19. May 2025
by Marcus Patka
From 1987 to 2016, the physician Dr. Esther Fritsch held the office of President of the Jewish Community of Tyrol and Vorarlberg. Her successor, Günter Lieder, commissioned the Tyrolean painter Oskar Stocker to create a portrait of her. This portrait, along with some preliminary studies, was presented to her this week at Café Taim in the Jewish Museum in Vienna. The Chief Rabbi of this community, Shlomo Hofmeister, also joined the celebration.
Esther Fritsch thus served as President of the IKG (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde - Jewish Community) for almost 30 years. Under her leadership, the synagogue of Innsbruck was rebuilt and could be inaugurated in March 1993. In June 1997, a memorial for the murdered Jewish women and men was erected at Landhausplatz. Finally, in the spring of 2007, at the suggestion of Bishop Dr. Reinhold Stecher, the scientific investigation of the old Jewish cemetery on the Judenbühel began. Two years later, a memorial site could also be established there. As the last major achievement under President Esther Fritsch, the community center in Innsbruck was expanded in December 2014 to include a library and event space, which greatly enriched social and cultural life. The community is the second largest in Austria after Vienna, but has only 120 members.
Pictured in the group photo: Esther Fritsch, Marcus Patka, Oskar Stocker, Günther Lieder, Shlomo Hofmeister
