Members

Association Board

The honorary board of the association is composed of the following persons:

  • Gerbert Frodl (Board of Directors for the exhibition)
  • Günther W. Havranek (Chairman)
  • Karl Javurek (Chief Marketing Officer)
  • Jennifer Kickert (Deputy Chairwoman), Spokeswoman Association
  • Ariel Muzicant (Deputy Chairman)
  • Elie Rosen (Board of Religious Affairs)
  • Andrea Schellner (Treasurer)
  • Susanne Schober-Bendixen (Secretary)

Scientific advisory board

The following persons belong to the honorary scientific advisory board:

  • Matti Bunzl (Vienna Museum)
  • Klaus Davidowicz (Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Vienna)
  • Annemarie Fenzl (Austrian historian and archivist)
  • Georg Gaugusch (employee of the Heraldic-Genealogical Society “Adler” in Vienna)
  • Schlomo Hofmeister(Community Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Vienna.)
  • Karl Schütz (Project Staff Picture Gallery of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna)

Auditor

  • Hans Hammerschmied – Certified Public Accountant
  • Frederick duke

Cemetery

Cemetery

History of the Jewish cemetery

The Jewish cemetery in Währing was established in 1784 on the basis of the sanitary regulations issued by Joseph II. For hygienic reasons, all of Vienna’s cemeteries that were within the then existing city walls had to be closed. Instead of the old local cemeteries, which had often been located around parish churches, new cemeteries were established outside the city walls. This measure also affected the Jewish community, which maintained a cemetery in Seegasse (Roßau). This Jewish cemetery Roßau was also closed. Therefore, in 1784, the Jewish community acquired a two-hectare plot of land next to the already established Währing General Cemetery and opened the new Jewish cemetery there, separated by a wall, in the same year. If the cemetery originally consisted only of the part to the west of the entrance, it was extended three times by the purchase of land to the west, east and north.

Until 1879, it served as the official burial place of all Jews who died in the imperial capital and royal residence of Vienna – presumably up to about 30,000 people in total, whereby not only members of the Jewish faith living in Vienna were buried there, but also those who died in Vienna while passing through.

One third of the grave sites were originally provided with gravestones. Of the 30,000 people buried here, only those have been researched and documented whose grave sites still had their own intact, identifiable gravestone at the time of the cemetery’s closure, a total of 8,969 people.

With the completion of the Israelite section at the Vienna Central Cemetery in 1879, the Währing Jewish Cemetery was officially closed.

Isolated burials in the family burial grounds continued until the late 1880s. In 1898 the last documented occupation of an already existing family grave took place. After that, no more burials took place in the cemetery.

The neighboring Währing Christian Local Cemetery was dissolved in the 1920s and transformed into Währing Park. The Jewish area remained because of the Jewish religious laws. According to halacha, a Jewish grave belongs exclusively to the buried person and must remain in place for eternity. The Jewish community is therefore obligated to maintain its cemeteries and all gravesites perpetually. The site was only carefully transformed into a “park-like” form by the Jewish Community itself. Around 1900, an avenue of linden trees was planted in the middle of the cemetery, which was no longer in use.

During the Nazi period, the cemetery was expropriated from the IKG. Well over two thousand graves were destroyed during excavation work for an air raid shelter. In the name of National Socialist “racial studies”, the bones of entire families were also exhumed (about 400 people) and taken to the Natural History Museum in Vienna, where they remained in communal graves near Gate 4 of the Central Cemetery until their partial reburial in 1947.

After the Second World War the cemetery was after tough negotiations restituted to the newly constituted IKG Vienna. However, the IKG had to hand over the destroyed part of the cemetery to the municipality of Vienna, which subsequently rezoned the property, originally dedicated as grassland, to building land. Afterwards, the “Arthur-Schnitzler-Hof”, which still exists today, was built on this property.

Several hundred graves got through the then newly built and still existing wall outside the actual cemetery on the parking area of the Arthur Schnitzler-Hof.

Since the religious community could not afford to maintain it after the end of the war, the cemetery began to deteriorate rapidly. Although the Republic of Austria committed itself in 2001 in the Washington Agreement to provide financial support for the preservation and restoration of the Jewish cemeteries, the money is far from sufficient or is used for other Jewish cemeteries. A large part of the payments made so far by the Republic of Austria to the IKG for the maintenance of the Jewish cemeteries were and are used for the maintenance of the two Israelite sections at the Vienna Central Cemetery and therefore hardly any funds are available for the maintenance of the Jewish Cemetery Währing. 

