22 | NOVEMBER 12 • 2020
A
s my wife, Freda, and I celebrated
our first anniversary this year, we
fondly recalled our honeymoon in
Vienna, Austria. We were shocked, however,
to learn of terrorist attacks this Nov. 2 on six
sites in the central city, including just outside
the city’
s largest synagogue, the Stadttemple.
Freda and I were married in Krakow,
Poland, the land of our forebears, the day
after Yom Kippur, 2019. For our honey-
moon, we decided to celebrate in Austria, the
country of Freda’
s birth (in a post-War dis-
placed persons’
camp). We arrived in Vienna
on Oct. 13, in time for Sukkot services that
night at the majestic, nearly 200-year-old
Stadttemple.
As in much of Western Europe, a heavily
armed military guard protected the entrance
to the synagogue, and we were thoroughly
screened before being allowed to enter.
The synagogue, as big and
beautiful inside as an opera
hall, is inauspicious from the
street. When it was built in
1826, the prevailing antisem-
itism required synagogues to
be hidden, so it sits obscured
on the outside by an apartment
building.
Once inside, Freda headed
for the women’
s balcony while a
friendly British expat located an
English-language Artscroll siddur
for me. He invited us to stay for a holiday
chicken dinner afterward, but we decided,
instead, to explore the city center.
On the cobblestone streets surround-
ing the synagogue are several taverns and
restaurants. These were targets of the Nov. 2
terrorist gunfire. News reports said the rabbi
who lived above the synagogue said he heard
about 100 rounds fired.
This corner of downtown Vienna is
the historic Judenstadt, or Jewish Quarter.
Although it is not the center of the Jewish
residential community now, it is home to
several Jewish museums and points of inter-
est.
During our stay, we visited the Simon
Recent terrorist violence doesn’t erase
fond memories of 2019 visit.
Recent terrorist violence doesn’t erase
Vienna
Honeymoon
IN
THED
JEWS
TOP TO BOTTOM:
David and Freda
Sachs in the Vienna
Chabad sukkah. David
Sachs with a rabbi
at Vienna Chabad
sukkah. Freda Sachs
with the rabbi’s wife
in the sukkah.
DAVID SACHS COPY EDITOR
“OUR EXPERIENCE IN
VIENNA WAS POSITIVE
AND UPLIFTING.
IN THIS AGE OF
TERROR AND DIVISION,
THERE ARE SIGNS OF
HOPE.”
— DAVID SACHS
Freda Sachs outside the
Judenplatz Holocaust
memorial, resembling
a structure built of
thousands of books
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DAVID SACHS