ANNENSTRASSE 1938 – PLUNDER AND EXPULSION
Book presentation and discussion

Wednesday, 25 March 2026, 19:00 h
Location: < rotor >, Volksgartenstraße 6a, Graz

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With the book’s editors: Joachim Hainzl, Heimo Halbrainer, Gerald Lamprecht

With the connection to the railway network in the mid-19th century, a new boulevard and shopping street was created from the centre of Graz to the railway station – Annenstrasse. Consequently, numerous Jewish merchants settled here, which had been confronted with the most virulent anti-Semitism within a very short time.
By the time the National Socialists came to power in 1938, there were still over 30 shops and businesses run by Jewish people along Annenstrasse, which were subsequently ‘Aryanised’ or liquidated. The owners were persecuted, robbed and forced to leave the country.
Whilst some managed to escape the Nazis and attempted to build a new life in exile, others were deported to ghettos and extermination camps, and 40 of them were murdered.
After 1945, there were arduous proceedings to return the stolen property, followed by decades of silence regarding these crimes.

The book documents both the history and present-day situation of this street, as well as the history of the Jewish businesspeople, their persecution and dispossession, and the long silence surrounding these events.

The event will be held in German.

A collaboration between CLIO, the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Graz, and < rotor >.

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