permanent exhibition "we had a real Jewish life"
The Jewish Community St. Pölten and her Annihilation
former Synagogue St. Pölten, opened in September 2008.
Development: Martha Keil (Text), Renate Stockreiter (Design)
Founded in 1863, the community of St. Pölten, with its wide catchment area, had about 800 members. In 1938 400 Jewish people lived in the city, today only three. These succinct figures illustrate the flowering and destruction of a living community. The life of the Jewish community of St. Pölten: religious practices, everyday life, lively social life, especially of Zionist youth, recreation and anti-Semitism, reflect the memories, documents and photographs that were often saved in an adventurous manner about the war.
After the "Anschluss" in March 1938, the Nazi regime, as in all of Austria, systematically deprived the Jews of St. Pölten. The exhibition documents the anti-Jewish measures and traces the path of individual people into exile. However, most of the less fortunate were no longer able to escape; They were compulsorily transferred to Vienna and thence to the camps deported and murdered. One station devotes itself to the few concentration camp survivors, hunted by non-Jewish saviors, and partners of a so-called "protected mishh". The timely emigrants learned a social descent and the loss of home, language and their close relatives.
310 members of the religious community of St. Pölten were murdered by the national socialists, a memorial installation with their names and photos has been in the synagogue since the exhibition in 1998. Also shown are the artistic results of a school project, which in 2004 impressively concerned with the memory of these victims. Returning home, seeking restitution of the stolen property and the difficulties with the official policy of forgetting are another part of this exhibition. Photographs and written as well as oral reminders enable pupils to have a personal access to this still repressed story.
Many thanks to our sponsors:
Land Niederösterreich – Kultur
Landeshauptstadt St. Pölten
Nationalfonds der Republik Österreich
Zukunftsfonds der Republik Österreich
Erste Bank der österreichischen Sparkassen AG