The Jewish Community of Laa an der Thaya



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The panorama shows how deeply the Jewish community was imbedded in the town: the former synagogue is located directly next to the medieval Catholic church and the ancient mill, which was one of the main gates to the city when the medieval town wall was still in place

Even though this website contains information on other Jewish communities of the Lower Austrian “Wine District”, it focuses specifically on the vanished Jewish community of Laa an der Thaya.
My long-term primary focus was of course on Laa.  By happy chance, I also encountered survivors from other nearby places and was able to incorporate their histories and stories into my work as well.

This chapter presents:

A short
introduction on location and history of the town

Information on
Jewish institutions:
- Facts about the
synagogue of Laa/Thaya and memories of survivors, who once prayed there
- The translation of the
clipping from the standard reference book about Austrian synagogues (by Pierre Genee), explaining the historical implications in Laa
- A report on how a
collections box, the only remains of the interior of the synagogue, was found
- Information on the
Jewish graveyard of Mistelbach (including a list of the graves and a map), where many people from Laa were buried, and several other Jewish graveyards in Stockerau, elsewhere in Moravia, Bavaria)

“Returning the names” - an article about Jewish life in Laa:
An outline of the Jewish history of the town and insights into daily pre-war life. (The article was published in the Viennese magazine "David".)


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Here is the former synagogue with a part of the memorial for citizens of Laa visible at the side. (picture taken August 2016)