Doron Rabinovici
Encyclopedia
Doron Rabinovici is an Israel
i-Austria
n writer, historian and essayist. He was born in Tel Aviv
in 1961 and moved to Vienna
in 1964.
most of them set in Vienna
's Jewish environment. Three years later his first novel, Suche nach M. (Search for M.), was published which was translated into English by the US publishing company Ariadne Press. Search for M. is the portrayal of two families with Shoah survivors and their sons who live with memories they can’t express in the midst of the Austrians’ negation and denial of their past. In 2004 his new novel, Ohnehin (Anyway) was published. In this novel, the main protagonist Stefan Sandtner, a young neurologist, is confronted with a patient whose sudden and bewildering illness of the mind causes his memory to fail and sets him back in the year 1945. Herbert Kerber is stuck in his past as an SS officer. The novel's apparent lightness contrasts with the fundamental issues dealt with: hidden and present past, remembering and forgetting.
His doctoral thesis concerns the reaction of the Viennese Jewish community’s administration to the persecution by the National Socialists
and the community’s consequent extermination
. In 2000, the Suhrkamp branch Juedischer Verlag published his thesis under the title Instanzen der Ohnmacht. („Authorities of Powerlessness") which raises the painful questions of resistance and collusion that have come to dominate recent debates on the Holocaust.
In 2001, he wrote Credo and Credit, a collection of essays and articles about literature and politics. By combining serious and ironic texts, he speaks about his identity as a Jew who was born in Israel, lives in Vienna
and writes in German
.
He has been awarded numerous literature prizes, most recently the Clemens-Brentano-prize of Heidelberg and the Jean-Améry-prize, both in 2002.
In Austria Doron Rabinovici is known as an intellectual voice against racism and anti-semitism.
. In 1999 he became the speaker of Demokratische Offensive (Democratic Offensive), a movement geared to mobilize the Austria
n civil society
against the threat of a center-right coalition with Haider
's extreme right-wing party. The Demokratische Offensive called for mass demonstrations against racism
. The response was overwhelming – in February 2000, 300,000 people assembled on Vienna
's historic Heldenplatz
to stage the largest demonstration in Austria
's post-war history.
Béatrice Gonzalés-Vangell, Kaddish et Renaissance, La Shoah dans les romans viennois de Robert Schindel, Robert Menasse et Doron Rabinovici, Septentrion, Valenciennes, 2005, 348 pages
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i-Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n writer, historian and essayist. He was born in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
in 1961 and moved to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1964.
Overview
In 1994, Suhrkamp published his first book Papirnik, a collection of short storiesShort Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
most of them set in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
's Jewish environment. Three years later his first novel, Suche nach M. (Search for M.), was published which was translated into English by the US publishing company Ariadne Press. Search for M. is the portrayal of two families with Shoah survivors and their sons who live with memories they can’t express in the midst of the Austrians’ negation and denial of their past. In 2004 his new novel, Ohnehin (Anyway) was published. In this novel, the main protagonist Stefan Sandtner, a young neurologist, is confronted with a patient whose sudden and bewildering illness of the mind causes his memory to fail and sets him back in the year 1945. Herbert Kerber is stuck in his past as an SS officer. The novel's apparent lightness contrasts with the fundamental issues dealt with: hidden and present past, remembering and forgetting.
His doctoral thesis concerns the reaction of the Viennese Jewish community’s administration to the persecution by the National Socialists
National Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...
and the community’s consequent extermination
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
. In 2000, the Suhrkamp branch Juedischer Verlag published his thesis under the title Instanzen der Ohnmacht. („Authorities of Powerlessness") which raises the painful questions of resistance and collusion that have come to dominate recent debates on the Holocaust.
In 2001, he wrote Credo and Credit, a collection of essays and articles about literature and politics. By combining serious and ironic texts, he speaks about his identity as a Jew who was born in Israel, lives in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
and writes in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.
He has been awarded numerous literature prizes, most recently the Clemens-Brentano-prize of Heidelberg and the Jean-Améry-prize, both in 2002.
In Austria Doron Rabinovici is known as an intellectual voice against racism and anti-semitism.
