Die Presse, June 30, 2022
German original: https://www.diepresse.com/6159188/danielle-spera-entscheidet-endlich-ueber-das-lueger-denkmal?from=rss
She is against "Cancel Culture" and has a hard time with anti-Zionism: For twelve years, Danielle Spera served as the beloved but also controversial director of the Jewish Museum in Vienna (JMW). She told Die Presse what her life will be like starting in July.
Die Presse: Friday is your last day as director of the Jewish Museum in Vienna. Twelve years were not enough for you, you applied again, but the city chose Barbara Staudinger. Are you leaving with a "teary eye"?
Danielle Spera: With a laugh. There are great projects ahead of me, a whole new phase in my life. Above all, I will no longer have responsibility over personnel and will be able to concentrate on content.
Will one of these projects involve Hedy Lamarr's estate, which you brought to the museum but whose purchase was reversed at the end of 2021 because the city could not or would not provide the funding for the presentation?
I was quite perplexed that the city didn't jump on it immediately. In any case, I will see to it that something is created for Lamarr in Vienna; I am also doing this in consultation with her son. Another research project is the Jewish Semmering. There are big plans for this region. First of all, there are plans for a book to be written.
In retrospect, the exhibition about the Ephrussi family and Edmund de Waal's "Hare with Amber Eyes," which went hand in hand with the donation of the family's archive, could be seen as the highlight of your time at the museum. Would you agree?
The Ephrussi donation is something great for both the city and the museum. There were many museums in the world trying to get it. But we were able to build a relationship with Edmund de Waal over many years, he liked the way we dealt with history, and that's why he decided for us. I will never forget the moment when the whole family came together again in Vienna in 2019. But the Arik Brauer exhibition was also a particular success.
You were both beloved and resented for your popular exhibition themes. You are now closing with a show about kosher sex. A provocation?
The original idea was not provocation, but [was inspired by] the irrepressible joie de vivre and humor of Dr. Ruth [note: sex therapist Westheimer], to whom I would to listen on the radio as a student in the USA. I did so, however, without knowing about her Jewish background. In principle, I always find the criticism of being "unscientific" extremely annoying; we have published a catalog for every exhibition, scientific in the best sense of the word. Why is that constantly denigrated? I would never stand up and claim that a museum makes exhibitions that are "too scientific." It was my idea to give something back to the people, from whose tax money this museum largely lives.
It is said that the Jewish Community is not unhappy about your departure; Ariel Muzicant, who sat on the search committee, expressly looked forward to "good cooperation" between the IKG and the new director. Your husband, Martin Engelberg, was also active in the IKG before his move into politics (ÖVP), and wanted to become IKG president, for example.
I can't comment on that.
One of the ways Jewish museums are currently developing is to include other persecuted groups. How do you see this development?
The Jewish Museum Vienna has a unique selling point because the Viennese Jewish community was so important. And nowhere else is this story told. So that was essential for me. Also to shed new light on the Middle Ages. We worked for a very long time on the new arrangement of the collection at Judenplatz. Unfortunately, due to COVID, we couldn't do a proper opening.
So you don't want to integrate other groups?
A reorientation must be coherent for the museum and those responsible for it. It was important to me to tell a different story than the one that always prevails in Austria when the word "Jewish" is mentioned - the story from 1938 to 1945. That was the worst caesura. But you also have to tell about before and after, about the present. We have succeeded in doing that.
The accusation of anti-Semitism at "Documenta Fifteen" is currently dominating the debates. Behind it, a far-reaching conspiracy in the art business is suspected, following the rules of the BDS movement, i.e. boycotting Israeli artists. Do you see that as a given?
It's hard to draw a line between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism. This country lives in such a special situation of constant threat, you can't apply any standards of criticism or evaluation to it. That's why, for me, criticism of Israel is also hard to take. I feel very connected to this country, I lived here several times in wartime as an ORF reporter, I have family here. It is very emotional.
But do you see a conspiracy?
In the UK, for example, Israeli scientists are no longer invited by various universities. This is simply not acceptable. It's not a coincidence. But I would definitely not call it a world conspiracy. That would bring us back to the victim-perpetrator system, and I don't want to talk about that.
There are also renewed discussions in Vienna; Holocaust survivors such as Eric Kandel are calling for the Lueger monument to be dismantled and the square renamed. What is your position?
It is long overdue that something happens to the monument. After all, there was a competition years ago in which the winning design was to put the monument at a slight angle. Why didn't that happen? Why wasn't a decision finally made? Why now a new competition with new costs, that is absurd. In principle, I am against "Cancel Culture." One cannot and should not erase history, it is very important that we face up to this history. Not only with this one Lueger monument. But with all of them in the city, it's not the only one. And there are other anti-Semites who are honored. Maria Theresa, for example. Or Leopoldstadt in itself, named after the emperor who expelled the Jews from there. There, too, you should contextualize everywhere.
25 star lanterns were placed in front of the places where synagogues once stood. Will this contribution to the memory of Jewish life remain in Vienna?
I am really proud of that. The occasion for this cooperation with the Vienna University of Technology and the "Transmedial Art" class at the Angewandte [University of Applied Arts, Vienna] was our exhibition on Viennese synagogues. I am very happy that I was able to convince the City of Vienna to take the project "OT" into their care after three years of sponsorship.