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Encyclopaedia Judaica
Jews in Austria 05: From 1938-1945
Annexation 1938 - Nazi law and
emigration - deportations
from: Austria; In: Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971, vol. 3
presented by Michael Palomino
(2007)
<The Holocaust. (1) 1938-1939.
The liquidation of Austrian Jewry began with the Anschluss (annexation)
to Germany on March 13, 1938 [[war of flowers: The population was
cheering the Wehrmacht and throw only flowers to the German soldiers]].
[[Percecution of the Jews in
Austria: 181,778 or 220,000 persons counted as Jews - deprivation of
rights]
According to the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde [[Israelite cult
community]], the Jewish community of Vienna, there were at the time
181,778 Jews in Austria, of whom 91.3% (165,946) were living in Vienna.
According to Himmler's statistics however, the number of Austrian Jews
persecuted under the *Nuremberg Laws [[with non-Aryans: half Jews,
quarter Jews, and 3/4 Jews]] reached 220,000; in addition, tens of
thousands of persons of Jewish descent were affected by the racial
laws.
The new Nazi regime immediately introduced decrees and perpetrated acts
of violence of an even greater scope and cruelty than those then
practiced in the Reich itself. The Jews were denied basic civil rights,
and they and their property were at the mercy of organized and
semi-organized Nazi gangs. The activities of Jewish organizations and
congregations were forbidden.
[Imprisonments - attacks against
Jewish intelligentsia and property owners]
Many Jewish leaders were imprisoned, and several were murdered in
*Dachau Concentration Camp. A fine of 800,000 schillings ($30,800) was
imposed on the Jewish communities. At the same time, the first pogroms
took place in Vienna and in the provinces, and synagogues, including
the Great Synagogue of Vienna, were desecrated and occupied by the
German army.
The main victims of systematic terrorization were the Austrian Jewish
intelligentsia and property owners. The former were immediately banned
from any public activity, from educational and scientific institutions
and from the arts. Many of them - including Sigmund Freud, Stefan
Zweig, and Hermann *Broch - were among the first Austrian Jewish
refugees. The biggest property owners were arrested by the Gestapo and
forced to turn over their property. Some of those who refused were
murdered and many others were sent to Dachau, where they were either
killed or committed (col. 898)
suicide. In addition, street attacks and brutal persecution became
daily occurrences in lives of Austrian Jews of all social classes. In
March alone, 311 cases of suicide were registered in the Viennese
community, and in April, 267. During these two months, at least 4,700
Jews escaped from Austria.
[Deportations - Jewish stream to
Vienna - emigration - vocational training for emigration - Jewish
schooling]
Systematic deportation of Jews and the confiscation of their property
began in several Austrian provinces.The ancient Jewish communities of
*Burgenland were deported over the Czech border. A group of 51, who
were returned to Austria, was sent up and down the Danube for four
months and denied entry to all the countries bordering on the river.
As a result of the persecutions, a stream of Jews from the provinces,
most of them destitute, began to flow to Vienna. In May 1938 the
Viennese Jewish community renewed its activities and several of
its leaders were released from prison in order to help organize mass
emigration which the Nazi authorities encouraged. The Zionist Palestine
Office in Vienna was permitted to organize both legal and "illegal"
emigration to Palestine. In the same month, the Nuremberg Laws were
officially enforced in Austria.
In August 1938, under *Eichmann's aegis, the "Zentralstelle fuer
juedische Auswanderung" was established in Vienna. This organization
was to be responsible for the "solution of the Jewish problem" in
Austria. Its "efficient" methods of persecution and deportation were
later copied in Germany and in several of the Nazi-occupied countries.
A special body, the Vermoegensverkehrsstelle [[asset transfer office]],
was responsible for the transfer of Jewish property to non-Jews. With
the help of the major Jewish welfare organizations in the world, the
community and the Palestine Office were able to assist in the
emigration of thousands of Jews. The importance of this aid grew with
the straitened circumstances of Austrian Jewry; as against 25% of the
emigrants who needed financial assistance in May and July 1938, 70%
needed assistance in July and August 1939. Between July and September
1938 emigration reached a monthly average of 8,600.
Hundreds of training courses were organized to prepare emigrants for
new occupations in the countries of immigration. (In Vienna these had
31,306 participants up to the end of 1939). thousands of young people
received agricultural training at the farm owned by the *He-Halutz
Zionist movements (in August 1939, there were 1,801 people in 18
training camps) and *Youth Aliya wards received special agricultural
and technical training.
The community also took care of those whose education had been
interrupted by their expulsion from educational institutions, and of
the thousands of Jews whose livelihoods had been taken from them and
who were in urgent need of assistance.
