Skip to main content
Holocaust Memorial, Judenplatz, Vienna
Concrete reminder of nazi atrocities against Jews during WWII
[Thomas Ledl/Creative Commons]

RIGHT in the heart of Vienna sits Judenplatz (Jewish Square), an area where Jews began to settle in about 1150.

Eight hundred lived there by 1400, including merchants, bankers and scholars. But the pogroms instigated by Duke Albrecht V in 1421, culminating in the last 200 being burned alive on a pyre, obliterated the Jewish presence for the next two centuries.

That obliteration resumed just over 500 years after Judenplatz got its name and eight months after Austria’s Anschluss (“reunification”) with Nazi Germany.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Polish victims of a massacre committed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the village of Lipniki, Wołyń (Volhynia), 1943
History / 14 July 2026
14 July 2026

Poland’s anger over Ukraine’s celebration of the Nazi collaborationist UPA reflects more than historical grievance, says KENNY COYLE

Round-up / 20 April 2026
20 April 2026
Shoes at Auschwitz during commemorations in Poland to mark 80 years since the liberation of the concentration camp on 27th January 1945, January 27, 2025
Holocaust Memorial Day 2026 / 27 January 2026
27 January 2026

On May 16 1944, Romani families in Auschwitz-Birkenau armed themselves with stones, tools, and sheer collective will, forcing the SS to retreat – leaving a legacy of defiance that speaks directly to the fascisms of today, says VICTORIA HOLMES

NEVER AGAIN: The Buchenwald concentration camp memorial statue in Weimar. Photo: Lubomir Rosenstein/Creative Commons
Features / 28 August 2025
28 August 2025

The decision highlights the tension between freedom of expression and the state’s role in shaping historical memory at former concentration camps, reports LEON WYSTRYCHOWSKI