In 1879, a part of the Vienna central cemetery area was designated for Jewish burial (in Gate 1). However, already in 1916 the allotted area reached full capacity, and further territory was designated to its southeast – Gate 4. The Gate 4 ceremony hall opened on September 12th 1928, and was designed by Ignaz Reiser.
The Kristallnacht, or November Pogrom of November 9-10 1938, did not leave the Jewish cemeteries unharmed. The ceremony hall in Gate 1 was detonated and demolished, and that of Gate 4 was completely ravaged. Many headstones in both cemeteries were damaged and ruined.
The entire cemetery was bombed during WWII, since strategic industries were located in its vicinity, one of which was the Schwechat refinery. After the war, about 550 bomb craters were found and over 12,000 graves were completely destroyed.
To this day, headstones in the Jewish cemetery are occasionally vandalized and toppled over.
In 2015, the re:member project began to document and restore and the fourth gate of the central cemetery, on a strictly voluntary basis with local activists.
