The Archive of the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG) is over 200 years old and therefore the oldest surviving archive of any Jewish community. The archive was officially established in 1816 and up until 1938 it grew to become a central resource of significant academic importance. By the end of the Second World War, the archive material was stored in damp cellars and any structure and order had been lost. The impact of the destruction of the archive by the National Socialists continues to be felt to this day.
Visit the IKG archive
If you wish to visit the archive/records office, for organisational reasons we ask that you make an appointment by email or telephone.
- All users must fill in and sign a user form.
- Please bring valid photo ID with you.
- The fees for using the archive, seeking advice and making copies or prints must be paid immediately and in cash, in line with the schedule of charges.
- Please note that access to the archive/records office is not barrier-free.
- For guided tours of the archive for individuals or groups of no more than eight people, please contact the Archive Manager.
Research in the IKG archive/records office
The following archive holdings and civil registers can be made available for the purposes of research in the user room. Before using them, you will be given brief instructions on how to use the database or the files and lists. Viewing the files is governed by the current versions of the legal regulations on civil registers, data protection and archive management. See also here.
Archive holdings:
- Announcements of births (1893 - 1937)
- Announcements of deaths (1920 - 1944)
- Burial records (1919 - 1961 and 1965 - 1972)
- Personal files relating to emigration (May 1938 -1940) *
- Emigration questionnaires for the Welfare Centre of IKG Vienna (May 1938 - 1940) *
- "D" account file, the file relating to foreign currency for the purpose of escape (May 1938 -1940) *
- Documents about child emigration (May 1938 -1940) *
- Documents about the medical advice centre (May 1938 -1940) *
- Files about the holocaust, including deportation lists (1939 and 1941 - 1944) *
- File relating to search enquiries by the American Joint Distribution Committee (after 1945) *
- List of Jews living in Vienna as of 15 September 1939 *
- Register of Jews for Burgenland (before 1938)
- Property files for IKG Vienna (before 1938 to after 1945)
- Jewish associations, foundations and religious communities (incl. partial copies from other archives)
- File of employees of IKG Vienna (1925 to 1945)
- Files about claims under the Victims' Welfare Act and the War and Persecution Compensation Act (can only be viewed with permission from the family in question)
* Since February 2018, archive material and documents relating to the holocaust, antisemitism and racism have been on loan to the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI).
Civil registers:
- Registers of births, marriages and deaths of IKG Vienna, 1784/1785 - 1938·
- Registers of births, marriages and deaths of the Turkish Jewish Community, 1846/1859 - 1938
- Registers of births, marriages and deaths of Imperial Jewish military personnel in Vienna, 1914/1915 - 1918/1920
- Military lists of IKG Vienna (lists of the births of boys), 1863 - 1896
- Registers of births, marriages and deaths of the following Jewish communities: IKG Baden, IKG Eisenstadt, IKG Grossenzersdorf, IKG Horn, IKG Klosterneuburg, IKG Lackenbach, IKG Mattersburg, IKG Mödling, IKG Rechnitz, IKG Stockerau-Korneuburg, IKG St. Pölten, Ybbs-Amstetten (not preserved in full)
For further research, we recommend the links on our archive website: http://www.archiv-ikg-wien.at/archivportal/downloadslinks/linkliste-websites/
Enquiries to the archive
- Enquiries about the archive and/or records office will be answered in accordance with legal requirements and on a case by case basis, using archive material and civil registers.
- For written enquiries, please fill in the user form and send a scan by email to the member of staff named under Contact.
- No information is provided by phone.
- Please note that family-related enquiries can only be answered within the limits of what is possible here. We are currently unable to carry out any genealogical research or draw up family trees.
- Enquiries where incomplete information is provided and those which either exceed the limits of our research capability or are covered by existing literature will not be processed.
- The fees for using the archive, doing research, sending documents etc. are to be paid in advance or immediately following receipt of the invoice, in accordance with the schedule of fees and as stated by the member of archive staff.
- For permission to publish material from the IKG Vienna archive in exhibitions, publications, newspapers, online or on any other available media, please contact the Archive Manager.