THE REPEAL OF THE ANTI-JEWISH LAW
When Leo entered the Parliament Building the newly elected Presiding
Officer had just greeted the ministers he had chosen the day before to
replace the old cabinet, and had informed the Assembly that there had
been presented two declarations of urgency to the effect that Paragraph
Eleven of the Constitution, prohibiting sojourn in Austria to Jews or
persons of Jewish origin, should be repealed.
A Social-Democratic deputy rose to move that the declarations of
urgency be taken up immediately. In spite of the noisy objection of the
Christian-Socialists and Pan-Germans the majority voted for the motion,
whereupon the Presiding Officer gave the floor to Dr. Wolters, the
leader of the Social-Democrats, as the first speaker in favor of the
proposal.
Wolters pointed out that he and the other members of his party had
opposed the law even three years ago as a direct blow at the most
sacred rights of man, and as indicative of retrogression into the
darkest of the Dark Ages. At that time the opposition had been hooted
down, abused, and crowded out of the hall; today, however, the once
misled and deluded people had brought them back in such numbers that
the power now lay in their hands and in those of other liberal-minded
men. Continuing, Wolters sketched the events of the past few years,
pointed to the terrible collapse of Austria, cited striking statistics,
and closed with these words:
“The audacious, too audacious, work of the man who once assumed divine
powers and now could not even obtain a seat in this House, has gone to
pieces; outside a hundred thousand unemployed citizens, together with
all our working but desperate people, are waiting for the new House to
open our gates to a new future, and to give our Jewish fellow-citizens
the opportunity to work again side by side with us--not against us--to
employ their intelligence, their industry, and their creative force in
the interests of our sorely tried and almost ruined country.”
After the applause, to which the galleries contributed their share,
had died down, the second majority speaker, Herr Habietnik, who had
been elected by the downtown business men, was given the floor. In
a whimsical speech, frequently interrupted by loud laughter, he
described the poverty-stricken, provincialized Vienna of the day,
regaled his audience with tales of his experiences in his line of
business, and declared:
“The tiniest hamlet is a metropolis compared with Vienna today. Vienna
has become a huge village with a million and a half inhabitants, and if
we don’t let the Jews in now we’ll soon see country fair booths in the
Kärtnerstrasse instead of exclusive shops, and live stock markets being
conducted on the Stephansplatz. This retrogression, against which they
are powerless to do anything, has brought profound despair into the
hearts of the citizens of Vienna. By deserting the Christian-Socialist
party the Viennese women and girls have not been the last to indicate
that they want to have again a flourishing, gay Vienna, a city of
luxurious life, even though it may have a slight Oriental tinge.”
Herr Habietnik’s further remarks were lost in an odd restlessness that
was spreading over the house. What had happened? The Right had at last
discovered that Deputy Krötzl was absent, and the Christian-Socialists
and Pan-Germans were in a panic. They did not even listen to their own
speaker, but sent out ushers with automobiles to fetch Krötzl from his
downtown office or from his house in the Billrothstrasse.
The situation might have been saved if someone had had the presence
of mind to prompt the minority speaker to continue his speech for
hours, until Krötzl should put in his appearance. But they had lost
their heads entirely; the Christian-Socialist speaker, Herr Wurm,
even curtailed his speech when he noticed the disturbance and saw his
colleagues going out. And in a few minutes a Citizens’ motion to close
the debate and set a five minute limit for all further speeches was
passed by the required two-thirds majority.
In vain did the surprised anti-Semites make a loud outcry; the
Socialist Presiding Officer ruled with an iron hand, and permitted
none of the previously announced speakers to talk for more than five
minutes. Laboring under terrific tension, and greatly agitated, the
deputies poured back into the hall in order to be present at the
forth-coming roll-call.
Herr Krötzl had not yet arrived; the ushers could report only that he
had not been in his office at all, and had left his home in the morning
in a noticeably flushed state, accompanied by another gentleman.
A Pan-German made the last attempt to save the day. Requesting and
being given the floor to speak on standing orders, he said:
“Deputy Krötzl is not present, and we have indications that he is being
detained by force; indeed, we have cause to fear that he is the victim
of foul play. This being the case, the House cannot possibly vote on a
law that will determine the fate of our country. If the new majority of
this House possesses the slightest sense of decency it will agree with
me that we must immediately adjourn for two hours. During that time we
shall probably learn whether our esteemed colleague, Deputy Krötzl, is
still among the living.”
