Rede Karl Luegers vom 20.Juli 1899

Here in our Austrian fatherland the situation is such that the Jews have seized a degree of influence which exceeds their number and importance. (Interjection: ‘Very true!’) In Vienna the poor craftsman has to go begging on Saturday afternoon, to turn the labour of his hands to account, he has to beg at the Jewish furniture dealer’s. (‘Quite right!’) The influence on the masses, in our country, is in the hands of the Jews, the greater part of the press is in their hands, by far the largest part of all capital and, in particular, high finance, is in Jewish hands, and in this respect the Jews operate a terrorism of a kind that could hardly be worse. For us, in Austria, it is a matter of liberating Christian people from the hegemony of Jewry.

Lueger’s aggressive political anti-Semitism is clearly expressed in this extract from one of his speeches. From a speech given by Mayor Karl Lueger at a meeting of the Christian Socialist Workers’ Association held on 20 July 1899 in Vienna, in: Weiningers Nacht, Europa-Verlag, Vienna 1989.