Austria's Jewish History: Exploring Religious Heritage And Culture

Austria has a long history of Jewish settlement, with evidence of Jewish people living in the region since the 3rd century CE. In the 13th century, Vienna became a centre of Jewish learning, and by the 14th century, a fixed Jewish tax was imposed. Over the centuries, the Jewish community in Austria has experienced both prosperity and persecution, with the latter taking a particularly devastating turn during World War II.

In 1938, Austria had a Jewish population of about 192,000, with most of these individuals living in Vienna. However, following the German annexation of Austria, the Jewish community was subjected to violent expropriation, intimidation, and deportation. By December 1939, the Jewish population in Vienna had decreased to 57,000, primarily due to emigration. During the war, thousands of Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps, and by November 1942, only about 7,000 Jews remained in Austria. It is estimated that approximately 65,000 Austrian Jews were killed during the Holocaust.

In the aftermath of World War II, the Jewish community in Austria struggled to rebuild, and it was mostly the elderly who returned or remained in the country. Today, Austria's Jewish population is estimated to be around 10,300–15,000, with most living in Vienna. The community is represented by various organisations, such as the Federation of Austrian Jewish Communities and the Jewish Community of Vienna, and continues to play an important role in Austrian culture and society.

The history of Jews in Austria

The Early Years

• The first Jews are believed to have arrived in what is now Austria following the Roman legions after the Roman occupation of Israel in the 3rd century CE.
• By the 12th century, two synagogues existed in the country, and the Jewish settlement in Vienna grew with the arrival of settlers from Bavaria and the Rhineland.
• In the 13th century, the Jewish community flourished, as Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II declared Jews a separate ethnic and religious group, granting them certain rights and protections.
• However, this prosperity was not to last, as tensions with the Christian population grew, and the area came under the control of the Catholic House of Habsburg in 1282, leading to a decline in Austria's prominence as a center for Jewish scholarly endeavors.

Persecution and Expulsion

• The 14th and 15th centuries saw periods of persecution, with Jews suffering pogroms, deportations, and mass murder.
• In 1420, a false accusation of desecration of the sacramental bread led to the imprisonment and burning alive of 210 Jews in Upper Austria, and the deportation of the remaining Jewish families.
• The period between the 16th and 18th centuries was marked by religious fanaticism, with various rulers imposing excessive taxes and restrictions on the Jewish community.
• The nadir of the Jewish community in Austria came during the reign of Leopold I, when Jews were frequently persecuted and deported, and subject to laws aimed at curbing their population growth.

The Rise of Zionism and Equality

• The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw a rise in Zionism and Jewish cultural institutions in Austria, particularly in Vienna.
• In 1890, a Habsburg statute granted Austrian Jews religious autonomy, and by 1910, there were approximately 1,313,687 Jews in the Austrian half of the empire.
• During World War I, Jewish loyalty to Austria and the emperor was strong, as Russia, the main enemy during the first two years of the war, was known to be dangerous for Jews.
• Between the world wars, the Social Democratic Party of Austria, which accepted Jews as members, played a significant role in Austrian politics, with many assimilated Jews in leading positions.
• This period also saw a flourishing of Jewish cultural creators, with bestselling novels, Yiddish theater, and other artistic endeavors.

World War II and the Holocaust

• In 1938, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany, leading to the rapid expropriation of Jewish property and the intimidation and violence towards Jewish people.
• The Jewish population in Austria, which was about 190,000 in 1938, was reduced to just 57,000 by December 1939 due to emigration.
• The Kristallnacht pogroms in November 1938 were particularly brutal in Austria, with synagogues destroyed, Jewish businesses vandalized, and thousands of Jews arrested and deported to concentration camps.
• Between 1938 and 1940, about 117,000 Jews fled Austria, and by November 1942, only about 7,000 Jews remained in the country.
• During World War II, German policy shifted from expropriation and emigration to forced deportation, with thousands of Jews deported to occupied Poland and elsewhere in occupied eastern Europe.
• The Holocaust drastically reduced the Jewish community in Austria, with about 65,000 Austrian Jews killed during this period.

Postwar Austria and Contemporary Situation

• After World War II, the remaining Jewish community in Austria, now freed from Nazi control, began to rebuild.
• The Austrian government instituted several restitution programs in the postwar era, but they were widely acknowledged as insufficient.
• In the 1950s, immigration from the Soviet Union brought Russian Jews to Austria, and since the fall of the Iron Curtain, there has been a renewed influx of Jewish people from the former Soviet Union.
• Today, the Austrian Jewish population is around 12,000-15,000, with the biggest presence in Vienna, where there are synagogues, a Jewish retirement home, a Jewish museum, and other community institutions.
• While Austria has acknowledged its role in the Holocaust and made efforts towards restitution and compensation, neo-Nazism and antisemitism have not been eradicated from public life.

The Holocaust in Austria

In the first week following the annexation, Jews were subjected to brutality, violence, and plundering of their assets. Jewish women were forced to scrub political slogans from the previous Austrian government off sidewalks with their bare hands or toothbrushes. Jewish children were made to write the word "Jud" on the windows of their fathers' shops, and Orthodox Jews were pulled around by their beards. Jews at the Prater Stern were forced to lie down and eat grass.

