“Are you an Austrian, too?”
“Yes, unfortunately!”
This actual conversation between two old Jewish women in New York perfectly encapsulates the feelings many Austrian-born Jews harbor toward their native land — and with good reason.
After all, the nation spawned the virulently anti-Semitic political movements that influenced a young Hitler, blithely wrote itself off as a victim of the Holocaust and elected former Nazi Kurt Waldheim to the presidency in 1988. But, says Hannah Lessing — the secretary-general of several Holocaust-related funds who overheard the two old ladies kibitzing in New York — times have changed.
Lessing recently spoke on the state of Austrian restitution at the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation’s Steuart Street headquarters. Afterward, she overheard a radically different conversation from two elderly Austrian-born Jewish women.
The pair “had just come back two days ago from Vienna. It was the most wonderful trip they ever had; now they have only good childhood memories of Vienna and they came back at once,” said Lessing, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
Yet, even 15 years ago, a trip to Austria would have been much less pleasant for a Jew, said Lessing.
“You could still feel something in the air. Austria, in the last seven to 10 years, has done really good work. The survivors see it and feel it.”
And Lessing has helped Austria carry out its good work, awarding more than $300 million to Austrian victims of Nazi persecution. Lessing estimates that 300 Austrians who either survived the Holocaust or were forced to flee their homeland now reside in the Bay Area.
Since 1995, when Lessing took over Austria’s National Fund for Victims of National Socialism, nearly 30,000 Jews and others living around the world have received an average of $6,000 as Lessing’s staff has grown from 10 to 75 to handle the work. When elderly survivors cannot make it to the Vienna office, employees go to them. Lessing recently spoke in New York, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires and Montevideo, Uruguay, in addition to San Francisco.
“I could have waited these last seven years and whoever finds me gets his check, but I want to find them.
“All the other funds, you have to prove, and if you don’t have documentation, bad luck for you! Remember the Swiss banks were so cynical, they said they cannot pay out your account if you don’t bring a death certificate. We’re talking about Auschwitz; there are no death certificates. [Survivors] do not have to prove to me they were persecuted. I have to prove them wrong.”
Lessing admits that $6,000 is little more than a symbolic gesture but notes that time is running out for an aging population that can use all the help it can get.
“We are losing one-and-a-half survivors per day. The age group is 80-plus. We don’t have a lot of time left to do anything for them,” she said.
But more than the money, many Austrian survivors are comforted by a letter of apology from the nation’s president. The approval of the National Fund in 1995 also came with recognition from former Chancellor Franz Vranitzky and other high-ranking leaders that the Austrians “were not only victims of National Socialism but were also active collaborators of Hitler’s regime.”
Austrian survivors are still eligible for the National Fund, and may also benefit from the nation’s General Settlement Fund, a $210 million endowment spurred by class-action lawsuits.
Possible claimants have until May 28 to apply for payment, and so far 7,000 have. Lessing notes that 19,000 applied for a now-exhausted fund set up for those who had property confiscated by the Nazis, so she anticipates many more to send in claims before May.
“During my speeches, people are happy to see I am a young person, They come up to the table and speak to me and see my Magen David and say, ‘Are you Jewish?’ And I say, ‘Yes, why not?'” said Lessing, who is less than half the age of an average survivor.
“On the one hand, that makes them feel more comfortable. But what makes me happy about it, is in the beginning they didn’t know [I’m Jewish] and they still trusted me, a young Austrian. We are a much more open country now.”