A Timeline of Jewish Life in Austria

A Jewish physician is mentioned in Salzburger Formelbuch.

The Raffelstetter Zollordnung (Custom-duty ordinance) mentions some Jews and describes them as "lawful traders".

Vienna - Shlom, the first Viennese Jew to be mentioned by name, comes to Vienna to serve as mint-master of Duke Leopold V. It was Shlom's task to mint the silver received as ransom for the release of King Richard the Lionheart of England, who had been taken prisoner at Erdberg.

Vienna - Shlom and 14 other Jews were murdered by Crusaders passing through Vienna.

Vienna - Teka, a Jewish moneylender of diplomatic standing, is mentioned in the peace treaty between Austria and Hungary, as the sole guarantor of Duke Leopold VI.

Vienna - Privilege for the Jews of Vienna by the Emperor Friedrich II.

Vienna - Privilege for the Jews of Austria by Duke Friedrich.

Vienna - Rabbi Isaac bar Mosche Or Sarua, rabbi and scholar lived and activated in Vienna.

Laa an der Thaya - Accusation of host desecration in Laa an der Thaya.

AUSTRIA - Plume, a Jewish widow and business woman, the ancestor of the influential Steuss family, is mentioned in Klosterneuburg.

Pulkau - Austrian Jews are persecuted following the accusation of a host desecration at Pulkau.

Austria - Jewish scholarship flourished in centres for Talmud studies. Of primary importance were Isaac B. Moses "Or Zatu'a", his son Chayyim "Or Zaru'a", Avigdor B. Elijah Ha-Kohen and Meir B. Baruch Ha-Levi.

Vienna - A synagogue was established in Vienna.

Death of David Steuss, head of a family of Jewish bankers.

Vienna - Death of R. Abraham Klausner, author of Minhagei Maharak, the earliest work known to have been composed by an Austrian Jew.

Lower Austria - Vienna Gezerah: Jews are expelled from many places in Lower Austria. The Hussite Wars end in military and moral defeat and lead to a wave of Jew- baiting.

Vienna - Vienna Gezerah: Jews are expelled from Vienna and many places in Lower Austria.

Rome - Papal bull by Pope Nicholas V permitting Jews to settle in the Austrian lands.

Death of Rabbi Israel bar Petachja, called R. Isserlein, one of the most important scholars of his time.

Styria - Jews are explelled from Styria.

Carinthia - Jews are expulled from Carinthia.

Salzburg - Jews are expelled from Salzburg.

Emperor Maximilian I declares he will accept expelled Jews in the towns of Eisenstadt, Marchegg and some border towns such as Zistersdorf, Kobersdorf and Guens.

Vienna - Opening of the Rossau Jewish cemetery - currently Seegasse, 9th district in Vienna. Rossau cemetery is Vienna's oldest Jewish cemetery, with the oldest existing tombstone in the cemetery dating from 1582. The cemetery was in use until 1783.

Vienna - Jews must wear a yellow ring on the left side of their garment.

Vienna - Decree of Maxmilian II allows seven Jewish families to live in Vienna. These 'hofbefreite Juden' had rendered distinguished service to their princes and had been granted certain privileges by the court. They were exempt from taxation and were not required to wear clothes which identified them as Jews.

Hohenems - 12 Jewish families settle in Hohenems at the invitation of the Duke Caspar von Hohenems.

Austria - A patent protection granted by the Emperor allows the Jews to trade in markets during the week days to make up for their losses on Saturday, when the usual horse market is held.

Vienna - Emperor Ferdinand II appointed Israel Wolf Auerbach head of the "Viennese Mint Consortium". The Emperor relied more and more on the financial help of "Court Jews" to cover his increasing expenses for the Thirty Years' War

Vienna - An Imperial decree leads to the creation of the "Jewish town of the Unterer Werd" (currently a small part of the 2nd district), separated by a bridge from the town. Jews are allowed to purchase houses, barns and gardens here. Jews buy 14 houses in this district.

