Maximilian Hugo Bettauer (18 August 1872 – 26 March 1925) was a prolific Austrian writer and journalist, who was murdered by a Nazi Party follower on account of his opposition to antisemitism.

He then moved to Munich, where he worked in the cabaret Die Elf Scharfrichter ("The eleven executioners") and in the autumn of 1901 went to Hamburg to become director of the specialist publication Küche und Keller ("Kitchen and Cellar").

One writer noted that "in scenes that are frighteningly prophetic, Austria borrows thirty stock car trains from neighboring countries to help in the expulsion (to the east) of the Jews and their belongings.

"[3] In the book, the citizens of Vienna initially celebrated the expulsion, but sentiment changed as theaters went bankrupt and department stores, hotels and resorts suffered.

[4] The City Without Jews sold 250,000 copies in its first year,[4] and became one of Bettauer's most controversial works, gaining him both great admirers and bitter enemies.

In the course of time Bettauer's works brought him substantial returns in terms of stage and film rights, as their racy and often controversial contents made them popular for adaptation.

His opponents sought to discredit him as an "asphalt litterateur" (Asphaltliterat) - a term used by traditionalists and Nazis to criticise writers and writing for departing from German homeland.

Surprisingly, Bettauer was acquitted; the subsequent edition of his newspaper reached a circulation of 60,000, the highest ever among weeklies of the period; in March 1925 its expansion was being seriously considered.

The Nazis branded Bettauer a "Red poet" and "corruptor of youth", and an Austrian party member published a series of articles calling for "radical self help" and "lynch justice against all polluters of our people".

Even before his death there were heated arguments, to the point of physical violence, in the Wiener Gemeinderat (Vienna City Council) over the motives of the attacker.

[6] However, it was established that before the attack Rothstock had been a member of the National Socialist party, and although by March 1925 he had left it again, he was nevertheless supported after Bettauer's death by lawyers and friends with close ties to the Nazis.

It generally is accepted that it was Bettauer's prominent criticism of antisemitism, encapsulated in particular in the high-profile book and film Stadt ohne Juden, that lay behind his murder.