The Destination

THE DESTINATION

Few families can claim such a beautiful and historically preserved destination as Vienna. Of course the Jeiteles were originally in Temesvar but the Jarays are really rooted in Vienna. We can still walk in the very footsteps and eat at the very same restaurants as our forefathers, see the homes they lived in, search for family information at museums and in the archives. We can see their handwriting on marriage or birth ledgers, and visit their spiritual remains resting in the Jewish cemetery.

Getting to and around Vienna is easy. The airport is on the highway to Budapest, so if plans include Budapest (approximately 250 km.), it's perhaps best to rent a car at the airport and go to Budapest first. Return the car to the Vienna Airport and take a cab to your hotel, or the bus which takes you to the Hilton where you can catch a cab. Most of the cabs are Mercedes sedans. All the hotels and tourist destinations and the cemetery are on the subway, which is clean, easy, and inexpensive. A 3 day pass for 2 people can be purchased from your hotel for about $6, (1998) and maps are free.

Burgtheater

You'll want to visit

Josef-Kainz-Platz in the 18th district, where Sandor's life size bronze statue of Josef Kainz playing Hamlet is located across from the Türkenschanzpark. To get there, take a cab from the end of the underground line. It's only a $5 ride, and since there's not much else there, you may have the cab wait while you take pictures. You'll notice Sandor signed the bottom of the bronze and the date (1911). I found myself looking at numerous other bronze statues on my travels trying to locate more of his works. We know there are more so keep your eyes open.

There's also

a large marble monument of Franz Liszt sitting on a bench, which Sandor unveiled amid international acclaim in 1936 in Eisenstadt. I couldn't find it as I didn't know where to look, and didn't visit Eisenstadt. The only clue is a building in the background of the picture with the name "Krankenkasse".
You'll likely find more of Sandor's work if you make a trip to Trautenau (Trutnov), which is located in the Czech Republic. When Sandor was stationed there in WW I, he and other noted artists served as grave memorial artists from 1916 to 1918. That’s how Austria protected its cultural elite from potential harm.

If you contact

Ms. Weiss, Israelitische Kultusgemeinde, 1010 Wien, Seitenstettengasse 4, Tel: 136298, Fax 5331577, she'll help you find births, death information etc. Donations are appreciated and if you are lucky she may even pull out the old church record books for you to look at. It was exciting to see the handwriting of our relatives on marriage and birth records. It's in the center of town and quite easy to find.

You may also like

to go to the Rathaus, which is the town-hall. I'm told they have the old lists of residents and information on almost everyone. I didn't get there, so it's up to you.

Volksgarten and Rathaus, Jan. 2003

Most of Vienna

is easy to walk. The buildings and museums are magnificent. The station of the underground “Stephansplatz” by the big Cathedral is almost the center of the square and a good place to start. From here, you can walk to the Imperial Palace, see the parliament buildings, and walk the same cobblestones as our ancestors. The palace they helped decorate is now a museum, and the Academy of Art is still there. The Karlsplatz station beside the Historical Museum was designed by Otto Wagner, a family friend and teacher at the Vienna Academy of Art during the time Sandor & Max attended. Otto also taught Gustav Klimt, and Egon Schiele and Richard Gerstl. The Sigmund Freud family and the Jaray family were also close friends in Vienna.

Stephansdom (Wilfried Gredler-Oxenbauer)

In the third district,

close to the center of Vienna, is a wonderful canal (Donaukanal). You can walk along the canal to Weissgärberlände 38, Wien III, Sandor JR’s home along the waterway past the famous 100 yr. house. Sandor's apartment (from which the Nazis stole art) was here. Apparently taken from the wall of his and Lea's home was a work by Egon Schiele "Portrait of Wally" which was frozen in New York and has became one of the more famous pieces of pilfered holocaust art.

Weißgärberlände 38

The Jaray

furniture showrooms were located at Heugasse 70. This street is the border between the III and the IV district and is now called Prinz-Eugen-Strasse. Our factory was at Quellenstrasse 15, Wien X (tenth district).

I didn't visit Alfred's home at Reisnerstrasse 31, Wien III, or locate Karl’s or Max's home, or Sigmund's, but you might like to put these on your list. You should be able to locate other addresses from Ms. Weiss, or from the Rathaus.

Prinz-Eugen-Strasse 70 (former Heugasse 70)

The Jewish cemetery

is extremely large, old and overgrown. Many families were completely wiped out and are long forgotten. Others have returned to restore family monuments. You may wish to take clippers or a small spade if possible and be prepared to search and seek help from Mr. Pagler * at the gate. It's advisable to arrange some advance help if you can. I found Max's monument located in Tor IV with help from the gate man. I borrowed a spade from a flower shop and planted some flowers. I only discovered that Sigmund and the rest of our family are located in Tor I from Ms. Weiss the day after I had visited the cemetery. I was to fly out the next morning and sadly couldn't return to the cemetery. I plan to return again and hope to locate and possibly attempt restoration of the monuments (with the help of my brothers and cousins). I think it would be nice if we could have Sandor resurrected and placed in the family plot with his brothers and parents in Vienna where he belongs. He died in exile in 1943. Hopefully we can someday achieve these objectives as I personally believe it would put our family properly and comfortably to rest with the dignity they deserve. And perhaps this will offer future generations a destination to help discover their heritage.

Ron de Jaray, Vancouver





* Ten years ago, 72 year-old catholic Walter Pagler founded the Society “Schalom”. His aim was to save the Jewish part of Zentralfriedhof at gate 1, which at that time was completely declined. Until today he and a team of volunteers, as well as soldiers of the Austrian army, invested about 400.000 working-hours in a partly restoration.
Mag. Pagler and Schalom can be contacted at: Mag. jur. Walter Pagler Verein Schalom Auhofstraße 136 A-1130 Vienna, Austria.

Sigmund's grave

“The House of Jaray – Vienna”

was written by Ron de Jaray in 1999.
Corrections and additions to the history were made by Christiane Grunert in 2001.

Please send any corrections to Christiane Grunert.

E-mail: christiane.grunert@jarayfamily.net

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