Vienna - The Jews of Vienna are allowed to conduct their own independent jurisdiction.

Vienna - Death of the scholar Leo Lucerna. He received a deep Jewish and humanistic education and studied medicine in Padua, Italy.

Vienna - After the death of Ferdinand II the burghers of Vienna try to get rid of the Jews living in Vienna. Students attack Jews.

Vienna - The Jewish community boasts three synagogues with 'schuls', a community house and a 'big hospital'.

Vienna - The Jewish community installs a city cleaning service which costs 500 gulden a year.

Lower Austria - A contemporary sources mentions 477 Jewish families living in about 70 places in the region of Lower Austria.

Vienna - About 3000 Jews live in the city.

Vienna - An investigating committee favours the expulsion of Jews from Vienna, since they would only harm the Christian community.

Lower Austria - Expulsion of the Jews from Lower Austria.

Vienna - Expulsion of the Jews from Vienna.

Vienna - Despite interventions from Queen Christine of Sweden and the Pope, Emperor Leopold I expells the Jews from Vienna. A foundation stone for a church called St. Leopold, after Emperor Leopold I, is laid in place of the synagogue. The Jews receive passports and can move as they wish. A group of Jews moves to the Mark of Brandenburg, in Gerrmany, and thus founds the Jewish community of Berlin.

Austria - Jews could settle under the protection of the Esterhazy family in Western Hungary where they gradually establish the 'Seven Communities': Eisenstadt, Mattersburg, Kobersdorf, Lackenbach, Deutschkreutz, Frauenkirchen, and Kittsee.

Vienna - Samuel Oppenheimer from Heidelberg, Germany, is appointed "Hoffaktor" ("Court agent") and hence general supplier to the Imperial Army. Until it went bankrupt in 1703, his bank financed the Turkish wars.

Vienna - The army supplier Samuel Oppenheimer appears before the Hofkammer in Vienna with a invoice of over 200,000 gulden.

Vienna - Samson Wertheimer arrives in Vienna, a 'turning point' in his life. He became the banker of the Emperor and other noble men. A Talmudic scholar, he built synagogues.

Vienna - The poorer Jews are expelled from the city.

Vienna - The house of Samuel Oppenheimer is raided by a Viennese mob.

Maria Theresia plans to expel the Jews from Bohemia, but changes her mind.

Vienna - Sephardi Jews, such as Diego d'Aguilar, who have been favored by Maria Theresia, settle in Vienna.

Hohenems - The Jews expelled from the villages of Sulz and Feldkirch settle in Hohenems.

Vienna - Publication of the "Jewish Decrees". Their purpose was to allow as much interference in the life of the Jews as possible. Jews had to pay "tolerance money": their right to remain resident in Vienna had to be "bought" repeatedly.

Austria - Maria Theresia's "Judenordnung": only the "pater familias" is allowed to mary, all other family members must remain single; every three months report about the number of people; Jews may not settle in the suburbs; male Jews must wear a beard. Jews are not allowed to leave the house on Sundays and Holidays before noon. Jews wishing to live in Austria have to explain how much money they have and how they can contribute usefully to the state and how many taxes they can pay.

Vienna - Joseph II issues the "Toleranzpatent" for the Jews of Vienna, based on economic reasons. The edict aims at integrating sectors of population into commercial activities for the benefit of the state. The edict granted the Jews limited freedom to practice their religion, but not religious equality.

Austria - A law governing Jewish names is passed. According to the law, Jews are requested to adopt hereditary family names.

Austria - Jews have to serve in the war against the Ottoman Empire: they had to fulfill the citizen duties without having equal rights.

Vienna - About 100 "tolerated" Jews live in Vienna.

Vienna - Establishment of the "Judenamt" ("Jewish Office") which monitors Jewish movements. Poor Jews should be kept from moving to Vienna.

