Until 1918, Vienna was the capital of the Habsburg Empire. It had a long anti-Semitic tradition. Nevertheless, Jews and converts from Judaism played a highly significant role in Viennese life as writers, composers, and scientists. Vienna was also the centre of the Zionist movement at its inception. By 1923, its Jewish population numbered 201,513; by 1936, it went down to 176,034, 9.4 percent of the population.
Immediately after the Anschluss
Right after the Anschluss, in March 1938, the Jewish community and Zionist organisation offices were closed and their board members were sent to Dachau. Jewish public life, however, did not come to a complete standstill. Soup kitchens were established, with help from the Joint Distribution Committee. On May 2, 1938, the community offices were reopened with emigration and social welfare now their major concern. By March 1940, 43,000 persons (86 percent of the remaining Jews) required community assistance.
Activities of the Jewish Community
The Jewish community did not confine itself to material assistance; in June 1938, it inaugurated vocational training courses for Jews, pending their emigration. Viennese Jewish leaders - Dr. Josef Loewenherz, Professor Heinrich von Neumann, and Berthold Storfer - attended the Evian Conference, in the hope of furthering emigration. Especially after the Anschluss, "illegal" immigration to Palestine was stepped up. Behind the scenes, Loewenherz, with Adolf Eichmann's knowledge, co-operated with the organisers of these transports. After Kristallnacht, the Mosad le-Aliyah Bet also organized transports with Eichmann's knowledge.
The Kristallnacht Pogrom
The Kristallnacht pogrom of November 1938 polarised the situation to the extreme. After mid-October 1938, not a single night passed without attacks on Jewish stores, schools, and synagogues. On Kristallnacht, forty-nine synagogues, as well as smaller prayer houses were destroyed. 3,600 Jews were deported to Dachau and Buchenwald, to be released only when they were able to produce documentary proof that they were going to emigrate.
Transports to Poland and Belorussia
After the occupation of Poland, deportations began. Early in October 1939, 1,048 Polish and stateless Jews were deported to Buchenwald. Two transports with a total of 1,584 Jewish professionals left Vienna for Nisko on October 20 and 26, 1939. In February 1941, more than 5,000 Viennese Jews left for the Kielce region of Poland. At the time, Eichmann and his successor in Vienna, Rolf Guenther, were prepared to allow emigration to continue on condition that absolute obedience to orders was observed in preparing the candidates for deportation. In addition, Loewenherz had to provide substitutes for those who were exempted. On July 31, 1941, Vienna still had 43,811 Jews "by religion," as well as 8,728 persons defined as Jews under the Nuremberg Laws. Emigration of Jews between the ages of 18-45 was prohibited on August 5, 1941, and the systematic deportation of the Jews of Vienna was launched on October 15 of that year. The Jews selected for deportation were put into assembly camps, where they were held for weeks in subhuman conditions. Anton Brunner, a civilian official, was in charge of the deportations. Also cruel in their behaviour were the members of the Vienna Juedischer Ordnungsdienst, a kind of Jewish police that had its origin in Jewish toughs. By October 5, 1942, 5,000 Jews had been deported to Lodz, 5,200 to Riga, 6,000 to Izbica, and 10,476 to Minsk. Most of them, including the deportees to Kielce, were shot to death or gassed.
The Period of Transports to Theresienstadt
In the period from June 20 to October 9, 1942, 13,776 Viennese Jews were deported to Theresienstadt. On November 1, 1942, the Jewish community organisation was changed to the Aeltestenrat der Juden in Wien (Council of Elders of the Jews of Vienna). Its assets were transferred to Prague, ostensibly to be used for the financing of the Theresienstadt Ghetto.
