Alliance of Concentration Camp Survivors, Vienna KZ-Verband Wien

Copyright Holder: Dokumentationsarchiv des Österreichischen Widerstandes Contains 14,087 membership applications and their respective case files of Austrian former concentration camp inmates. The KZ-Verband (Association of Concentration Camp Survivors) in Vienna collected these applications from concentration camp survivors. The membership in the KZ-Verband was crucial in getting a formal recognition as a victim of Nazi persecution and compensation from the Austrian government. Approximately 75% of the collected cases pertain to political victims while the remaining 25% (approximately 3,750 cases) pertain to Jewish victims of Nazi persecution. The association followed a rigorous application process. Applicants were subject to repeat internal reviews, interviews, and checking of facts. At that time, there still was a stigma among the general public in Austria who associated the internment in a concentration camp with a criminal past. The KZ-Verband removed from the membership anyone whose credentials were suspect; e.g. concentration camp victims who had been imprisoned by the Nazis due to their sexual orientation and deemed as "asocial" by the Nazis. This collection contains the earliest records related to Austrian concentration camp survivors.