Jewish Vienna
The 2nd District - home to the Viennese Jews
The 2nd District, home of the Vienna Boys’ Choir and the Hotel Stefanie, has always been shaped by the Jewish. Here, in front of the city walls of Vienna, businessmen and bankers took care of business. It is no miracle, then, that an active Jewish culture developed in the 2nd District, which led to the development of ‘Leopoldstadt’, as it is called by the Viennese.
Even today, Leopoldstadt shows many details of its great Jewish tradition – for example, every year, a reception is held in the Hotel Stefanie for all Jewish refugees from Nazi rule. In this manner, the city of Vienna shows its respect for Jewish culture, which plays such an important part in Viennese traditions.
A visit to the Jewish museum is worthwhile. Not all Jewish sights in Vienna are freely accessible to tourists – often they are under police protection. But even if the buildings are only viewable from the outside, they are always worth seeing.