Red Vienna, By Eve Neuhaus—Book Review

Maria Ashford

In her ambitious historical novel “Red Vienna,” the first of the “Two Suitcases” trilogy, Eve Neuhaus resurrects a largely forgotten moment of 20th-century history—the socialist experiment of interwar Vienna and its eventual suppression. Set between 1929 and 1934, this first volume in a planned trilogy traces the lives of young idealists navigating the promised utopia of “Red Vienna” as fascist forces gather strength around them.

The novel opens with sixteen-year-old Gisi attending a Socialist Youth meeting at Austerlitz-Hof, one of Vienna’s grand municipal housing complexes. There she encounters Max Baum, a Jewish metalworker who crafts modern furniture from scraps while working in his father’s failing security gate business. This is the start of their budding romance, which unfolds against the backdrop of the 1929 Second International Socialist Youth Congress, a jubilant gathering of 50,000 young people from across Europe united by the rallying cry of “No More War!”

Neuhaus establishes a rich cast of characters orbiting Gisi and Max: Anna, Max’s ambitious older sister; Emil Bloch, a mathematics student from a bourgeois Jewish family; Hugo, an artist who crafts exquisite handmade books; and Edith, a passionate photographer documenting the lives of the working poor. Through their intersecting lives, Neuhaus constructs a multifaceted portrait of a society in profound transition. What distinguishes Neuhaus’s work is her granular attention to the historical conditions of “Red Vienna.” The novel vividly renders the revolutionary social housing complexes that were the crowning achievement of Vienna’s socialist government. More than mere buildings, these “people’s palaces” represented a comprehensive vision of urban living, featuring communal kitchens, libraries, schools, theaters, and medical facilities.

The novel excels when illustrating how political ideologies manifest in quotidian realities. Max’s craftsmanship represents the Bauhaus-influenced ideal of marrying artistic principles with functional design for the masses. Gisi’s medical studies embody the movement’s emphasis on education and advancement for women. As the story progresses, Neuhaus deftly traces the deteriorating political climate. The Creditanstalt bank collapse of 1931 sends shockwaves through Vienna’s economy, while Chancellor Dollfuss gradually dismantles democratic institutions, establishing an authoritarian “Catholic Corporatist State.” Meanwhile, Austrian Nazis grow increasingly bold with bombing campaigns and provocations. The historical complexity is rendered with nuance—Neuhaus resists simplistic heroes and villains, instead portraying the splintering factions, competing ideologies, and personal compromises that characterize societies in crisis.

The novel’s characterization is richly textured. Gisi emerges as intellectually formidable yet emotionally vulnerable, especially when her beloved cousins in rural Tyrol become seduced by Nazi propaganda. Max balances artistic aspirations against practical realities while navigating his Jewish identity in an increasingly antisemitic environment. Emil’s trajectory from politically disengaged mathematics student to committed anti-fascist unfolds gradually and believably. Even peripheral characters receive careful attention, like Gisi’s grandfather Josef Berger, whose complex relationship with tradition is embodied in his broken grandfather clock—which Max spends months trying to repair.

Neuhaus’s prose is unadorned yet evocative, particularly when portraying the youthful exuberance of her characters. During the 1929 Youth Congress torchlight procession, she writes: “Wave upon wave, young people flood into the massive courtyard… 50,000 voices join together to sing: ‘Arise ye pris’ners of starvation / Arise ye wretched of the earth…'” The inclusion of period songs, poetry, and political slogans creates an immersive atmosphere, capturing both the intellectual ferment and emotional pull of the socialist movement.

The novel builds toward the devastating February 1934 Austrian Civil War when government forces attacked the socialist housing complexes with artillery, killing hundreds. Neuhaus depicts this tragedy with searing clarity, shifting between multiple characters’ perspectives as they endure the three-day siege. The descriptions are harrowing: “The crowd moves forward again until they’re pushed against each other, even more tightly this time, and a group of injured people, bleeding, moaning, crying with pain, are carried or stumble on their own toward the front of the group.” By this point, readers have developed such an investment in these characters and their world that the devastation carries profound emotional significance.