The "Vertreter", representing the wealthy Jewish businessmen in Vienna, were elected as official spokesmen for negotiations with the government. Anton von Schmid established a Hebrew printing press in Vienna.

Vienna - Purchase of a house for Jewish prayer and for a Jewish school.

Vienna - The Congress of Vienna.

Vienna - The "Temple", the Viennese synagogue designed by Josef Kornhäusel, was erected in the Seitenstettengasse.

Vienna - Isaac Noah Mannheimer from Copenhagen becomes rabbi in Vienna. He become aware of the first signs of an internal schism, above all between Reform and Orthodox Jews, and managed to avert this danger.

Vienna - Cantor and composer Solomon Sulzer (1804- 1890), born in Hohenems, is invited to Vienna. Sulzer serves as chief cantor until 1881. He becomes a close friend of Franz Schubert and performs many of his songs for the first time.

Vienna - Franziska Wertheimstein has a salon in a villa in Doebling.

Vienna - Joseph von Wertheimer, one of the most prolific representatives of the liberal Viennese Jews, publishes the book "Die Juden in Oesterreich vom Standpunkt der Geschichte, des Rechts und des Staatsvorteils" in which he demands equal civil rights for all Jews.

Vienna - There are about 4000 Jews living in Vienna.

Vienna - Revolution in Vienna: Jewish physicians and students of medicine are involved in the revolutionary uprising. The Jewish doctor Adolf Fischof declares the program of the revolution, signaling the outbreak of the revolution.

Vienna - Two young Jews, the student Karl Heinrich Spitzer and the weaver Bernhard Herschmann are among the first victims of the army. The funeral becomes a demonstration of mutual religious tolerance.

Austria - After the civil war of 1848 the Jews are granted civil rights and allowed to form their own autonomous religious community. Constitution, Paragraph #1: "The enjoyment of civic and political rights is independent of religious denomination."

Vienna - The young Emperor Franz Joseph I uses the term "Israelitische Gemeinde von Wien" in a speech. This was interpreted as a strong support for the foundation of an official Jewish community in Vienna.

Vienna - Founding of a Talmud Torah school.

Vienna - The bank "Creditanstalt für Handel und Gewerbe" is founded by Rothschild.

Vienna - There are about 6217 Jews living in Vienna representing 2.16% of the total population.

Vienna - Leopoldstadt Synagogue is opened. The synagogue was destroyed by the Nazis during Kristallnacht in 1938.

Vienna - Economic crisis: the bankers Arnstein and Eskeles are declared bankrupt.

Vienna - First three Jewish representatives in the Municipal Council of Vienna.

Vienna - The "Neue Freie Presse" newspaper is founded by Dr. Max Friedlaender.

Austria - Emancipation. The Jews of Austria are granted full religious freedom and equal civil rights.

Vienna - The newspaper "Neue Wiener Tagblatt" is founded by Moritz Szeps.

Vienna - The Jewish population of Vienna increases as a result of immigration there by Jews from other regions of the Empire, particularly 20,747 Jews from Cisleithania, and 17,541 from Hungary. Only 7,867 enjoy right of domicile, about 20,000 live in the Leopoldstadt district.

Vienna - Martin Buber is born in Vienna.

Vienna - There are 72,588 Jews living in Vienna representing 10% of the total population of the city.

Vienna - The student fraternity "Kadimah" is founded by Nathan Birnbaum, Moritz Schnirer and Ruben Bierer.

Austria - Rabbi Dr. Joseph S. Bloch is elected to the Imperial Council.

Austria - Rabbi Dr. Joseph S. Bloch founds the "Oesterreichische Wochenschrift".

Austria - Founding of the "Oesterreichische-Israelitische Union".

Austria - The "Israelitengesetz" is passed: a law still in force today, it acknowledges the Jewish community – the "Israelitische Kultusgemeinde" – as the sole representative of the organized Jewish religious community.