By mid-June, Jews had been removed from public life, and tens of thousands of Jewish employees had lost their jobs. Hundreds of Jews committed suicide.

The 'Kristallnacht' in November 1938 completed the destruction of the Jewish community. All but one of the 24 temples and synagogues and 70 prayer houses in Vienna were destroyed by arson, looted, and desecrated. Over 4,000 shops were plundered, and nearly 2,000 apartments in the first district alone were "Aryanized" by the SA, who destroyed furniture and mattresses while searching for valuables. 27 Jews were murdered, 88 seriously injured, and nearly 8,000 Jews were arrested in Austria, with some sent to Dachau. Synagogues were also burned in Graz, Salzburg, Klagenfurt, Linz, Innsbruck, Baden, Eisenstadt, Berndorf, and Bad Voeslau.

Anti-Jewish laws were implemented soon after the annexation. After introducing the numerus clausus for Jewish students, the few remaining students were excluded from universities after 8 December 1938. In April 1938, 16,000 primary and secondary pupils were moved to segregated classes and later transferred to eight Jewish schools. At the end of the 1939 school year, these schools were closed. On 20 May 1938, the "Nuremberg Laws" were introduced to Austria. 34,500 people so far not registered as Jews were declared "racial Jews". After 2 July 1938, Jews were not allowed to enter most public parks, and at the end of September 1938, Jewish lawyers and physicians lost the right to have non-Jewish customers. Shortly after Kristallnacht, Jews were not allowed to go out during certain times of the day. Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, Jews were not allowed to listen to the radio and were forbidden to go out after 8 pm, which facilitated mass arrests, always made at night. After 1 September 1941, Jews over the age of six had to wear the Star of David. In 1942, the few Jews still living in Vienna were forbidden to use public transportation, go to non-Jewish hairdressers, or buy newspapers.

The outburst of violence and the legal and economic changes immediately after the annexation made it clear to most Austrian Jews that they had to leave the country as soon as possible. The Jewish Community (Kultusgemeinde) lost its autonomy on 18 March 1938 and was reduced to welfare and emigration (and later deportation) assistance. It organized technical training courses and agricultural training for over 42,000 Jews to help them find jobs in another country.

In August 1938, the "Central Office for Jewish Emigration" was set up in Vienna, led by Adolf Eichmann. This organization was responsible for the persecution and deportation of Austrian Jews with such efficiency that its methods were copied in Germany. A special body was responsible for transferring Jewish property to "Aryans".

Obtaining an immigration visa was difficult, as most countries were reluctant to accept Jewish refugees. Before leaving Austria, the Nazis robbed Jews of all their possessions. They were allowed to take only 30 Marks (later only 10) with them. Until the outbreak of the war, foreign Jewish aid organizations helped with soup kitchens in Vienna and paid the costs of emigration. By the end of November 1939, over 120,000 Jews had left Austria. 66,260 Jews remained, along with about 30,000 "racial" Jews according to the Nuremberg Laws. Before legal emigration ended in November 1941, another 2,000 managed to escape. 30,850 Jews moved to Great Britain, 28,615 to the USA, 18,124 to China (most settling in Shanghai), and 9,195 to Palestine. Others found refuge in some 85 countries worldwide.

The deportation of Austrian Jews to concentration camps began in October 1939, shortly before legal emigration was stopped. Nearly 1,000 Jews were exiled to Nisko on the San River. In November 1939, Eichmann told the Kultusgemeinde that all Jews who did not emigrate within one year would be deported to occupied Poland. Between February and March 1941, 5,000 Jews were deported to the Lublin district. From October to the beginning of November, 5,486 Jews were deported to the Lodz Ghetto. At the end of 1941, after the Nazi occupation of parts of the Soviet Union, 3,000 Austrian Jews were deported to the ghettos of Riga, Minsk, and Kovno. After the Wannsee Conference, Eichmann announced his "evacuation programme", which deported 3,200 Austrian Jews to Riga, 8,500 to Minsk, 6,000 to Izbica, and other places in the Lublin region. Between June and October, 13,900 elderly people were deported to Theresienstadt. On 10 October 1942, the last transport of 1,300 people left for Theresienstadt. The Kultusgemeinde was officially dissolved on 1 November 1942. The majority of the remaining 7,000 Austrian Jews (8,000 according to the Nuremberg Laws) were spared because they were married to non-Jews, but they were sent to forced labour and faced deportation when their non-Jewish spouse died. The "Aeltestenrat der Juden in Wien" replaced the Kultusgemeinde, representing the last remnant of Austrian Jews towards the authorities and running the hospital, the home for the elderly, a soup kitchen, and burial services.

