Epilogue: Going “Home”? The Aftermath of the Holocaust for the Jewish Community of Vienna

Abstract

Family Separation Sealed the Destruction of the Jewish Community of Vienna, by Ilana F. Offenberger

In the epilogoue, Offenberger reveals that the scars of permanent family separation endured over seven years of Nazi oppression never healed. When Austria was liberated in 1945, few of Vienna’s Jews—neither emigres nor survivors—returned to reclaim their homeland. The vibrant Jewish community of pre-Anschluss Vienna vanished over the course of the Nazi occupation; the high hopes of those who escaped and survived perished with their relatives and loved ones who were murdered in the ghettos, camps, or annihilation sites of the “final solution.” Offenberger argues that despite the large the number of survivors from this community, the division of family units ultimately sealed its complete destruction.