Vienna - The Jewish Museum is founded.

Theodor Herzl oublishes "The Jewish State".

Vienna - Karl Lueger, representing the anti-Semitic party, is elected mayor of Vienna.

Vienna - Karl Kraus publishes the first issue of his satirical magazine "Die Fackel" ("The Torch").

Vienna - Sigmund Freud publishes "The Interpretation of Dreams" in December 1899 with the publication date of '1900'.

Vienna - Karl Landsteiner discovers the blood groups.

Vienna - Arthur Schnitzler publishes his "Leutnant Gustl" and and as a result loses the rank of officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army.

Vienna - Death of Theodor Herzl, he is burried in Vienna until a Jewish State will be established in the Land of Israel.

Austria - 4 National-Jewish members in the Austrian Reichsrat (Parliament) form the first Jewish party ever in a European parliament.

Vienna - Death of Gustav Mahler.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary is assassinated at Sarajevo.

Austria-Hungary invades Serbia, setting off World War I.

Austria - First World War. Large numbers of Jews serve in the Austro-Hungarian Army.

Vienna - Large numbers of Jewish refugees from the combat areas on the eastern front - Galicia, Bukovina - arrive in Vienna.

Vienna - "HaShomer HaTzair" Zionist youth movement is founded in Vienna.

Austria - There are already 474 Jewish officers casualties in the Austrian-Hungarian army.

Vienna - 34,200 of 38,770 impoverished refugees in the city are Jewish.

Austria-Hungary ceases to combat.

Emperor Charles of Austria abdicates.

Austria is proclaimed a republic.

Vienna - Joseph Roth starts working as a journalist in Vienna.

Vienna - Karl Kraus publishes "Die letzten Tage der Menschheit" and "Weltgericht" in which he expressed his opinions against the war.

Vienna - Anti-Jewish propaganda intensifies.

Austria - The Economic Depression in Germany and Austria.

Vienna - Freud publishes 'The Ego and the Ideals" with a new account of the structure of the mind, revising the 'conscious/pre-conscious/ unconscious' distinction to be found in "The Interpretation of Dreams". Freud is diagnosed as suffering from cancer. Freud's grandson, Heinerle, dies. Freud writes: "I don't think I have ever experienced such grief. Fundamentally everything has lost its meaning for me".

Germany - First volume of "Mein Kampf" by Adolf Hitler is published in Germany.

Vienna - The 14th Zionist congress is held in Vienna.

Vienna - the NSDAP (the Austrian Nazi party) is founded in Vienna.

Vienna - The Zwi Peres Chajes Jewish school is established.

Vienna - Max Reinhardt founds the Reinhard Seminar, a school for acting and directing.

Adolf Eichmann joins the NSDAP (the Austrian Nazi Party).

The Christian Socialist Party forms a government with Englebert Dollfuss as Chancellor. Dollfuss takes steps to curtail anti-Semitism by outlawing discrimination against Jews in housing and jobs. The Nazi party is declared illegal.

Franz Werfel publishes his novel "The Forty Days of Musa Dagh" about the genocide against the Armenians during the First World War.

Germany - Olympic Games are held in Berlin.

German troops cross into Austria.

"Anschluss" - the incorporation of Austria into the Third Reich is declared. All anti-Semitic legislation of Nazi Germany is immediately enforced in Austria.

Vienna - Huge crowds greet the Austrian-born Adolf Hitler, as he parades triumphantly through Vienna.

Vienna - The art historian and critic Egon Friedell commits suicide by jumping from his window for fear of being arrested by the Nazis.

Austria - The Jewish population of the country is estimated at 185,000 persons.

Vienna - 170,000 Jews live in Vienna.

The German Minister of the Interior empowers SS Chief Heinrich Himmler to operate in Austria beyond the limits set by German law.

