The City Without Jews

‘A truly major work, both deeply moving and incredibly powerful. A masterpiece of research, structure and writing . . . unforgettable’ – Sir Antony Beevor

'An important and deeply researched book . . . it substantially adds to our understanding of how the Nazi system of genocide and plunder operated' – The Times

'Smith has brought [this story] alive with forensic detail and a truly gripping narrative' – Financial Times

'Sweeping . . . A vivid, granular portrait of the Jews of Vienna and their demise' – The Atlantic
'An important book by one of our best historians' – Simon Sebag Montefiore
'Painful, profound, prescient . . . a magisterial work' – Sonia Purnell

In 1938, Vienna was the second largest Jewish city in Europe, home to nearly 200,000 Jewish people.

By 1946, only a few thousand had survived.

In this heart-wrenching story of loss, fear, courage and hope, acclaimed historian Douglas Smith chronicles the Nazi destruction of Jewish Vienna. Drawing on hundreds of long-forgotten voices, from Jews to Nazis to Gentile collaborators and bystanders, The City Without Jews centres on one remarkable person: Mignon Langnas.

Watching as nearly every Jew she knew was expropriated, forced to migrate, or deported to the killing fields and death camps in the East, Mignon vividly recorded her world in diaries and letters, creating an indispensably detailed and poignant account of life under Nazi rule. What emerges from the wreckage of a city bent on Jewish eradication is a gripping and fundamentally human history like no other – one of betrayal, sacrifice, impossible choices and survivor guilt.