The Habsburg crownland of Bukovina, which existed from 1775 to 1918, has experienced a lengthy afterlife in Jewish collective memory and historiography. A consistent thread in both the Habsburg and post- imperial view of this province, and in particular of its capital Czernowitz, is the myth of Bukovina exceptionalism: the idea that it was a site of unique opportunity and security for Jews. The talk explores this myth, focusing on the region's remarkable Jewish political culture. Through this prism, we can begin to understand what made Jewish society in Bukovina distinctive and noteworthy. If not El Dorado, this nonetheless is an important part of Habsburg Jewish history that deserves more serious attention than it has received to date.
David Rechter is University Research Lecturer in Oriental Studies at Oxford University and Research Fellow in Modern Jewish History at St. Antony's College, Oxford. Originally from Australia, he received his PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He has published The Jews of Vienna and the First World War (2001) and is currently working on a history of the Jews of Habsburg Bukovina. He is also at work on a source book on Modern Jewish Politics and the Jewish Question.
Reception will follow.