The Holocaust's Austrian Jewish Victims: A Tragic Toll

The Holocaust saw the systematic persecution and murder of Jews across Europe, including in Austria. It is estimated that 70,000 Austrian Jews were killed, with a further 125,000 forced to flee the country as refugees. A 2021 survey revealed that many Austrians believe that two million Jews or fewer were killed during the Holocaust, with 25% believing the number was one million or fewer.

The Holocaust in Austria

The deportation of Jews to death camps began in February 1941. After the Wannsee Conference, this process was accelerated. The Viennese community was officially liquidated on November 1, 1942, at which time approximately 7,000 Jews remained in Austria. The deportations continued until March 1945. As a result of the Holocaust, according to various sources, between 60,000 and 65,000 Austrian Jews lost their lives - almost the entire number of those who did not leave before the war. Fewer than 800 Jews (mostly spouses of Austrian citizens) survived until the liberation of Vienna by Soviet troops on April 13, 1945. By 1950, the Jewish community in Austria numbered 13,396 people (of whom 12,450 lived in Vienna).

In November 2021, the Austrian government inaugurated a 'Shoah Wall of Names Memorial' in central Vienna. The memorial monument is engraved with the names of 64,440 Austrian Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. It is known that an additional ~1,000 people were murdered, but their names have been lost. The memorial consists of 160 granite slabs arranged in an oval pattern.

Holocaust denial in Austria is a criminal offence. Holocaust deniers are prosecuted under section 3 of the 1947 Constitutional Prohibition Act (Verbotsgesetz 1947), as amended in 1992.

The persecution of Jews in Austria

At the time of the Anschluss with Nazi Germany in 1938, the Jewish population of Austria was approximately 192,000, mostly in Vienna. Jews in Austria had previously flourished in the 1930s, with leading figures in the sciences, the arts, business, industry, and trades of all kinds. However, this changed drastically with the rise of Nazism and the Holocaust.

The Austrian government has constructed memorials to the victims of the Holocaust, such as the "Shoah Wall of Names Memorial" in central Vienna, which is engraved with the names of 64,440 Austrian Jews murdered during the Holocaust. It is known that an additional ~1,000 people were murdered, but their names have been lost.

Despite the construction of these memorials, there are still critical gaps in Holocaust knowledge in Austria. A survey by the Claims Conference found that one-quarter of Austrian respondents (25%) believe that one million or fewer Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, while more than one-third (36%) believe two million or fewer were killed. Additionally, a plurality of respondents (38%) believe that National Socialism/Nazism could come to power again, highlighting a complicated relationship with Austria's Holocaust legacy.

The number of Austrian Jews killed

An estimated 70,000 Austrian Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, with an additional 1,000 people killed but their names have been lost. This is nearly 40% of the Jewish population of Austria at the time, which was approximately 192,000. The majority of the Jewish population lived in Vienna.

In 2021, a survey by the Claims Conference found that 25% of Austrian respondents believed that one million or fewer Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Another 36% believed that two million or fewer were killed. This demonstrates a lack of knowledge about the Holocaust in Austria.

In November 2021, the Austrian government inaugurated a memorial monument engraved with the names of 64,440 Austrian Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.

Memorials to Austrian victims of the Holocaust

An estimated 70,000 Austrian Jews were killed during the Holocaust, and 125,000 were forced to flee.

Another memorial is the Shoah Wall of Names, which was initiated by Austrian-born Holocaust survivor Kurt Yakov Tutter and the Association for the Erection of a Shoah Wall of Names Memorial. The wall provides a place for people to remember the fate of the approximately 65,000 Jewish victims and pay tribute to their lives.

In 2020, construction began on Austria's first public monument naming all the country's Holocaust victims.

The legacy of Anti-Semitism in Austria

Antisemitism, or hostility and hatred towards Jews, has a long history in Austria. The country's Jewish community was destroyed by expulsion, deportation, flight and mass murder during the Holocaust, when an estimated 70,000 Austrian Jews were murdered and 125,000 forced to flee as refugees.

In the 1930s, Jews flourished in Austria, with leading figures in the sciences, the arts, business, industry, and trades of all kinds. At the time of Anschluss with Nazi Germany in 1938, the Jewish population of Austria was approximately 192,000, mostly in Vienna.

Even today, antisemitism is still virulent in Austria and Europe. A 2021 survey found that more than one-third of Austrians overall (and 42% of Millennials and Gen Z) believe that two million Jews or fewer were killed during the Holocaust. The same survey found that 38% of respondents believe National Socialism/Nazism could come to power again, while 35% totally disagree with the statement, and 27% are neutral or unsure. Belief in the possible resurgence of Nazism is higher among younger generations, with 43% believing it could come to power again.

Austria's complicated relationship with its Holocaust legacy is exemplified by the fact that the majority of Austrians (68%) say that Austria was both a victim and a perpetrator of the Holocaust, while only 13% said they were only perpetrators. Antisemitism in Austria after 1945 has been characterised as an 'antisemitism without Jews', since Jews constituted only 0.1% of the Austrian population. Antisemitism was stronger in those areas where Jews no longer lived and where previously practically no Jews had lived, and among people who neither have had nor have any personal contact with Jews.

In recent years, there have been several anti-Semitic incidents in Austria that have added to the country's unresolved anti-Jewish legacy. In 2016, an Austrian landlord attempted to drive Jewish identity underground, and the government's failure to denounce this outrageous act was criticised. In addition, the country has been criticised for a lack of specificity in its memorials to the victims of the Holocaust, with the actual names of victims not being included. However, in 2021, the Austrian government inaugurated a 'Shoah Wall of Names Memorial' engraved with the names of 64,440 Austrian Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust.

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