In the syllabus, Kathy says we should talk about the Viennese we encounter and also our observations of the race relations in the city. Tonight there was an interesting back and forth between a man from Tel Aviv and a man of Middle Eastern descent. It was about 2 or 3 in the morning and we went to a pizza place that was open quite late. As we were waiting for our pizza outside, the man from Tel Aviv approached us and began asking us where we were from and telling us he was from Israel. He was an imposing figure of probably about 6'2' and was clearly a bit drunk. We felt quite uncomfortable with how he was inserting himself into our group and getting close to the girls. But as he was talking to us, a Middle Eastern man came out of the pizza restaurant and began talking to him about his Israeli descent in a clearly agitated manner. They argued for a bit, and I couldn't really follow along with what was being said but it certainly wasn't nice. (I don't think he liked his yamaka).
It's such an amazing clash of worlds to be studying early modern conflicts between Ottoman Turks, Jews, and Christians in this city and then to have the present jump in the mix. I think we take it for granted in California thinking that religious conflicts are generally a thing of the past. But the conflict here is alive enough for two seemingly complete strangers to exchange nasty words with each other.
This encounter piqued my interest in Viennese demographics, and after some research I see that there have been dramatic changes in this city in just a few decades. According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jews made up around 9.7% of Vienna's population before 1938. This then dropped down to about 1% after the war. Meanwhile, in the 21st century, the Roman Catholic population in Vienna is steadily decreasing (from 49% in 2001 to 35% in 2016). While the Muslim population has shot up from 8% to 14% in the same time period. Jews don't even break one percent.
I think Steven Beller put it perfectly in his, A Concise History of Austria, "There is the central paradox with which we started, that there is a very strong discontinuity between what Austria and Austrians are today, and what Austria and 'Austrians' were before".
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