Vienna - Heinrich Himmler set up headquarters at the Hotel Metropol in Vienna, which had been confiscated from its Jewish owners. The offices of Vienna's Jewish community and Zionist institutions are closed and their leaders put in jail. The activities of all Jewish organizations and congregations are forbidden. On the same day, 110 prominent Jews, including bankers and businessmen are arrested and deported to Dachau. Jews are banned from any public activity, including participation in scientific and educational institutions and the arts.

Austria - 99.73 percent of Austrians vote in favor of the Anschluss in elections held by the Nazi regime.

Austria - The Nuremberg laws, which forcibly segregated Jews in German society and deprived them of their livelihoods, are officially enforced in Austria. According to Himmler's own figures, the number of Austrian Jews persecuted under these laws would reach 220,000. By mid May, a Property Transfer Office with nearly 500 employees is actively confiscating Jewish property, businesses and bank accounts.

Evian, France - An international conference at Evian, France, is held to discuss solutions to the Jewish refugee problem.

Vienna - Adolf Eichmann establishes the Office of Jewish Emigration in Vienna to increase the pace of forced emigration. It was to be responsible for "the solution of the Jewish problem" in Austria by coercing Jews to emigrate. Bureaucratic rules for emigration are instituted in which Jews are required to show proof of destination and turn over most of their assets. This was Eichmann's first major assignment, and it would eventually lead him to become one of the chief architects of the Nazi murder of Jews. The methods instituted by the Nazis in Austria, combining economic expropriation with expulsion of Jews, were later copied in Germany and other Nazi occupied territories. The "model" set up in Austria was the beginning of a systematic persecution that eventually led to the murder of 6 million Jews.

Austria - Opening of the Mauthausen concentration camp.

Vienna - After his daughter Anna is interrogated by the Gestapo, Sigmund Freud decides to leave Austria for England.

Austria - Regulation requiring Jews to change their names.

Austria - The "Kristallnacht" ("Night of Broken Glass"). During state sponsored anti-Jewish pogroms in Germany, Austria, and the Sudetenland thousands of synagogues are destroyed and thousands of Jewish owned shops and business shops are looted; 30,000 male Jews are sent to concentration camps - Dachau, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen.

Vienna - During Kristallnacht 42 synagogues are destroyed and hundreds of homes are plundered by the SA and the Hitler Youth.

Austria - Decree forcing all Jews to transfer retail businesses to 'Aryan' hands.

Austria - All Jewish pupils expelled from German schools.

From Hitler's Speech to Reichstag: "If the Jewish international financiers inside and outside Europe succeed in involving the nations in another war, the result will not be world Bolshevism and therefore a victory for Judaism; it will be the end of the Jews in Europe".

Germany invades Poland. Beginning of World War II.

Vienna - Aron Menczer is in charge of the 'Youth Aliya'. He manages to send 419 young people to Palestine.

Heydrich issues directives to establish ghettos in German-occupied Poland.

Austria - The start of the deportation of Austrian and Czech Jews to Poland.

Jews in German-occupied Poland are forced to wear a Jewish badge: an arm band or yellow star.

Poland - Concentration camp established in Auschwitz.

Germany - Adolf Eichmann appointed head of the department for Jewish affairs of the Reich Security Main Office, Section IV B 4.

Hermann Göering instructs Reinhard Heydrich to prepare a plan for the "final solution of the Jewish question".

The ghetto at Theresienstadt is established.

Berlin - Wannsee Conference: the plan to murder Europe's Jews.

Belzec - The extermination of the Jews begins in Belzec: 600,000 Jews murdered by end of 1942.

Theresienstadt - Sigmund Freud's sister Adolphine dies in Theresienstadt ghetto. Mitzi, Rosa and Paula deported to Treblinka extermination camp.

Austria - The last mass transport left to Theresienstadt, from where later they were generaly deported to Auschwitz.

21 September - Erev Yom Kippur: farewell to Aron Menczer by all Zionist Youth groups before his deportation to Theresienstadt.

