Jewish/non-Jewish encounters in corridors and staircases: narrowing down everyday life in liminal spaces

Abstract

ABSTRACT Contrary to historiographical narratives about Jewish seclusion in European cities at the turn of the twentieth century, we argue that Jews and non-Jews mingled and developed relationships on a daily basis in residential and everyday spaces. We develop the concept of liminal topographies to show how the transient, in-between material structures of staircases and corridors in two such disparate case studies as Stockholm and Vienna facilitated Jewish/non-Jewish relational arenas for the broader masses. Combining digital mapping, visual analysis and text analysis, this approach expands the field of Jewish spatiality by underlining the link between absolute spaces and relational processes.