The outbreak of the war provided the NS-regime with a useful opportunity to speed up its anti-Jewish policy. Social ostracism and isolation of the Jews were significantly exacerbated through the police regulation of 1 September 1939 permitting Jews to leave their apartments only during fixed hours. Many Jews also reached their physical limits since they received much less provisions for their ration cards marked with a ‘J’ than the non-Jewish population and were entirely excluded from receiving clothing.

Stigmatization of the Jews reached its peak with the police regulation determining that starting 1 September 1941 all Jews from age six onward had to wear the »Jew Star.« This regulation as well as the registration of »Jew«-houses and apartments, the prohibition issued on 1 June 1941 to relocate inside Vienna without prior consent from the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, and the marking, introduced on 1 April 1942, of all »Jewish« apartments with paper »Jew stars« were already preparatory measures toward the deportations.