I ❤️ WN
Wiener Neustadt
Let's get straight to the point: this was not my favorite day. It's not necessarily Wiener Neustadt's fault, everyone was tired from the hike, most of us (thankfully not me) were hungover from last night, and I'm pretty sure a multiple hour walking tour of a not that beautiful city was not at the top of anyone's list.
We began the day meeting one of the coolest people I've ever had the chance to meet. Johannes Reiss was the director of the Jewish Museum in Eisenstadt for many years and is an expert transcriber and translator of ancient Hebrew in addition to being a scholar of the Austrian Jewish community. We stopped with him at the Wiener Neustadt Jewish Cemetery. Founded in the late 19th century, the Cemetery contains some of the oldest gravestones in Europe. These medieval Jewish gravestones are preserved here and have Hebrew inscriptions that have few similarities to present day Hebrew. Johannes used his expertise to translate these stones into modern German, preserving the legacy and history of these medieval Jews for a modern society.
We then went on a tour of the city. Our first stop was the Wiener Neustadt Cathedral where, in 1670, the local Bishop called for the expulsion of all Jews from Vienna. Despite this historical moment, the church was otherwise pretty unremarkable. Unlike Stephansdom and Klosterneuberg, there was nothing particularly interesting in this church. Coupled with the fact that, in order to study Jewish history, we had to go to a Catholic Church instead of a synagogue because there isn't a synagogue left, this trip to the Cathedral felt emotionally draining, especially on the back of a day of hiking.
We walked for a couple hours through WIener Neustadt, seeing several modern-looking buildings that did not feel like the beautiful parts of Austria we have been to previously. Other than a few notable exceptions such as the tall building designed to look like a chalice pictured at the top of this page, most of the buildings in Wiener Neustadt had little character. There is, however, a good reason for this. All but 11 buildings in the entire city were damaged by a rigorous Allied bombing campaign in the Second World War. This adds to the demoralizing feeling of being in Wiener Neustadt because the city was not only stripped of its beauty by bombs but was also so active in the military efforts of the Nazis that it had to be bombed so heavily.
My favorite part of Wiener Neustadt was getting to visit this military academy that also holds the tomb of Emperor Maximilian I. While there we got to meet with one of the soldiers and explore their stunning courtyard. Maximilian I was a 15th century Holy Roman Emperor and the only surviving male heir of Frederick III. He is perhaps best known for expanding the Habsburg territory through his marriage to Mary of Burgundy.
After leaving the military academy, we got back on the bus to go back to Vienna. It was clear that no one expected another stop. Yesterday's hike, in addition to the walking tour in the heat in a city we weren't particularly fond of had killed the group's enthusiasm. We were on the bus for about 15 minutes, people were asleep, others had completely zoned out. That's when the bus stopped. I looked out the window at the building we were next to and figured we weren't going to get out to see it. There's no way a building with this sign could be historically significant.
I was wrong. Johannes brought us into this church and explained that it was built on land that used to be a Jewish shoe factory. Today, despite the importance of the factory to the Jewish community here, the church provides no records of the Jewish nature of the factory it replaced. There isn't an online record that the factory was owned by a Jewish person and, passing by, you would never know. After a very long day, this felt like a gut punch. The church was already aesthetically displeasing, uncomfortable to sit in, and generally gave off bad vibes but, to know that the Jewish stories of this place had been erased from history completely drained me.
Getting back on the bus to return to Vienna, it was clear that no one wanted to do anything but sleep and I can't blame them. There are many factors that went into my lack of love for Wiener Neustadt but, it's safe to say the many souvenir shirts I saw today that read "I ❤️ WN" simply do not apply to me.
