Addendum to the report about the circumstances of the Vienna Israelitische Kultusgemeinde at the end of December 1938

The figures given in the previous report about the extent of emigration were generally confirmed with minor variations by the reporter. According to his account, the ratio of those Jews who were themselves against leaving Vienna to those who were supported by the Kultusgemeinde in this respect was, until 10th November, 3:1; after this date it was 1:1.

With regard to the relationship between SS-Obergruppenführer Eichmann and Kuchmann, who are responsible for the supervision of the Kultusgemeinde, and the senior men of the Kultusgemeinde, Dr. Josef Löwenherz, Emil Engel and Dr. Benjamin Murmelstein, the writer of the report explained that repeatedly a marked sadism characterises the tasks given by the former to the latter. Therefore they are very fond of setting extremely tight deadlines for extensive pieces of written work. In December alone, as well as the annual report, the submission was demanded of the following pieces of work within a very short period of time: “Die wirtschaftliche und kulturelle Situation der Juden in Österreich vor und nach dem Umbruch“ [The economic and cultural position of the Jews in Austria before and after the turmoil], “Jüdische Bevölkerungsbewegung in Österreich vor und nach dem Umbruch” [Jewish population movement in Austria before and after the turmoil] and “Das jüdische Organisationswesen vor dem Umbruch” [Jewish organisations before the turmoil]. In addition to these large pieces of work supported by statistics and graphs, each week the so-called “weekly report” has to be submitted. With regard to the content of these accounts it is essential to draw them up in a way that is acceptable to those who have ordered the work, but it is attempted by the authors occasionally, even without therefore having had as yet a sense of decency, to cite moments which actually prove the absurdity of the National Socialist Jewish policy. In general, as already communicated in the report, the emphasis must be placed on the extent of the emigration in all pieces of work that are to be submitted to the Gestapo.

The three leaders of the Kultusgemeinde had to undertake not to leave before the emigration of the Jews from the “Ostmark” is complete. All three must, in the event of foreign travel, which they may undertake only in the interests of emigration and the duration of which is precisely stipulated by the authorities, produce hostages in Vienna – amongst whom in particular there are family members. The ‘privileged’ position which Dr. M. enjoys has not prevented him from also being subjected to unpleasantness already on two occasions. On the one occasion he was arrested, in the summer on a Friday evening on the way home from his Tempel (Kluckygasse, XX.), together with a few Vorsteher of the Tempelverein. The reason for this measure was as follows: A Wachbeamter, in a harsh tone of voice, had ordered the Jews who had come from the Tempel not to stop and to go home quickly. To spare themselves this kind of jostling, Dr. M. and his companions hurried away, at which however the Wachbeamter immediately took offence, all the more as Dr. M. had some Hungarian newspapers and the “Jüdische Rundschau” with him. He and the other gentlemen were detained until 11 o'clock in the evening at the nearest guard room, and it took numerous telephone calls, particularly to the Gestapo, to secure his release.

The second incident took place as follows: After 10th November the Kultusgemeinde was given the task of making lists of the “conscripts”’ personal details and financial position as well as their chances of emigration. During the day the officials had to deal with the opening hours to the public, which as a result of the influx of the prisoners' family members assumed huge dimensions, at night most of the officials had to remain in the building in order to handle the correspondence, in particular however to complete the required lists referred to above within a short period of time. Therefore the senior officials of the Kultusgemeinde stayed in the building especially for eleven days, day and night; food was brought to them by young helpers of the Kultusgemeinde who, accompanied by one of the SS men stationed in the building, went to the local grocery shops (they had to be accompanied to ensure that the Jewish lads were not treated politely whilst shopping); in the Kultusgemeinde meeting room folding beds were set up so that the officials could sleep in shifts for at least a few hours; if one of the officials had to do something urgently outside the building he received an Entlassungsschein signed by the commandant of the SS squad assigned to the building that was on duty at this time, which specified exactly the time for which permission to leave the building had been given. The SS squad on duty at this time was no longer the same one that had each day assigned five men since the date of the re-opening of the Kultusgemeinde, with whom gradually an almost pleasant contact had been established on the part of the body of officials of the building. The new gentlemen differed in a very disagreeable way from those previously on duty both concerning their far greater number and also their demeanour; there were also repeatedly thefts of items of office equipment which were apparently attributable to the new SS men. At night time they very much enjoyed “inspections” in the individual departments of the community to check whether the completion of the lists was being worked on there in particular.

During such an inspection Dr. M. was ordered to make a “report” on the progress of the work, and as he did so, that very SS-commandant who had given the order to report back hit him in the face with all his might; however Dr. M. had to continue with his report. A female official of the Kultusgemeinde, Frl. Steuermann, who has strawberry blonde hair, was under suspicion that this hair was dyed – for the purpose of conforming to the Aryan hair colour; her hair was torn out so that in this way its authenticity was established.

Strictly confidential: In the past few days the leadership of the Kultusgemeinde has been asked to submit a plea to the Gestapo for the release of the former president of the Kultusgemeinde, Dr. Desider Friedmann, who is currently under police arrest in Buchenwald. This request, made by the Gestapo itself, seems to guarantee the possibility in the foreseeable future of the release of Dr. F., who has been held under various arrests since 18th March, this all the more as already for many months a certificate for Palestine has been ready for him. In contrast one sees no possibility of Oberbaurat Ing. Robert Stricker and the editor Bruno Heilig getting out of Buchenwald concentration camp, as any releases at all from this camp only take place in very rare cases. In response to interventions on behalf of the two aforementioned men, it was expressly declared that their detention would continue because of the so fiercely anti-National Socialist orientation of the Jewish newspapers that they were responsible for publishing, “Die Neue Welt” and “Die Stimme”. (Oberbaurat Stricker is therefore not, as may have been assumed after the first hearings, being held because of his position in the Steinmann press, where “Der Telegraph” was produced.)

