Von Habsburg zu Herzl

Up until the first half of the last century, the colored student with ribbon and cap was considered the ideal-typical embodiment of academic life in German-speaking countries, with the number of students who did not join any corporation at all times outweighing those of the students who were organized in associations. Against this background, it is almost inevitable that the national Jewish self-confidence organized itself into student associations and claimed the university floor. This book aims to show a dynamic: While the engagement of Jewish students was initially aimed at becoming invisible in the Habsburg multi-ethnic state, the national movements of the second half of the 19th century developed a self-perception as an ethnic group that followed the path proposed by Theodor Herzl to state independence. Around 300 student organizations at middle and university level that existed in Austria and Hungary made a significant contribution to the Zionist awakening. They formed a networked milieu and an educational landscape whose buried traces and contribution to the emergence of the State of Israel are now being traced.