Join our Community
Support ToI and remove all ads
Learn more
×

Austrian Jews

Helen Emily Davy, left, and Katharina Mayrhofer pose with the table taken from the Wertheimer family during the Holocaust. (Courtesy)
August 26, 2025, 8:08 am
In 1938, an Austrian Nazi family looted a Jewish home. Their heirs connect over a table
After a woman unearthed a dark family history while cleaning her attic, she took steps to make things right – highlighting systemic problems with Austria’s Holocaust restitution policies
By Robert Philpot
Leo Borger's shop selling radios and musical instruments on Vienna’s Landstrasse Haupstrasse, in 1933, prior to being 'Aryanized' in the lead-up to the Holocaust. (Courtesy)
May 31, 2025, 10:16 am
Paper trail: How a series of ads in a WWII-era UK daily revealed a tragic family history
Julian Borger traced his father’s escape from post-Anschluss Austria via the Kindertransport by examining classifieds in The Guardian. He unravels that and similar stories in a new memoir
By Robert Philpot
Hakoah's masters swimmers. (Private Collection via JTA)
December 13, 2024, 8:36 am
At 115, Vienna’s Jewish Hakoah sports club still thriving, with diverse membership
For club president Thomas Loewy its history holds personal significance, while for some non-Jewish members, it’s a welcoming opportunity to compete
By Karen Propp and Lisa Rosenblatt
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (center) delivers remarks during a ceremony to return stolen artworks to the heirs of Fritz Grünbaum's estate, in New York, Sepember 20, 2023. Timothy Reif, David Frankel, and Sarah Reif, left of Bragg, are pictured from left to right. (Jackie Hajdenberg via JTA)
September 21, 2023, 5:52 pm
7 looted artworks repatriated to scions of Jewish cabaret star killed in Holocaust
At emotional ceremony, descendants of Fritz Grünbaum thank authorities for ‘justice’ after return of Egon Schiele paintings
By Jackie Hajdenberg
A man points his finger at a screen showing the chosen plan for the architectural redesign of Adolf Hitler's birth house, during a press conference at the Interior ministry in Vienna, Austria on June 2, 2020. (Joe Klamar/AFP)
September 14, 2023, 5:08 am
Austrian group asks to place Holocaust exhibit at Hitler birth site
Friends of Yad Vashem in Austria seeks to display information about Righteous Among the Nations at dictator’s former home, as government turns building into police station
By ToI Staff
A bird sits on a monument of composer Ludwig van Beethoven in Bonn, Germany, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
July 21, 2023, 10:46 am
Jewish businessman returns Beethoven skull pieces to Vienna
Paul Kaufmann inherited composer’s 10 skull parts, brought by his family to the US upon fleeing the Nazis
By AFP
File: The statue of antisemitic former Vienna mayor Karl Lueger (1844-1910) smeared with black tar paint at Ringstrasse Boulevard in Vienna, Austria, on November 22, 2022. (Alex HALADA/AFP)
June 7, 2023, 4:32 pm
To shift ‘perspective,’ Vienna to tilt statue of antisemitic mayor admired by Hitler
Artist proposing idea hopes bronze of Karl Lueger will look like it’s falling over; Jewish leaders call measure ‘halfhearted,’ press for removal
By Gabe Friedman
Yasser Arafat, left, Austrian chancellor Bruno Kreisky, and former West German chancellor Willy Brandt at a press conference after three days of talks on the Middle East situation in Vienna, July 11, 1979. (AP Photo)
April 13, 2023, 4:52 am
How Austria’s Jewish chancellor helped country evade responsibility for Nazi past
A new book by Israeli diplomat Daniel Aschheim examines Bruno Kreisky, Austria’s longest-serving leader, and his ambivalent relationship with his own Judaism and the Jewish state
By Robert Philpot
Giuliana Schnitzler sits with her dog Lucy while displaying an image of her father, Peter Schnitzler, at her home in Vienna, Austria, on June 23, 2022. Her father was taken out of Vienna to the United States by his family at just under 2 years old in late 1938. (Raquel G. Frohlich)
December 8, 2022, 6:52 pm
No longer verboten: Descendants of Holocaust survivors seek Austrian citizenship
After a revision of Austrian citizenship laws, candidates don’t need to give up their native passports. Read about Giuliana Schnitzler, Julie Bronder and Amy Feineman’s paths there
By Raquel G. Frohlich
