Why did so many of our ancestors emigrate to America?
"The Jewish Peddler"
The powerful Habsburg Empire once made Austria-Hungary the center of the world. The following is an extract and edited version of an article that appeared in "Karpatska Rus",* the newsletter of the Lemko Association of the United States and Canada. The article will help some understand why many of our ancestors emigrated to America.
"The most hated aspect of Austrian rule was its military. The Kaiser's army was foreign to our people. Between the officer, who was usually a German, and the ordinary soldier, was an impassable stonewall. Conviction of a simple minor offense often resulted in a severe prison sentence."
*According to an email I received from Henry Wellisch, he stated: "Believe me when I say that this quotation from the Karpatka Rus newsletter is complete nonsense and I strongly suggest that you replace it with something more representative. Let me tell you that in the Austro/Hungarian forces were thousands of Jewish officers including generals and even a field Marshall. The army was looked at in Jewish circles as a protector of the Jewish community and was certainly not hated." Henry Wellisch 12-01-02
"Conviction of a simple minor offense often resulted in a severe prison sentence. There was no due process in the Austrian military justice system. Justice was administered without witness testimony and there was no opportunity given to the accused to rigorously defend himself. Plaintiff and judge were combined into one person."
Who would want to live under these kind of circumstances?
14,000 of the 20,000 German, Austrian and Czech Jews who were deported to Latvia were murdered there in WW II. Today, the majority of Austria's 10,000 Jews, live in Vienna.
Most books, CDs, etc. can be ordered through my link to Amazon.com Click here > Jewish Genealogy
"A Guide to Jewish Genealogy in Germany & Austria" - published in January, 2001by the Jewish Genealogy Society of Great Britain - ISBN: 0-9537669-1-8. This guide gives an insight into researching your family roots both in these countries and in Britain. This is an informative guide to the archives of available records and explains how to obtain the records you thought no longer existed. In addition, the guide has sections on registration, the Holocaust, vital records, Kindertransport, alien registration, useful addresses, census and cemeteries. The guide is price at £4.50 (UK) - £6.00/US $10 (Overseas includes postage) Payment with orders and is available from The JGSGB Membership Secretary, PO Box 27061, London, N2 OGT
"Austrian-Jewish Life Stories From the Time of the Hapsburg Monarchy" (Als haetten wir dazugehoert: Oesterreichisch-Juedische Lebensgeschichten auks der Habsburgemonarchie) authored by Professor Albert Lichtblau and published by Boehlau-Verlag in Vienna in German.
"The Austro-Hungarian Forces in the Field, October, 1918"
"Hartheim Castle Killings" - the detailed story of the killings that went on during WW II of people who were "physically and intellectually handicapped, nonconformists, etc." There is a list of Surnames http://linz.orf.at/gast/gedenkbuch/indexe.htm
"The Jews of Vienna: 1867 - 1914 Assimilation and Identity" (1984 and published by State University of New York, Albany, NY. )and Reconstructing a National Identity Jews of Habsburg Austria During World War I (Oxford, 2001) both authored by Dr. Marsha L. Rozenblit, Editor
"Naturalized Jews of the Grand Duchy of Posen in 1834 and 1835" - authored by Edward D. Luft -
Buy
from Amazon.com
"The Problem of the Immigrant" - authored by James Davenport Whelpley and published in London by Chapman & Hall Ltd in 1905. Chapter 14 - Austria-Hungary features an English translation of the Hungarian Emigration Law of 1903 http://www.iarelative.com/hung1903/
"Spiel, Hilde: Vienna's Golden Autumn" from the watershed year 1866 to Hitler's Anschluss, 1938; published in New York by Weidenfeld and Nicolson, in 1987. The book appears to be out of print and was originally written in German as "Glanz und Untergang - Wien 1866 bis 1938"
"Unveiled Shadows, The Witness of a Child" - authored by Professor Ingrid Kisliuk. Her experiences growing up in Vienna at the beginning of World War II until the liberation.