Vienna - The Jewish community of Vienna is officially dissolved.

Poland - Warsaw Ghetto revolt begins as Germans attempt to liquidate the last 70,000 inhabitants; Jewish underground fights Nazis until early June.

Himmler orders the liquidation of all ghettos in Poland and the Soviet Union.

Poland - The Red Army liberates Majdanek extermination camp.

Theresienstadt - Last Jews are deported from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz.

Austria - Beginning of death march of approximately 40,000 Jews from Budapest to Austria.

Poland - Auschwitz-Birkenau complex liberated by the Red Army.

Vienna - 5,512 Jews (according to the definition of the Nuremberg Laws) live in Vienna.

Austria - Liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp.

Germany capitulates; end of the Third Reich.

Vienna - Vienna becomes the main temporary stopping-place and the first refuge for hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees and emigrants from Eastern Europe after World War II.

Japan surrenders; end of World War II.

Vienna - First Elections for the IKG (Jewish community of Vienna): David Brill is elected as president.

Vienna - A Hebrew School is established for Jewish refugee children.

United Nations decision to establish a Jewish state in Eretz Israel.

Viena - The Association of Jewish Students in Austria (Vereinigung Jüdischer Hochschüler in Österreich, VJHÖ) is founded in Vienna by survivors of the Holocaust.

Vienna - Rabbi Aria (Bela) Eisenberg becomes first Chief Rabbi of Vienna after the Holocaust.

Vienna - Thousands of Jews, many of them DP's (Displaced Persons), accompany Theodor Herzl's coffin which is transferred to the State of Israel.

Vienna - Young refugees found a 'ken' of the Shomer HaTzair youth movement at 2 Seitenstettengasse.

Vienna - The State Treaty is signed. The treaty forbids unification of Austria with Germany or restoration of the Habsburg monarchy and provids safeguards for Austria's Croat and Slovene minorities. Austrian neutrality and a ban on foreign military bases in Austria will be later incorporated into the Austrian constitution by the Law of October 26, 1955. The 40,000 Soviet troops in Austria withdraw by late September. The small number of Western troops that remain in the country withdraw by late October.

Austria - 12,000 Hungarian Jews flee to Austria after Soviet troops march into Budapest.

Vienna - The Ultra-Orthodox group "Mahzike Hadass" is founded.

Israel - The trial of Adolf Eichmann, "the man in charge of the extermination program against the Jews", begins in Jerusalem. He is hanged on 31 May 1962.

Austria - 270,199 Soviet Jews emigrate via Austria, the main country of transit, to the USA, Israel and other countries.

Austria - Bruno Kreisky becomes Federal Chancellor of Austria, the first Jew to be elected to this position.

Vienna - "Let My Brothers Go" - Hunger strike of five Jewish students in solidarity with Jews in the Soviet Union.

Austria - Palestinian terrorists attack a train with Soviet emigrants and take three Jewish hostages demanding the stop of Jewish emigration to Israel via Austria.

Vienna - The Jewish community of Vienna (IKG) opens a kindergarten.

Vienna - The establishment of an Aid organization for the Soviet Jews who decide to remain or return to Vienna, among them about 200 Jews of Bukhara who returned from Israel.

Vienna - Leon Zelman becomes managing director of the Jewish Welcome Service, organizing visits of Jews who emigrated from Austria.

Vienna - Opening of the Jewish Community Center on Seitenstettengasse.

Vienna - A pregnant woman and a survivor of Auschwitz are killed in a PLO attack during a Bar Mitzvah celebration in the synagogue.

Austria - Bruno Kreisky resigns after the Socialists lose their absolute majority in the Nationalrat (Austrian Parliament).

Vienna - Reopening of the Zwi Peres Chajes School in the Castellezgasse. Closed down in 1941, the building was used by the Gestapo to assemble Viennese Jews prior to deportation.