A scene from the Broadway production of Tom Stoppard's play 'Leopoldstadt,' October 2022. (Courtesy/ Joan Marcus)
October 3, 2022, 10:18 pm
Tom Stoppard’s alt-neu Broadway play ‘Leopoldstadt’ is 140 minutes of shock and awe
Now running in NYC, the show is contemporary but reads like a classic, tracing a Jewish family through the surge and subsequent decimation of 20th-century Austrian Jewry
By Jordan Hoffman
Author Salman Rushdie is tended to after he was attacked during a lecture, August 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, about 75 miles (120 km) south of Buffalo. (AP Photo/Joshua Goodman)
August 26, 2022, 9:14 pm
Attack on Rushdie mirrors 1925 killing of writer who satirized Vienna antisemitism
Jewish-born Hugo Bettauer, whose ‘The City Without Jews’ became an international best seller, was assassinated after being denounced by Austrian Nazis
By jonathan bate
The Central Council of Jews in Germany gave the group an award in 2020. (Omas Gegen Rechts/via JTA)
January 11, 2022, 4:32 am
In Germany and Austria, a movement of grandmothers is taking on the far-right
Omas Gegen Rechts has picked up steam since starting off with 10 elderly women in 2017, and its efforts are being recognized by progressive activists and the far-right alike
By Joe Baur
Gertrude Pressburger speaks during a 2016 Asutrian presidential campaign. (Screenshot/YouTube)
January 1, 2022, 8:04 pm
Austrian Holocaust survivor who spoke out against nation’s far right dies aged 94
Gertrude Pressburger went viral in a video during country’s 2016 presidential campaign
By Kirsten Grieshaber
Billy Wilder, at center, with Peter Lorre and other Central European refugees in Hollywood, circa mid-1930s. (Courtesy/ Deutsche Kinemathek)
December 25, 2021, 4:12 am
In LA, Austria honors Jews who fled WWII darkness to forge Hollywood’s Golden Age
Together with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and others, the Austrian consulate pays tribute to expat stars with a symposium and 6-week film series running through Jan. 31
By Sharon Rosen Leib
An activist places a sticker honoring Hannah Senesh over a street sign named for Hans Kloepfer, a prominent doctor and writer who welcomed Hitler's annexation of Austria and joined the Nazi party, on November 8, 2021, in Vienna. (Courtesy)
November 9, 2021, 11:39 pm
On eve of Kristallnacht, activists ‘rename’ Vienna streets honoring antisemites
Protest, publicized by the Austrian Union of Jewish Students, sees street signs named for Nazis and SS members pasted over with a temporary homage to resistance leaders
By Yaakov Schwartz
Load More
Sign in or Join The Times of Israel Community
Paying ToI Community members are invited to comment on articles
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Or Continue with
By joining you agree to the terms and conditions
Register to continue
Or Continue with
Log in to continue
Sign in or Join The Times of Israel Community
Only ToI Community members can comment below articles
Forgot your password? / Send me a login link
Or Continue with
check your email
Check your email
We sent an email to you at .
It has a link that will sign you in.
Join The Times of Israel Community
Commenting is available for paying members of The Times of Israel Community only. Please join our Community to comment and enjoy other Community benefits.
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Confirm Mail
Thank you! Now check your email
You are now a member of The Times of Israel Community! We sent you an email with a login link to . Once you're set up, you can start enjoying Community benefits and commenting.
Back to top
Never miss breaking news on Israel
Get notifications to stay updated
You're subscribed
image
Register for free
and continue reading
Registering allows you to manage your newsletters and alerts and helps us improve your experience. It takes just a few seconds.
Already registered? Enter your email to sign in.
Please use the following structure: example@domain.com
Or Continue with
By registering you agree to the terms and conditions. Once registered, you’ll receive our Daily Edition email for free.
Register to continue
Or Continue with
Log in to continue
Sign in or Register
I forgot my password / Send me a sign in link
Or Continue with
check your email
Check your email
We sent an email to you at .
It has a link that will sign you in.