There are a great deal of interesting links available at the PolishRoots web site including Austrian Military Recruitment in Galicia; Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów; Galician Federal Representatives; Galician Provincial Representatives; Galician Vital Records; The Martyrs of Zloczow which includes a list of people detained during the tumultuous times at the end of WW I http://www.polishroots.com/database.htm
Aschaffenburg - located in Bavaria and this town has an old Jewish cemetery
Asset Declarations ('Vermoegenserklaerungen') which Austrian Jews were forced to file after Germany's annexation of that country. They are apparently archived in one of the government archives in Vienna, and there is a process of obtaining copies of them via the Living Heirs Foundation. Information is available at the Avotaynu website www.avotaynu.com
An excellent site to find information about most European countries is at http://searcheurope.com
and type in the name of the country you wish to research in the search field. This site is a great source to find information for almost every European country. Another valuable site to help find a person, maps, etc. Once there, type in the name of any country you wish to research. This service is free http://www.webhelp.com/home
Note: one of the problems is the frequent name changes, not just of families, but of towns in which they lived. Check out this site that Miriam Margolyes wrote about which contains a list showing most of the hundreds of town name changes from German to Polish in 19th Century Posen Province http://www.posen-l.com/TownSearch.php
Austrian Zentralfriedhof Cemetery Information - contact:
Mag. Walter Pagler, Wiederstell Verein Zur Wiederstellung und Erhaltung der Juden, Friedhof in Wien 1110 Zentralfriedhof Austria
or Mag. Walter Pagler Verein "Schalom" Simmeringer Hauptstr.230b, 11. Tor A-1110 Vienna, Austria
Mr. Pagler, is the caretaker of the Vienna Jewish Cemetery may, or may not charge for his services. Phone/Fax: 0043 1 7671506 (only in the mornings)
To use this searchable database - Jewish Cemeteries in Austria - you have to be a registered user in the FORUM. We decided to go this way to avoid misusage of the data. For private investigations you have automatically 10 queries for free. After that, if you need more you can buy several levels of access. You will find records of all by Verein SCHALOM maintained graves and who is buried there Not all records are complete, this is because many of the old stones are unreadable or no data is available anymore. Conditional to reasons of data privacy no records are shown younger than the year 1945. If you need information about this, get in contact with us by email or use other official sources (see also our link page).
Austrian Citizenship & Passport Information, Magistrat der Stadt Wien, MA 61 Zivilmatrik, Rathaus Stiege 8, Paterre, Zimmer 17 C 1, 1919 Wien, Oesterreich - Phone: +43 1 4000 - 0 (you will be connected) Hours: Monday through Friday from 8 am to 12 E-mail post@m61.magwien.gv.at
All persons leaving Austria needed a passport. If any former Austrian passport-related records exist for Austrian offices that existed in Galicia, they would be somewhere in the archives in Ukraine and Poland as stated by Lavrentiy Krupnak in a posting of 11/24/01
Local authorities throughout the Empire issued passports. The register that LDS has only includes a listing of passports that were issued by the Vienna passport office (i.e.., the register doesn't include passports which were issued by other offices in Austria, such as Galicia, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, etc.
Note, that it's just the register of passports which were issued by that office (i.e., it's not the register of the several hundred passport offices which were located throughout the Austrian portion of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).
Vienna has a ledger of passports which were issued by the Wien passport authorities (only for passports which were issued by that office, i.e., not the entire country of Austria, which at that was huge. All persons leaving Austria needed a passport.
Military records can be a useful source of genealogical information. In the context of Galician Poland (1772-1918) many of our male ancestors undertook military service freely, while others were obliged to go on active duty for 2 or 3 years, followed by perhaps 8-10 years in reserve units. The army kept detailed records on its personnel at all levels and useful information can be gleaned from these. Records for the period up until 1869 were retained in Vienna at the Vienna Kriegsarchiv and has also been extensively filmed by the Mormon Church and can be traced through the Family History catalogue.