[5 Oct. 1938: New anti-Semitic
riots - 10 Oct. 1938: deportation of Czech Jews - 28 Oct. 1938:
deportation of Polish Jews]
In October 1938 anti-Semitic riots again broke out and Jews were once
more deported from various places. On the eve of the Day of Atonement
(October 5) thousands of Jewish families were evicted from their homes
in certain districts of Vienna and elsewhere, and ordered to leave the
country, though this decree was subsequently canceled through the
intervention of Eichmann.
On October 10, Hitler gave personal instructions "to act for the
deportation of 27,000 Viennese Jews of Czech nationality". On October
28, thousands of Jews who were Polish nationals were deported into the
no-man's-land on the German-Polish border. Of these, only 1,300 were
able to cross the frontier. The rest remained in Austria as stateless
persons (see *Germany).
[10 Nov. 1938: Kristallnacht - 1/3
of the fine is imposed on Austrian Jews]
During the pogroms of November 10 (see *Kristallnacht), approximately
8,000 Jews were arrested, and of these 5,000 were sent to Dachau. Six
hundred and eighty others committed suicide or were murdered that
single night. In Vienna alone, 42 synagogues were burned and 4,038
Jewish shops were looted. Almost all Jewish homes were destroyed and
cemeteries desecrated. Synagogues were also destroyed in Graz,
Salzburg, Klagenfurt, (col. 899)
Linz, Innsbruck, Baden, Eisenstadt, Berndorf, and Bad Voeslau. In Linz,
all the Jewish inhabitants were arrested, and all Jews in the district
were ordered to move to Vienna within three days. One-third of the fine
of a billion marks ($83,300,000) imposed on the whole of the German
Reich Jewry was levied on Austrian Jews.
During the November Pogroms employees of the Jewish community and the
Palestine Office were released from prison and ordered to continue
organizing emigration. Shortly afterward, they began publication of the
official Jewish newspaper, Juedisches
Nachrichtenblatt [[Jewish News]], under the supervision of the
Gestapo. The paper appeared until the end of 1943, and was intended to
inform the Jewish public of official decrees.
[April 1939: All Jews of Vienna
are living in "Jewish streets" - August 1939: 66,260 Jews in Austria]
Most of those arrested during the pogroms were released before the end
of April 1939, having agreed to leave the country as soon as possible.
At the end of April 1939, under a special law, almost all
Austrian Jews were evicted from their homes, and most were gathered
into certain streets in selected districts of Vienna.
By the eve of World War II 109,060 had succeeded in emigrating and only
66,260 Jews were left in Austria. Only 438 still lived outside Vienna
while whole regions, such as Salzburg and Carinthia were devoid of
Jews. With the exception of isolated cases, all were deprived of a
livelihood and all 25,898 factories and places of business belonging to
Jews had been confiscated and shut.
[September 1939: 17,000 Jewish
visas cancelled - concentration camps - deportations]
With the outbreak of war in September 1939 emigration opportunities
lessened, and 17,000 Jews possessing entry visas to enemy countries
were forbidden to use them. In the new wave of arrests, hundreds of
Austrian Jews were sent to concentration camps. All Jews lived under
martial law and additional restrictions were imposed upon them. On
October 20, 922 Viennese Jews were exiled to Nisko on the San River.
(Some of the Nisko deportees succeeded in crossing the border into the
Soviet Union; the remaining 152 were returned to Vienna in April 1940).
In November 1939 Eichmann informed the leaders of the community that
all Jews who did not emigrate within one year would be exiled to
occupied Poland. During the first four months of the war, 11,240 Jews
succeeded in emigrating to neutral countries.
[End of 1939: 53,403 Jews in
Austria - further vocational training and Jewish schooling - 24,000
aged and infirm]
Of the 53,403 persons registered with the Viennese community at the end
of 1939 45,140 were dependent on social welfare. However, the community
continued to arrange technical training in preparation for emigration,
and 5,017 children of school age studied in its 14 educational
institutions. Among the community's projected activities for 1940 was
its own gradual dissolution, so that, by the end of that year, it would
be merely an institution for the care of 24,000 aged and infirm, who
were unable to emigrate.
[[Holocaust]] (2) 1940-1945
[1941: Deportations]
Between February and March 1941, desperate attempts to continue limited
emigration resulted in the deportation of 5,000 Jews to five places in
the *Lublin district. It is assumed that all met their death within the
year, being murdered either locally or in the gas chambers of *Belzec.
[[Probably it was mass shooting]].
From October to the beginning of November another 5,486 Jews were
deported to the *Lodz Ghetto. After the official prohibition on
emigration, there remained approximately 40,000 Austrian Jews. Very few
could leave the country after this date.
[1938-1941: Emigration figures]
Of the 128,500 who had emigrated up to that time 30,800 had gone to
England, 24,600 to other European countries, 28,600 to the United
States, 9,200 to Palestine, and 39,300 to 54 other countries. At the
end of 1941, with the Nazi occupation of territories in the Soviet
Union, 3,000 Austrian Jews were deported to the ghettos of Riga, Minsk,
and Kovno; many were put to death upon arrival in the vicinity of these
ghettos.
