Wolf Schärf Collection: Photos of Displaced Persons in Vienna
Biographical History
Wolf Schärf (1901-1964) was a Polish-Austrian Holocaust survivor and photographer. Born in Mikuliczyn (now Mykulychyn, Ukraine), his family had moved to Vienna when he was a teenager. Schärf was interned in Dachau concentration camp in the wake of the November Pogrom 1938 and deported to Poland the following year (‘Nisko Plan’). He managed to survive World War II on Soviet territory, joining a partisan group at some point. Eventually, he was reunited with his family in post-war Vienna, where the amateur photographer took over and ran a photo studio until his death.
Scope/Content
The photo albums in this collection document life and living conditions of mainly Polish and Romanian Holocaust survivors and refugees in Jewish Displaced Persons (DP) Camps in Vienna, mainly the Reception Camp in the Rothschild Hospital. Additionally depicted is a meeting or conference.