Jewish Life in Vienna

There is evidence that Jews lived in Vienna beginning around the end of the 12th century. 

It's possible to walk in the footsteps of Viennese Jews in the Middle Ages by visiting an area now called the Judenplatz, literally meaning “Jewish Square.” In the heart of Vienna’s first district, this was the center of Jewish life at the time. Today, the site is home to the Shoah memorial and the Judenplatz museum, a division of the Jewish museum.

Leopoldstadt, Vienna’s second district, has been the historic center of Jewish life in the city since 1624, when Ferdinand II sanctioned the creation of a Jewish ghetto. In 1670, Leopold I expelled the Jewish community and as a “thanksgiving” for the expulsion, the residents renamed the area Leopoldstadt (“Leopold’s city”), after the emperor. Jews were permitted to return to Vienna by the eighteenth century and settled back in Leopoldstadt, building prominent synagogues and Jewish institutions. 

In 1938, following the Nazi takeover of Austria, the Jewish community was once again restricted to Leopoldstadt, and it was here that mass deportation centers were located. The Jewish community was nearly wiped out during the Holocaust, and only one synagogue, the Vienna City Temple, escaped the destruction of the Kristallnacht pogrom.

In recent years, a small Jewish community has grown and Jewish life in Vienna has been revived. Leopoldstadt became Brooklyn’s official “twin city” in 2007.

The community is centered around the Vienna City Temple in Leopoldstadt, which is open to visitors for guided tours. In the area, you can also visit Hamakom Jewish Theater, pass by the memorial for the Leopoldstadter Tempel, the largest synagogue in Vienna prior to the Holocaust, and learn about the Sephardic Jewish community of Vienna. 

Most of the city’s kosher restaurants and bakeries are also located here.