Archival Records:

Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv (City and Provincial Archives of Vienna)

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Title
Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv (City and Provincial Archives of Vienna)

Description
The City and Provincial Archives of Vienna hold material dating back to the 14th century and became part of the municipal administration in 1889. Since Vienna became a federal province in 192, they have the dual role of municipal and provincial archives. The archives' collections cover c. 35,000 shelf metres. They hold very extensive records on the City Administration Departments (Magistratsabteilungen or MA), which were established in 1902 and underwent several dramatic changes in the five subsequent decades.

Genealogical Research
Records relevant for family and genealogical research in the City and Provincial Archives of Vienna include:

Lehmann's Viennese Address Directory (Lehmann's Wiener Adressverzeichnis): a directory for Vienna originally created in 1859. Two updated volumes are published each year, one for private individuals (property owners and tenants), another for businesses. It is a useful tool when searching for names, private and business addresses. Only owners or main tenants are listed, not subtenants. The archives have the directories on microfiche, but they are also available on the open shelves of the City and Provincial Library of Vienna.

Registrations Archive (Meldearchiv): All residents in Austria are required to register in their district. This archive keeps all registrations in Vienna between 1911 and 1947. It also stores a 'Foreigners Index' (Fremdenkartei) which lists all immigrants to Vienna between 1870 and 1880 in alphabetical order. The entries include the names, places and dates of births, profession, religion of all family members and their address in Vienna. The archive is not accessible directly and a private inquiry costs 15.62 Euros per person. Peter Lowe provides a good introduction to Viennese Registration forms. In addition to information on the microfilms of historical Viennese Registration forms available at libraries of the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints, Lowe introduces the various types of forms and lists the different sections on the forms in German and English.

Duplicates of Jewish Community Records: the archives hold microfilms of duplicates of the birth, marriage and death records of the Jewish Community in Vienna between 1828 and 1938. The originals are located in the Civil Records Archive of the Jewish Community in Vienna. According to Randol Schoenberg, the microfilmed duplicates do not correspond fully to the originals. 

The City of Vienna's guideline Tracing your Ancestors in Vienna provides information on where to find birth and marriage certificates, death records, probate records, addresses, and military records.

Queries can be addressed to the City and Provincial Archives of Vienna in writing (by post or e-mail). The archives ask users to familiarise themselves with the information provided on their site and stress that it is important to be as specific as possible in your request.

Looted Property Research
The only records on expropriation of Jewish property in the City and Provincial Archives of Vienna relate to post-war restitution processes:

Restitution Records (Rückstellungsakten): The City and Provincial Archives hold restitution records of the years 1955 to 1963. The restitution records of 1945 to mid-1950s were destroyed in 1980. However, copies may be found in other archival holdings such as the VEAV records (see below), since copies were frequently made in the course of asset registration and restitution procedures. It is usually necessary to contact several institutions. For a fruitful search, it is important to think about the kind of assets the case was about, under which restitution law it was filed and which authorities would have been dealing with it. The City Administration's website includes a detailed article (in German only) with background information on the restitution laws and restitution records at the City and Provincial Archives of Vienna.

District Court Files (Bezirksgerichtsakten): The district court files include Probate Records (Verlassenschaftsabhandlungen) from c. 1783 to 1960, which are important to clarify property rights issues. In addition to the first name and surname of the person you are looking for, it is necessary to know their last address because probate records after 1850 are sorted by the relevant district court. Some real property issues may also be clarified here because the archive holds several old Land Registers and appended title deeds. According to the website, the archive "can only provide information on real property, if the location is known (address) or if there has already been a claim for restitution after 1945". If the records are not located here, they may be located in the archives of the relevant district court.

VE-AV records/ Registration of confiscated assets (Vermögensanmeldungen): Records of registrations in connection with the Austrian 'Law on the registration of aryanised and other assets seized in connection with the assumption of power by the National Socialists' (Vermögenserfassungsgesetz, 10 May 1945, implemented 17 September 1946). The records are ordered by the name of the person who registered the assets. This can either be the victim or the person profiting from the confiscation.

The archives provide an overview of their collections on their website.

Contact Information
Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv
MA 8, Rathaus
A-1082 Vienna
Tel: +43 (0)1 4000-84808
Fax: +43 (0)1 4000-84855
Email: post@m08.magwien.gv.at
http://www.magwien.gv.at/ma08/m08_leit.htm in German and English 

Sources

Tina Walzer & Stephan Templ, Unser Wien: "Arisierung" auf Österreichisch (Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag, 2001), 228

Skyte, Schoenberg, Wenzerul, A Guide to Jewish Geneaology in Germany & Austria, (London: The Jewish Genealogical Society of Great-Britain, 2001), 47, 51

City and Provincial Archives of Vienna
<www.magwien.gv.at/ma08/m08_leit.htm>, first accessed 10 April 2003.  Link updated 19 July 2007.

City of Vienna - Tracing your Ancestors in Vienna
<www.wien.gv.at/english/history/municipalarchiv/ancestors.htm>, first accessed 10 April 2003.  Link updated 19 July 2007.

Jewish Community of Vienna - Archives
<www.ikg-wien.at/static/etis/unter/html/se_index.htm>, first accessed 10 April 2003.  Link updated 19 July 2007.

Austrian Historians' Commission
<www.historikerkommission.gv.at/english_home.html> first accessed 10 April 2003.  Link updated 19 July 2007.

Austria-Czech Special Interest Group
<www.jewishgen.org/BohMor>, first accessed 10 April 2003.  Link updated 19 July 2007.

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