Niederösterreichische Nachrichten, November 26, 2019
Until 1938, Jews lived in almost every town of the region; a book tells their story.
“Nothing is reminiscent of us any more, like we never existed.” This is what Kurt Winkler told the historian Johan Hagenhofer when visiting him in Israel in 2010 while researching the book Jewish Life in the Bucklige Welt Region (Jüdisches Leben in der Region Bucklige Welt). Winkler and his family were expelled from Hochwolkersdorf in 1938.
Since the mid-nineteenth century, Jews, who predominantly immigrated from Western Hungary, were allowed to settle in the region. Many of them became successful businesspeople. Education was important to them, so the children were often sent to Gymnasium in Wiener Neustadt or to Vienna for university studies, says Werner Sulzgruber, the scientific head of the book project.
Communities Supported the Research
Sulzgruber has been dealing with Jewish history since the 1990s and emphasizes that the communities of the Bucklige Welt very much supported the research for the book. The traces of some 400 people of Jewish faith were discovered, about 130 were residents in the area in 1938. Sixty of them ended up in concentration camps, others fled, the fate of a bout a dozen remains unknown.
In general, Jews were accepted in the region. The “Village Jew” was not a derogatory term until the assumption of power by the Nazis; people came to them for shopping or to get a loan. For example, it is known that the men of the Jewish family Daniel from Kirchberg am Wechsel served in the fire department: a definite sign of their acceptance, according to Gert Dressel, who interviewed contemporary witnesses for the book.
Almost all of the 21 authors of the book come from the region. “This way, the stories become more accessible compared to somebody from the University of Vienna writing them,” says Dressel – who is the only author with an academic background.
By the way: the family of the before mentioned Kurt Winkler was present during a meeting with the local population of Hochwolkersdorf; 30 people were expected, 200 showed up.
Since 2012 there is also a commemorative plaque to remind of the Jewish population in the town.
About the book:
„Eine versunkene Welt. Jüdisches Leben in der Region Bucklige Welt – Wechselland“, Kral Verlag, ISBN 978-3-99024-797-6