Chronologie of the Viennese Jewish Community
903 – 906
The customs ordinance of Raffelstetten in Upper Austria documents the existence of Jews on Austrian territory for the first time.
1194
Duke Leopold V appoints Schlom as mintmaster in Vienna. Schlom is the first Jew whose residence in Vienna is documented.
1204
First mention of a synagogue (“Jewish School”) in Vienna.
1238
Emperor Friedrich II puts Viennese Jews as “Kammerknechte” (“treasury serfs”) under his personal protection.
circa 1240
Isak Ben Moses, a famous scholar and rabbi, also called “Or Zarua” (Seeds of Light) after his most influential work, stays in Vienna.
1244
A privileged status awarded by Duke Friedrich der Streitbare (the Belligerent) safeguards the Jews and the claims of their ruler to their tributes.
1267
The provincial synod of St. Stephen banns social contact between Christians and Jews and prescribes special clothing for Jews.
1268
The Przemysl ruler Ottokar confirms the privileges awarded by Friedrich. In the following decades, Jews settle in the area of today’s Judenplatz (Jew’s Square) in Vienna.
1338
Pogroms in Pulkau as a result of the alleged desecration of the host.
1420/21
A major fire in the “Judenstadt” (Jewish Quarter) and repeated pillage impoverishes the Vienna Jews and renders their services superfluous. Albrecht V has the Jews expelled from Vienna and Lower Austria. Better-off members of the community are arrested for extortion purposes and later burnt alive at the Erdberger Lände. Some of the prisoners commit suicide beforehand.
1495/99
Expulsion of the Jews from Styria, Carinthia and Salzburg. Maximilian I forces the estates to redeem the loss of taxes that resulted from this exodus. Furthermore, he allows better-off Jews to settle in Burgenland which partly enables him to levy double taxes.
from 1584 onwards
Individual “hofbefreite” (liberated by the court) Jews settle in Vienna. These privileged Jews were liberated from tolls, duties and communal tribes so that their financial resources were entirely at the disposal of the exchequer.
1603
The appointment of Veit Munck as leader of the “whole of the Jews liberated by Us” indicated that a Jewish community was functioning in Vienna at the time.
1624/25
The Jews are transferred to a ghetto consisting of 14 houses in the “Unterer Werd”. Another influential rabbi, Jomtov Lipmann Heller, comes to Vienna, and he is followed by the Scholar Schabtai Scheftel Horowitz. In the following decades, the Jewish Quarter grows to encompass 132 houses.
1670
Emperor Leopold I decides, largely for religious reasons, to expel Jews once more from the city and country. The former “Judenstadt” becomes the “Leopoldstadt”.
circa 1680
Samuel Oppenheimer and his entire household, and later Samson Wertheimer, are awarded the privilege of returning to Vienna as “Hoffaktoren” (court agents). They act largely as suppliers to the army and as mediators in international credit transactions for the Imperial Crown. By 1700, ten privileged families are living in Vienna.
1722
The Marrano Diego D’Aguilar is called to Vienna to reorganize the tobacco monopoly. He contributes fl.300.000 to the building of Schloss Schönbrunn.
1727
The court agents Markus and Meier Hirschl “have reserved fl. 150,000 for the construction of the Caroli-Boromaei Church and Library Building and intend to contribute fl. 100,000 more” in exchange for the renewal of their privileges.
1718 – 1736
Sephardi Jews, who are subjects of the Turkish Sultan, are afforded more liberal treatment as a result of peace treaties with the Ottoman Empire. Only they are able to found an officially sanctioned congregation in Vienna.
1763
The foundation of the Viennese Hewrah Kaddishah (Funerary Brotherhood).
1764
Empress Maria Theresia issues restrictive legislation against the Jews. A serious reduction of residence permits and the distribution of privileges follows.
1781
A court decree by Joseph II forbids the levying of personal tributes (Leibmaut) on individual Jews which had been valid as a deed of passage for Jews since the Middle Ages.
1782
Joseph II issues the Edict of Tolerance, which abolishes many discriminating regulations. The Jewish community as a whole, however, received no special rights.
1792
The Viennese Jewry elects officially recognized “spokesmen” for the first time. Founding of a Jewish office in the headquarters of the Police in Vienna to control the number of the Jewish population.
1812
Impressed by the loyalty and financial contributions of Viennese Jews in the face of Napoleonic aggression, Franz I grants permission for the erection of a house of prayer and a school in Dempfingerhof (Seitenstettengasse). A number of Jews are raised to the rank of nobleman. Salons such as those of Fanny von Arnstein and Cäcilie von Eskeles become centres of cultural activity.
1826
Dedication of the so-called Stadttempel (City Temple), which was built by Kornhäusel. The “tolerated gentlemen” gave the desolate condition of the Dempfingerhof as a reason for its construction. Isak Noah Mannheimer was summoned to Vienna as a preacher, who together with the cantor Salomon Sulzer sought an acceptable compromise between the demands of orthodox Jews and supporters of liturgical reform.
1848
Jews are well-represented among the activities of the bourgeois revolution. Numerous anti-Semitic pamphlets appear, in which according to their ideological background Jews are either held responsible for the revolution (Adolf Fischhof, L. A: Frankl, Karl Spitzer) or its failure (Rothschild). The triumph of reactionary forces puts an end to any hopes of emancipation for the time being.
