Timeline: History of Jews in Austria
According to JewishNews.at, the following is an approximate timeline of Jewish life in Vienna:
Early Settlement and Medieval Era
• 1194: Duke Leopold V installs Shlom as the mint master, marking the first documented Jewish settlement in Vienna.
• 1204: The first mention of a synagogue in Vienna appears, with excavations later revealing its location on Judenplatz.
• 1238: Emperor Friedrich II places the Jews of Vienna under his protection, designating them as “Chamber Vassals.”
• 1244: Duke Friedrich the “Pugnacious” grants the first Jewish Privilege.
• 1267: The church forbids social interactions between Christians and Jews and imposes a dress code on Jews.
Expulsions and Restrictions
• 1420-21: After a devastating fire in the “Jewish City” and subsequent plundering, Jews face expulsion from Vienna and Lower Austria under Albrecht V’s decree. The wealthy are extorted, imprisoned, and some are burned at Erdberger Lände, while others commit suicide. The synagogue is destroyed; today, visitors can see the excavated remnants at Judenplatz.
• 1584: Individual “court-freed” Jews settle in Vienna, enjoying exemptions from tolls, custom duties, and community taxes.
• 1624-25: Jews are confined to a ghetto in “Unterer Werd,” which consists of 15 dwelling houses. Over the next few decades, the Jewish community grows to 132 houses.
• 1670: Emperor Leopold I orders a second expulsion of Jews from the city and country, mainly for religious reasons. The former Jewish area is renamed Leopoldstadt (Leopold’s City).
Return and Growth of the Jewish Community
• Circa 1680: Samuel Oppenheimer and later Samson Wertheimer return to Vienna as “Court Jews,” working mainly as military suppliers and international loan mediators for the emperor. By 1700, ten privileged Jewish families live in Vienna.
• 1718-1736: Sephardic Jews, who are subjects of the Ottoman Empire, receive certain freedoms within the Habsburg Empire. They establish a legally recognized community in Vienna.
• 1763: The Vienna Chevra Kaddisha (Burial Fraternity) is founded.
• 1764: Empress Maria Theresa enacts restrictive laws governing Jews, including severe limitations on residence permits and privileges.
• 1781: Joseph II issues a court decree forbidding the Leibmaut poll tax, which Jews had paid to enter certain cities since the Middle Ages.
• 1782: Joseph II passes the Toleranzpatent (Edict of Tolerance), which lifts many discriminatory laws. However, Jews gain no communal rights.
The 19th Century: Equality and Antisemitism
• 1812: Convinced of the anti-Napoleonic loyalties of the Viennese Jews and their financial contributions, Franz I permits the opening of a temple and school at Dempfingerhof in Seitenstettengasse. Some individual Jews are knighted, and salons such as those of Fanny von Arnsteins and Cäcilie von Eskeles become cultural hubs.
• 1826: The so-called City Temple, designed by Joseph Kornhäusel, is consecrated.
• 1848: Jews actively participate in the Bourgeois Revolution.
• 1852: The Israelitische Cultus-Gemeinde (Jewish Community) is formed with temporary status. Jewish immigration to Vienna from the provinces of the monarchy increases.
• 1858: The Leopoldstadt Temple is consecrated. The orthodox community moves from a small temple to the famous Schiff Shul, the second most important synagogue in Vienna.
• 1867: A constitutional law grants complete equality to all Austrian citizens, including Jews, though anti-Semitism also rises.
• 1890: The Israelitengesetz (Jewish Law) is enacted to regulate the “external legal relationships of the Jewish religious community.”
• 1896: Theodor Herzl founds political Zionism with the publication of his brochure, “The Jewish State.”
• From 1897: Mayor Karl Lueger attracts petit bourgeois voters with economically motivated anti-Semitism.
The 20th Century: Upheaval and Persecution
• 1909: The “Hakoah” sports club is founded.
• 1906-1911: Adolf Hitler lives in Vienna.
• 1914: The First World War breaks out. Jewish refugees from the Eastern war regions arrive in Vienna in large numbers.
• March 12, 1938: German troops march into Austria. That same night, the SA raids Jewish apartments and businesses.
