From the "Ghetto im Werd" (1624-1671) to the present day, the second district has been the traditional living quarters of Jews in Vienna. Starting at Hollandstraße, the tour will move to Tempelgasse, tracing the destroyed life and searching for signs of life today.

The second district has been the traditional place of Jewish settlement in Vienna from the "Ghetto im Werd" until today. The Leopoldsstadt, der 2. district of Vienna, has been the traditional place of Jewish settlement, beginning with the Ghetto im Werd which existed from 1624 until the expulsion in 1671, until today. Between the wars, it was the throbbing centre of a rich Jewish culture. Today, cultural and religious institutions prove the re-vitalisation of the Jewish Community of Vienna. As in earlier times, the second district is still mainly a poor area. There are hardly any attractive buildings to be seen. The six large, splendid synagoges were destroyed under Nazism, we can only look at them on photographs and read commemorative plaques. Passing the Hollandstraße, our walk leads us in a wide curve to the Tempelgasse, looking for traces of destroyed vitality and searching for present signs of life. Like few other places, the small, narrow Tempelgasse, connects past and present: The preserved part of the formerly monumental temple of Leopoldstadt still includes the Mikwe of "Agudass Isroel". Recently, the Kultusgemeinde erected an administrative building on the area of the destroyed main building. The Jewish immigration from countries of the former Sovjet Union is being recogniced through a sephardic centre, which has been opened with it's own synagogue and Rabbi in 1992.