‘Cleansing’ of the Faculty and Students at the University of Vienna

As previously noted, post-Anchluss in Austria many faculty were expelled from the University of Vienna. Around 175 professors have been accounted for as expelled from the University of Vienna during this Aryanization period. Jewish students were allowed to finish their training, however they were graduated with non-Aryan medical degrees and were never allowed to practice. Jewish doctors had their medical degrees revoked in 1938.

At the University of Vienna, interviews of faculty were carried out by members of the NS-Dozentenbund like Alexander Pichler. Some faculty saw what was coming and fled Austria. Those who stayed risked persecution and prison. Members of the faculty who refused to leave were imprisoned at Dachau prison camp.

A group of SA hold hands on the steps of the University of Vienna in an attempt to prevent Jews from entering the building.
A group of SA hold hands on the steps of the University of Vienna in an attempt to prevent Jews from entering the building. Source – USHMM