If the novel has weaknesses, they stem partly from the ambitious scope of Neuhaus’s project. The first half occasionally sacrifices narrative momentum for historical context, with some scenes functioning primarily as vehicles for political exposition. Additionally, the large cast sometimes results in storylines that feel underdeveloped. Yet these are minor flaws in a work of significant historical and literary merit. “Red Vienna” transports the reader to a pivotal but often overlooked chapter in European history—the moment when democratic socialism in Vienna created a dazzling alternative vision of urban society before being crushed by authoritarian forces. Neuhaus, whose own parents were Viennese refugees according to the acknowledgments, writes with the authority of inherited memory combined with meticulous research.

The result is a work that feels both historically authentic and urgently contemporary. As democratic institutions face new threats from populist demagogues across the globe, this novel serves as a powerful reminder of democracy’s fragility. For readers interested in interwar Europe, the rise of fascism, or the often-forgotten achievements of democratic socialism, “Red Vienna” offers an illuminating journey into a past that continues to reverberate through our present. The already announced second volume, “Underground,” promises to follow these characters into exile and resistance, continuing what is shaping up to be a major contribution to historical fiction about this pivotal era.

“In this poignant account of Vienna beginning in 1929, Eve Neuhaus paints a portrait of growing anti-Semitism through the eyes of a cadre of young people. With delicious detail, we can almost taste the pastries, hear the music, the poetry, march in their protest parades, hike in the Alps, play chess with them in the park. These young people are filled with hope and optimism and a vision of a free society. Little by little, we see an assassination attempt, falsified newspapers, book banning, rioting. Neuhaus has masterfully woven events of the day with the lives of these young people, so that the unthinkable rise of fascism and the Nazis becomes a cautionary tale for today. 

—Elie Axelroth, author of CROSS BODY LEAD

“Like the best historical fiction, Neuhaus's Red Vienna gives readers a glimpse of the real Red Vienna during the early 1930s as seen through the eyes of the mostly young people who inhabit the book. We are privvy to their youthful optimism, their fierce dedication to a cause, and their growing fears as signs of the brutality and oppression to come begin to show up in their beautiful city. As entertaining as it is informative, we recognize ourselves, our own hopes and fears, in the characters ... as well as in the very real events that mirror today's frightening rhetoric and pervasive violence. Read it for the joy of good story-telling, and for the powerful call to action that it compels.

—Susan Stewart, writer at Say It Write and Central Coast Journal

“I encourage all high schools and colleges to add this book to their highly recommended or required reading list! The characters and circumstances are well developed. They come alive on the page! This is an excellent teaching tool for an accurate representation of what did and can happen again AND for teaching writing skills as well.”

– Marcia Alter

“An engaging and intense tale that is uniquely significant for these times.”

— an Amazon reader

“Red Vienna is particularly strong in describing how fascism happens one incident at a time and each person is affected one day at a time, with no one knowing at any moment the over arching narrative that would perpetrate such horrors on the world. Is history repeating itself?”

— a Canadian reader

“In our rush towards the future, do we merely pay lip-service to learning from past mistakes and a willingness to change and to grow? It seems that generation after generation we repeat the same inhumane errors. With the alarming increase of antisemitism before and after October 7, we can pause and reconsider the history of Europe over the past 100 years. Has anything changed? Improved? Eve Neuhaus, consummate storyteller, shares her own family’s history and draws alarming parallels.”

— Heather Mendel, author of DANCING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF EVE

Two Suitcases recounts Gisi and Max's thrilling 1938 escape from the Nazis in Vienna. Red Vienna, Volume 1, belongs to the City of Vienna during the 1920s and early 30s when the city is idyllically governed by the socialists, who are achieving the seldom-realized dream of peace and relative equality of socialism. Nothing could be better for the young going forth in their ideal lives. Gisi and Max meet, pursue their studies, careers, and romance, enjoy the world's greatest coffee houses, while planning their lives, in camaraderie with their fellow city dwellers. 

But this life won't last.

By the end of Red Vienna, Gisi and Max will be killed unless they escape, which we know they will do, setting up their thrilling, heroic flight to France. 

— Andy Greensfelder, author of 21st CENTURY AFFAIRS

“Red Vienna allowed me to re-live my relatives’ actual experiences and truly brought home the emotional ramifications of losing control over almost every aspect of their lives. 