Karen Hobbs, a genealogist who has studied Austrian Military records for a very long time, writes: 'Men who were born in the area that is now Austria, will be the easiest to trace, because all of their records are still in Vienna. Men who were born in the other Crownlands of the Habsburgs after 1850, or so, may and may not have records in Vienna. In theory all of the records dated after 1868-69 for the crown lands that became the successor nations to the Austrian-Hungarian dual monarchy in 1918, were distributed to those new nations so the national archives of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, the states of the former Yugoslavia, etc., should now have them if they were not destroyed during WW II. World War I records are mostly in Vienna. Officers' records should all be in Vienna regardless of where a man was born or served."
It is also possible to write for copies of personal records from years up to 1869 to the Archive in Vienna. Kriegsarchiv Nottendorfergasse 2, A-1030 Wien Austria. Further information can be found at http://www.polishroots.com/austrian_recruit.asp Here you will find an "Austrian Recruitment Search"
According to a Uni Graz Thesis authored by Liebermann, covering 1868 to 1917, common soldiers could not marry while on active duty. NCOs and officers could marry with permission.
About 300,000 Jews were believe to have served in the Austrian Army in the First World War.
Austrian Census for Galicia -
These two sites deal with Galicia census and Austrian Military Records covering several centuries. Because of the war, most records were destroyed.
For post 1867 military records, write to the Archives in Ukraine This site is offering information on "Austrian Census Returns 1869 to 1910 with Emphasis On Galicia" http://www.feefhs.org/ah/gal/jshea-ac.html
Austrian Conscription Rules in the early 19th Century. Contact Ted Margulis at Jwebindex@gmail.com if interested in these rules.
Austro-Hungarian Military Topographic Maps Scale 1:75,000 Contact Lavrentiy Krupnak at Lkrupnak@erols.com for a 1,877k jpeg file via e-mail. It will take about 10 minutes to download. You may also find these same, or similar maps, at the U.S. Library of Congress.
There is a place to pose your questions on one page and you can read Dr. Tepperberg's replies to all questions by clicking on the link 'Re: Austrian military Service' near the top of the page. Look at the questions and answers given at the site before posting a question of your own. Provide as much information as you can, but keep the format very simple and direct. List known facts, then ask a specific question.
The Kriegsarchiv (Archives) in Vienna, that for soldiers not hailing from Austria proper: a.) they only have the records of officers, not enlisted men; b.) records of enlisted men were sent to the capital cities of the new countries formed after the breakup of the Austrian Empire, according to where the soldier's city of origin was.
Personal details on soldiers are found in Grundbuchblatter and Foundation books for each regiment. Microfilms of these can be traced in the on-line catalogue of FamilySearch® and most are available for loan through the chain of FHCs. Choose the Author Search option and enter Oesterreich Armee followed by the name of the regiment to obtain the appropriate microfilm numbers. Example: Oesterreich Armee Infanterie Regiment 30
It is also possible to write for copies of personal records from years up to 1869 to the Archive in Vienna.
Kriegsarchiv Nottendorfergasse 2 A-1030 Wien Austria
Austrian Ministry of DefenseBureau of Military Scientific Studies - Dr. Erwin A. Schmidl is Head of Research
Austrian War Archives in Vienna - Austro Hungarian Military Records can be read at the FHC (Family History Center). The Microfilm number is #6085770 was written by Stephen Blodgett, entitled "Great-grandfather Was In The Imperial Cavalry ... Using Austrian Military Records As An Aid To Writing Family History". There are about 1,500 records and some research aids available.
Standestabellen and Grundbuchblatter records for a given soldier in films of Austrian Military records found in LDS FHCs world wide. There are over 1,500 titles of films under military records. You need to know the regiment.
WW I Austrian Military Personnel Records Information - record cards contain basic information - Name, date and place of birth, religion and unit into which inducted and date of induction. The information on the cards in Vienna depended on information provided by the field command headquarters. When they were simply too busy recording new reinforcements or carrying out attack or defense plans, they sometimes recorded deaths, but not places of burial. When a man went missing, it was unknown if he was a prisoner, missing in action or deserted, and there were no resources to spend on finding out so nothing was put on his record. If someone reported that they saw a man taken prisoner or killed in action, that entry would be made.
