Die Austrian Refugee Groups am Central Park Identifikationen mit und (Raum-)Wahrnehmungen von „Ur-Wiener Gemütlichkeit“ im New York der 1930er und 1940er Jahre1.

As a consequence of the emigration caused by Nazi persecution, in the 1930s and 1940s a number of cafés were established in New York’s Central Park, which in different ways referred back to the Vienna of the preceding decades. This contribution discuss two forms of expression for the ‘friendly’ or ‘cosy’ sociability (Ur-Wiener Gemütlichkeit) linked with this phenomenon: on the one hand, the Viennese coffeehouses as spaces for the staging of so-called Ur-Wiener Gemütlichkeit, and on the other hand, the shows and performances put on in these cafés. These shows drew on and dealt with images or imaginings of ‘Old Vienna’, including figures of discourse (such as the suburb of Grinzing or favoured locations for summer holidays outside Vienna) and musical shows or plays that had achieved cult status (e.g. Im weißen Rößl, Die Klabriaspartie). The author considers how the refugee community was constructed in this way and looks at which images und identifications were selected for this purpose. At the same time, the article indicates which functions the networks among the refugee community could fulfil in mediating (Jewish and non-Jewish) conceptions and perceptions of Ur-Wiener Gemütlichkeit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]