3.900 people of Jewish origin lived in the province of Burgenland in 165 communities over all 7 districts, when the National socialists took power in Austria in the year of 1938. They had their homeland and vital interests until they were expelled and murdered by the National socialists.

The project “NAMEN ERINNERN” [RECALL NAMES ] researched und reminds the families of Jewish origin by name, who lived in Burgenland in 1938, who had their home here, who worked here, who spent their leisure here, who had their summer home here and who had land, vineyards or other kinds of property in Burgenland. They were citizens with vital interests in Burgenland, which were not only destroyed by the National Socialists and their opportunists, but also by acquiescence and turning a blind eye.

Jewish families lived in the area of Burgenland since the 13th Century. From the second third of the 17th Century - after the expulsion from Vienna, Lower and Upper Austria by Emperor Leopold I. - Jews found refuge in West-Hungary, today the province of Burgenland.
A Jewish life evolved in Kittsee, Frauenkirchen, Eisenstadt, Mattersburg, Kobersdorf, Lackenbach and Deutschkreutz - the so called “Seven Holy Communities” of Burgenland under the protection of the magnate-family Esterházy. In southern Burgenland Jewish culture evolved under the manorial system of the Batthyány family in Stadtschlaining, Rechnitz and Güssing. The filial-community of Oberwart was founded in 1868 and got independent in the year of 1930. Synagogues, prayer houses, schools, cemeteries, public baths - facilities which requires a Jewish life - emerged in these communities.
Jewish families lived in many small communities of the Burgenland which remained far fewer in the memories and narratives.

The culture, tradition and history of the Jews of Burgenland were destroyed within a short time by persecution, expulsion and homicide of Jewish families during the Nazi regime.
Of this former rich Jewish culture in Burgenland one can find rests of the architecture. They warn of disinterest and oblivion. Apart from famous families, traces of the Jewish families just remain in the memories and narratives of the older generation of Burgenland.

The maxim of this website is, to bring back the names of the expelled and murdered families to the collective memory and the recollection. For with the concealing and forgetting one will become the silent tool of what the National Socialism has aimed for: the complete destruction and extermination of Jewish life, and the memory of it.

If you remember Jewish families in your community who are not listed on this site, please contact us: office@memoryprojects.at