If there was a particularly bloody battle, Vienna could be overwhelmed with data and simply found it impossible to update every record before the next huge batch of data arrived. Some of the data in regimental records may never have found its way to individual soldier's cards. The information available in Vienna varied from soldier to soldier. Laurence Krupnak Lkrupnak@erols.comhas additional information and may offer some assistance. Larry is a professional genealogist and may charge for his services.
Austrian Money - Kr. is Krone, an Austrian unit of currency under the Crown System. In 1905, the average annual income (wages and received goods) of a farm servant on a large estate in western Galicia was 355 Kr./year. In eastern Galicia the average was about 315 Kr./year. The exchange rate in the period 1892 - 1900 was: 1 Krone = 10 pence (British) = about US $0.18. The Krone came into circulation after 1892.
Prior to that the Gulden (100 kreuzer) was in circulation. One Gulden was equal to about 2 shillings (British) or US $0.46. According to Dr. John-Paul Himka, of the University of Alberta,, 'an unskilled worker in the oil industry in 1870 earned from 30 to 50 kreuzer a day' - about 15 to 23 cents American. 'In the 1880s, a journeyman craftsman in L'viv and Krakow could earn a Gulden to a Gulden and a half daily' - about 46 to 69 cents American. There really isn't a fair comparison to money today as the American dollar was worth something other than what it is today.
Austrian Reparation Procedures - write or call: Osterreichische Postsparkasse AG Ref Research Report Georg Coch Platz No. 1010 Vienna, Austria Fax: +43 (1) 51400 1700/1762
Austrian Resources at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
The Recht Als Unrecht list (Austrian property declarations (available also at www.avotaynu.com
An early version of the Austrian deportation lists being compiled by the Dokumentationarchiv des Osterreichischen Widerstandes. The Museum prefers to be contact in writing, either by e-mail Registry@ushmm.org or Survivors Registry, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum 100 Raoul Wallenberg Pl. SW, Washington, DC 20024-2126
Austrian State Archives - located at Kriegsarchiv, Nottendorfergasse 2-4 A-1030 Wien, Austria. Director: Hofrat Dr. Rainer Egger (Ext. 450) Phone: 0222 795 40 0 is the director general.
Dr. Hubert Steiner keeps a database of confiscated Jewish property, but only about 50,000 names are available of the 170,000 Viennese Jews in 1938 Fax: 43 1 795 40 109 www.oesta.gv The phone no. from abroad is +43 1 79540 0
The database is called "Recht Als Unrecht". This site provides a Search Engine and you can type in any word, name or country and receive many more site links.
Burgenland - there were seven towns in this area south of Vienna that contained Jewish communities, but the best preserved ghetto is in Eisenstaedt, the provincial capital where Jews were once 20 percent of the total population of the town which was also the provincial capital. It is 35 miles south of Vienna. Most of the houses and buildings date back from the 17th century and look the same as the day that the Jews left in 1938. Fred Astaire's uncle, Fritz Austerlitz lived here and is memorialized on a plaque to local Jews who died in WW I. Private Synagogue of Samson Wertheimer is also located in the museum.
Jewish Museum is located at Unterbergstrasse 6; Phone 43 2682 65145. The site is in German http://www.ojm.at
Bukowina, the capital of Chernovitz, became part of the Austrian Empire in 1775. More information regarding Bukowina is available by Clicking Here
Dobling Local Cemetery, 14th District, 65 Hartackerstrasse, Wien, Austria
Dobrzyca - formerly called Kordeshagen, Pommem (Pomerania), Germany; now Dobrzyca (Koszalin), Poland. It is located on the coast in northern Poland, near Koszalin. Part of the former province Pommern, Prussia (Germany) pre-WWI, it is now in the re-designated province of Zachodniopomorskie.
Dobrzyca - another town by the same name is located northwest of Poznan and just north of Pil~a (Pil~a was known as Schneidemuhl during the Prussian era). It was part of the former province of Posen, Prussia (Germany) pre-WWI and today it is the province of Wielkopolska.
