Damon Mcknight
The Nazi regime established Jewish ghettos across German-occupied Eastern Europe during World War II to segregate and confine Jews into small sections of towns and cities. The first ghetto of World War II was established in Piotrków Trybunalski on October 8, 1939, with the first large metropolitan ghetto, the Łódź Ghetto (Litzmannstadt), following in April 1940. The first deportations of Austrian Jews to the Łódź Ghetto began in October 1941, and soon thereafter, deportations to Minsk, Riga, and Theresienstadt followed.
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What You'll Learn
- The first Austrian Jews were sent to ghettos in October 1939
- The majority of Austrian Jews were deported to the Lodz Ghetto
- Austrian Jews were also sent to ghettos in Riga, Kaunas, and Minsk
- The Nazis' ultimate goal was to murder all Jews
- The Austrian government was sued for its involvement in the Holocaust
The first Austrian Jews were sent to ghettos in October 1939
The persecution of Jews in Austria began in the 15th century and continued through to the Second World War. In 1421, for instance, Jews in Vienna were murdered, expelled, and in some cases, committed collective suicide. In 1496, all Jews were expelled from Styria, and in 1509, Maximilian I passed the "Imperial Confiscation Mandate", which ordered the destruction of all Jewish books, except the Bible.
Skipping forward to the 20th century, German troops entered Austria on March 12, 1938, and the annexation of Austria to Germany was proclaimed on March 13, 1938. This annexation was retroactively approved in a plebiscite that was manipulated to indicate that about 99% of the Austrian people wanted the union (known as the Anschluss) with Germany. Jews and Roma were not allowed to vote in the plebiscite. Following the Anschluss, the Germans extended anti-Jewish legislation to Austria. The Mauthausen concentration camp was established in the summer of 1938, and it became the main Nazi camp in Austria.
On November 8-9, 1938, there were violent riots, wild arrests, and the burning of synagogues and Jewish prayer houses (known as Kristallnacht, or "the night of broken glass"). Some Jews were sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp, while others were sent to firms, construction sites, etc. as forced laborers. By February 1939, 77.6% of the "aryanization" of Jewish shops and businesses had been achieved. The majority had gone to Nazi Party members. Within months of the Anschluss, all Jews were ordered to move to Vienna, and then to the 2nd district (Leopoldstadt), where the slight majority of Jews in Vienna lived before the Anschluss, and where there had once been a Jewish ghetto.
The first deportations of Austrian Jews began in October 1939, when about 1,500 Jews were deported to Nisko. Few returned. This was the first time Austrian Jews were sent to ghettos. Between February and March 1941, another 5,000 were deported to Poland (Opole, Kielce, Modliborzyce, and Lagow). By December 1940, there were still about 50,000 to 60,000 Jews living in Vienna. They were mostly unemployed, evicted from their homes, and living with other families. Their bank accounts were blocked or frozen.
October 15, 1941, marked the beginning of the first systematic deportations of Jews from Vienna to the Lodz Ghetto (Litzmannstadt). Soon thereafter, deportations to Minsk, Riga, and Terezin (Theresienstadt) followed. In June 1942, a transport went directly from Vienna to the Sobibor extermination camp, which had around one thousand Jews. In the fall of 1942, the Nazis sent more Jews to the ghettos in the cities they occupied in the Soviet Union: Riga, Kaunas, Vilnius, and Minsk. By October 1942, Austria had only about 2,000 to 5,000 Jews left. About 1,900 of these were sent out of the country during the next two years, and the rest remained in hiding. The total number of the Austrian Jewish population murdered during the Holocaust is about 65,500 people, 62,000 of whom are known by name.
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The majority of Austrian Jews were deported to the Lodz Ghetto
Following the German annexation of Austria in March 1938, the country's Jewish population was subjected to a series of repressive measures, including the confiscation of property and forced relocation. The first deportations of Austrian Jews began in October 1939, with around 1,500 Jews sent to Nisko, followed by another 5,000 deported to various locations in Poland between February and March 1941.
The establishment of Jewish ghettos was a key component of Nazi policy during World War II, aimed at segregating and confining Jews into small sections of towns and cities. The first ghetto of the war was established in Piotrków Trybunalski in October 1939, with the Łódź Ghetto, the first large metropolitan ghetto, opening in April 1940.
The majority of Austrian Jews were deported to the Łódź Ghetto beginning in October 1941. This was part of the first systematic deportations of Jews from Vienna, which also included transports to Minsk, Riga, and Theresienstadt. The Łódź Ghetto, also known as Litzmannstadt, was the second-largest ghetto in Nazi-occupied Europe, holding approximately 210,000 people, including Jews and Roma (Gypsies). Overcrowding, starvation, and harsh labour were prevalent in the ghetto, contributing to the deaths of a significant portion of its inhabitants.
The Nazis viewed the establishment of ghettos as a temporary measure, stepping stones towards their ultimate goal of eradicating Jews from Europe. In 1944, the Łódź Ghetto was liquidated, with most of its remaining residents deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau killing centre. Only a small fraction of the ghetto's population survived, either by being assigned to slave labour or through other means.
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Austrian Jews were also sent to ghettos in Riga, Kaunas, and Minsk
The German annexation of Austria in 1938 was followed by the extension of anti-Jewish legislation to the country. This led to the establishment of the Mauthausen concentration camp, which became the main Nazi camp in Austria. The first deportations of Austrian Jews began in October 1939, with about 1,500 Jews deported to Nisko, and continued into 1941, with 5,000 Jews deported to Poland.
