A Tale of Two Cities: Vienna’s Historical Warning to New York on Mamdani

Menachem Levine

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Candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during a Democratic New York City mayoral primary debate, June 4, 2025, in New York, US. Photo: Yuki Iwamura/Pool via REUTERS

The likely ascension of Zohran Mamdani to the New York City Mayorship brings uncertainty and unease to the city’s Jewish community, and for good reason.

Mamdani’s rhetoric is rabidly anti-Israel, both in its war in Gaza and in its existence as a Jewish State. How might this manifest itself should he become mayor? A historical analogy comes to mind in Vienna, Austria — more than a century ago — when another so-called populist reformer rose to power and paved the way to normalizing Jew hatred in central Europe. 

Indeed, the Vienna of 1900 and New York City of 2025 share several similarities. Both Vienna’s population then and New York’s now is approximately 10% Jewish. In 1900, Jews had lived in Vienna for generations, just as they do in New York City today. In Vienna, Jews such as Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Gustav Mahler, Stefan Zweig, and Victor Adler had achieved significant roles in finance, culture, and politics. The same is true of countless titans of business, politics, fashion, and culture in modern-day New York. 

However, one powerful mayor was instrumental in dramatically changing the lives of Jews in his city.

Karl Lueger was elected mayor of Vienna five times, serving from 1897 to 1910. His antisemitic views, which vilified Jews, blamed them for social and economic issues, and promoted boycotting Jewish businesses, were so extreme that initially, the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph refused to support him. Ultimately, after Lueger’s fifth election, the Emperor conceded and offered his support.

With Lueger in power, it became socially acceptable — perhaps even trendy — to be an antisemite. Lueger’s influence on Vienna was tremendous. Lueger took latent antisemitism that existed and made it socially acceptable to express openly. He would give speeches, blaming the Jews for Vienna’s financial problems, rousing crowds with his antisemitic fervor. 

He normalized antisemitism and successfully poisoned the minds of Vienna’s population against the Jews. Adolf Hitler himself credited Lueger as someone who helped shape his views on Jews, and he wrote in Mein Kampf that he became an antisemite in Vienna.

While Lueger himself was dead by 1910, the wicked flame that he helped light ultimately resulted in the eradication of Vienna’s Jews in the Holocaust, while the non-Jewish residents of the city largely watched or (in many cases) actively took part in their destruction.

Simon Wiesenthal lived in Vienna after World War II, and remarked later that, “Austria was about 8.5 percent of the population of greater Germany. Nazis from Austria, in positions of responsibility in the machine, were responsible for half the crimes of the Holocaust.” 

Lueger deserves historical blame for much of the hatred he sowed. Lueger was not Hitler. But he created an environment in Vienna where violence against Jews was socially acceptable, giving rise to leaders who took his antisemitism to the next level. 

Zohran Mamdani, in New York City today, is heading in the same direction. 

Mamdani supports Within Our Lifetime (WOL), a New York-based organization that seeks to create support for Palestinian aspirations within New York. On their website, they recommend chants like “Occupation is a crime, From New York to Palestine!” Or “From New York to Gaza, Globalize the Intifada!” “Globalize the Intifada” can reasonably be interpreted as a call to violence against Jews in New York and beyond.

WOL protested at Columbia University, with some people yelling at Jewish students, “Never forget the 7th of October! That will happen … 10,000 more times!” WOL has posted maps online revealing locations of Jewish organizations, stating “they have blood on their hands.” This is not only outrageous, but also a direct threat. Yet, Mamdani stands alongside them.

During his college years, Mamdani co-founded a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). This organization has become infamous for fostering an atmosphere of intimidation towards Jewish students on campuses all over the country. SJP currently faces bans on multiple campuses. Yet Mamdani continues to support them staunchly.

Labeling Israel as a genocidal state, which Mamdani does, perpetuates harmful blood libels against Israel and pro-Israel Jews. This kind of rhetoric creates a toxic environment where intimidation against Jews and Jewish organizations becomes acceptable and legitimate. Mamdani’s threats to arrest Netanyahu are not merely illegal under Federal law; they invite further hostility and unrest for Jewish New Yorkers.

Although Mamdani claims to have Jewish supporters, in this he echoes Vienna’s Mayor Karl Lueger, who also had Jewish “friends.” When confronted about this contradiction to his antisemitic views, Lueger infamously declared, “I decide who is a Jew.” This attitude reflects Mamdani’s own selective acceptance: as long as one is not a pro-Israel Jew, they are welcome in his circle.

The position of Mayor of New York City does not include dictating international policy. Yet, Vienna’s Jewish history has shown us that antisemitic rhetoric can have a global impact.

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Rabbi Menachem Levine is the CEO of JDBY-YTT, the largest Jewish school in the Midwest. He served as Rabbi of Congregation Am Echad in San Jose, CA, from 2007 to 2020. He is a popular speaker and writes for numerous publications. Rabbi Levine’s personal website is https://thinktorah.org

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