The Christian Social party, an Austrian Catholic political party, was a driving force of antisemitism in Viennese society from the late 19th century, all the way up to the start of World War II. 

Founded by Karl Lueger in 1893, the group was based on ideas developed by Karl von Vogelsang; anticapitalism, antiliberalism, and antisemitism. In fact, the Christian Social Party was the first political party anywhere to attain power on the issue of antisemitism, winning 66% of the seats on the Vienna City Council in 1895. The party also affiliated with a sense of Austrian nationalism, and fought to keep Catholic-majority Austria separated from the state of Germany, which was newly founded in 1871, and whose population was majority Protestant and Prussian. 

The party was popular with many facets of Austro-Hungarian society, making it an early example of a big tent party. There were many priests in the party, which earned votes from the traditional rural population. It also gained considerable popularity among the noble class through its support of a unified Austro-Hungarian empire and the ruling Habsburg family. As a socially conservative group, it also gained support through anti-liberal and antisemite slogans.

 The Christian Social Party’s propaganda in Vienna was made topically relevant by identifying big business and chain stores with Jewish people. The idea was to alienate Jewish people as a minority that actively harmed the large Catholic majority. At the end of the 19th century, the party revived blood libel accusations against Jewish people, and in 1895, Pope Leo XIII gave the party Vatican approval. Under Karl Lueger’s mayorship over Vienna from 1897 to 1910, Jews were not able to hold municipal administrative positions in Vienna. Much later, Adolf Hitler cited Karl Luege’s political tactics as inspiration for his policies within the Nazi party. He commented on how the Christian Social party appealed to not only the middle class, but to an ultra-conservative minority, as well as the old establishment, especially the Catholic church, which made the party seem like a “safe” option.  

 After World War I the Christian Social Party became the dominant political party in Austria until 1938, and retained strong antisemetic elements. In 1918, “the Jewish peril” became a common topic of conversation within the party, and they were prepared to grant Jewish people national self-determination as a part of the bitter “defensive war” against Jewry. In 1919, Leopold Kunschak, leader at the time of the party and eventual deputy of parliament, openly tirade against the Jewish refugees in Vienna, calling them “a plague of our time”. The party still depicted the Jewish snake strangling the Austrian eagle on election posters as late as 1920. Later party leaders attempted to tone down antisemetic iconography, the sentiment was deeply ingrained in the culture, and already left a lasting impact.   

 

 

 

Christian Social Party (Austria). World history. (2015, August 15). Retrieved February 18, 2022, from https://www.worldhistory.biz/sundries/47163-christian-social-party-austria.html 

Encyclopaedia Judaica. (n.d.). Christian Social Party. Christian Social Party| Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved February 18, 2022, from https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/christian-social-party-jewish-virtual-library 

Wistrich, R. S. (1983). Karl Lueger and the Ambiguities of Viennese Antisemitism. Jewish Social Studies, 45(3/4), 251–262. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4467229