The exhibition will be shown from 30 April to 31 October 2025 at the Contemporary History Library on Vienna University Campus, Spitalgasse 2-4, Yard 1.12, 1090 Vienna. The exhibition opening is right next door at the "Aula" (map).
Program
Welcome and Introduction
Andreas Brandtner
Director, Vienna University Library
Monika Schreiber
Jewish Studies Library, Vienna University Library
Felicitas Heimann-Jelinek
Exhibition Curator
Martin Kohlbauer
Exhibition Architect
Presentation: "Stolen Books - Recovering Our Family's Legacy"
Adam Krupnick
Spouse of a Belf family member
Followed by a visit to the exhibition
Vegetarian reception
About the exhibition
March 1938: In the wake of the National Socialist seizure of power, members of the Jewish Belf family, who operate a publishing house and a bookstore, are subjected to violent abuse by Nazi paramilitaries and the Gestapo. During the pogrom in November 1938, also known as ‘Kristallnacht’, Nazi troops loot the business at 3 Rabensteig Street in Vienna’s First District and deport its owner, Josef Belf, to the Dachau concentration camp.
These harrowing events, repeated hundreds of times in Vienna alone, marked the end of a company which, for decades, had supplied the Viennese Jewish community with traditional literature and objects for religious practice, thus enabling and strengthening Jewish self-determination and identity.
The exhibition, which will be on display at the Contemporary History Library from April 29 to October 31, illustrates the history of this Jewish family business with historical photographs and a collection of books published or sold by the firm. The fate of the Belf bookstore encapsulates the systematic eradication of religious, cultural, intellectual, and ultimately physical, Jewish life in Vienna.
Curator Guided Tours
- Tue, 13 May, 17:00
- Tue, 10 June, 17:00
- Tue, 01 July, 17:00
- Tue, 30 September, 17:00
- Tue, 14 October, 17:00
- Tue, 28 October, 17:00
Cooperations
- Vienna University Library
- City of Vienna. Culture and History
- Federal Ministry, Republic of Austria. Arts, Culture, Civil Service and Sport
- Future Fund of the Republic of Austria
- Jewish Welcome Service Vienna
- National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism
