Längst nicht mehr koscher

The Erdheims

Günther A. Höfler, Illustrierte Neue Welt, Februar/März 2007

This account is not a family saga in the genre of Frenzen, Foer, Lewinsky et al. Technically superior to the standard rose-tinted formulaic examples, the book’s subtitles – A Family History. A Novel. – indicate, in common parlance, a hybrid. The family history of the Erdheims is meticulously recounted from 1866 to 1945- in part using family and historical documents. Tea Erdheim, the mother of the author and a fascinating figure - rebellious, courageous and endowed with exceptional staying power – marries Lenz, a member of the resistance, in 1945. By ending the novel in 1945, the year of her birth, the author distances herself from any autobiographical involvement. In contrast to Peter Singer’s family history, My Grandfather, the only comparable account, Längst nicht mehr koscher details the workings of assimilation and the dream of its accomplishment. Assimilation dominates the lives of the five Erdheim brothers, sons of Tea’s grandfather, Moses Hersch. Moses Hersch is the owner of oil wells in Galician Boryslav. The hopes of the protagonists and their striving for assimiliation are sharply contrasted with contemporary political opinion about the Jews as expressed in the newspapers. When the Erdheims celebrate Christmas in 1914 in much the same way as their Viennese contemparies, the talk turns to Jakob, a medical doctor at the front – “A Jewish hero. There are no Jewish heroes.” The author went so far as to learn both Polish and Yiddish to be able to research newspaper reports and documents and read exchanges of letters between members of the family. Many of these moving letters are reproduced in the text and stand witness to the history of the times. Even though some of them are the author’s constructs, they are so true to the style of the originals that the reader is unaware of the difference. Against a background of the sons striving for social respectability - two of them are medical doctors, two of them businessmen and one a lawyer – the author sketches out a multi-facetted panorama of Jewish life at the turn of the century. Some of this panorama may seem familiar as the Erdheim family was by no means atypical. Professional crises, illnesses, separations, unconventional lifestyles and intellectual preoccupations – Schnitzler, Nordau and Kraus – figure strongly. From 1934 on the persecution of the Jews begins to impact on every member of the family in Austria, Poland, the Ukraine and Hungary. As Nazi racial ideology leads to the destruction of European Jewry, family and political history intertwine. This occupies about one third of the book. Deploying short and simple, unvarnished sentences, the author leaves the reader with no illusions and avoids the dangers of over-sentimentality. At no point does the book threaten to be an escapist family record. This stylistic approach permits the author to convey the horror of the times plainly and directly. “All the remaining valuables have to be taken along. A ring, a necklace and a watch. They are taken to a sports ground. A crowd of people is present.” The emotional quality of the events is directly and effectively communicated. This represents a gain of literary terrain over dry historical accounts. Whether this literary technique is appropriate remains an open question. Even though it may not be a calculated device – the author’s novels all employ the present tense – the power of the approach cannot be denied. Claudia Erdheim’s novel is highly authentic, of great density and confronts the irrationality of Austrian history without a reourse to shallow entertainment.

Günther A. Höfler. Illustrierte Neue Welt. February/March 2007

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