ABSTRACT
Antisemitism, like the word itself, is a relatively modern phenomenon, to be distinguished from its content, Jew-hatred in all its forms. Conservative Christians, disaffected democrats, ex-liberals, nationalists, cultural critics, numerous thwarted academics, and visionary “life reformers” took action against the Jewish enemy in a variety of ways. Some, though certainly not all, were convinced that a mass movement could be organized on the basis of Jew-hatred and that this was the best way to proceed. In Hungary, the Jewish population nearly doubled between 1850 and 1869, largely due to the influx of Eastern European Jews fleeing the Russian Empire for better economic opportunities. Before 1914, no parliamentary antisemites succeeded in coming close to reaching their main objectives. Since none of the parties succeeded in even passing clearly anti-Jewish legislation in Vienna, where they ruled, Lueger could say that Jews had not suffered at all during his mayoralty.
