Vienna and the Holocaust: From Tragedy to Justice

(147 reviews)

Vienna audio tour: Vienna and the Holocaust: From Tragedy to Justice

This is a 3.5mi walking tour

It takes an average of 120 mins to complete.

Vienna

Austria

$14.99

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About the Tour

This walking tour is an essential introduction to Vienna’s role in the Holocaust. It tells the story of Viennese Jews throughout the city’s history, with a focus on the Holocaust and the post-war years when justice was being sought. If you like overlooked history, forgotten stories, and off-the beaten path places, this walk through the center of Vienna will be right up your alley (and we’ll be wandering down a few of those too!)

We’ll explore locations with links to Jewish Vienna that aren’t often found on tourist maps. Along the way, you’ll learn about Simon Wiesenthal, the greatest ‘Nazi hunter’ of all time, and how many of his efforts eventually led to justice.

You can look forward to hearing about:

Jewish Vienna’s history, and Austria’s role in the Holocaust
The original site of the Gestapo headquarters
Stadt Temple
“The Nameless Library”, the central memorial for Austrian victims of the Holocaust
Leopoldstadt, Vienna’s thriving Jewish community
The O5 headquarters, the most prominent pro-Austrian resistance group

Whether it’s your first time in Vienna or you’re a curious history buff eager to uncover the city’s hidden corners, this 90-minute walk will keep you captivated and have you yearning for more intriguing tales.

Tour Producer

Raymond and Krista White

3 tours

Greetings and welcome! We are Raymond and Krista White, and our motto is travel, curiosity, and adventure. Drawing on nearly 30 years of experience as diplomats and professional travelers, we specialize in finding off-the-beaten-path locations, uncovering hidden histories, and sharing compelling human-interest stories. Our time spent representing our country abroad taught us that the true heart of a place is rarely found on a postcard; it is found in the quiet streets and the voices of the past that still echo there today.

As storytellers, we have a knack for breathing life into history through the places and things we will visit and the people we will discuss. In short, our tours are unique and deviate from the standard walking tour models. Instead, we weave a compelling unfolding narrative throughout each of our walks. The places we will visit along each route are chapters in the larger, immersive story we are sharing with you.

Each of our routes is the result of meticulous research. We don't just show you landmarks; we invite you to step inside the narrative and literally walk through the very moments that shaped the world. We intentionally designed our walks to unfold this way. If you are intellectually curious and enjoy exploring a city’s hidden corners, we invite you to join us and learn something new. Whether you are a seasoned local or a first-time visitor, there is always more to learn.

The Vienna Tourist Board praised our tour, "Vienna and the Holocaust: From Tragedy to Justice," as a "Must-see walking tour in Vienna." When you have a moment, please also check out our website at www.whitehousetravel.com

Preview Location

Location 4

Nestroyhof Theatre

Stop here for a moment. You should be at the large blue Ubahn sign at the crosswalk at the corner of Nestroyplatz and Praterstrasse. You will see the Apotheke in the yellow building in front you..

The large ornate white building to your left in the square is the Nestroy Ho... Stop here for a moment. You should be at the large blue Ubahn sign at the crosswalk at the corner of Nestroyplatz and Praterstrasse. You will see the Apotheke in the yellow building in front you..

The large ornate white building to your left in the square is the Nestroy Hof, one of the city’s historical theaters. With a restaurant, beer garden and dance club, the Nestroy Hof was once a focal point of Jewish social life in Leopoldstadt.

It was built in 1898 by Austrian architect Oskar Marmorek, but not for himself. After marrying his young bride, painter Nelly Schwarz, Oskar decided he might need to get in good with his in-laws. So... he built this magnificent theater for his father-in-law, Julius Schwarz. The Anschluss changed everything.

In 1940, the Gestapo confiscated the theater from the Schwarz family. They promptly gifted ownership to the Polsterer family, prominent German industrialists supporting the Nazi war effort. After the War, this majestic theater was neglected and forgotten. In 1997, it had become a supermarket. Then in 2003, the original ceiling was rediscovered. Shortly after, workers surfaced the long-forgotten theater stage. Although the theater has been restored to its former glory, even today it is still owned by the descendants of the Polsterer family.

Okay, now look down and to your left at the corner of the white building. You should see a gold plaque embedded in the sidewalk. On this street and scattered throughout Vienna, 22,000 gold plated plaques called “Stones of Remembrance” have been placed in the sidewalks or embedded in the walls of buildings where Jewish families once lived. These symbolic gravestones were designed to honor victims of the Holocaust and to commemorate their lives.

Each stone tells a story of real people... people who had their lives stolen. This stone honors two passionate theater lovers, Bernhard and Adele Sachs. Bernhard and Adele lived in an apartment building that was once located where you are standing. The Sachs’ neighbors were the actors who performed at the Nestroy Hof.

In 1941, the Nazis confiscated their apartment and deported the Sachs to the Łódź Ghetto in Poland where they perished. Kurt Sachs, their surviving son, placed the plaque where he knew his parents walked often, happy and full of life, crossing the square on their way to the theater.

Let's get going again. Cross the street diagonally and walk towards the Nestroy Hof theater to the left of the Apotheke. Read More

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Major Landmarks

Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies
Leopoldstadt Temple
Museum of Natural History
Stadt Temple
Jewish Memorial
Rathaus
Hofburg Palace
Kunsthistorische museum
Nestroyplatz
Sigmund Freud Park

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Getting There

Route Overview

VoiceMap tours follow a route from a set starting point. It’s how we give turn-by-turn directions and tell a story greater than the sum of its parts.

Start location
Praterstraße, 1020 Wien, Austria
Total distance

6km
Final location
Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1010 Wien, Austria
Distance back to start location

3km

Directions to Starting Point

The tour begins at Praterstrasse 70/2 in front of a beautifully refurbished Venetian palace built in 1899 as part of an Italian Quarter in Vienna. Above the building you’ll see the winged Saint-Marc Lion of Venice above the entryway.

How to get here:
U-Bahn: U1 Nestroyplatz, Praterstern;
U2 Praterstern
Bahn: S1, S2, S3, S4, S7
Straßenbahn: 5, O
Bus: 5B, 80A, 82A

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Tips

Places to stop along the way

Our tour ends at the statue between the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Museum of Natural History. Both museums are well worth visiting after your tour!

Best time of day

This tour can be enjoyed anytime day or night.

Precautions

Be mindful of traffic in the city. Be respectful at religious sites.

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