• March through June 1938: Widespread anti-Jewish violence occurs. Jews are removed from public service. The first deportations to Dachau concentration camp take place, and the Nuremberg racial laws are introduced. The Jewish Community is allowed to resume its official duties, facilitating emigration.
• Summer – Fall 1938: Numerous discriminatory decrees are enacted, such as requiring Jews to adopt the first name “Sara” or “Israel” and banning them from public parks. Many Jewish shops are closed or “Aryanized.”
• November 9 and 10, 1938: The November Pogrom (Kristallnacht) results in the destruction and arson of all Viennese synagogues and temples, and 6,547 Jews are arrested.
• By May 1939: Approximately 100,000 Jews leave the territory of former Austria.
• October 1941: Mass deportations from Vienna begin. By the end of 1942, only 8,102 Jews remain in the city. By the end of the war, 65,459 Austrian Jews have been murdered in concentration camps. Only 5,816 survive to witness the liberation of Austria.
• April 1945: The Vienna Jewish Community is re-established.
• September 1945: The City Temple, the only Jewish synagogue in Vienna not completely destroyed in 1938, reopens provisionally.
Post-War Era and Rebuilding
• After the War: Much of Vienna becomes a camp for displaced persons from the East, most of whom are Jews seeking to emigrate to Palestine.
• From 1970: Vienna becomes a “bridge” for Soviet Jews who cannot emigrate directly to Israel from the USSR. Many remain in Vienna.
• 1978: The Talmud Torah School becomes a public school.
• 1980: The Jewish Welcome Service Vienna is founded.
• August 1981: A bomb attack by Palestinian terrorists occurs at Seitenstettengasse 2.
• 1984: The Zwi Perez Chajes School, a high school founded before the Second World War by Chief Rabbi Chajes, reopens.
• 1988: The Jewish Institute for Adult Education is established.
• 1989: The Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna is established.
• 1990-91: The “Vienna Yeshiva,” a vocational school for Jewish social work, becomes a public school.
• November 18, 1993: The Jewish Museum of the City of Vienna opens at Dorotheergasse 11.
• 1994: ESRA, a project aimed at the psychosocial and sociocultural integration of traumatized Holocaust survivors and their descendants, is officially institutionalized.
• 1999: The Lauder Chabad Campus opens at Rabbiner Schneerson Platz near Augarten.
• October 25, 2000: The Shoah Memorial is unveiled, and the Judenplatz Museum opens.
• 2001: The Department for Restitution Matters is established within the Municipal Administration of the City of Vienna.
• 2004: Theodor-Herzl-Platz is officially opened on Vienna’s Gartenbaupromenade in the 1st district.
• 2005: The City of Vienna launches the Information Platform for Restitution in April. In May, an agreement is reached by the General Compensation Fund of the Republic of Austria and the Vienna Jewish Community (IKG) regarding outstanding restitution claims.
• 2008: The “S.C. HAKOAH Karl Haber Sport- und Freizeitzentrum” opens in the Prater.
• 2009: The Maimonides Center opens at the IKG campus (Simon Wiesenthal-Gasse, 1020 Wien).
• 2009: An agreement between the Federal Government and Austrian provinces is reached concerning the restoration and maintenance of Jewish cemeteries, in accordance with the 2001 Washington Agreement.
Source: https://www.jewishnews.at/timeline-history-of-jews-in-vienna
Vienna’s 2nd district, known as Leopoldstadt had a Jewish population of around 33% between the World Wars. It’s namesake, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, expelled the Jews from the area in the 17th century to what is known today as Austria’s Burgenland Province. There have been 2 expulsions of Jews from Vienna up until the Anschluss in 1938. After WWII, some Viennese Jews returned and were able to receive compensation for property confiscated by the Nazis. Many, however, were unable to reclaim anything and had to restart their lives from scratch. Today, conservative estimates number the Jewish community of Vienna at around 8-9,000 persons. More liberal estimates put it up as high as 12-14,000 persons. Most of the population resides in the second district with over 10 synagogues and prayer houses, concentrated in the area.