About 800 Jews lived underground in the summer of 1943. In July and December 1944, around 60,000 Hungarian

Austrian Jewish emigration

In the mid-15th century, the Jewish community in Austria suffered a severe blow when a Jewish man from Upper Austria was falsely accused and charged with the crime of desecrating the sacramental bread. This led to the imprisonment and murder of 210 Jewish men, women, and children, and the deportation of the remaining Jewish families from the country.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the rise of religious fanaticism and the Society of Jesus led to increased persecution and heavy taxes for Austrian Jews. During the reign of Leopold I, Jews were frequently deported from many areas, including Vienna in 1670, and subjected to harsh laws aimed at curbing the growth of the Jewish population.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the attitude towards Austrian Jews began to shift towards relative tolerance, particularly during the reign of Franz Joseph I, who was popular among the Jewish community. However, this period of prosperity was short-lived, as the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938 (the "Anschluss") marked the beginning of a new era of persecution and emigration.

The Nazis quickly applied anti-Jewish legislation, excluding Jews from economic, cultural, and social life. Jewish-owned businesses and factories were confiscated or closed, and Jews were subjected to extreme intimidation, violence, and forced labour. The Central Office for Jewish Emigration, led by Adolf Eichmann, was established in Vienna to facilitate Jewish emigration from the country. Those seeking to emigrate had to stand in long lines, pay exit fees, and register their property, which was often confiscated.

Between 1938 and 1941, approximately 117,000 Jews fled Austria, with many settling in the United Kingdom (31,050), Switzerland (5,800), France (4,800), Czechoslovakia (4,100), and the United States (29,860). The emigration process was made extremely difficult, with strict requirements for documentation and heavy taxes. Those who left were only allowed to take clothes and household items, having to leave behind almost everything else of value.

By November 1942, only about 7,000 Jews remained in the country, and the majority of those who stayed were eventually murdered in the Holocaust. The main countries that accepted Austrian Jewish emigrants during this period included:

• United Kingdom (31,050)
• Switzerland (5,800)
• France (4,800)
• Czechoslovakia (4,100)
• United States (29,860)
• Shanghai (6,220)
• Argentina (1,690)
• Bolivia (940)
• South Africa (332)

Anti-Semitism in Austria

Anti-Semitism has been a feature of life in Austria since 1867, when Jews were granted equal rights. While the granting of equal rights was a positive step, it also led to a backlash from those who resented the commercial and professional competition from Jews. This resentment manifested itself in several forms of anti-Jewish abuse: commercial, religious, racial, and political.

The period from 1899 to 1939 is considered the zenith of antisemitism in western societies, and this was certainly true in Austria. Karl Lueger, mayor of Vienna from 1897 to 1910, always ran on an antisemitic platform as it guaranteed him votes. He is reputed to have said, "antisemitism is an excellent means of propaganda and getting ahead in politics, but after... it is the sport of the rabble." This sentiment was reflected in the Christian Socialists' 1918 manifesto, which called for a "defensive struggle against the Jewish peril".

The situation for Austrian Jews became significantly worse following the Nazi annexation of the country in 1938. Within months, nearly all Austrian Jews were robbed of their property and civil rights, and businesses were forcibly 'Aryanised'. During the Kristallnacht pogroms of November 9-10, 1938, synagogues and prayer houses were burnt down, and shops were looted and vandalised. Of the 65,000 Viennese Jews who were deported to concentration camps, only about 2,000 survived.

Even after the end of World War II, anti-Semitism continued to be a feature of Austrian political life and culture, particularly in political parties and the media. While Jews constituted only 0.1% of the Austrian population, anti-Semitic attitudes were stronger in areas where Jews no longer lived and among people who had never had personal contact with Jews. Anti-Semitic prejudices that had remained hidden began to surface and were increasingly found in public settings.

In recent years, there has been a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Austria, including swastika graffiti, the desecration of Jewish graves, and vandalism of memorials for the Holocaust. In 2015, a training match between Israeli and Austrian football squads ended with a violent attack on the Israeli team by some Austrian pro-Palestinian fans. A few months later, a biker wearing neo-Nazi insignia waved a knife and shouted antisemitic slogans outside a synagogue in Vienna.

According to a 2015 survey by the Anti-Defamation League, 28% of the adult population in Austria harbour antisemitic opinions. This survey also found that more than 50% of Austrians agreed with the phrase, "Jews still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust". This suggests that anti-Semitic attitudes continue to persist in contemporary Austria, despite efforts to address the country's ambiguous and dark past.

Jewish life in Austria today

The Jewish community in Austria has rebuilt itself since the Holocaust, but it is much smaller than it was before. In the 1950s, a wave of immigration from the Soviet Union brought Russian Jews to Austria, and since the fall of the Iron Curtain, there has been a renewed influx of Jewish people from the former Soviet Union.

However, anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism remain issues in Austria. In 2020, anti-Semitic incidents in Austria rose to the highest level since the Jewish community's official records began 19 years ago. The number of reported incidents, which range from online abuse to physical attacks, increased by 6.4% to 585. In response, the Austrian government announced a national strategy in 2021 to fight rising anti-Semitism, including improving the protection of synagogues, improving education about Judaism, and stricter prosecution of hate crimes against Jews.

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