as a source for the social history of the Jewish population of Vienna 1784-1874

An extensive database was established between 1992-1998 as result of a research project of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. The database contains 8.600 entries giving details about names, origin, address, occupation, dates of birth and death, cause of death and number of the graves of those Jews who were buried at the Jewish cemetery in Währing. The epitaphs were analysed in cooperation with the Bar Ilan University Tel Aviv by Shlomo Spitzer and his team.

The Jewish cemetery in Waehring (Schrottenbachgasse, 18th district of Vienna) was established under the reform legislation of Joseph II after the old Jewish cemetery in Seegasse had been closed in 1784. For reasons of hygiene it had been decided that burials should take place henceforth outside the city walls. This cemetery was used by the Jewish community of Vienna until 1874.
It was closed when the municipal Central Cemetery, which contains a section for the Jewish community, was founded. The Waehring cemetery originally had around 9,500 graves, of which 7,000 remain today. Part of the cemetery was destroyed during the Nazi era to make way for a fire-fighting reservoir.
The Waehring cemetery is regarded as a counterpart to the Biedermeier cemetery in St. Marx (where Mozart was originally buried) and is an important monument in the social history of Vienna. The gravestones are of historical and architectural significance.

Information: Martha Keil

The persons burried at the Jewish Cemetery Waehring can be found on the online database cemeteries, database query of cemeteries).

This project was financed by the Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture!

Publications:

Martha Keil (Hg.), Daniel Kaldori (Fotos)
Von Baronen und Branntweinern. Ein jüdischer Friedhof erzählt
Wien 2007, 112 Seiten, 20 x 27 cm, 24.90 Euro/38.00 Chf
ISBN 978385476-131-0.

Martha Keil: "... enterdigt aus dem Währinger Friedhof". Der jüdische Friedhof in Wien-Währing während des Nationalsozialismus. In: Studien zur Wiener Geschichte. Jahrbuch des Vereins für Geschichte der Stadt Wien 61 (2005) S. 7-20.

Dies., Von Baronen und Branntweinern. Der Währinger jüdische Friedhof. In: Martha Keil, Elke Forisch, Ernst Scheiber, Denkmale - Jüdische Friedhöfe in Wien, Niederösterreich und Burgenland. Hrsg. von Club Niederösterreich, Institut f. Geschichte der Juden in Österreich, Wien 2006, S. 54-59. Der Beitrag ist online abrufbar. Dort finden Sie auch Informationen zu Führungen und Schulprojekten.

EDUCULT. Institut für die Vermittlung von Kunst und Wissenschaft bietet als neueste Publikation den Bildband "Währinger jüdischer Friedhof - Vom Vergessen überwachsen" an. Außerdem wurde für 2008 ein interkonfessioneller Fotokalender zum Währinger jüdischen Friedhof herausgegeben. Bestellungen sind unter office@educult.at möglich.