Emigration of Jews at the rate of nearly 500 weekly, continued economic pressure against those remaining and an upswing in suicides among professionals was the picture of Austrian Jewish life under the Nazi regime that unfolded itself today to a special correspondent.
The rate of emigration has been maintained during the last six weeks, according to estimates in informed circles. It is understood that the newly opened Jewish Community offices alone have aided in the emigration of more than 200 persons in the past fortnight.
This exodus, to all parts of Europe, Palestine, the United States and South America, represents only a fraction of the number of Austrian Jews seeking flight. At least 50,000 applications have been filed with the Community’s new emigration department since its establishment two weeks ago. About 9,000 persons have registered with the Palestine Office, seeking entry certificates to the Holy Land. The American Consulate is besieged daily by an average of 500 visa seekers. The office is so rushed that persons with affidavits from American relatives must wait a fortnight before they are examined.
The Jewish Community offices are swamped by several thousand visitors daily seeking advice and financial aid. Lack of funds and the general uncertainty concerning the position and requirements are preventing establishment of a regular budget. A Community spokesman declared: “All we can do is meet urgent demands as they arise. Thus one person may receive a few marks for medicine for a sick child, another a few hundred marks to buy transportation to emigrate.
The Community’s tax office has issued its second appeal within a month to members to pay their arrears and their assessments for the current year in advance. The Community is feeding about 10,000 persons daily, through a dozen soup kitchens throughout the city; but twice the number of kitchens is required. There is also a need for kitchens to feed the middle class. It is admitted that the Community is groping in the dark as far as its work is concerned, because of lack of funds and also the rapidity with which Jewish life has been transformed.
While Vienna streets are quieter than at any time since Anschluss, stringent economic pressure continues against the Jews. “Aryanization” of the food markets progresses steadily. Commissars have been appointed in most shops which have not yet been taken over by “Aryan” interests.
Nazi “Aryanization” committees, charged with all sales of Jewish establishments, continue their task of promoting transfers, sometimes with a degree of fairness, often virtually in one case, a committee demanded that a Jewish-owned sanitarium worth several hundred thousand schillings be sold for 5,000. The owner refused and when ordered to get out, he went upstairs and committed suicide.
Most Jewish war veterans have lost their tobacco concessions. The Styrian Government has ordered Jews to move from Government owned dwellings.
Meanwhile, an upswing in suicides among professionals has been noted in the last fortnight. These include attorneys Morris Sternberg and Rudolf Furth, together with their wives; Dr. Rudolf Beer, former director of the Scala Theatre; Wolf Hausmann, former psychology professor at Vienna University; Peter Karanda, former editor of the Telegraf, together with his mother; Fritz Winkler, a prominent business man; and Maximilian Stiegler, 69, formerly a member of the Jewish Community’s executive board, together with his wife. It was learned also that Will Kurz, sportsman and boxer, has died at the Dachau concentration camp. He is the third Jew to die there.
Recent developments indicate clearly that the anti-Semitic measures in effect in the German provinces will be adopted throughout the smaller Austrian towns, many of which now ban Jewish traders from the markets and forbid Jews to use the public baths and other municipal facilities. There is no question but that in a short time every Austrian spa will be forbidden to Jews.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