On October 15, 1941, the first systematic deportations of Jews from Vienna to the Łódź Ghetto (Litzmannstadt) took place. Soon after, deportations to Minsk, Riga, and Terezin (Theresienstadt) followed. Austrian Jews were among those deported to the Riga Ghetto in Latvia, which was established in October 1941. The Riga Ghetto was a small area in Maskavas Forštate, a neighbourhood of Riga, where Nazis forced Jews from Latvia and later from the German "Reich" (Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia) to live during World War II. The original ghetto in Riga included many musicians, writers, and performers, and under the leadership of a hastily assembled Jewish Council, they established a school, hospital, and old peoples' home. However, by early December 1941, most of this population was murdered in a forest near Riga.
The Kaunas Ghetto was also a destination for some Austrian Jews. The Ninth Fort massacres of November 1941 were two separate mass shootings of 4,934 German Jews in the Ninth Fort near Kaunas, Lithuania. These massacres were the first systematic mass killings of German Jews during the Holocaust. While the original plan was to send 25 trains of Jews to Riga, five of these trains were rerouted to Kaunas due to overcrowding in Riga.
The Minsk Ghetto was another destination for deported Jews, though it is unclear whether Austrian Jews were among them. The Minsk Ghetto was originally planned as the destination for German Jews, but due to overcrowding, subsequent deportation trains were rerouted to Riga.
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The Nazis' ultimate goal was to murder all Jews
The persecution of Jews in Austria began in the years leading up to World War II, with the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany in 1933. State-sponsored racism led to anti-Jewish legislation, economic boycotts, and violence. In 1938, German troops entered Austria and received the support of most of the Austrian population. Following the annexation, the Nazis extended their anti-Jewish legislation to Austria, establishing the Mauthausen concentration camp.
The first deportations of Austrian Jews began in October 1939, with about 1,500 Jews deported to Nisko, and continued in February and March 1941, with 5,000 Jews deported to various cities in Poland. By December 1940, there were still about 50,000 to 60,000 Jews living in Vienna, facing unemployment, eviction, and financial hardship. On October 15, 1941, the first systematic deportations of Jews from Vienna to the Lodz Ghetto (Litzmannstadt) began, followed by deportations to Minsk, Riga, and Theresienstadt.
The establishment of Jewish ghettos by the Nazis began with the invasion of Poland in September 1939. The Nazis aimed to segregate and confine Jews into small sections of towns and cities, creating overcrowded and unsanitary living conditions. The first ghetto of World War II was established on October 8, 1939, in Piotrków Trybunalski, followed by the first large metropolitan ghetto, the Łódź Ghetto, in April 1940, and the Warsaw Ghetto in October 1940. Most Jewish ghettos were established in 1940 and 1941, with many sealed off with brick walls or barbed wire.
The Nazis' ultimate goal was indeed to murder all Jews, as evidenced by their establishment of extermination camps, encouragement of emigration, and implementation of the "Final Solution." By early 1942, the Nazis decided to murder all Jews in Europe, using methods such as poisonous gas and forced labor. The majority of Holocaust victims died in 1942, but the killing continued until the end of the war in May 1945, resulting in the murder of approximately six million Jews, two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population.
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The Austrian government was sued for its involvement in the Holocaust
The Holocaust in Austria resulted in the death of between 60,000 and 65,000 Austrian Jews, with only about 800 Jews surviving until the liberation of Vienna by Soviet troops on 13 April 1945. The Austrian government was sued for its involvement in the Holocaust and was required to compensate its Jewish survivors. Initially, the government postponed the compensation matters until the United States started putting pressure on them.
In 1991, Chancellor Franz Vranitzky acknowledged Austria's role in the crimes of the Third Reich during World War II. In 1993, the Austrian government reconstructed the Jewish synagogue in Innsbruck, which was destroyed during Kristallnacht, and in 1994 they reconstructed the Jewish library in Vienna. In the 1990s, the Austrian government started programs aimed at providing social welfare to Austrian victims of the Holocaust, including a compensation fund set up in 1995 and the Art Restitution Act, which was passed in 1998. This act looked at the question of art stolen by the Nazis.
In November 2005, the Austrian government sent compensation letters to the 19,300 Austrian Holocaust survivors still living, totalling over $2 million. This was paid to individual Holocaust survivors, to the owners of damaged businesses, and for stolen bank accounts. Additionally, the Austrian government transferred $40 million to the Austrian Jewish Fund. Despite these efforts, Austria's record on restitution has been problematic. The arrest and imprisonment of the author Stephan Templ, who had inventoried Nazi looted property in Vienna, was strongly criticised.
Austria's official "first victim" historical stance removed the legal obligation to make reparations for Nazi crimes for many years. In 2021, in response to criticism about Austria's restitution policies, the City of Vienna threatened to sue an American descendant of the Rothschild family for libel.
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Frequently asked questions
Austrian Jews were sent to ghettos during the Holocaust, after the German annexation of Austria in 1938.
The first ghetto of World War II was established in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland, in October 1939. The Łódź Ghetto (Litzmannstadt) was established in February 1940 and was the first large metropolitan ghetto.
Yes, there were. Following the German annexation of Austria, all Jews were ordered to move to Vienna and then to the 2nd district, Leopoldstadt, where there was once a Jewish ghetto.
Conditions in the Austrian Jewish ghettos were brutal and miserable. Jews were forced into overcrowded areas, and diseases such as typhus and tuberculosis were rife.
From 1942 to 1944, the ghettos were liquidated, and their Jewish inhabitants were either shot or transported to extermination camps.
