Palais Eskeles

Viewable Storage Area
From flourishing community to destruction  

Hundreds of shofars, Torah crowns, Torah curtains, Hanukkah lamps and menorot, kiddush cups, Seder plates and jugs. Hand-chased silverwork and goldwork beside cheap mass-produced items.

The viewable storage area is not an exhibition space in the strict sense of the word. Rather, it offers visitors a rare occasion to view the complete Museum stocks. The enormous wealth of objects is a reminder of the formerly flourishing Jewish community of Vienna.

Most items shown here are a permanent loan from the Jewish Community Vienna (IKG). They were not collected but brutally torn from their accustomed context - synagogues, prayer houses, private households - in 1938 and the subsequent years. Charred ritual objects recount the story of the November pogrom in 1938, when more than 50 synagogues and 100 prayer houses in Vienna were desecrated or put to the torch.

Curator: Gabriele Kohlbauer-Fritz