Giskala ViennaZ.M.V. Giskala Wien

On February 15, 1903, the 'Giskala' was founded in Vienna, in which Paul Diamant, a nephew of Theodor Herzl, was involved. Herzl's planned admission as an honorary member did not materialize due to his death the following year. The name is derived from John of Giskala, a hero of the Jewish uprising against the Romans, and his namesake town in Galilee (now Gish, Israel). From the outset, the association wore the colors black, silver and purple (with emerald green caps from 1921), which were not allowed to be worn in public, and was committed to the principle of studying weapons. However, as smears on the face would have been treacherous, they fought with their upper bodies bare, as was the case with the other "beating" secondary school fraternities. Soon after its foundation, founder Max Pollak developed a certain closeness to the academic fraternity 'Maccabäa', whose premises in Wen III, Rechte Bahngasse 22 were shared by the grammar school students. The painter Heinrich Sussmann was a member of 'Giskala', as was the librettist, pop lyricist and "founder of the famous Viennese sports club 'Hakoah' Fritz Löhner-Beda, who was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942.

The mission of the 'Giskala' was described by its last member, Lord George (Arthur) Weidenfeld, who died in 2016, in his autobiography: "The Giskala was [...] an association of middle school students that prepared future students for their membership in a proper student fraternity and for their activity in the large Jewish community of Vienna as well as for a leadership role within the Zionist movement".