Only a few days following the »Anschluss,« the first decrees and laws were issued to remove the Jews from Austria’s public, cultural, and economic life: Jews in civil and municipal service lost their jobs as did Jewish laborers, employees, physicians, pharmacists, artists, and lawyers. Jewish children were only allowed into »Jew classes« or schools especially established for them. University studies were altogether prohibited from November 1938 onward.

By summer 1938 the first laws and decrees to stigmatize Jews had also come into effect – e.g., they had to carry with them a special identification card marked with a »J« and had to adopt the additional names of Sara and Israel. Discriminating orders ensued, such as the prohibition for Jews to visit most Viennese parks.   

Even after the fading of the initial »Anschluss euphoria,« anti-Jewish excesses and systematic arrests of Jews occurred time and again.