Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research in Austria
Click here for an Overview of Holocaust-related activities in Austria
Statement of Barbara Prammer, President of the National Council of Austria, on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27th 2010
As the President of the National Council and, in this function, the chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the National Fund, it is of particular importance to me that the occasions of communal remembrance of the crimes and victims of the National Socialist terrorist regime are marked with dignity and attentiveness. For without knowledge of our past, we cannot understand our present or shape our future. This guiding principle is all the more important when viewed against the backdrop of the development of a European memory.
The republic of Austria marks the day of commemoration against violence and racism in memory of the victims of National Socialism on 5th May, the day of the liberation of the concentration camp Mauthausen. A special session of commemoration is held in Parliament by the National Council and the Federal Council on this day each year. A cooperation with school children, who will, between February and May, engage in projects dealing with the issues surrounding National Socialism, is planned for 2010.
It is paramount that we motivate, above all, young people to actively come to terms with this history. In doing so, we not only resist the final closure which is all too often demanded, but enable the younger generation to learn from its own history. This retrospect allows us to reflect on our own actions and to realize the necessity of the individual advocation of democracy and human rights in civil society.
The 27th January, the day of the liberation of the extermination camp Auschwitz, brings these thoughts into the spotlight in a special way. This day can - just as 5th May in Austria - be an occasion for commemoration, reflection and remembrance by all citizens and by society as a whole. A day that we observe in remembrance of the victims of that time, who no longer knew humanity. A day on which we remember the origins and mechanisms of this regime. A day on which we reflect on our society and on the lessons learnt from the Second World War.
For us, the focus shall be that such atrocities may never again be allowed to happen and that this "never again" is our responsibility. To this I would like to add a "principiis obsta", as only through this will we be able to determine the right principles to govern our actions today.
Heidemarie Uhl: Conflicting Cultures of Memory in Europe: New Borders between East and West? originally published in the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs 3 (2009) 3, S. 59-72
National Report to the ITF about Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research in Austria (2009)
On April 2, 2009, the European Parliament declared August 23, the date on which in 1939 the Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement was signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, as the Day of European Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism. This new day of remembrance has caused irritation and criticism by many intellectuals, academics, and historians, who see it as a counter-concept to International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorated on January 21, decided upon in 2002 by resolution of the United Nations General Assembly. One of the main intentions of the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism can be characterized as an attempt to equate the Nazi regime's genocidal policies centered around the Holocaust with murderous or oppressive actions by other regimes. This is historically unacceptable, argues Dr. Heidemarie Uhl of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
Online Memorial Book for the Victims of National Socialism at the University of Vienna 1938
Following the advent of the National Socialist regime in the year 1938, more than 2,700 mostly Jewish affiliates of the University of Vienna were dismissed and subsequently driven away and/or murdered for 'racial' and/or 'political' reasons.
The online database "Memorial Book Dedicated to the Victims of National-Socialism at the University of Vienna 1938", published in 2009, includes roughly 2,200 names and short biographies. 1,770 of the approximately 2,230 expelled students have been identified by name thus far, in addition to the names of the 234 graduates, whose academic credentials were rendered invalid, and to the approximately 200 professors and lecturers who were dismissed.
The memorial book records all the names known to date, as well as their year of birth and faculty; for lecturers, the subject they taught; for academic titles rescinded during the National Socialist regime, the graduation year as well as their degree.
Despite in-depth scientific research, this online data base is not complete. The research process is ongoing and those involved hope to discover more names of forgotten victims of National Socialism, who will consequently take their place amid their peers in the pages of this book. Therefore, the memorial book is regarded as an opportunity for expanding scientific knowledge. The project team would be extremely grateful for any relevant information or references (This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ).
The _erinnern.at_ brochure in German 
[1.15 MB]
The _erinnern.at_ brochure in English [1.16 MB]
"Das Vermächtnis" - Zeitzeugen-Erinnerungen
http://www.erinnern.at/das-vermaechtnis
An International Comparison
Vienna, December 11 -13, 2008
Hotel Favorita, Laxenburgerstr. 8-10, 1100 Vienna
http://www.erinnern.at/aktivitaten/zentrales-seminar
Teacher training seminars of _erinnern.at_ in Israel
16. Seminar: Samstag, 4. Juli 2009 - Freitag, 17. Juli 2009
Seminarbegleitung: Peter Niedermair und Elisabeth Streibel
http://www.erinnern.at/aktivitaten/Seminare%20in%20Israel/16-seminar
An Overview of Holocaust-related activities in Austria
Austria considers it a great honour and challenge to be entrusted with the ITF Chairmanship in this special year of remembrance: seventy years ago, the Nazi troops invaded Austria. Even before they crossed the border, Austrian Nazis had already initiated mass arrests, abuse and murder. These events resulted in the so called “Anschluss” to the “Third Reich” with all its well-known terrible consequences.
