Austria Jewish Records

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Online Resources

 * 1835-1938 Austria, Vienna, Jewish Vital Records, 1835-1938 at My Heritage - index ($)
 * 1945 Ebensee, Austria, Records of Displaced Persons, 1945 at Ancestry - index ($)
 * Free Access: USC Shoah Foundation, Holocaust – Jewish Survivor Interviews, index

JewishGen.org Databases
JewishGen.org Austria-Czech Special Interest Group (SIG]
 * JewishGen Austria-Czech Database

Austria Finding Town of Origin

 * Austria Finding Town of Origin.

Austria may refer to:


 * The present-day country of Austria.
 * The Austrian Empire (1804-1867)
 * Austria-Hungary (1867-1918)

United States census records and arriving passenger lists often simply list the place of birth or origin as "Austria" meaning the Austrian Empire or Austria-Hungary. Careful research is needed to pinpoint the province and city/town.

Jewish Research resources on the FamilySearch Wiki are organized primarily by the present-day country, and not by the former designations. If possible, determine the city/town of origin and then search under its present-day country. For help, see Austria Finding Town of Origin.

History of the Jews in Austria

 * To read the Wikipedia.org article History of the Jews in Austria, click here.
 * Take the Austria Virtual Jewish History Tour.

Vienna, Austria, Population Cards, 1850-1896

 * Computer-indexed portion (only a fraction are computer-indexed): - How to Use this Collection
 * Microfilms of alphabetized cards ( complete collection ): Click here.
 * Note: Alphabetical order on the above films is as follows (A), (Au), (E, Ä, Ö), (Ei, Eu, Ej, Ey, Ai, Aj, Ay), (I, Ie, J, Ü, Y), (O, Ou), (U), (B, P), (C, G, K, Q, X, Ch, Ck, Cs, Cz, Ks), (D, T, Th), (F, V, W), (H), (L), (M), (N, Nck, Ng, Nk), (R), (S, Sch, Sz, Cz, Tsch, Tz, Z)

Jewish Records of Vienna
When Poland was partitioned among its neighbors in 1795, the Austrian Empire (later the Austro-Hungarian Empire) received the southeastern portion of the country heavily populated by the Jews, which it named Galicia. Since internal boundaries did not exist within the Austrian Empire, many impoverished Galician Jews migrated to the capital, Vienna. '''By the end of the 19th century, Vienna had become a major center of European Jewry. On the eve of World War II, it had the third largest Jewish population in Europe''' (after Warsaw and Budapest).

Jewish genealogists with roots in Galicia should look for family branches in Vienna, especially if the family name was relatively uncommon. This task is made easier by two large collections of records available from the Family History Library, the Jewish birth, marriage and death records up to 1939 and the invaluable collection of residency books (Meldezettel). For more information about Viennese Registration see Fall 2000 (Volume XVI, Number 3) issue of Avotaynu. (Family History Library INTL book 296.05 Av79).

During the 1950s and 1960s, the Jewish community of Vienna deposited the majority of its records with The Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People Jerusalem (CAHJP). The collection includes material dealing with the religious, community and government matters from the 17th to the 20th century (up to 1945), but mostly from the 19th and 20th centuries. The collection does not have birth, marriage or death records. Material of genealogical value may be found in voters' lists, taxpayers' lists, lists of potential 1930s emigrants, lists of deportees and a complete list of the Jews in Vienna in 1939.

A detailed inventory of more than 400 pages, written in German, is posted on the Archives' website. The inventory has a detailed table of contents (Aktenverzeichnis) and is divided into two main sections- up to the Anschluss (annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in March 1938) and following the Anschluss. From the home page, click on "Examples of Holdings/Countries". When under Austria, click on the link "Vienna, Jewish community archives (1648-1970)."

Additional websites: Austrian Holocaust Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance United States Holocaust Memorial Museum