Outline map cemetery

The temporal occupancy of the cemeteries developed as follows:

Volunteer

Participation in volunteer work

During the work you will get the opportunity to experience the culturally and historically unique area from a completely different perspective: you will become active in gardening and remove plant growth and foliage around the gravestones with various gardening tools. Gloves, scissors, rakes, and wheelbarrows are available for use. However, if you have gardening gloves or tools such as pruners or rakes, please take them with you.

The next dates for 2025 are:

  • March 09th
  • April 06th
  • May 11th
  • June 08th
  • July 13th
  • August 10th
  • September 14th
  • October 19th

10:00-16:00 each day.

Registration is not required.

Please note:

– Entering the area is at your own risk and we ask you to confirm this on site (disclaimer).
– Men are requested to wear headgear.
– Please wear sturdy shoes and clothes suitable for the work (the undergrowth also consists of nettles or thorny brambles).
– In the event of strong winds or severe weather, we must – depending on the respective situation on site – stop work for safety reasons10

Supporters

Supporters

How can I support the project?

Perhaps you have been on a tour of the cemetery, and now you recognise the catastrophic state of the grounds and monuments? Almost all the relatives of those interred in the cemetery either perished in the Holocaust or have long since emigrated abroad, and there is no-one left to take care of the graves. The Jewish Community has a limited budget, and so is only able to make a modest contribution to the preservation effort.

We are asking you to help us! You may choose one of the following options:

Taking part in volunteer days:

Volunteer days give you the opportunity to experience this unique cultural and historical site from a completely new perspective. You will be able to use a variety of gardening tools to clear the vegetation currently overgrowing the gravestones and site. Gloves, shears, rakes and wheelbarrows are provided.

Upcoming volunteer days:

The current dates can be found here.

(From March to October, volunteer days will be held on the same days as the guided tours; the season ends on 1 November, and work resumes in March).

If you happen to have any gardening gloves or other equipment of your own, please bring these along.

Please note:

• All visitors enter the site at their own risk, and you will be asked to confirm this on arrival (declaration of liability).
• Men are requested to wear a head covering while on the premises.
• Please wear sturdy footwear and suitable working clothes (the undergrowth contains extremely thorny blackberry thickets).
• We may stop work in the event of strong wind or severe weather conditions, depending on the situation and safety considerations.

Making a donation:

We invite you to support the association with a donation. 100% of funds received will be used to renovate the cemetery and restore its gravestones.

From now on there is the possibility of tax deductibility for donations. to our association. In order to take advantage of this tax benefit, please transfer the donation as follows:

BAWAG-PSK /Bundesdenkmalamt 1010 Wien
IBAN: AT07 0100 0000 0503 1050
Aktionscode: A283, first name, last name, date of birth (please enter in the purpose field) (bitte im Feld Verwendungszweck eintragen)
BIC: BUNDATWW (nur bei Auslandsüberweisung)

The Federal Monuments Office manages our donations without any deductions!

Donations of EUR 500 or more are welcome to be earmarked. You are also welcome to sponsor the renovation of a grave monument in memory of a long-dead ancestor or as an expression of cultural responsibility.

We would be happy to win you as a supporter.
To receive regular updates on the association’s activities and see how your donation has helped, please sign up for our newsletter using the form below or by providing your contact information to one of our team when visiting the cemetery.

Newsletter registration

About Us

About us

Goal

The “Save the Jewish Cemetery in Währing” association was founded in 2017 with the goal of making the culturally and historically significant Jewish Cemetery in Währing once again accessible to the public. The cemetery is a unique record of our city’s past – testimony of a time when Jews and non-Jews lived successfully side by side.

As a burial site for all members of the newly established Jewish Community Vienna at the time, the Jewish Cemetery in Währing reflects a section of the population that contributed heavily to the industrial revolution, significantly influenced the culture of Vienna’s Ringstrasse and the development of a modern society, supported the creation of the city’s social infrastructure and made significant contributions to the arts and sciences. The Jewish Cemetery in Währing is an enduring record of a period in which Jews and non-Jews lived successfully side by side.

Today, the 7,000 or so members of the Jewish Community Vienna are no longer able to maintain the cemetery, in which about 30,000 people were buried between 1784 and 1879.

All measures to clean up the gravestones and restore the cemetery grounds to a more accessible state will be undertaken in close consultation with the Austrian Federal Monuments Office and the Jewish Community Vienna. An academic advisory committee has been established, comprising historians, archaeologists, the Federal Monuments Office and representatives of the Jewish Community. This committee ensures that all planned restoration works take into account the requirements of Halakhah, or Jewish religious law, as well as scientific and other factors relevant to the preservation of historic monuments.