Dobrzyca - another town by the same name is located southeast of Jarocin and northeast of Krotoszyn, due west of Pleszew. It was formerly known as Dobberschutz, Posen, German, but now Dobrzyca (Pleszew) Poznan, Poland. It was part of the former province of Posen, Prussia (Germany) during pre-WWI. Today, it is in the province of Wielkopolska.
Prussia, or Preussen, was a very large German Kingdom which included parts of both western and eastern Europe in its heyday. The LDS Family History Library holds microfilms of the Jewish and Civil Records (in varying numbers for each separate place) for all three Dobrzyca. Just run a place search for Dobrzyca in their on-line catalog at http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhic.asp
There is an active "Birds of a Feather" group. If interested, contact Barbara Siegel bsiegel@netvision.net.il
Europages - business 2 business company directory and business in Europe, yellow pages access, international and European business directory (professional services, addresses and business classifieds http://www.europages.net
Family Genealogy - two articles about famous Jewish families - REITZES (Reitzes Von Marienwert, Etthofen) in: Adler, Zeitschrift fuer Genealogie und Heraldik, vol 20 (XXXIV), No. 7 (July / September), p. 199-213 and the Kuffner family in Lundenburg (Moravia) and Vienna in: Adler, volume 20 (XXXIV), No. 8 (October / December), p. 243-251. Contact Herealdisch-genealogische Gesellschaft "Adler", Universitaetsstrasze 6/9b, A-1096 Vienna, Austria
Family History Center Libraries (FHC) has over 1,500 titles of films that are filed under military records.
The Family History Center has a file microfilm number 6085770 that can be ordered from Salt Lake City. They require at least the regiment's name to be of help. They are in handwritten German - hard to read. These films include a physical description, place of origin, religion and more.
Galicia became a part of the Austrian Empire after the first division of Poland in 1772 and was also part of the Austrian crown lands.
Genealogical research in the lands of the former Austro-Hungarian Monarchy - a Guide to Archives and Parish-Registers http://ihff.nwy.at/hpmain.htm
Genealogical Research in some lands of the former Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy http://www.ihff.at
German Genealogy: Austria - much can already be learned from this under construction web site including Archives and Libraries, Associations and Societies , Gazetteers and Maps. http://www2.genealogy.net/gene/reg/AUT/
Global Gazetteer is a great web site. It is a directory of 2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns, sorted by country and linked to a map for each town. A tab separated list is available for each country www.calle.com/world/
Gorizia - a town totally destroyed by the Austrians in the first World War. The synagogue was abandoned, but later used by the U.S. Army. The Germans used it as a storehouse and destroyed the inside. Max Ascoli, publisher of The Reporter, funded the restoration after 1918.
Historical Archives of Ukraine has Austrian period cadastral records for Galicia
Jewish Religious Community of Vienna A-1010 Vienna, Austria
JewishGen BohMor SIG- this sitewill be of interest to those who are researching Bohemia, Moravia and Austria. There are over 170 members worldwide. http://www.jewishgen.org/bohmor
Jewish Museum - is in a three story, 200 year old mansion at 11 Dorotheergasse in the Innere Stadt.
Jewish Records in Austria - "There were supposed to be complete sets of duplicate records, according to the 1875 Austrian legislation that set up the Jewish Vital record Collection System. Presumably, one set was to stay in the district and another was supposed to be sent to Lemberg periodically. Despite this mandate, very few of these duplicate records have been found in western Galicia. It is possible that the record books that were in the Archives in L'viv after WW II were actually duplicates of the district record books."
"The L'viv records were those sent to Warsaw after the war. They made up the collection which is now the focus of a JRI project. The records sent to Warsaw were the newer records from the collection. The older records were retained in L'viv, now L'viv. Further, "these duplicate books from Zmigrod that they "refer to folks from nearby shtetls."
