Gendered Mobilization: The Jews of Galicia and the Outbreak of the First World War

Abstract:This chapter analyses Jewish responses to the outbreak of the First World War in Habsburg Galicia, particularly with respect to gender. While many Jews arguably supported mobilization out of loyalty to the state and fear of a Russian invasion, responses were much more diverse than universal 'war enthusiasm'. It was predominantly young, urban, middle-class men who supported the war, volunteered for the army, and publicly displayed enthusiasm and an eagerness to fight. While being caught up in the overall militarist frenzy, young Jewish men thereby also aimed to refute the antisemitic defamation of Jews as unmanly cowards and to prove their masculinity. Women tended to show more concern over what the war would mean for them and their relatives. These gendered responses, while challenging the narrative of universal enthusiasm, were part of the same phenomenon of socially accepted displays of emotion which mutually reinforced each other.