The Viennese who never lived in Vienna

In March, a group of 30 Jews – mostly members of the “Second Generation” – visited Vienna at the invitation of the Jewish Welcome Service. Among the visitors was Carlos Burger, who authored a book on the history of the expulsion of his Jewish family from Vienna. Burger presented his book to Federal President Van der Bellen and Barbara Staudinger of the Jewish Museum.

The group at Vienna City Hall © PID/Schaub-Walzer

The guests, who set out in search of traces of their families in Vienna as part of the JWS visitor program, came from Australia, the US, England and Israel. One of them, Carlos Burger, had already brought his family’s history with him in the form of a book: “Resilience. A Story of Survival” tells how his widely dispersed family fled from the Nazis in Vienna via Bolivia, Argentina, and eventually to the US and Israel.

Burger traced his family’s history all the way back to the 18th century – way back to a great-great-great-grandfather who lived as a rabbi near Vienna. Burger’s father owned a shirt store in Vienna Leopoldstadt, while his grandfather ran a transport company in Vienna Kagran and an uncle had a fur trade in Vienna’s seventh district.

Adding a further chapter…

In February of 1939, 21 members of Burger’s mother’s family and eight members on his father’s side were able to flee from the Nazis on a ship going overseas. It was on this ship that Carlos’ parents met. Carlos Chaim Burger was born in Argentina in 1943 – as a Viennese who never lived in Vienna and who later worked as a therapist and social worker in the US and Israel.

At a reception for the group, he presented his work to Federal President Van der Bellen, and during the group’s visit to the Jewish Museum Vienna, he handed over a copy to the museum’s director, Barbara Staudinger. Further items on the agenda included a reception at City Hall by parliamentary representative and district councilor Peter Florianschütz, a city sightseeing tour and visits to the Shoah memorial site at Ostarrichi Park and the Wien Museum.

“I will,” declared Carlos in parting, “be adding a further chapter to my book about my experiences in Austria.”

Source: Inter alia, article in “News” (print edition no. 13/2024)