Victor Adler was born in Prague, but at an early age he was taken to Vienna, where his father became rich and converted to Catholicism. Victor Adler was a physician, but devoted his time to the working class. He was member of the Austrian Parliament (1905-1918), and foreign minister in the Socialist government (1918). Adler suffered in his youth and during his University years from anti-Semitism. After his marriage he converted to Christianity, to prevent the same suffering from his children. Adler was aware of his Jewish origins, but refused to take a stand in favour of the Jewish proletariat, or on Jewish issues, like in Brussels in 1891 at the Congress of the Socialist International. He also opposed the idea of Jewish nationhood .