Language:
English
Year of publication:
2009
Titel der Quelle:
Jewish Studies at the Central European University
Angaben zur Quelle:
7 (2009-2011) 63-81
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Abstract:
Ca. 76,000 Hungarian Jews were not deported to Auschwitz or other concentration camps in 1944-early 1945, but transferred to Austria. The motivation for the deportation of Nazi Europe's last Jews to Austria was dual: on the one hand, Austria and Moravia felt an acute shortage in the workforce; on the other hand, Himmler planned to keep a rather large number of Jews "on ice" in Austria in order to ease his negotiations with the U.S. and Britain for a separate peace and to gain an alibi for the postwar period. The idea of sending Hungarian Jews to Austria instead of Auschwitz was suggested to Eichmann by Rezső Kasztner. More than 15,000 Jews were deported through the Strasshof railway station to Austria in June-July 1944. In October 1944 the Szálasi government agreed to give the Germans 50,000 Hungarian Jews "on loan", thus in November 1944, 30,000 Jews of Budapest were marched to Austria to build the "Südostwall". A number of Jewish labor service men were also transferred to Austria during this period. In December 1944 death marches to the Austrian border continued. The living and working conditions for the Jews sent to Austria were relatively better than in concentration camps, and their chances for survival were greater. However, many Jews perished during the death marches and many others in November 1944 and in 1945 were transferred to concentration camps and perished there. Ca. 23,000 of these Hungarian Jews died in Austria.
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