Until October 31, the exhibition “BELF. History of a Viennese Jewish Bookstore” at the Contemporary History Library illustrates the fate of a Jewish family business. The Jewish Welcome Service invited the descendants of the bookseller family to the exhibition opening and helped with the travel costs.
The exhibition is dedicated to the tumultuous history of the Belf bookstore, which for decades supplied Vienna’s Jewish community with traditional literature and religious objects. In March 1938, members of the Belf family were severely abused by the Sturmabteilung (SA) and Gestapo; during the November pogrom, the store was plundered and owner Josef Belf was deported to Dachau concentration camp.
These events marked the end of an enterprise that had played a significant role in strengthening Jewish identity in Vienna. With the help of historical images and books from the original inventory of Belf, the exhibition illustrates the history of this family-run business. It serves as a showcase example for the systematic extermination of Jewish life in Vienna at the religious, cultural, intellectual, and physical level.
The exhibition is made possible by the Vienna University Library, the Vienna Office of Cultural Affairs, the Federal Ministry for Arts and Culture, the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria, the Jewish Welcome Service Vienna, and the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism.
Contemporary History Library / Campus of the University of Vienna
Spitalgasse 2-4, Door 1.12, 1090 Vienna
T: +43-1-4277-16711, fb-zeitgeschichte.ub@univie.ac.at
Throughout the duration of the exhibition, guided tours with curators are offered: on July 1, September 30, October 14 and 28, all at 5 pm.