"These "nearby shtetls" were, in fact, living in towns in Zmigrod 's district. In all of the recent discussion about the importance of the administrative districts, it may have escaped some readers that the administrative districts included all of the towns in a specified region. Records books from each district were bound ledger books on printed forms. The forms were in German and Polish in western Galicia. At some point, in eastern Galicia, the forms were printed in German and Ukrainian. The events recorded within were in the order of registration and reflected births (or deaths and marriages) for all of the communities within a district. The events were not separated out by towns ... just by the date of registration. There were separate books for birth, marriages and deaths. When the book got to be of a certain size, a new book was started." This information was obtained from a message written by Suzan Wynne in Gesher Galicia SIG of 3/18/01
Klosterneuburg -
Laa an den Thaya - There are Regional Special Interest Groups that have Austrian information and links. The site includes links to Bohemia-Moravia SIG, Denmark SIG, German-Jewish SIG, Hungary SIG and Stammbaum - German SIG at http://www.jewishgen.org/Shtetlinks/W_Europe.html
Leo Baeck Institute and the Institute for the History of Jews in Austria is actively seeking and collecting memoirs written by persons who formerly lived in the territories of the Hapsburg Monarchy and the Republic of Austria. Contact:
Dr. Albert Lichtblau Universitat Salzburg Institut fur Geschichte Rudolfskai 42 A-5020 Salzburg, Austria
Geographicus -here is an online gallery of antique maps (17th, 18th & 19th Century) and prints http://www.geographicus.com/Merchant2/agent.mv?AG=3D2F300B000D&SC=SFNT&S=G
Museum fuer Volkskunde (Ethnogr. Museum) 8th District Laudongasse 15 - 19 is open Tuesday to Friday 9 - 5; Saturday 9 - 12. Sunday 9 - 1. Call first before visiting for Jewish material.
Museum Judenplatz - a branch of the Jewish Museum of Vienna is located at Judenplatz 8; Phone 43 1 535 0431. The museum is built on the foundations of a synagogue destroyed in 1421 and rediscovered in 1995. http://www.jmw.at
Newsgroups - Check these newsgroups: soc.genealogy.german and soc.culture.austria Either, or both of these addresses need to be entered into your web browser to be able to search these sites.
Ortelsburg - was once located in East Prussia but is now in Poland
Post Offices of Former Austrian Territories - includes Base post offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bohemia, Hungary, Levant, Lombardy, Mantua, Moravia, Silesia, Prague, Poland (Galicia), Venetia and Yugoslavia - all places are in alphabetical order, with provinces prefixed http://www.kitzbuhel.demon.co.uk/austamps/pobook/main.htm
Prussia, or Preussen, was a very large German Kingdom which included parts of both western and eastern Europe in its heyday.
Prussian census and the 1812 Citizenship lists.
Rothhaus, Nieder Oesterreich (Lower Austria)
Sadagora - Rabbi Israel Friedmann was the patriarch of the Ruzhiner, later Sadagorer, dynasty of Hasidic Rabbis. He moved to Sadagora, Austria (now Sadgura, Ukraine) in the mid 1800s. http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/sadgura/sadgura.html
Salzburg - located about three hours west of Vienna by train, was the birthplace of Mozart. It never had a large Jewish community but two Jews, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein put the town on the world stage with The Sound of Music. Just west of Mozart's home, located on Getreidegasse, the street name changes to Judengasse, which was the site of Salzburg's medieval ghetto. The Hotel Alstadt, is located on a 14th century synagogue site. Today, the synagogue, a faithful reconstruction of the one destroyed in 1938, is located at Lasserstrasse 8. About 60 Jews live in the city today, most over 80. www.ikg-salzburg.at
Sudovaya Vishnya - formerly known as Sadowa Wyznia (Wisznia), is located in the Mosciska (Mostiska) district. The name of the town literally means 'Court Cherry Tree'. Prior to WW II, the town had 4,289 inhabitants according to the 1921 census) including 1,829 Jews.
