zechner served as a historian at the jewish community vienna from 2000 until 2008. at the holocaust victims’ information and support center of the jewish community vienna, headed by zechner from 2003 to 2008, he dealt with various kinds of national socialist deprivation of property and restitution. his fields of activity were the restitution of works of art and the restitution of real estate, research on the property of the jewish organizations in austria, the reconstruction of the archive of the jewish community vienna and the planning of the vienna wiesenthal institute for holocaust studies (vwi). he was also a member of the austrian commission for provenance research from 2002 to 2008 and of the viennese restitution commission from 2003 to 2008. until november 2009 he was the business manager of the vienna wiesenthal institute for holocaust studies (vwi).