Jewish cemeteries

For many decades after the expulsion of the Jewish communities and the murder of their members, the Jewish cemeteries in Austria were left to fall to ruin. It is only in places where Jewish communities were re-established after 1945 that the cemeteries are still used today – all others are closed.

Starting in 2001, systematic records were made of all of the Jewish cemeteries in Austria. The Jewish Community Vienna commissioned the historian Tina Walzer to catalogue the cemeteries in a "White paper on the condition of the Jewish cemeteries in Austria and necessary renovation work", which was updated in 2008.

Additionally, during the last ten years the Federal Office for the Protection of Monuments has made a record of the cemeteries and examined whether they are worthy of being heritage sites. The Sec. 2a-Ordinance of the Federal Office for the Protection of Monuments (which does not, however, list cemeteries which are privately owned) lists 61 cemeteries.

The cemeteries contain between 10 and several hundred graves, the headstones date from the 15th century into the 20th century.

Sources/Literature

The descriptions of the Jewish cemeteries in found under "Restoration" are based on:

  • Kulturabteilung der Steiermärkischen Landesregierung, Centrum für Jüdische Studien der Universität Graz (Ed.): Jüdische Friedhöfe in Österreich – Aspekte der Erhaltung. Dokumentation einer Expertenkonferenz. Graz 2010. [Link: http://permalink.obvsg.at/AC08179600]
  • Walzer, Tina (im Auftrag der IKG Wien): Weißbuch über Pflegezustand und Sanierungserfordernisse der jüdischen Friedhöfe in Österreich. Wien 2002 und 2008. [Link: http://permalink.obvsg.at/AC08202669]
  • Verein "Shalom" (Ed.): Wegweiser für Besucher der jüdischen Friedhöfe und Gedenkstätten in Wien, Niederösterreich, Burgenland, Steiermark und Kärnten. Wien 2000. [Link: http://permalink.obvsg.at/AC04793252]