The Nazis, war, weather and many decades of neglect have taken a toll. Now, after years of struggle, a group of concerned people have formed a coalition to save the cemetery. It is our cultural responsibility to preserve this historic treasure for posterity. The Austrian Republic and the City of Vienna are taking an active part. The “Save the Jewish Cemetery in Währing” association is committed to raising the remaining funds needed. We are all working together to put this plan into action.

Proponents

Proponents

An essential part of the association’s work is the search for proponents who support the association with their expertise, their network or financially. They come from business, culture, art, religion and politics.
Proponents: Johannes Abensberger, Renate Anderl, Dr. Hannes Androsch, Univ.Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Aulitzky, Dr. Harry Bergmann, Mag. Sandra Berkson, Dr. Brigitte Bierlein, Mag. Eva Blimlinger, Wolfgang Böck, Mag. Martin Böhm, Univ.Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Brandstetter, -Timna Brauer, Dkfm. Michael Brooks, Dr. Emil Brix, Prof. Dr. Michael Bünker, Shlomit Butbul, Dr. Herbert Cordt, Oskar Deutsch, Dr. Christoph Dichand, Mag. Georg Doppelhofer, Mercedes Echerer, Klaus Edelhauser, Mag. Karoline Edtstadler, Erhard Ernst, Werner Faymann, Dr. Annemarie Fenzl, Dr. Günter Geyer, Roman Grinberg, Dr. Heimo Hackl, KommRat Peter Hanke, Dr. Michael Häupl, Miguel Herz-Kestranek, Klaus Herrmann, Ing. Wolfgang Hesoun, Oliver Hirschbiegel, Prof. Dr. Josef Höchtl, Dr. Wolfgang Hofer, Univ.Prof. Dr. Clemens Jabloner, Wolfgang Jansky, Mag. Maria Jelenko-Benedikt, Dr. Friedrich Jergtisch, UnivProf. Dr. Ulrich Jordis, Patricia Kahane, Josef Kalina, Veronika Kaup-Hasler, Wolfgang Katzian, Norbert Kettner, Ing. Ewald Kirschner, Prof. Dr. Raoul Kneucker, Mag. Thomas Kralinger, Sebastian Kurz, Mag. Werner Kogler, Dr. Herbert Lackner, DDr. Michael Landau, Peter Landesmann, Martin Lechner, Dr. Michael Ludwig, Martina Ludwig-Faymann, Mag. Dr. Harald Mahrer, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, Dr. Ralph Müller, Mag. Harald Neumann, Beatrix Neundlinger, Rainer Nowak, Univ.Prof. Dr. Edwald Nowotny, Dr. Christian Nusser, Cornelius Obonya, Dr. Josef Ostermayer, Mag. Hermann Petz, Caroline Pienkos, DDr. Horst Pirker, DI Josef Pröll, Dr. Johanna Rachinger, Christian Rainer, Dr. Claus Raidl, UnivProf. Mag. DDr. Oliver Rathkolb, Dr. Pamela Rendi-Wagner, Mag. Marie Ringler, Dr. Walter Rothensteiner, DI Walter Ruck, Mag. Andreas Schieder, Mag. Martin Schlaff, Mag. Dr. Heide Schmidt, Richard Schmitt, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, HR Dr. Karl Schütz, Peter Schöber, E. Randol Schoenberg, Dr. Kurt Scholz, Dr. Timothy Smolka, Mag. Wolfgang Sobotka, Dr. Georg Springer, Prof. Elisabeth Stadler, MMag. Oliver Stauber, Dr. Barbara Staudinger, Dr. Dwora Stein, Mag. Dr. Eveline Steinberger-Kern, Kardinal Dr. Christoph Schönborn, Alois Steinbichler, Erwin Steinhauer, Katharina Stemberger, DI Friedrich Stickler, Mag. Terezija Stojsits, Ing. Karl-Hein Strauss, Sissy und Max Strauss, Ing. Karl-Heinz Strauss, Karin Strobl, Dr. Hannes Sulzenbacher, Dr. Josef Taus, Dr. Paul Tesarek, Dr. Andreas Treichl, Armin Thurnher, Univ.Prof. Dr. Alexander Van der Bellen, Dr. Franz Vranitzky, Dr. Anton Wais, Mag. Stefan Wallner, Christiane Wenkheim, Dr. Alexander Wrabetz, DI Wolfgang Zehetner.