Vienna - Opening of the Chabad Center with a kindergarten and day nursery.

Austria - The presidential election in 1986 is won by the People's Party candidate, Kurt Waldheim, former Secretary- General of the United Nations, despite allegations that he had lied about his actions in the German army during World War II. The vote reflected the ambiguous attitude of many Austrians toward their country's Nazi past. Wave of anti-Semitism in Austria.

Austria - 5,000 Jews immigrants from the Soviet Union become Austrian citizens.

Vienna - The Orthodox Group 'Mahsike Hadass' founds a yeshiva, the first in Vienna after the Holocaust.

Vienna - Founding of the Jewish Institute for Adult Education.

Berlin - The fall of the Berlin Wall – the end of the Cold War.

Vienna - The Liberal Community 'Or Chadasch' is founded.

Vienna - Opening of the Sephardi Center in the Tempelgasse with two synagogues for the Jews of Bukhara and Georgia, respectively.

Vienna - The Jewish Museum of Vienna is founded.

Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky visits Israel and acknowledges Austrian's responsibility for the victims of the Holocaust and their survivors.

Vienna - Founding of "Esra", an assistance center for Holocaust survivors.

Vienna - A public auction of heirless art owned by Jews murdered in the Holocaust is organized by the Austrian government at the Mauerbach Monestary. The funds generated from the sale are transferred to a humanitarian fund for Holocaust survivors.

Austria - Memorial monument of "Menorah" for the victims of the Shoah is erected in Innsbruck. Survivors from all over the world participated in the ceremony.

Vienna - Opening of a centre for vocational education for immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

Austria - International outcry as far-right Freedom Party enters government for first time. Haider resigns as Freedom Party leader. People's Party head Wolfgang Schuessel becomes Chancellor. EU imposes diplomatic sanctions.

Austria - State-owned companies agree to pay 1bn schillings ($65m) into a compensation fund for survivors of the Nazi Holocaust.

Vienna - The Memorial for the Austrian Victims of the Shoah is unveiled. The new Museum on Judenplatz, which exhibits excavations of the medieval Or-Sarua synagogue, is opened on the same day.

Graz - Inauguration of a new synagogue, in the place of the one destroyed exactly 62 years earlier during the infamous Kristallnacht.

Austria - Deal signed on compensating Jews whose assets were seized by the Nazis. The Government of Austria and companies to pay 360m dollars into a settlement fund. Agreement also is reached on setting up a pension fund for survivors living outside Austria.

Austria - Jewish Theater of Austria is established. The theater presents a year round entertainment program, filling a gap in Austrian arts and culture. The artistic aim of the Jewish Theater of Austria is a contemporary renaissance of Jewish theater and the promotion of Jewish self-identity through the medium of theater.

Vienna - the Jewish Community erected a memorial tablet on the so-called Mizrachi House at Judenplatz 8, dedicated to those who helped Jews during the Nazi era.

Salzburg - The Jewish community of Salzburg celebrates 100 years since the inauguration of the city’s synagogue.

Israel appoints an ambassador to Vienna. This ended four years of diplomatic tension between the two countries. Israel withdrew its ambassador in 2000 when the Freedom Party headed by Jorge Haider joined Austria's coalition government.

Vienna - Opening of the synagogue of the liberal Jewish community, Or Chadasch, on the Robertgasse of Leopoldstadt, a part of Vienna’s 2nd district.

Speaker of the Israeli Parliament, Reuven Rivlin, arrives for a visit in Austria.

President Moshe Katzav of Israel makes an official visit to Austria - the first time an Israeli President visits Austria. He meets with senior Austrian government leaders and, together with Austrian President Heinz Fischer, attends a special ceremony marking the 100th anniversary of the death of Theodor Herzl. President Katzav also visits the Mathausen concentration camp.

President of the Nationalrat (Lower House of the Austrian Parliament) Andreas Kohl visits Israel.