With this issue of Jewish News from Austria, we are happy to provide you with a broad selection of articles which have appeared in the Austrian media in the course of the last five months.

Last month the Jewish Community Vienna held its elections, resulting in the re-election of current IKG President, Ariel Muzicant, and his "Atid" party.  We bring articles on the elections and other news related to the Jewish Community Vienna. Other topics include recent cultural events, restitution-related questions and Federal Chancellor Gusenbauer's visit to Israel in September.

With my best wishes for a prosperous New Year,

Yours sincerely,


Wolfgang Renezeder
Director of the Press & Information Service
Embassy of Austria




1.    Recent Events and Cultural News
•    Muzicant Wins the Elections Without a New Opposition (Die Presse 12/10/2007)
•    Keyword: Jewish Community Vienna (Austrian Press Agency (APA) 11/19/2007)
•    “Jewish Community to Double in Size” (Die Presse 11/06/2007)
•    Foundation Stone Is Laid for the IKG’S Maimonides Center (Austrian Press Agency 11/05/07)
•    “Linz09” to Include an International Conference in Castle Hartheim (Austrian Press Agency 11/30/2007)
•    New Commemorative Plaque at Mauthausen’s Railway Station In Remembrance of NS Victims (Austrian Press Agency 11/20/2007)
•    “Simon, Darling, Take Good Care of Yourself” (Profil 08/06/2007)
•    Swedish Queen Silvia Opens an Exhibition On Josef Frank (Austrian Press Agency 11/22/2007)
•    Between Hammer and Anvil (Profil 10/22/2007)
•    Witnesses Against Forgetting (Der Standard 8/11/2007)
•    An Impressive Opening of the Korngold Exhibition (APA 11/28/2007)

2.    Awards/Publications
•    Brandsteidl Confers the Fred Schneider Award (Austrian Press Agency 8/31/2007)
•    Presentation of a New Book “1938: Address Servitengasse” (OTS 12/04/2007)

3.    Restitution
•    City of Krems Restituted Two Paintings (Austrian Press Agency 10/10/2007)
•    Gold and Silver (Profil 9/03/2007)

4.    Austrian – Israeli Relations
•    Chancellor Gusenbaur Paid Visit to Israel and Palestinian Regions (Austrian Federal Chancellery 09/17/2007)
•    Gusenbauer Honored by Israeli Private University (Austrian Press Agency 09/07/2007)
•    Israel and Upper Austria plan culture and science transfer (Austrian Federal Chancellery 12/03/2007)

Jewish Community Vienna. Ariel Muzicant will become once more President following the elections despite a loss of mandate and a new party.

Click to read more ...

Political and religious representation of Vienna’s Jews – Currently about 7,000 members – President is elected every five years

Click to read more ...

Interview. Ariel Muzicant makes a bid for re-election as President of the Jewish Community Vienna on November 25. He is expanding infrastructure to accommodate up to 20,000 members. Currently, membership is at 7,500.

Click to read more ...

Elderly and nursing home is being erected next to the Hakoah recreation area

Click to read more ...

Foundation’s financial coverage is quite substantial

Click to read more ...

Names are engraved into fifty-one pieces of railroad tracks

Click to read more ...

Simon Wiesenthal’s office, two years after his death: The furnishings of his room were brought to Los Angeles; his archive conceals many unknown items which until now no one was aware of.

Click to read more ...

Vienna – Queen Silvia of Sweden and the wife of Austrian Federal President, Margit Fischer, opened Wednesday the exhibition, “Josef Frank - Architect and Outsider,” in the presence of Vienna’s Regional Parliamentary President Johann Hatzl, Deputy Mayor Renate Brauner, President of the Vienna Jewish Community Ariel Muzicant, Vienna Holding Director Peter Hanke and numerous other guests of honor at the Museum Judenplatz.

Click to read more ...

For thirty-two years Shoah regisseur Claude Lanzmann kept film material on Vienna’s NS history under lock and key. Profil held the only extensive interview with the regisseur about it.

Click to read more ...

In commemoration of Ernest Dichter and the history of the Dichter family legacy, a group of Viennese artists spontaneously organized in October an event, entitled “Dichter Herbst,” as a gesture in honor of the family and as a contribution on the part of Austria to come to terms with its past.

Click to read more ...

Students trying to come to terms with the Holocaust: For the sixth time “A Letter to the Stars”

Click to read more ...

Vienna – “With this exhibition, my grandfather returned once again to Vienna,” explained Kathrin Korngold-Hubbard, the granddaughter of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, obviously touched in her speech at the opening of the exhibiton, “The Korngolds.

Click to read more ...

Vienna – “It is of utmost significance that Vienna’s pupils are so deeply involved with contemporary history because one thing is clear: Only by confronting our own history can one establish a basis which will prevent the terrible events of the past from again being repeated.

Click to read more ...

Vienna –A book entitled, “1938: Address Servitengasse (A Neighborhood in Search of Traces)” was introduced during a presentation given at the Sigmund Freud Museum located in the Berggasse 19 in Vienna. Head of the 9th district, Martina Malyar, was present at the book presentation. The publication focuses on efforts made by a citizen initiative which is involved with the fate of expelled Jewish residents once having lived in the Servitengasse and wants to keep the memory of the victims of National Socialism alive. The event is open to the public at no charge.

Click to read more ...

The paintings were returned to the heirs of the former owner living in the U.S. – They will be restored before being sent overseas.

Click to read more ...

Hundreds, thousands stood in a long line, just as they did in front of foreign embassies waiting for visas to enter countries taking in refugees. Much like the harassment they witnessed standing before the “Central Office for Jewish Emigration” established by Adolf Eichmann when waiting to leave the country, Austrian Jews queued up before the Dorotheum in Vienna on an indiscriminately-set date in March 1939:

Click to read more ...

The real value of the Jewish precious stones and precious metals “purchased” by the Dorotheum in 1939 cannot be given a number.

Click to read more ...

Israel was the first stop on a the three-day Middle East trip of Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer. On September 2, 2007 he paid a visit to the City Hall in Tel Aviv, where Prime Minister Ytzhak Rabin was assassinated in November 1995. Gusenbauer laid a wreath at his memorial in the presence of the Mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, as well as Rabin’s children.

Click to read more ...

Tel Aviv – Federal Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer was accepted as “Honorary Member” on Sunday into the Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya, a renowned Israeli private university. Gusenbauer, dressed in hat and gown, emphasized in his speech Austria’s moral responsibility for the crimes committed against the Jews.

Click to read more ...