Diary of a Viennese Jew (German with Hebrew Letters)

Since 2003, the library of the Melk Abbey has been holding a precious rarity: a diary covering the time between 27. August 1848 and 31. May 1850, written by an - at this point - unknown Viennese Jew. The diary was "found" at the waste disposal site for recyclables of Bad Zell in Upper Austria: an attentive employee had pulled the inconspicuous volume from a waste heap. Unfortunately, another eight (!) books were irretrievably lost. The book eventually came into the property of Father Gottfried Glaßner from the abbey of Melk, and was integrated into the manuscript collection of the abbey's library as "Codex 1516". Clean Hebrew italics, tightly crammed onto 368 pages show the use of the orthography typical for the High German language of the early 18th century.

The diary's author, who has been identified as Benjamin Bernhard Kewall from Polna/Bohemia offers an extensive description, enabling a new view on lived history of the events in Vienna in 1848. The author witnessed the revolution literally on his doorstep, on Jaegerzeile (today Praterstraße) and was well-informed - certainly also due to his profession as private teacher and journalist. The author and his descriptions take us through the city to the Parliament building (to listen to political speeches), to cafés (where the dissenters met) and quite often to the theatre (apparently his most favourite past-time).
Benjamin Bernhard Kewall offers a multi-layered insight into Vienna's society which consisted of revolutionary students and blue-collar workers, uniformed women and intimidated clerks as well as - politically speaking - black-yellow and red citizens, the "redcoats" of Jellacic and the revolutionary National Guard, etc. His records reflect the opinions and convictions of a liberal Jew and journalist in revolutionary times. The author's Jewry was visible mainly at celebrations of Passover and other high feasts and in confrontation with growing anti-Semitism.

This project looked at the "Lebenswelten" (living worlds) of the diary's author as well as his historic descriptions and individual perspectives. So far, a Jewish point of view on the happenings and outcome of the revolution of 1848 had been restricted due to a lack of sources. The publication of this personal viewpoint thus offers a partly new and certainly widened approach. The publication contains the facsimile and transcription of the source, its text-critical analysis as well as a biographic overview.

Wolfgang Gasser, Erlebte Revolution 1848/49. Das Tagebuch des Wiener jüdischen Journalisten Benjamin Kewall. Unter Mitarbeit von Gottfried Glaßner (Quelleneditionen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung, Bd. 3). Oldenbourg Verlag, Wien-München 2010. 540 S., ISBN 978-3-486-58939-9, € 49,80

Information: Wolfgang Gasser

We would like to express our thanks to the abbey of Melk for its support of this project.

Reviews:

Sehepunkte

Further Publications

Wolfgang Gasser, Ich bin mitten in eine gewaltige zeitgeschichtliche Bewegung versetzt worden...“ – Vier politische Tagebücher aus der Wiener 1848er-Revolution. In: Anna Mitgutsch, Wolfgang Gasser, Claudia Lehner, Petra-Maria Dallinger, Tagebücher. Aufzeichnungen aus bewegten Zeiten. Publikation des Stifterhauses, Zentrum für Literatur und Sprache in Oberösterreich. Linz 2009, S. 18-51.

Ders., Analyse zum Tagebuch von Benjamin Kewall aus der Wiener Revolution 1848/49 in 2 Bdn. Phil. Diss. Universität Wien 2009.