The city of Vienna is filled with Jewish heritage and history. The Jewish community in Vienna was thriving until 1938 when the German Wehrmacht occupation of Austria began. Jews were robbed of their properties, which then became either possessions of the state or were sold at extremely low prices. It didn’t matter if the man was a simple shoemaker or famous like Sigmund Freud, all Jews were persecuted, and for this reason 140,000 Austrian Jews fled the country. The 65,000 who could not escape were killed.
On this tour, you will hear stories of the once flourishing Jewish community, learn about events that led up to the Holocaust, and hear about the current status of Vienna’s Jewish population. The tour will cover the Museum at Judenplatz, the Holocaust Memorial at Judenplatz, the Memorial against War and Fascism at Albertinaplatz, and the spot where Hitler announced the Anschluss in 1938. You will also have the opportunity to see the only synagogue in the city that was not destroyed during the “Reichskristallnacht.” This tour will take you back in time and help you understand the full history of Jews in Vienna.