"We Lived ... In the Ninth District"

Showroom Berggasse 19

from November 8, 2025

 

"We Lived ... In the Ninth District" – selected testimonies from Viennese Holocaust survivors – provides harrowing insights into our history and demonstrates how the past continues to have an impact on the present: the video installation in the Berggasse 19 exhibition space complements the special exhibition “Documents of Injustice: The Case of Freud,” which is on display at the Sigmund Freud Museum. 

Stephen Naron, director of the Fortunoff Archive for Holocaust Testimonies, historian Julie Dawson, and filmmaker Ambrus Hernádi have created an impressive film document from the extensive resources of the Fortunoff Archive at Yale: Four women who grew up in the neighborhood of Berggasse 19 recount their happy childhoods in Vienna and their abrupt end with the Anschluss in 1938. Persecution, expulsion, oppression, and a life in exile overshadowed by traumatic memories followed. The testimonies of Thea S., Edith L., Erika M., and Edith K. are representative of millions who, like Freud's sisters, fell victim to the Holocaust.  

 

"We Lived ... In the Ninth District" is an appeal to us to base our lives and all our relationships on the principles of humanity. 

 

Research: Julie Dawson; Film: Ambrus Hernádi; Concept: Stephen Naron