Stones of Remembrance in Ottakring

In 1910, Vienna’s IKG (Vienna’s Orthodox Israelite Community) numbered had 175,318 members; 2.6 percent (4558 people) lived in Ottakring (Compared to 32.4 percent in Leopoldstadt and 0.3 percent in Simmering, the districts with the highest or lowest Jewish populations).

The organizational and institutional center of the Jews in Ottakring was the temple at Hubergasse 8. Erected by the then Israelite Suburban Community Ottakring in 1885/1886, its architect was Ludwig Tischler. Consisting of three naves, it comprised 406 men’s seats and 266 women’s seats, and was a visibly recognizable Jewish cult building because of its tables of the Ten Commandments. From 1890, the temple fell under the administration of the IKG Vienna. In 1928, a winter temple was added by Ignaz Reiser.

From 1898 to 1938, Julius Max Bach (as successor to Moritz Deutsch) served as rabbi of the Hubertempel. Bach was born in Vienna in 1872 and studied at the Orthodox Berlin Rabbinical Seminary, at the University of Berlin and at the Vienna Jewish Theological Institute. In 1938 he fled to New York, where he also worked as a rabbi and died in 1946.

Cantors of the Hubertempel were Moshe Dow Kaufmann and Rudolf Kogan. The building adjoining the temple was also the seat of many Jewish associations for the sixteenth and seventeenth districts: the “Israelite Women Charities Association”, the “Chewra Kadischa”, the “Expatriate Association for School Children and Elderly Men and Women unable to work” , the “Jewish Culture and Temple Association in Vienna Ottakring-Hernals” and the “Association Children’s Friends for Clothing of Poor Israelite Schoolchildren”.

Another important site was Lindauergasse 5 which was a house of prayer “Ahawath Scholaum”. Its rabbi was Markus Leib Habermann. Lindauergasse 5 also was home to the “Charity Support for Sickness and Peaceloving”.

Addition locations of importance in in Vienna-Hernals include:

Neulerchenfeldergasse 64 which was the house of prayer “Scheweth Achim”.
The kosher restaurant Merlin on Grundsteingasse.
The Zionist section for the 16th and 17th districts located at Frauengasse 9.

Text: Evelyn Adunka

Johann Staudgasse 10 Kuffners observatory
Nietscheplatz 2 Stones of rememberance
Ottakringerstr 35 Stones of rememberance
Haberlgasse 8 Stones of rememberance  

 

Wilheminenstraße 72

Stones of rememberance  

Sautergasse 27-29 Stones of rememberance