In Jewish Vienna there is general amazement that Oskar Hirschfeld, in spite of his position as editor-in-chief and managing editor of “Die Wahrheit”, was only detained for three months in Vienna and then was released, without having seen Dachau, if one considers that the orientation of his newspaper was no less strong than the newspapers published by his two unfortunate colleagues. The fact is that Hirschfeld's Referent Reg. Rat, Dr. Weinmann from Cologne, was removed by the Vienna Gestapo shortly after the conclusion of Hirschfield's case; it can be assumed that he also showed himself to be as lenient in other cases and was therefore no longer acceptable in this house of brutality.

In addition to the manner of the release referred to in the previous report of the Kultusgemeinde officials detained by Dr. Blauer in the Notarrest XX. Karajangasse (elementary school), nevertheless a second procedure was chosen to free the Kultusgemeinde officials who had been arbitrarily arrested on 10th November from the prisons. A commandant from the SS squad stationed at the building, together with a gentleman from the leadership staff of the voluntary youth helpers of the Kultusgemeinde, searched all the Vienna police inspectorates, and the gentleman had to identify the officials of the Kultusgemeinde, their researchers and assistants. However, this activity only began rather late (that was in fact the reason why so many officials had already been sent from the police stations to the Karajangasse); before this the Herr commandant had no time, for he, together with Herr Eichmann, had to take part in leading the operation of destruction to which the Seitenstettentempel fell victim.

The number of Jews being held at the beginning of January in Dachau because of the ‘Aktion’ of 10th November is estimated to be 3,000. Recently there have been continual releases, in the vast majority of cases however only when family members, who have to direct a plea to the Gestapo, are able to prove, in this and during the subsequent verbal summons, that they can leave immediately. In general, the behaviour of the officials hearing the cases towards the family member concerned is courteous. From the moment of the summons up to release usually takes eight to 14 days. On the other hand, in the past week a further increase in arrests has been seen; in addition, the Jews are also being subjected to further harassment; so in the past few days they have had to assist with the cleaning up of the excrement in Vienna that has accumulated due to the thaw – unpaid, of course.

Amongst the many atrocities of 10th November, the death of the well-known Viennese Jewish restaurateur Herr Schwarz, Vienna II, Rotesterngasse, caused in the most horrible way, has attracted considerable attention. The poor man, who came from a well-known Viennese Jewish restaurateur‘s family, and whose business, taken over from his father, occupied the rank of the highly renowned Viennese Jewish restaurants à la Neugröschl and Tonelle, was severely distressed from the first day of the turmoil. Immediately after the turmoil the restaurant was plundered by the SA, so that its refurbishment caused great financial sacrifice. Then it was announced that all Jewish restaurants in Vienna would have to close on 1st August, and Schwarz attempted suicide from sorrow at this news and was saved at the last minute. Now on 10th November he was trapped in his own refrigerator and died an agonising death.

Asked about the mood of the Aryan population, the reporter explained that they do indeed grumble a lot more or less openly, in particular about the sometimes noticeable lack of food, that however a release of this clearly existing dissatisfaction in some kind of revolutionary form cannot be counted on very soon; this is now to be expected not because of the severe methods of oppression, rather a certain resignation can be detected everywhere. (In Vienna a true saying is circulating in jest: “Den Juden geschieht Unrecht, den Ariern Recht!” [The Jews are being wronged, the Aryans are treated right!]) At that time, only two days after 10th November, the Viennese Jews were certainly sold nothing in very many grocery shops; the well-known Viennese coffee business Julius Meinl started it, the owner of which could not do enough during the Schuschnigg regime out of “sentiment for the Fatherland” and is also closely related to Jews by marriage.

The answer to my question, how one understands the particular severity of the National Socialist Jewish policy in Austria, which bears no relation even to the worst experience of the past five years in the ‘Altreich’, is very interesting; one believes that in all Gestapo directives the idea shines through that, in the opinion of the National Socialists, the slow pace of the emigration of the Jews from the Altreich during these five years has caused the ferocity of the measures directed against the Austrian Jews. Hitler has promised the German people a Germany free of Jews, and he still wants to witness this ideal. The slow pace of emigration from the Altreich allowed the fear to develop that he would not see this ideal state realised, and therefore in the Ostmark from the first day onwards draconian measures were introduced which were intended to bring about, and did indeed bring about, a mass emigration. Now that this experiment has succeeded, the intention is to get a similar grip on the Altreich, where measures of such ferocity were unknown until now; a leading functionary of the Vienna Gestapo, who visited a public authority there during a trip through the Altreich and talked conversationally about the expulsion of the Viennese Jews, encountered the liveliest astonishment from his German colleagues in the Reich over the applicability of such a directive; the functionary concerned related this episode himself. Only limited contact if absolutely necessary is permitted about official matters between the Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden and the Vienna Israelitische Kultusgemeinde.

There is still a significant detail to add to the destruction of the Tempel. At those places of worship where the Christian caretakers were PG, a plaque was mounted during the destruction operation, “Attention, caretaker Party member!"