Where to get the records

Israeli records

For everyone in the chain born or married in Israel: a population registry extract from the Ministry of Interior, with the parents' details. The applicant also needs a police certificate (criminal record extract) less than 8 months old on the day of filing. Every Israeli certificate needs an apostille from the Foreign Ministry, then a sworn German translation. English documents are accepted as they are.

Austrian records

Proof of citizenship and residence: the Meldezettel (historical residents' registration) from the Vienna city archive, the Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv, by email to post@ma08.wien.gv.at, or a Heimatschein and an old passport. The birth, marriage and death registers of Vienna's Jews up to 1938 are held by the Jewish community (IKG) and indexed on GenTeam: https://www.genteam.eu/

The Austrian State Archives: https://www.archivinformationssystem.at/ (including the 1938 asset declarations of Jews, Vermögensanmeldungen, which prove residence and persecution).

Proof of persecution and flight

DÖW, the database of Austrian Holocaust victims: https://www.doew.at/

Arolsen Archives, free online search: https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/

The National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism: if the family received compensation, the file is already there and need not be submitted again: https://www.nationalfonds.org/

If the relative was deported or murdered, no document on the persecution itself is usually needed. If they fled, the date of immigration or departure is the proof.

Forms and filing

The online questionnaire that shows which documents you need: https://ias.bmeia.gv.at/info58c/en-US

The official §58c page at the Austrian foreign ministry: https://www.bmeia.gv.at/reise-services/leben-im-ausland/staats-und-unionsbuergerschaft/staatsbuergerschaft-fuer-verfolgte-des-nationalsozialismus-und-deren-direkte-nachkommen/anzeige-gemaess-58c-staatsbuergerschaftsgesetz-1985

There is no fee. File only at the Austrian embassy in Tel Aviv, by appointment; it forwards the declaration to MA 35 in Vienna, which decides.