Austria, Vienna, Jewish Emigrant Applications, 1938-1939

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Immigration & Travel

Immigration & Emigration Records

Austria, Vienna, Jewish Emigrant Applications, 1938-1939

Austria, Vienna, Jewish Emigrant Applications, 1938-1939

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The Jewish community in interwar Vienna was the third largest Jewish community in Europe, and approximately 200,000 Jews were living there before World War II. The "Anschluss" – the annexation of Austria to Nazi Germany in March 1938 - brought an abrupt end to this flourishing community. The official community - Vienna Israelitische Kultusgemeinde (IKG) - was temporarily closed by the National Socialists, and after it reopened in May 1938, Jews living in Austria had to register with the IKG's Emigration Department to leave the country and escape Nazi persecution. Each head of household had to fill out a detailed questionnaire, containing the following information: name of the applicant, address, date of birth, place of birth, marital status, nationality, residency status in Vienna and whether and how long the applicant resided elsewhere, information about the profession and the last-held professional position, any newly learned professions, language skills, economic situation and monthly income, as well as additional comprehensive information related to emigration. This emigration-related data includes information about the applicant’s possibility to obtain the necessary papers for emigration, the emigration destination, personal plans abroad, financial resources for emigration, relatives, and friends abroad, especially in the destination country (including name, address, and degree of kinship), references and passport information. In addition to the information about the applicant, the questionnaires contain information about any dependents, including degree of relationship, name, places of birth, dates of birth and occupation. In some cases, the questionnaires also provide information about the applicant's parents. These "emigration sheets" form one of the most informative collections of personal data on Austrian Jews from the years 1938/39. The forms are often supplemented by additional documents, including letters, affidavits, official papers and correspondence, as well as stamps and hand-written notes, that were added as part of the file processing. The forms were not used only for acquiring the possibility to flee from Vienna, and the information contained in the questionnaires was used later by the National Socialists for the systematic expulsion, expropriation, and subsequent deportation of Jews in Austria. More than 80 years later, this magnificent dataset of emigration files has a third destination, enabling our generation to trace back family history. The emigration papers are part of the extensive communal archive of the Viennese Jewish Community, which is part of the holdings of the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP) in Jerusalem. Imaging of this project was completed in partnership with the National Library of Israel.

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Leo BretholzMother: Dora Brettholz

Leo Bretholz was a Holocaust survivor who, in 1942, escaped from a train heading for Auschwitz. He has also written a book on his experiences, titled Leap into Darkness.