The reaction of the Christian population of Vienna to the Aktion of the 10th November varied. Intellectuals did not take part, but could only express their disgust at the events by ostentatiously turning away. There were numerous cases in which Jews found refuge from the persecution that – one can say with certainty – threatened all Jews from the ages of 20 to 60, with Aryans. The mob, in particular youths of 16 or 17, took part enthusiastically.
The following incident, which took place during the house search of the home of a Jewish businessman, a 55-year-old father of two children, Vienna II., Taborstraße, underlines the assertion above that all Jews in the age ranges mentioned were meant to be arrested. This house search took place there on the afternoon of the 10th November, and the occupier was asked where he had spent the morning. When he replied “In my shop”, the search leaders exclaimed in surprise “And weren’t you picked up there?” When the search - in which the family’s silver was the main object - was over the businessman was taken away to an air raid shelter at the “Am Tabor” [inn] in his neighbourhood. The cellar was packed full of prisoners and a Hitler-Jungen stationed at the door slammed it closed behind him with the words “Choke, Saujuden!“.
As evidence of the callous behaviour which went on during the “house searches” I have heard meanwhile from a family member who has arrived here a further detail about what happened at the home of my father-in-law, whose prayer things were, as is well known, thrown out of the window into the street and burned. When my father-in-law, a strictly orthodox Jew of 83, horrified by what was happening, timidly asked “What shall I do?” he got the answer: “You? Die!”
When the desperate relatives of the people who had been arrested asked where they were being held they were almost always told that they were in Dachau. It seems that some relatives were told this in the morning, only for the people who had been arrested to come home in the afternoon without having been in Dachau. In Leopoldstadt a story went round, uncontradicted, that a certain Herr S. S., Vienna II., Heinestraße, who was detained only for a few hours because of a lung complaint, went afterwards to ask where he had been held and likewise got the answer ”Dachau”.
Of the way in which so-called Aktionsjuden, that is, those arrested during the Aktion of the 10th November, were treated in Dachau one hears that, in comparison with people arrested earlier, it was halfway acceptable. In the last few days numerous people who had been there have returned to Vienna, among others the Salzburg Rabbi Dr. S. Margulies. On the other hand, the following deaths in Dachau have been reported to me; I have not learned the causes of death: Beermann, fur dealer at Hohen Markt, Vienna I.; Richard Jacobi, owner of a well-known Viennese sewing machine and bicycle shop, Vienna IX., Liechtensteinstr., and Hans Mühlrad, owner of a men’s fashion shop, Vienna II., Praterstr.. The last-named was a very active member of the Reichsbund jüdischer Frontsoldaten and was arrested in July this year.
In Kenyongasse, Vienna VII., the rear part of a convent was used as a Notgefängnis. The cries of the arrested men could be heard around the neighbourhood all day. A prisoner released from there reported that they were not allowed to relieve themselves for three days, and when they could not stand it any more they were dragged to the “W. C.” by the nose and had their faces shoved into the filth.
In the school at Karajangasse, Vienna XX., used as an emergency detention unit since the turmoil, two Jews threw themselves from the window, in one case at the moment when he heard his child calling his name from the yard of the building next door, which offered a view of the school and where relatives of those arrested had therefore been coming. One of these two Jews broke his hand in the fall, and the other was taken away by the rescue association, his injuries are not known. A doctor from Baden bei Wien went mad as a result of the suffering, had a laughing fit and was likewise taken away by the Rettungsgesellschaft. After the window incidents with the two Jews ten detainees were picked in each room and had to watch out that nothing similar happened again; if it were to, the ten “watchers” were threatened with the severest punishments, above all with “Dachau”, though there was also talk of shooting.
The sick had to lie in a draughty corridor even with a 40-degree fever. So far as Exerzierübung [Exerzieren] was concerned Herr X. has been able to report the following from the Karajangasse. The prisoners had to stand to attention in the yard all night. Here too the previously mentioned extremely painful exercise of moving the fingers up and down with arms outstretched was “popular”. Herr X., who possessed a gold signet ring, had it taken away from him with the comment that it would only hinder him in the exercise. Prisoners were often ordered to box each other and even to tear out each other’s hair and beards. Detainees were divided among the rooms according to their ages, in ten-year groups from 20 upwards.
At “dispatch” in the central prison, Elisabethpromenade, Vienna IX., Herr X. could also observe the bullying by the SS-Verfügungstruppe stationed there. E.g. one of the prisoners brought in for “questioning” was ordered to “run”, and when he obeyed this command was beaten for running too quickly. When another person who received this command went more slowly he was beaten as well because he had gone too slowly. When a prisoner, asked whether anyone had opportunities to travel abroad, replied with the information that he possessed boat tickets for January, he was yelled at for having named such a “late” date, taken away by the SS-Verfügungstruppe and not seen again.
A favourite frightener was to take a troop of prisoners off to the Westbahn, the connecting line to Bavaria, hold them there for an hour and a half and tell them that they were now going to be taken to Dachau; after this spell of torture they were put back in detention.
Reporter: Oskar Hirschfeld, London
The principal basis of this report is the account of Egon Trachtenberg, 31, of Vienna II., arrested on 10 November, to an acquaintance who has meanwhile arrived in London. Because Herr Tr. is still in Vienna – he must leave the country by the end of January 1939 and will probably do so illegally – it is very important to be careful about the use of this report. The informant and his acquaintances are thoroughly reliable.
Father-in-law of Herr Hirschfeld: Leopold Loewy, Vienna II., Volkerstr.
Key:
S. S. = Siegfried Sommer