Works
- Ohnehin Roman. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, "2005" (ISBN 3-518-45736-5)
- Credo und Credit. Einmischungen Frankfurt/M.: edition suhrkamp, "2001" (ISBN 3-518-12216-9)
- Instanzen der Ohnmacht. Wien 1938-1945. Der Weg zum Judenrat. Historische Studie Frankfurt/M.: Jüdischer Verlag bei Suhrkamp, 2000 (ISBN 3-633-54162-4)
- Suche nach M. Roman. Frankfurt/M.: Suhrkamp, 1997 (ISBN 3-518-40850-X)
- Papirnik. Stories Frankfurt/M.: edition suhrkamp, 1994 (ISBN 3-518-11889-7)
- Der ewige Widerstand. Über einen strittigen Begriff Styria-Verlag, (2008 ISBN 978-3-222-13239-1)
- Das Jooloomooloo Doron Rabinovici (Text), Christina Gschwantner (Illustration), jooloomooloo, Wien, 2008, (ISBN 978-3-200-01231-8)
Politics
Since 1986 Rabinovici is speaker of the Republican Club New Austria, an intellectual group that was formed against the background of the anti-Semitic presidential campaign of Kurt WaldheimKurt Waldheim
Kurt Josef Waldheim was an Austrian diplomat and politician. Waldheim was the fourth Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1972 to 1981, and the ninth President of Austria, from 1986 to 1992...
. In 1999 he became the speaker of Demokratische Offensive (Democratic Offensive), a movement geared to mobilize the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n civil society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
against the threat of a center-right coalition with Haider
Jörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...
's extreme right-wing party. The Demokratische Offensive called for mass demonstrations against racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
. The response was overwhelming – in February 2000, 300,000 people assembled on Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
's historic Heldenplatz
Heldenplatz
The Heldenplatz is a historical plaza in Vienna. Many important actions took place here, most notably Adolf Hitler's announcement of the Anschluss of Austria to the German Reich in 1938.-The Plaza:...
to stage the largest demonstration in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
's post-war history.
Awards
- 1994 3-Sat-scholarship at the Ingeborg Bachmann competitionIngeborg Bachmann PrizeThe Festival of German-Language Literature, formerly Ingeborg Bachmann Prize, is a literary competition which takes place yearly in Klagenfurt, Austria...
- 1997 Ernst-Robert-CurtiusErnst Robert CurtiusErnst Robert Curtius was a German literary scholar, a philologist and Romance language literary critic....
-Förderpreis für Essayistik (award for essays) - 1998 Hermann-Lenz-scholarship
- 1999 Bruno-Kreisky-AnerkennungspreisBruno Kreisky AwardThe Bruno Kreisky Award is a biennial award created in October 1976 on the occasion of the 65th birthday of Bruno Kreisky. The laureates are rewarded for their achievements in the field of human rights...
- 2000
- MörikeEduard MörikeEduard Friedrich Mörike was a German Romantic poet.-Biography:Mörike was born in Ludwigsburg. His father was Karl Friedrich Mörike , a district medical councilor; his mother was Charlotte Bayer...
-Förderpreis of the city of Fellbach (literary award) - Heimito-von-DodererHeimito von DodererHeimito von Doderer was a famous Austrian writer.- Life and work :...
-Förderpreis of the city of CologneCologneCologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
(literary award) - cultural award of the city of Vienna
- Mörike
- 2000
- Clemens-BrentanoClemens BrentanoClemens Brentano, or Klemens Brentano was a German poet and novelist.-Overview:He was born in Ehrenbreitstein, near Koblenz, Germany. His sister was Bettina von Arnim, Goethe's correspondent. His father's family was of Italian descent. He studied in Halle and Jena, afterwards residing at...
-award of the city of HeidelbergHeidelberg-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of... - Jean AméryJean AméryJean Améry , born Hanns Chaim Mayer, was an Austrian-born essayist whose work was often informed by his experiences during World War II...
-award
- Clemens-Brentano
- 2004 Author of the year of the literary journal Buchkultur
Further reading
"Kritische Ausgabe 2/1997"Béatrice Gonzalés-Vangell, Kaddish et Renaissance, La Shoah dans les romans viennois de Robert Schindel, Robert Menasse et Doron Rabinovici, Septentrion, Valenciennes, 2005, 348 pages