The import of these words could not be ignored. They were followed by a
dead silence.
If Krötzl had really been prevented by force from attending the
session, they would have to wait, _voli-noli_.
At this most critical moment a gentleman with a little beard came on
the floor furtively and unobserved; he beckoned Herr Habietnik to him,
and, breathing hard with agitation, whispered something in his ear,
whereupon Herr Habietnik asked for permission to speak.
“I can give the honorable House my word as a gentleman that Herr
Krötzl has not been murdered; nor has he been prevented by force
from attending this exceedingly important session. At the present
moment Herr Krötzl is somewhere in our city, in an automobile, so
soundly asleep as the result of indulging in the flowing bowl that the
chauffeur is unable to rouse him. For the estimable Herr Krötzl, this
sole Viennese ornament of the Christian-Socialist party, undertook
in a small way, to celebrate his victory early this morning, in the
company of a jolly neighbor; and he drank decidedly more than he could
stand. His neighbor, who has given me this information, and whom I know
personally as a reliable man of honor, then entered a taxicab together
with Krötzl to come here. But he had to get out before they reached
their destination, as he could no longer endure the stench in the car.
For Herr Krötzl belongs to the old guard that would rather give up than
die. I don’t know where the thoroughly alive corpse of Herr Krötzl
happens to be just now; but this doesn’t concern us, and surely no one
will demand that we adjourn until Herr Krötzl has sobered up.”
The House rocked with laughter; and now the Presiding Officer called
the roll. One hundred and six deputies voted for the elimination of the
special anti-Jewish legislation, fifty-three against--and the law was
repealed!
This time the hundred thousand men and women who were waiting on the
street before the building cried “Hurrah!” instead of “Hail!” They were
not as enthusiastic as three years before, but seemed a little ashamed
of themselves. However, they had recovered their sense of humor, and
jests began to fly through the air again.
Immediately after the vote Leo rushed out of the Parliament Building,
jumped into a taxicab, and sped to the Linke Wienzeile, to the
_Arbeiter-Zeitung_. There, pleading urgent business, he obtained an
audience with the editor-in-chief, conversing with him privately for
half an hour. As he was about to depart the editor warmly shook both
his hands, laughing:
“You’ve accomplished something extraordinary, and I rejoice with you
with all my heart. I can’t help admiring your impudence! Really, it’s
impossible not to....”
“Call it Jewish impudence,” Leo supplemented gaily as he hurried down
the stairs.
* * * * *
The extra editions of the newspapers, announcing the end of the
exclusion of the Jews, had barely appeared before a second extra
edition of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_ was cried out:
“THE KRONE IS RISING!”
“Zurich: The telegraphed and telephoned reports of the decisive
session of the Viennese National Assembly were watched with feverish
interest on the stock exchange here. The definite news of the repeal
of the anti-Jewish law was immediately followed by large purchases
of kronen, the buyers including groups of American and English
financiers. The stamped Austrian krone doubled its value by leaps and
bounds, and had tripled it by closing time.”
At six o’clock in the evening there appeared a third extra edition that
attracted attention throughout Vienna and called forth great merriment
mixed with slightly off-color jokes. The announcement was as follows:
“FIRST JEW ARRIVES IN VIENNA.”
“We have the honor to inform the public that the first Jew has just
returned to Vienna from his exile. He is the young but already
world-famous painter and etcher Leo Strakosch, who, longing for
his own country, spent the period of banishment in Paris, leaving
that city the day before yesterday to proceed to Lundenburg, on
the Austro-Moravian border. When the news of the nullification of
the expulsion law was telephoned to him he immediately went on by
automobile to his native Vienna. At the present time he is staying
at the home of his future father-in-law, Hofrat Spineder, in the
Kobenzlgasse, where he is now embracing his faithful and loving
fiancée after years of dreary separation and waiting.”
This extra edition represented a well-meant bit of mischievous
pleasantry on the part of the editor-in-chief of the _Arbeiter-Zeitung_.
It was followed by an extra edition of the _Weltpresse_, containing
two sensational news items. One was to the effect that the former
Chancellor, Dr. Schwertfeger, despondent over the wreck of his nobly
and sincerely conceived work, had committed suicide by means of a
bullet. The other was an announcement by the _Weltpresse_ that,
submitting to the will of the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants
of Vienna, it would thenceforth appear as the organ of the new Party of
Active Citizens.