Innkeeper, Vampire, Parasite. The Transformations of the Image of a Jew in the 1940s Works of František Švantner

The goal of the paper is to stimulate discussion about literary antisemitism in modern Slovak literature exemplified by one of its most notable writers, František Švantner (1912 – 1950). In line with the research trends in the Czech and German contexts, it draws attention to interconnections between literature and other discourses at that time, and the ambivalent nature of depicting Jews in literature, where negative stereotypes are combined with seemingly positive ones (literary „allosemitism“). The analysis of two selected novels and one novella reveals a modernized stereotype of the „Jewish usurer“, which was present in Slovak literature from the early 19th century. Under the influence of the rasist discourse the usurer stereotype was transformed into the parasite stereotype using the symbol of blood as the central metaphor. In the novel Nevesta hôľ / The Bride of the Ridge Švantner suggests the variant of vampirism, which is further developed in the novel Život bez konca / Life without an End in the sense of „racial impregnation“, i.e. infection and contagion. In the novella Sedliak / The Peasant thematizing his personal experience with persecution of Jews during the World War II, the ambivalent nature of literary antisemitism is refferred to by questioning the victim status of the literary character, who he again portrayed by conforming to the parasite stereotype

Whose Enemy? The Revival of Political Antisemitism in Post-Imperial Vienna

This study deals with the significance of antisemitism in Austria, especially in Vienna, under the changed political conditions immediately after World War I. It strives for a new perspective, focusing not solely on antisemitic images of “the Jew”, but rather on the self-perception of antisemites and, to a certain extent, on their mutual accusations of abetting “Jews”. At the same time, the antisemitic milieu is by no means viewed as a fixed völkisch entity: following the typology of sociologist Jan Weyand, the contribution emphasizes the dynamic tension between post-imperial religious and radical nationalist or racist self-images of Viennese antisemites. The analysis shows how two notorious and influential Viennese antisemites, the rightwing Catholic Anton Orel and the National Socialist Walter Riehl, fought each other between 1919 and 1921. Their disputes came to a head in the runup to the Congress of Antisemites of March 1921, which, for similar reasons, was unable to bring about an Antisemitic International.This study deals with the significance of antisemitism in Austria, especially in Vienna, under the changed political conditions immediately after World War I. It strives for a new perspective, focusing not solely on antisemitic images of “the Jew”, but rather on the self-perception of antisemites and, to a certain extent, on their mutual accusations of abetting “Jews”. At the same time, the antisemitic milieu is by no means viewed as a fixed völkisch entity: following the typology of sociologist Jan Weyand, the contribution emphasizes the dynamic tension between post-imperial religious and radical nationalist or racist self-images of Viennese antisemites. The analysis shows how two notorious and influential Viennese antisemites, the rightwing Catholic Anton Orel and the National Socialist Walter Riehl, fought each other between 1919 and 1921. Their disputes came to a head in the runup to the Congress of Antisemites of March 1921, which, for similar reasons, was unable to bring about an Antisemitic International

Experiments with accuracy of the air ion field measurement

This article presents the capability of methods for measuring of the air ion concentration and principles of ion spectral analysis methods. The analysis of the electric state of air shows the presence of various ion sorts. The therapeutic effect of negative high-mobility ions of proper concentration is known. This positive effect was observed in caves that are used for speleotherapy