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