The Board of the Vienna Jewish Community declared today that 550,000 Reichsmarks, equivalent to 800,000 schillings, must be collected immediately if the community’s offices are to be reopened and its activities resumed.
In a letter sent to all members paying community taxes of more than fifty schillings annually, the board requested the members to contribute voluntarily fifty per cent of their annual tax for the purpose.
The tax is receivable from about 20,000 Jews whose names were taken from the records of the community’s tax office, which the Gestapo permitted to be opened temporarily for the purpose. The letter carefully avoids mentioning the specific purpose for which the money is required.
“At this most serious hour, for the first time since the profound change which has overcome our living conditions, the board of the community asks all members to contribute for the benefit of the community the amount of 550,000 Reichsmarks, at least,” the latter states.
“It is only possible to get the sum if all taxpayers are ready voluntarily to pay fifty per cent of the usual annual sum payable by them. We know it is a heavy sacrifice we are asking, but it must be done if the community, which is the only place of gathering for the Jewish people here, is to be put into a position to resume its activities to meet the heavy duties facing it, especially charity work.
“Never was the community more important to any of its members than now. Each member may be assured that only the most serious and unavoidable reasons have compelled the board to make this request, and that the fulfillment of the request is going to influence the destiny of the community and all its members.”
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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.