1849
Emperor Franz Joseph I unwittingly speaks of the “Israelite Congregation in Vienna” and thus paves the way for the official foundation of a congregation.
1852
The “Israelite Congregation” is constituted and receives provisional statutes. Jewish migration from all parts of the Monarchy to Vienna increases.
1858
Consecration of the Leopoldstädter Temple in the II district, which is rather
progressively run by Adolph Jellinek. The orthodox congregation moves from
a small house of prayer to the later famous “Schiffschul”.
1867
The new constitutional law calls for the complete equality of all Austrians, including the Jews. This, however, was also accompanied by an increase of
anti-Semitism.
1884
Dr. Joseph Bloch, a rabbi from Floridsdorf who successfully campaigns against the anti-Semitic opinions of the theology professor August Rohling, is elected to the Reichsrat.
1890
The “Israelite Law” is introduced “to define the legal position of the Israelite religious congregation”.
1893
The Israelite Theological College is opened.
1896
Mit der Publikation seiner Broschüre „Der Judenstaat“ begründet Theodor Herzl den politischen Zionismus. Theodor Herzl founds political Zionism with the publication of his pamphlet “The Jewish State”.
from 1897 onwards
The Lord Mayor Karl Lueger
attracts lower middle class voters with his brand of economic anti-Semitism.
1889 –1909
Houston Steward Chamberlain, a son-on-law of Richard Wagner, lives in Vienna. In 1899, he publishes his “Fundamentals of the 19th Century”, one of the most influential pan-germanic and anti- Semitic works.
1909
Foundation of the Hakoah Sport Club.
1906 – 1911
Adolf Hitler lives in Vienna.
1914
World War I breaks out. Large numbers of Jewish refugees from the war zone in the East arrive in Vienna.
after 1918
A majority of Jews faces a great deal of social hardship. The congregation temporarily reaches its highest numbers.
1919
Foundation of the “German-Austrian Protective Association of the Anti-Semite Alliance” (Antisemiten-Bund).
1925
The publicist Hugo Bettauer is killed by a National Socialist.
1933
The Bishop of Linz, Johannes Maria Gföllner, calls for an end to “Jewish influence” as “a paramount duty of conscience on the part of every dedicated Christian” in a pastoral letter.
12th of March, 1938
German troops march into Austria. In the same night the SA plunders Jewish homes and shops.
March to June, 1938
Pogrom-like riots against Jews. Jews are forced out of public service. The first deportations to Dachau Concentration Camp begin. Introduction of the Nuremberg Racial Laws. When the Jewish Congregation renews its activities, official emigration is made possible.
Summer/Autumn, 1938
Numerous discriminatory edicts and decrees are introduced, e.g. the requirements that all Jews assume the name “Sarah” or “Israel” and avoid entering public parks. Closure and “aryanization” of many businesses.
9th /10th of November 1938
1938 November Pogrom. All Viennese synagogues and houses of prayer are desecrated or set on fire. 6.547 Jews are arrested.
up to May 1939
Around 100,000 Jews have already left former Austrian territory.
October 1941
Mass deportations from Vienna begin. At the end of the Year there are only 8.102 Jews left in Vienna. 65.459 Austrian Jews are killed in various concentration and extermination camps. Only 5.816 survive the war in Vienna.
April 1945
The Israelitic Congregation of Vienna is re-activated.
May 1945
The Hakoah Sport Club Vienna ist reactivated.
September 1945
Provisional re-opening of the City Temple, the only Jewish house of God which was not totally destroyed in 1938.
Post-war years
Half of Vienna houses “displaced persons” from the East. Most of these are Jews who intend to emigrate to Palestine.
1966
Foundation of the Institute of Jewish Studies at the University of Vienna on the initiative of Kurt Schubert.
from 1970 onwards
Vienna forms an interim stop for Soviet Jews who cannot emigrate directly to Israel. Many of them stay permanently in the city.
1972
Opening of the Austrian Jewish Museum in Eisenstadt.
1978
The Talmud-Torah School is officially recognized.
1980
Foundation of the Jewish Welcome Service.
August 1981
Bomb attack in front of the synagogue in Seitenstettengasse.
1984
Reopening of the Zwi Peres Chajes school, founded by the former Viennese chief rabbi Zwi Perez Chajes.
1988
Foundation of the Jewish Institute for Adult Education.
1989
Foundation of the Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna.
1990/91
The “Viennese Jeschiwa” a technical college for Jewish social occupations, receives official recognition.
1991
Opening of the Jewish Museum Hohenems.
1994
The “Esra” (help), an initiative to encourage psychosocial support of survivors and their descendents as well as sociocultural integration of immigrants, becomes an official institution.
1995
Foundation of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism.
1998
Foundation of the JBBZ (Jewish Vocational Training Centre).
1999
Opening of the Lauder Chabad School in the Augarten.
Foundation of the Holocaust Victims’ Information and Support Center.
2000
Opening of the Museum Judenplatz and revealment of the Memorial for 65.000 Austrian Jewish victims of the Shoah.
2008
Opening of the new Jewish Community Campus in the Viennese Prater. The Austrian Federal Government decides the establishment of the “Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI)”
