As of 2024, most Jews in Austria live in Vienna, totaling around 12,000 people. At the end of the 19th century Vienna was a hub for Jewish culture and had the third largest Jewish community in Europe, numbering approximately 147,000 individuals in 1900. In her book “The Yellow Street,” Veza Canetti (1897-1963) describes the diversity of Jewish life around her. Veza Canetti grew up here, in the Ferdinandstraße. Her novel is about kids and adults, beggars and landlords, men and women, day-to-day life and commotion. The park at the intersection of Ferdinandstraße and Tempelgasse is named in honor of Veza Canetti.
This IWalk cannot cover all facets of Jewish life in this neighbourhood, but together we shall discover spaces where Jewish life was most prevalent back in the day and can still be found today.