Vienna Deportations to the Dachau Concentration Camp

Nils H. Roemer, Director, Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies
Katie Fisher, Research Assistant, Belofsky Fellow
Sarthak Khanna, Information Technology Management
Angie Simmons, Research Assistant, Belofsky Fellow
Siddhant Somani, Business Analytics

Prior to its annexation by Germany in March 1938, Vienna was an important center of Jewish culture and education. Within the city lived a community of prominent Jewish professionals and business owners who were also community leaders. However, upon its annexation, anti-Jewish measures were almost immediately implemented, and Jews were deported from Vienna. The intent of the measures was to exclude Jews from public life in all aspects, economic, cultural, and social. Nazi officials also closed Jewish community offices and sent community leaders to the Dachau concentration camp. Newspaper articles from The Times in May of that year speak of, though it must be noted that it was a very brief mention, Dr. Jakob Ehrlich, “vice president of the Jewish community in Vienna,” dying at Dachau concentration camp, they claim his cause of death is unknown.

Even within the first weeks of the annexation, Jews were faced with brutality, both in physical violence and in the decimation of their livelihoods. In particular, men of working age were among the first targets. Heinrich Himmler ordered a program meant to target those termed “Arbeitsscheue,” or “work-shy,” a distinction that was determined by the rejection of job offers or quitting after a short period of time. These men were arrested and deported to Dachau for a period lasting several months.

Initially, when examining the data for Vienna deportations to Dachau, the expectation was to see a significant rise in deportations that coincided with the November pogrom. However, when studying the data, it became apparent that the worst of the deportations actually occurred in the earlier months of 1938, particularly in June. This coincided with the program ordered by Himmler which saw a sharp uptick in deportations that month as a result.

Although the data does reflect the rise in deportations immediately after Kristallnacht, the June deportations, and those in the months prior, just after the annexation in March, create a picture that differs from the historical record as it is commonly known.