!!!Israelitische Kultusgemeinden

Jewish Communities: At the beginning of the rise of Jewish communities 
in Austria the care devoted to Jewish cemeteries was of particular 
importance, culminating in the foundation of the Chewra Kadischa 
("Burial Brotherhood") institution in 1763. The Edict of Tolerance 
promulgated by Emperor Joseph II in 1782 granted limited freedom of 
worship to the Jews, but no equal religious rights. In 1826 a 
synagogue was opened. The internal reform of the Jews in Vienna is 
connected with the names I. N. Mannheimer and S. Sulzer. The 
granting of equal civil rights in 1849, the formal constitution of the 
Jewish community in Vienna in 1852 and the recognition of the Jewish 
religious community in 1890 were further steps towards Jewish 
emancipation. After World War I about 200,000  Jews were living in 33 
communities in Austria. After Austria's anschluss to the 
national-socialist German Reich in 1938 the Austrian Jews were 
persecuted, forced to immigrate, deported and murdered, and their 
synagogues destroyed. In 1945 they numbered about 9,000, since then 
their number has been increasing. The Jewish communities existing at 
present (Vienna, Linz, Salzburg, Innsbruck and Graz), although 
independent, have founded a federation. Since 1992 there has also been 
a Sephardic community in Vienna. The Vienna Jewish community runs 3 
Jewish schools. The Humanity Association (Humanitaetsverein) 
B´nai B´rith, a sports club and a Jewish choir focus on 
cultural matters.

!Publications
Die Gemeinde, offizielles Organ der 
Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde Wien.

!Literature
B. Wachstein, Die Gruendung der Wiener Chewra Kadischa im 
Jahre 1763, 1911; Federal Press Office (ed.), 
Oesterreich-Dokumentation. Juedisches Leben in Oesterreich, 1992; K. 
Lohrmann (ed.), 1000 Jahre oesterreichisches Judentum, 1982.


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