Parlamentsklub, Juedischer
PARLAMENTSKLUB, JUEDISCHER
PARLAMENTSKLUB, JUEDISCHER , Jewish caucus active in the Austrian House of Deputies (Reichsrat) during the legislative period 1907–11, the first Austrian parliament elected by equal ballot. It consisted of the deputies of the Jewish national parties of Galicia and Bukovina, not including Jews of other parties. Three of its members, Adolf *Stand, Heinrich Gabel, and Arthur *Mahler, were elected in Galicia, where a number of Jewish deputies also were elected as Poles. The fourth member and chairman Benno Straucher came from Bukovina. The Jewish caucus issued a declaration demanding national autonomy for the Jews as well as a democratic and sound social policy in general. Straucher became a forceful speaker for the rights of Austrian Jews. Despite its small membership the Jewish caucus became a political factor in parliament, although it was frequently paralyzed by the antagonism of the Polish caucus (Polenklub). In 1911 only Straucher of all the initial members was reelected. A Jewish caucus existed also in the provincial diet (Landtag) of Bukovina.
bibliography:
A. Boehm, Die zionistische Bewegung, 1 (1935), 344.
[Hugo Knoepfmacher]