BELF. Geschichte einer Wiener jüdischen Buchhandlung

Die Veranstaltung findet am 29.04.2025 um 18:30 in der Aula am Universitätscampus, Spitalgasse 2-4, Hof 1.11, 1090 Wien statt.

Die Ausstellung ist bis zum 31.10.2025 an der Fachbereichsbibliothek Zeitgeschichte zu sehen.

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.

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