[1942: Evacuation program for the
remnant - dissolution of the cult community - new council of the
elderly]
After the Wannsee Conference, Eichmann announced to the Viennese
community his general Aussiedlung
("evacuation") program under which 3,200 more Austrian Jews were (col.
900)
deported to Riga, 8,500 to Minsk, and 6,000 to Izbica and several other
places in the Lublin region. This last group was almost entirely
exterminated. Between June and October, 13,900 people were deported to
*Theresienstadt, most of them aged 65 and over. On Oct. 10, 1942, the
last transport of 1,300 persons left for Theresienstadt. The Viennese
Jewish community was officially dissolved on Nov. 1, 1942. There still
remained 7,000 Jews in Austria (about 8,000 according to the Nuremberg
Laws).
The majority were spared because they were married to non-Jews. All
able-bodied persons were compelled to do forced labor. The
Aeltestenrat der Juden in Wien [[Council of Jewish Elders of
Vienna]] was formed to replace the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde. It
represented Austrian Jewry in dealing with the authorities, and was
responsible for running the Jewish hospital, the home for the aged, the
soup kitchen, and burying the dead. This council was headed by Josef
Loewenherz until the end of the war.
[1943-1945: Deportations - Jews in
Vienna - Hungarian Jews]
Isolated deportation continued from January 1943 until March 1945, and
consisted of not more than a hundred persons in each transport. At
least 216 Jews were sent to *Auschwitz and 1,302 Jews to
Theresienstadt. Most of the victims were former communal workers, and
Jews whose non-Jewish spouses had died.
In the summer of 1943, there were still approximately 800 Jews left in
Vienna. They had gone underground and were secretly helped by members
of the community and the Budapest Jewish rescue committee (Va'adat ha-Hazzalah). A few managed
to escape to Hungary, but many others were caught by the Gestapo and
sent to Auschwitz. Some managed to stay underground until Vienna fell
to the Soviet Army.
In July and December 1944, approximately 60,000 Hungarian Jews were
deported to Vienna and Lower Austria, to be employed by the Nazis in
building fortifications. A few were permitted to receive treatment at
the Vienna Jewish hospital. Just before Vienna was liberated, (col. 901)
1,150 were deported to Theresienstadt. During the last months of the
war, thousands of Jewish evacuees from various concentration camps
crossed Austria. A few remained in Vienna and the Vienna district or
[?] were transferred to Austrian camps. The remnant of the Viennese
Jewish community organized itself into a committee to save the victims,
and extended help to them in conjunction with the International Red
Cross and Jewish welfare organizations. A report by the Red Cross
representative described the last synagogue in the Third Reich located
in the cellar of the Viennese Jewish hospital.
[Survivors]
Of the approximately 50,000 Jews deported from Austria to ghettos and
extermination camps only 1,747 returned to Austria at the end of the
war. (The largest group of survivors, which numbered 1,293, was
liberated from the Theresienstadt Ghetto).
[Captivations 1940]
Among the Austrian victims of the Holocaust there were over 20,000
Austrian Jews who had migrated to other European countries later
conquered by the Nazis.
[Number of the victims: 70,000
estimated]
The number of Austrian Jewish victims of the Holocaust is estimated at
70,000. One of the largest and most terrible of concentration camps,
*Mauthausen, where thousands of European Jews met their death, was
situated in Austria. A large part in the campaigns to exterminate
European Jewry was played by Austrian Nazis, including Eichmann,
*Globocnik, *Kaltenbrunner and Hitler himself. After the war, a
documentation committee was set up in Vienna for the tracing and
prosecution of Nazi war criminals.
[D.K.]> (col. 902)
[[Supplement: Intense
anti-Semitism
in Austria and the reasons
In Austria several feelings against the Jews came together which were
element of the propaganda:
-- collapse of the stock market of 1873 and government help for Jewish
banks but not for Austrian citizens
-- collapse of Austria-Hungary of 1918 and Jewish dominance in
important parts of the Austrian economy 1918-1938
-- Jewish communism since 1918 in Russia and some Jewish communist
republics 1918-1919 in Europe
-- collapse of the stock market of 1929 and general accusations and no
help of the government to Austrian citizens.
The regime of hunger was an important element to agitate against the
Jews, and in Austria this happened several times, more than in Germany.
Add to this the Austrian Nazis possibly felt obliged to Hitler because
Hitler was Austrian too]].
Sources
|
 Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 887-888 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 889-890 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 891-892 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 893-894 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 895-896 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 897-898 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 899-900 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 901-902 |
Encyclopaedia
Judaica 1971: Austria, vol. 3, col. 903-904 |
