Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna
| Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung in Wien | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | August 1938 |
| Preceding Agency |
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| Jurisdiction | Austria |
| Agency executive |
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The Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna (German: Zentralstelle für jüdische Auswanderung in Wien) was a Sicherheitsdienst (SD-Security Service) agency established in August 1938 to accelerate the forced emigration of the Austrian Jews and (starting in October 1939) to organize and carry out their deportation. The resolution of emigration issues relating to Austrian citizenship, foreign citizens’ rights, foreign currencies and the taxation of assets were coordinated in order to accelerate this emigration process. The Central Agency for Jewish Emigration in Vienna was the only institution empowered with the issuance of exit permits for Jews in Austria from the time of the Anschluss in 1938 until the ban on Jewish emigration in 1941. The Vienna Agency became the prototype for similar SS agencies used to implement the deportation of Jews in Amsterdam, Prague and many other European cities.
Adolf Eichmann, who had been sent from Berlin as the head of the Agency, and his associate Alois Brunner, set the emigration quotas, the fulfillment of which was delegated by the Nazi Party to the Israelite Community of Vienna. The Israelite Community had been officially closed by the Nazis in March 1938 and re-opened under the name “Jewish Community of Vienna.” Their Nazi-appointed Jewish leader was Josef Löwenherz and the appointed head of the “Emigration Division of the Jewish Community” (German: Auswanderungsabteilung der Kultusgemeinde) was Benjamin Murmelstein. Another important role in the organization was taken by Berthold Storfer. By forcing the Jewish Communities into Nazi-subordinated Judenräte or “Jewish councils,” the Nazis were able to coerce the Jewish people into taking an active bureaucratic role in their own destruction.
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Wikipedia