Ghost of a Chance – Searching For Siebengemeide (Lost Lands #57b)

In my experience, ghost stories are presented in a mildly frightening kind of way that is good fun. They are told in gatherings around fires at summer camps or on a crisp autumn evening. The story is told in such a way that the wide-eyed audience feels a personal connection. There is a slow buildup to the terrifying finale. The audience screams, then realizes the tale is fictional, and everyone shares a laugh.

There is another kind of ghost story that is the opposite of entertaining. A story where silence speaks loudest, the unimaginable happens and try as they might, the affected can never forget it. The memories and reminders arrive when least expected. Ghosts do not exist around us, but within us. Take Austrians for instance. Nothing could be more frightening to a people of such pride and accomplishment than the reminder that many of their descendants willingly took part in the Holocaust. This is the ghost story that haunts Burgenland.?

Wedded To Tradition - Before The Storm

There were once seven orthodox Jewish communities known as the Siebengemeinden in northern Burgenland. Their faithful had a world they could call their own. One that had evolved since the late 17th century under the protection of the Esterhazys, one of the most powerful Hungarian aristocratic families in East-Central Europe. These communities were tight knit and wedded to tradition. Their spiritual life was cultivated at yeshivas and synagogues. Whereas Jews in other parts of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Habsburg Empire lived under the threat of persecution, the Siebengemeinden could rely on the Esterhazy’s protection in the event of war. By the mid-19th century, this protection was no longer required as the Jews of Burgenland became Hungarian citizens.

They were free to move and work wherever they wanted to. Half the 8,000 Jews of Burgenland (this includes the more liberal Jews of southern Burgenland that had been protected by the Batthyany family) moved to Vienna. The ones in the seven communities continued with their lives much as before. The community was insular and self-contained. The Siebengemeinden had weathered many storms prior to the onset of modernity, but they would be helpless against the ideological forces and virulent antisemitism unleashed against them in the aftermath of World War I. Tradition would not count for much when faced with fascism and the violence brought with it. A way of life was on the cusp of being shattered by the late 1930’s. The storm had been gathering ever since the war had ended. Another war was on the verge of engulfing Europe. The Siebengemeinden would not be around to see it.

Culture Shock - Virulence & Violence

My itinerary for the lost lands beyond Hungary’s borders has focused on what can be found, rather than what is missing. That is no longer true with the Siebengemeinden. The search is now on for thousands of missing persons, seven synagogues, and traces of a culture devastated that was devastated in a matter of months. Finding traces of the Siebengemeinden will not be easy. It is all but invisible unless you know where and what to look for. Obvious signs rarely exist. The fact that historic cemeteries outnumber historic synagogues in Burgenland is evidence of the problem. One might think a distinct culture that was documented throughout its history and continues to be a century after its destruction would have left lots of traces behind. Tragically this is not true. The Siebengemeinden was struck by a force of such vile and thorough ferocity that it left very few physical remnants behind. Fortunately, one of the synagogues where members of the community worshipped somehow managed to escape the all-consuming cataclysm that engulfed the community.

The Holocaust started earlier in Burgenland than it did in the lost lands beyond Hungary’s borders further to the east. There have not been many times in history when those living in Hungary have been luckier than those in Austria. One of the few times involved Jews of the two countries. The Orthodox Jews who were part of the Siebengemeinden felt the destructive hand of Naziism earlier than if they had still been living in West Hungary. The Holocaust did not hit Hungary until the German occupation of the country in 1944. Nevertheless, Jews on both sides of the border suffered mightily. The only saving grace for Burgenland’s Jews was that the Final Solution was still years away. This would give many of them a chance to flee the country. This was all in the future. First, the Anschluss would occur.

In March 1938, Nazi Germany invaded Austria in the Anschluss (annexation). The situation took a turn for the worse almost immediately for the Siebengemeinden. Jews of the seven communities were expelled from their homes, looted of property, and forcibly relocated to Vienna. Two and a half centuries of tolerance and tradition had been savagely upended. Their enemies did not stop there. Eight months later, the Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) led to immediate and devastating consequences for the Siebengemeinden’s synagogues. They were vandalized and set on fire. All but one was destroyed. The Nazis did not spare the Kobersdorf synagogue, but it managed to survive the damage inflicted upon it. Burgenland had already been declared free of Jews. Now that included their structural legacy with only a couple of exceptions. The synagogue in Kobersdorf (Kabold) and a private one, Wertheimer Schul in Eisenstadt (Kismarton). The latter now houses the Austrian Jewish Museum. The former has undergone a recent restoration and reopened as a cultural center.

Restorative Injustice – A Terrifying Tale

Museums and restorations have been a positive step in Austria acknowledging the destruction of Jews and their culture during the Holocaust. But there is still one thing that cannot be restored, the lives of those who belonged to the Siebengemeinden. After the Holocaust, only a handful of Jews came back to live in Burgenland. The two-thirds from Burgenland that survived by fleeing abroad had no desire to return. The other one-third of Burgenland’s Jews did not have the luxury of that decision because they had been murdered in concentration camps. Living or dead, all had become ghosts in Burgenland. That is the most terrifying ghost story of all.