Telephone Book - contemporary Austrian phone book (in German) http://www.etb.at/
Just in case you didn't think of it, contact a nearby university or college's foreign language department. They may offer to write letters and translate letters into English. A nominal fee is usually charged.
Vandsburg - formerly in the district (Kreis) of Flatow in West Prussia (Westpreussen) today it is located in Poland and is known as Wiecbork. The Polish State Archives at Bydgoszcz has birth, marriage and death registers of the Vandsburg Jewish Community covering the years 1825-1847 and the LDS has microfilmed these registers.
Vital and Marriage Records - from Greek Catholic and Orthodox Parishesin Former Austrian Galicia, Former Malo Rus, Ukraine, Poland and Belarus are available from the Mormon Family History Library (FHL) A full explanation of this site's contents including Archive addresses http://lemko.org/genealogy/galiciapl.html
Vienna
Interior of Vienna Synagogue
Vienna is situated in the northeast part of the country with the Danube running through the northern suburbs of the city.
The city is in the northeast part of the country. Vienna's Jewish Golden Age lasted from the 1860s until the 1930s. Jews were recorded in city records during the 12th century and there are remains of a 14th century synagogue in the city's historic center. Jews were expelled in 1421, and, after being readmitted, were again expelled in 1670. Later, in the 18th century, the Hapsburg emperors allowed Court Jews to work for them. In 1781, Emperor Joseph II issued an Edict of Tolerance, which began a series of reforms that guaranteed the civil rights of Jews. An excellent article, authored by Alan M. Tigay appears in the November 2005 issue of Hadassah Magazine.
Between 1854 and 1923, the Jewish population of Vienna went from 15,000 to 200,00 as Jews from the empire's hinterlands poured into the city. The Jewish community was located in the Innere Stadt (Inner City) as well as in Alsergrund, one of the upscale neighborhoods. The largest Jewish concentration was in Leopoldstadt, just across the Danube Canal from the city's center. About two thirds of the 180,000 Jews in the city in 1938 escaped the Holocaust. Most of those who remained died in the death camps. after WW II, Jews came back and there are about 15,000 according to Mr. Tigay's article. http://www.ikg-wien.at/static/etis/html/start.htm
The Ringstrasse is the boundary of the Inner City or Innestadt, with its fine architecture and many shops and hotels. An atmosphere of elegance and style of bygone eras prevails in this area. It is easy covered entirely on foot.
The Austrian National Library at the Josefsplatz is an outstanding example of baroque architecture. Vienna contains more than 50 museums, grand palaces, shops, antique markets and more, which are very much part of the Austrian culture. The Hapsburgs who ruled the country for six centuries resided in the Hofburg, which houses the Kaiser-Apartments and the Crown Jewels.
Austrian Citizenship & Passport Information, Magistrat der Stadt Wien, MA 61 Zivilmatrik, Rathaus Stiege 8, Paterre, Zimmer 17 C 1, 1919 Wien, Oesterreich - Phone: +43 1 4000 - 0 (you will be connected) Hours: Monday through Friday from 8 am to 12 E-mail post@m61.magwien.gv.at
TheCity Archive of Vienna has extensive records at their website (in English) http://www.magwien.gv
Information available includes birth or marriage certificates, death records, probate records and more especially if you are searching residents of Vienna from 1870-1903 . You must be able to read German or use the translation sites to read this web site.
Great Synagogue - was located at Tempelgasse 3, which was destroyed in 1938. Today there is a large courtyard where Hasidic children play. One of the synagogue's wings survived and is now a school, a mikvot and a synagogue belonging to Agudas Israel.
Jewish Community of Vienna for 1919 Marriage Certificates - some entries had been stamped in 1939 and others in 1941 with some words that are hard to make out, but seemed to refer to 'being taken away' This is followed by the names 'Israel' and 'Sara' with Israel crossed out on the bride's document and Sara crossed out on the groom's side. Annehme des Zuzatznemens Israel - Sara Angezeigtl B-H am 18-10-1939
I saw on your page http://jewishwebindex.com/austria.htm something regarding the stamp on 1919 Jewish marriage certificates. I have a little more information that might shed some light for you.
