The Jewish Cemetery in Währing, opened in 1784, was the main burial site for members of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien.

Due to the sanitation ordinance of the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, every graveyard in Vienna within the city walls had to be closed.

The remains of a further 200 dead were brought to the Naturhistorisches Museum of Vienna by the Nazis for analysis and research in the field of "racial studies".

After the premises of the cemetery were declared a bird sanctuary by a courageous city civil servant, at least the remaining land could be preserved.

After World War II the cemetery was returned to the Jewish Kultusgemeinde after tough negotiations, but the destroyed part had to be given to the city in exchange.

Thereupon, the city decided to develop the plot of land that had been cheaply acquired as grassland; it then constructed the "Arthur Schnitzler-Hof", a Plattenbau from the 1960s.

Even after the declaration by the Vienna Restitution Commissioner Kurt Scholz that usage of the site as a park would be enabled, only a few rotten trees were felled.

In January 2007, along with the Educult institute, the Jewish Kultusgemeinde started an initiative that envisaged the publishing of a book and a photo calendar, as well as an exhibition, that would contribute to restoring the property.

If one enters the cemetery via the gate in the Schrottenbachgasse, to the left of the entrance just by the road one will find the building formerly used for the preparation of the deceased's body according to Jewish rites (see Tumah and taharah).

In the newer portion of the cemetery, predominantly people from poorer backgrounds were buried; due to the cheaper materials these gravestones are made of, they have been much more severely affected by erosion.

Baroness Fanny von Arnstein (1758–1818), the daughter of the Berlin rabbi and Court Jew Daniel Itzig.

The remains of Fanny von Arnstein were excavated by the Nazis and transferred to the Naturhistorisches Museum of Vienna for "scientific purposes", a fate that also befell several other graves.

Gustav Ritter von Epstein was an important banker, who was connected amongst other things to the construction of the Northern Railway.

The tomb of the well-known "tolerated" Jew Siegfried Philipp Wertheimber (1777–1836) is an important grave with pillars in the Egyptian style.

Since no or hardly any resources have been made available for its upkeep by the city of Vienna and the Austrian government, the cemetery is in a state of extreme disrepair.

Due to the overaged tree population and burial vaults partly standing open, visiting the cemetery is currently only possible after signing a liability waiver with the Kultusgemeinde.

The president of the Jewish Kultusgemeinde, Ariel Muzicant, and Scholz, the commissioner for restitution, calculated the costs of providing safe access to the cemetery at €400 - 800,000.

Additional severe damage appears on the graves from environmental factors such as acid rain, frost and vegetation.