My identity? Nothing rigid. In the absolute abbreviation: Viennese, Jew, Austrianer (note: a fan of FK Austria Wien). In no particular order. It changes from setting to setting, from day to day. For whom? Who says what, to whom, and why? Yid, Schickeria, Jew, Super Jew, Jew club!
Jew, Austrianer, Viennese.
07. August 2023
Close up
My Identity? Changing.
by Daniel Shaked
© Daniel Shaked
© Daniel Shaked
© Daniel Shaked
Red, blue, yellow, violet. As football fans, we identify with colors. As well as with successes. Hearsay. Radio. YouTube videos. Nevertheless, we speak with proudly swollen chests in the first-person plural “we” form about times past. Blurred images are to bear witness. We brag about long-gone victories as if we had been there. As if they still matter today? Some kind of World of Yesterday.
© Daniel Shaked
© Daniel Shaked
© Daniel Shaked
What is Jewish fan Identity? Who is allowed to call whom “Yid”? At what point is a club Jewish? Is there a “Jew club” threshold and can it be exploited commercially? Where and why? Who is, intermission, a Jew anyway? Hopp auf, Herr Jud!* Is there a Jewish identity in the stadium? If so, how, and does it come with a kippah? Do I have to think about it, or can I cheer?
Austrianer, Viennese, Jew.
My world draws in color, often black and white, through glasses and sometimes blurry.
© Daniel Shaked
© Daniel Shaked
© Daniel Shaked
* According to Friedrich Torberg in his essay “Warum ich darauf stolz bin,” Hopp auf, Herr Jud! (“Let’s go, Mr. Jew!) was uttered during a football match between Brigittenauer AC and Hakoah. When cheering, fans usually called out "Hopp auf!" and the name of the person who was to be rooted for. The name of the Jewish player was not known to this fan. Instead of calling him Saujud (Jewish pig), which was customary at the time, he addressed him as “Mr. Jew.”
