A very special find in the Berger Legacy
Max Berger (1924-1988) from Gorlice in Poland was the only member of his family to survive the Shoah because he was able to work as a carpenter’s assistant at the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp under Commander Amon Göth. He came to Vienna after the War, where he worked as a period-furniture trader and, at the same time, started a Judaica collection to commemorate his family which was murdered by the Nazis. This high-class collection found its way into the inventory of the Jewish Museum Vienna under the names Berger Collection and Trude Berger Legacy.
The Berger Legacy includes documents on Alois Pick (1859-1945) and his work as Chief Staff Surgeon in the Imperial army, as well as on his Professorship at the Medical Faculty of the University of Vienna, among other items. Pick was also the President of the Jewish Community from 1920 to 1932 and played a major role in the reformation of the welfare system of the Jewish Community.
A very special find in the Berger Legacy is the picture depicting the collector himself at the grave of Doctor Alois Pick. This photograph is believed to have been taken in the 1970s and shows Max Berger at the honorary Jewish graves at the central cemetery Zentralfriedhof Gate 1, Group 6, Row 0, Number 1, where the president’s grave can still be visited today.
