The 1981 Vienna synagogue attack was a terror attack that occurred 29 August 1981. The incident took place in the

Stadttempel The Stadttempel ( en, City Prayer House), also called the Seitenstettengasse Temple, is the main synagogue of Vienna, Austria. It is located in the Innere Stadt 1st district, at Seitenstettengasse 4. History The synagogue was constructed from 182 ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria carried out by two terrorists of the

Abu Nidal Organization The Abu Nidal Organization (ANO) is the most common name for the Palestinian nationalist militant group Fatah – The Revolutionary Council ('' Fatah al-Majles al-Thawry''). The ANO is named after its founder Abu Nidal. It was created by a sp ...

Attack

The mass shooting and grenade attack killed two people and wounded 18 others attending a Bar mitzvah service at the

in Vienna on August 29, 1981.Palestinians get life in Austrian Slayings
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', January 22, 1982 Two terrorists entered the 155-year-old

Israelite The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

Temple in the central

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

area of Seitenstettengasse, posing as

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. The terrorists then came into a fire exchange with the two already wounded

policemen A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

. A bodyguard of a local

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

business owner arrived quickly at the

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...

and pointed his gun directly at one of the perpetrators, shooting him and subdued the other. Police cordoned off the entire area and began a house to house search for possible accomplices and hidden bombs. According to early reports, three terrorists had been involved in the attack. The Austrian police later said this was not correct and that the only two who had stormed the

were involved. The police were detaining a third person who was arrested in a

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

apartment shortly after the attack, but no details were available regarding the suspect. Two

civilians Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...

, a 25-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man were shot and killed in the attack, and several others were critically wounded, amongst two of the

. In connection with the attack, the two

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

assailants, Marwan Hasan, 25 years old, of

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, and Hesham Mohammed Rajeh, 21, born in Iraq, were convicted of terrorist charges and attempted murder. Rajeh was also indicted for the May 1 murder of

Heinz Nittel Heinz Nittel (1931–1981), a leader of the Austrian Socialist party and the president of the Austrian-Israeli Friendship League, was shot to death on 1 May 1981 outside his home in Vienna by Hesham Mohammed Rajeh, 21, born in Iraq Iraq ...

, head of the Austrian-Israel Society. Both men received life sentences.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vienna synagogue attack Abu Nidal attacks Palestinian terrorist incidents in Europe Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1981 Terrorist incidents in Austria 1981 crimes in Austria Antisemitism in Austria 20th-century attacks on synagogues and Jewish communal organizations 1980s in Vienna Crime in Vienna August 1981 events in Europe Antisemitic attacks and incidents in Europe 1981 mass shootings in Europe 1981 murders in Europe 1981 murders in Austria Murder in Vienna