ABSTRACT
After the demise of the Soviet communist regime, there is a renewed interest in the phenomenon of Soviet culture in general and its Jewish variety in particular. From 1917 to 1920 Wiener actively contributed to German and Austrian Zionist periodicals such as Der Jude, Jerubbaal, Menora, and Esra. Wiener elaborated on his ideas about Judaism, Jewish history and Zionism in his letters to his sisters Franzi and Erna. The point of departure for Wieners attitude towards Zionism was the spiritual Zionism of Ahad Ha'am as it was later adapted to the German-Jewish cultural situation by Martin Buber. The grotesque pictures of post-war Vienna in the first part of Wiener's novel are reminiscent of the atmosphere in David Vogel's Hebrew novel Haye nisuim. An element of fascination with the life and the morals of the lower classes is present in all the writings of Meir Wiener, fictional as well as critical.
