Jewish Difference in the Context of Class, Profession and Urban Topography. Studies of Jewish Sports Officials in Interwar Vienna

Drawing on the biographies of three Jewish sports officials, the article discusses spatial aspects of Jewish difference in interwar Vienna. Focusing on suburban spaces allows us to expand on existing research, which mainly concentrates on areas of the inner city with Jewish connotations. The article seeks to show that (Jewish) difference was defined primarily by parameters of space, in particular as regards the concept of 'Bodenstandigkeit' (being native). At least in the field of popular culture, identification with a non-Jewish suburb was more powerful than the Jewishness of the officials discussed here: in their self-perception as well as how they were seen and presented in the public sphere, their Jewishness was surpassed by their suburban affiliations.