The Federation of Jewish Front Soldiers in Austria held a memorial parade attended by more than 5,000 Jewish war veterans wearing their medals, to the Jewish cemetery, beside the graves of the Jewish war-dead. Major General Klepsch, who represented the War Office, took the salute.
Major General Sommer, the president of the Federation of Jewish Ex-Soldiers, in addressing the parade, said:
“They who sleep their last sleep here have the right to assume that by their equality in death their coreligionists who were left behind would be secured in their equality of treatment, and not subjected to race hatred and persecution. It must not be that they shall have died in vain. We their comrades, who stood with them in the field, will never permit that. We stand here to remind our fellow-citizens what they owe these dead.”
While General Sommer was speaking, an aeroplane flying overhead dropped a laurel wreath on the graves of the Jewish war-dead.
The president of the Vienna Jewish Community, Dr. Desider Friedmann, said:
“They stood shoulder to shoulder in the ranks with the sons of the other peoples who rallied round Austria’s banner. The bullets and the shells did not ask their religion or their race. There glory is no greater than that of their comrades who were not Jews, but it is no less. And that must not be forgotten, particularly at this time of storm #nd stress, when the memories of #hose days of comradeship are being #pushed into the background. The declaration made by the Government that it will uphold equality of rights and treatment of all citizens is a matter of great satisfaction to us.”
Many staff officers attended the parade. A guard of honor represented the Austrian army headquarters, and there were companies from each of the Vienna regiments.
Messages of greeting were received from the President of the Republic, Dr. Miklas, from the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Innitzer, and from several members of the Cabinet, including the ex-Chancellor, Dr. Buresch, and the Minister of Defense, Major Fey.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
