Collection GB 1556 WL 1254 - Jewish Cultural Community, Vienna: Papers

Identity area

Reference code

GB 1556 WL 1254

Title

Jewish Cultural Community, Vienna: Papers

Date(s)

  • 1939-1942 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent and medium

1 file

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

The offices of the Jewish Community in Vienna were re-opened having been closed down in the immediate afermath of the German takeover of Austria (1938). The newly restored community organisation devoted a large part of its resources towards planning emigration and social welfare. It also became involved in vocational training. The Jewish Community in Vienna was disbanded on 1 November 1942 and replaced by a council of elders for the Jews of Vienna. The remaining assets of 6.5 million marks were transferred to Prague to be used to finance the Theresienstadt Ghetto. The central office for Jewish emigration was closed down and responsibility for deportations was transferred to a branch of the SS.

Repository

Archival history

The papers were in the possession of Berta 'Sara' Brand, a former employee of the organisation. Her nephew, the depositor, discovered them amongst her possessions after her death in Vienna in 1982.

GB 1556 WL 1254 1939-1942 collection 1 file Jewish Cultural Community, Vienna

The offices of the Jewish Community in Vienna were re-opened having been closed down in the immediate afermath of the German takeover of Austria (1938). The newly restored community organisation devoted a large part of its resources towards planning emigration and social welfare. It also became involved in vocational training. The Jewish Community in Vienna was disbanded on 1 November 1942 and replaced by a council of elders for the Jews of Vienna. The remaining assets of 6.5 million marks were transferred to Prague to be used to finance the Theresienstadt Ghetto. The central office for Jewish emigration was closed down and responsibility for deportations was transferred to a branch of the SS.

The papers were in the possession of Berta 'Sara' Brand, a former employee of the organisation. Her nephew, the depositor, discovered them amongst her possessions after her death in Vienna in 1982.

Siegfried Weizmann

Correspondence and papers of the head office of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde, Wien (IKW) (Jewish Cultural Community, Vienna), 1939-1942, including correspondence and statements from the housing and emigration departments of the IKW, which provide biographical details of Jews who have suffered persecution under the Nazis and have subsequently fallen on hard times; copies of letters sent from the head office of the IKW to various municipal authorities and the police regarding treatment of individual Jews; report (author unknown) entitled 'Zwölf Fragen über die Auswanderung aus Wien, 1 Januar bis 30 April 1940', in which many aspects of the Jewish emigration from Vienna are discussed; an original Jewish tram pass issued to Berta Brand and 2 pieces of 'Jude' badges (housed in the Wiener Library 'Special Collections').

Chronological

Open

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

German

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.

Entry compiled by Howard Falksohn.

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

February 2008 Austria Emigration Europe Human rights violations Jews Migration Nazism Political doctrines Religious groups Third Reich Totalitarianism Vienna Western Europe

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Siegfried Weizmann

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Correspondence and papers of the head office of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde, Wien (IKW) (Jewish Cultural Community, Vienna), 1939-1942, including correspondence and statements from the housing and emigration departments of the IKW, which provide biographical details of Jews who have suffered persecution under the Nazis and have subsequently fallen on hard times; copies of letters sent from the head office of the IKW to various municipal authorities and the police regarding treatment of individual Jews; report (author unknown) entitled 'Zwölf Fragen über die Auswanderung aus Wien, 1 Januar bis 30 April 1940', in which many aspects of the Jewish emigration from Vienna are discussed; an original Jewish tram pass issued to Berta Brand and 2 pieces of 'Jude' badges (housed in the Wiener Library 'Special Collections').

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Chronological

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies can be made for personal use. Permission must be sought for publication.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

German

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Description exists to this archive on the Wiener Library's online catalogue www.wienerlibrary.co.uk.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Wiener Library

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

    Sources

    Accession area