Eve’s deep understanding of human nature and her powerful writing makes this story hauntingly unforgettable. It is exactly what we owe these brave souls. Niemals Vergessen!!! ( Never forget!)”

— Elisabeth Weiss, fellow offspring of Viennese refugees and dog-trainer extraordinaire (DogRelations, NYC)

“As I watch the news unfold I am struck by the similarities between the days of Red Vienna and now.  While the US can’t really compare, the attitude is similar. Yet, as I read, I still get the feeling of youthful hope and optimism.  Even in the midst of adversity.  I’m going to read it again.”

— Barbara Bavido

“Red Vienna covers the last five years of the rule of the Social Democratic Workers Party in Austria. The book opens in 1929 at a time when the SDAP had proven highly successful in providing decent, modern housing, education and nourishment to the working poor. The story follows a group of dedicated young people, Jews and gentiles, working to make a dream of equality for all come true. Unfortunately, the threat posed by the growing Nazi movement and its policy of fanning the flames of anti semitisim are more evident as the story goes on.
I couldn’t put this book down. The story is full of real historical figures, vivid fictional characters and a story line that will make you as eager for the sequel as I am. A truly great read.”

— Linda C. Koenig

“Red Vienna is a good read that draws you into the characters' lives, but beyond that it tells the story of forces that sweep into the lives of all the characters, from idealistic socialism to the contagious spread of fascism. Only those individuals with the right combination of foresight, courage, preparation, perseverance and luck (such as the protagonists) are able to emerge from this deadly political disease. I have just returned from a trip to Berlin and Vienna, where fascist forces are emerging again ahead of upcoming elections, but at least in Europe people remember fascist devastation. How is it that so many in the United States seem oblivious to blatantly announced plans for a parallel dictatorship, this time focused on the elimination of immigrants and LGBTQ, with the consolidation of white male dominance and the avoidance of high taxes by the greedy who think they will be able to control the dictator - the same mistake made by German and Austrian politicians. Will we see the unfolding of the new Reich here in the US? This time there is no America that will come to save us!”

— Kathy Bornino, author of A LABYRINTH OF LIFETIMES

“For the week it took me to read Red Vienna, I lived with Gisi and Max, Anna and Emil, Hugo, Rolf, Gert, Toni and all the rest as they met and worked, laughed and loved, went to classes and ate pastries in coffee shops in their lovely city. I could smell the cooking, see the dust in the shops corners, hear the grandfather clock chiming at the wrong time, feel the hope and optimism in the beauty that once was Red Vienna. I had no idea that the SDAP government had created such a beautiful, fair, and just way of life for the city's working class residents. No wonder the characters were so drawn to protecting it. For one brief shining moment in one lovely European city, the hope of a better world for all us seemed possible.

This is such an important work and I do hope to read the rest of the story one day soon. The story so closely parallels what is happening now. So many of us have been stooped under layers of fear and helplessness as the hate and bigotry and its new laws chip away at all our hard won rights. It's a soul crushing time. Your book is a stunning reminder of how short a time ago it really was that the horrors of WW2 took place; and how easily it can all happen again. (is already happening).

But it's also a lovely testament to the power of hope and optimism, a reminder that a better, braver, happier time also existed once. It's so easy to be cynical (I speak for myself), to give up because it feels impossible to make any real change in a world that seems to be going backwards at an alarming pace. I hope for all of us that people like the characters in the book are among us now, fueling a movement of love, of meaningful work, of hope and equality that will get us back to a world that looks more like Red Vienna. Please write the next installment. I'll be watching for it. With great appreciation …”

—a California reader

“Red Vienna offers us a mirror in which we can look at our current world situation. By telling the stories of young adults in Vienna through their own eyes, Neuhaus offers the reader a very real and compelling tale of how their world changed very quickly when those in power chose to spread disinformation, fear, and hatred. In subtle ways she allows the reader to see the parallels to current times, indeed to all times when people have chosen fear of the other over love of each other.”

—Elizabeth Whitcomb

“Exactly what’s needed in these times !”

— Tom Neuhaus, Eve’s husband

“Riveting. This book is superb to sit on, and impossible to knock off the table.”

— Ella Bella, award-winning cat