"I Am a Conscious Jew and an Austrian": Austrian Jewish Women Survivors in Post-Shoah Austria

Abstract

Abstract: This paper presents the life stories of six Jewish women who were born in Vienna, survived the Nazi persecution there or in camps, and stayed in Austria after the war. The subjects were chosen in an effort to reflect a diversity of fates, reactions and coping strategies and to offer a representative overview. I will discuss why these women did not leave Austria after the Nazi takeover, how they managed to survive the years of persecution, why they subsequently decided to remain in Austria, and how their sufferings influenced the course of their lives after liberation. As Marion Kaplan has shown for Germany, I argue that gender, class, age and family ties were important reasons for their choices to stay, both before and after the war.