A mass meeting of 600 Jews today protested the anti-Semitic riot which broke out here Sunday during a soccer match between the Hakoah and Police Association teams.
David Brill, president the Vienna Jewish community council, asserted that if such anti-Semitic excesses could occur while Allied troops were still in Vienna, the situation would become more explosive when the Allies withdrew. He charged that the Austrian Government was responsible for conditions in this city, because it has failed to take any measures to curb anti-Jewish activities, and has taken no steps to restore confiscated property to Jews.
Brill said that Chancellor Leopold Figl’s recent statement that all expropriated property would be returned to Jews was “merely pretty words.” Great numbers of Nazis, he continued, still hold public posts.
The newspaper “New Austria,” which is known to have close ties with President Karl Renner, yesterday broke its silence on the Jewish issue, and charged that the press was ignoring the problem of the surviving Jews. “Without the destruction of anti-Semitism, a healthy living together of Jews and non-Jews is impossible,” it said. Pointing to the assistance extended to Jews by the Catholic Church in other countries, it urged the Austrian clergy to attempt to bring about an understanding between Jews and non-Jews.
Recalling that 60,000 dwellings were seized from Jews during the Nazi rule, the paper confirmed that even the 1,600 houses required by the few thousand survivors have not been made available to them. Among Jews now living in public asylums, it added, are many whose homes are being occupied by former Nazis.
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.
