every single form of religion, I would positively never allow myself to be baptized, even if it were possible – though that is less the case today than ever it was – to escape once and for all anti-Semitic bigotry and villainy by a dodge like that.