I found the same stamp repeatedly on my great-grandfather's entry in a Vienna birth registry from 1878, and though some of the stamps were not clear, one of them was quite clear. It says: "Annahme des Zusatznamens Israel - Sara angezeigt!" Followed by a line with a date (on my ancestor's record, the date was 30.11.1940), another line with abbreviations I can't make out well, and several numbers.
The line means, "Assume for the additional names Israel-Sara is indicated!" Starting in 1938, the Nazis required all Jews to add "Israel" (for males) or "Sara" (for females) to their names on legal documents, such as passports. This line is apparently reminding Nazi clerks, who were given these records for purposes of identifying Jews, that in addition to the children and their parents (who are Jewish by definition in a Jewish birth registry), they should assume that anyone else named on the page (the mohel, the witnesses) are "Israel-Sara" (i.e., Jewish). Thank you Tracey Rich. From an e-mail of 8-22-05
Jewish Museums of Vienna A - 1010 Vienna, Dorotheergasse 11 - it is open Sunday through Friday from 10 am to 6 pm and on Thursday from 10 am to 8 pm
Jewish Welcome Service - provides information and orientation on Jewish life in Austria. It is located just opposite St. Stephan's Cathedral at Stephansplatz 10; Telephone 43 1 533 2730 http://www.jewish-welcome.at
Leopoldstadt - the city's old Jewish section. Here you will find Hasidim shops and one street with three synagogues.
Leopoldstadt Synagogue - destroyed in 1938 during Kristallnach
The Nameless Library - the Holocaust memorial of the Judenplatz in Vienna, is a public art piece that be seen anytime.
Or Chadasch Congregation - the only non-Orthodox congregation in the city is located at Robertgasse 2; Phone: 43 1 967 1329 www.orchadasch.at
Sephardic House - the main religious and cultural center of Vienna's Jews from Georgia and Bukhara and is located at Tempelgasse 7; Phone: 43 1 214 3097. The building contains a Georgian synagogue and a larger Bukharan synagogue. Next door is the site of a synagogue destroyed on Kristallnach.
Schonberg Center - Arnold Schonberg was the father of 12-tone music. It is located at Schwarzenbergplatz 6; Phone 43 1 712 1888 http://www.schoenberg.at
Sigmund Freud Haus Museum - located at Bergasse 19 in the Alsergrund section; Phone 43 1 319 1596 http://www.freud-museum.at/e/ Stadttempel (City Temple) - built in 1826, it has daily services and is located at Seitenstettengasse 4; Telephone 43 1 531 -417 E-mail: rabbinat@ikg-wien.at
Vienna's Jews made a major contribution to the arts, the sciences and the commerce in Austria, with special emphasis in Vienna. The city drew Jews from all over Europe who saw opportunity to express themselves in the arts and as writers, but it was also known for its anti-Semitism. Particularly well known was its mayor, Karl Lueger, who had a major influence on young Adolph Hitler. The Chief Rabbi is Paul Chaim Eisenberg.
Vienna 1938 Listof Missing http://www.Avotaynu.com or write to Michael Goldman at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and ask if he will check their Vienna 1938 list for your missing relatives
Bohemia-Moravia Special interest Group - bohmor@lyris.jewishgen.org where there are plenty of experts available, BohMor is JewishGen SIG which deals specifically with Vienna and Austria, as well as the one-time Habsburg Crown Lands of Bohemia and Moravia, where many of the Austrian Jews originated. There are also many links with Galicia in the various BohMor databases. Under the Habsburgs, Vienna, with a population of about 200,000 Jews, was the centre of a huge Empire, making it one of the most important Jewish cities in the whole world. The BohMor website and SIG has, in fact, a much broader coverage than its name suggests. http://www.jewishgen.org/bohmor/
"GemeindeView" - The beginnings of a web based encyclopedia commemorating all of the Jewish communities that once existed in the Bohemia-Moravia region http://www.jewishgen.org/bohmor/gemeinde.htm
Books
Email 