Only eight months later, the November pogroms against Austria’s Jewish people were carried out with particular fervour. Chairing ITF under these circumstances requires a special engagement, which Austria is committed to fulfil.
Hannah Lessing,
Head of the Austrian ITF delegation
Secretary General
National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism
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The prominent experts and high ranking diplomats in the Austrian ITF delegation signify the importance that our country attaches to this organisation. Austria's active role in the ITF is the expression of a revised approach to our past, which Austria has developed since the 1980s. Gerhard Baumgartner, Historian |
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Austria’s Roma and Sinti population, which before 1938 had numbered 12000 people, was nearly completely annihilated by Nazi persecution. Most of the 130 Roma settlements were razed tothe ground and 90 percent of their inhabitants perished in the “porraimos” (‘the great devouring’). After Austrian police forces and public administration officials started registering Roma and Sinti in special “Gypsy” lists in the 1920s, the National Socialists deported able-bodied men and women as forced labourers to work camps and concentrentation camps such as Dachau, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück and Mauthausen. The children and elderly, who had such become a burden to the social welfare system, were first deported to a central “Gypsycamp” in Lackenbach and later to Polish Ghettoes and camps such as Lodz, Chelmno and Auschwitz-Birkenau. |
Education
Education in contemporary history for many years practically skipped the 1930s and the period of World War Two. It was only in the 1970s that, for the first time, education on National Socialism and the Holocaust was formally introduced in the curricula of Austrian schools. The last two decades have marked a significant intensification of efforts to improve Holocaust Education, which have mainly been sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Education.
The Austrian state specifies the core curricula of different types of schools. Every curriculum for history teaching and for citizenship education has to address National Socialism and the Holocaust.
Teachers are trained in universities and in universities of applied sciences. As universities in Austria are autonomous, there is no national curriculum for teacher training. The challenge for the Federal Ministry of Education therefore lies in promoting and facilitating the integration of Holocaust education into regular teacher training. In order to gain a more comprehensive response the Federal Ministry of Education, in the year 2000, founded the organisation _erinnern.at_ which is substantially supported by the National Fund of the Republic of Austria. Special emphasis is being placed on in-service-training, development of educational material and support services (www.erinnern.at).
Each year, many students visit Austria’s memorial sites, in particular Mauthausen, as well as the Jewish Museum in Vienna. Furthermore several NGOs are active in Holocaust education. Amongst the most important are the Documentation Archive of Austrian Resistance and the “Verein Gedenkdienst”.
In the past years a shift is noticeable in the portrayal of Holocaust and National Socialism towards telling the human stories of victims, but also in critically addressing the Austrian share of perpetration and by-standing. History textbooks are accordingly reviewed by the Ministry of Education. This is an encouraging start but many publications still need to be revised.
The Memorial Site Hartheim Castle with the memorial to the victims of Nazi euthanasia and the exhibition “Value of Life” offers special educational programs. They all deal with general ethical matters that are of topical interest: What is the value of one life? Is there “unworthy” life? What opportunities and threats do modern genetics bring? The educational programmes have been developed especially for different age groups.
Remembrance
The discussion on Austrian memory is mainly characterised by two different historical views. After 1945 the Victim Myth was established under reference to the Moscow Declaration, since the so called Waldheim Affair (see below) in 1986 the recognition of the Austrian complicity in Nazi crimes is admitted.
Today there is common consensus that Austria has to bear a share of moral responsibility for the actions committed by Austrians during the time of the National Socialist dictatorship. As a result, various initiatives for remembrance of the Holocaust victims have been taken officially as well as privately: for example the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism/General Settlement Fund was established in 1995 and since 1996 the National Commemoration Day for the Victims of National Socialism is marked on May 5th, the Day of Liberation of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
In 2000 the Holocaust Memorial in Vienna was unveiled and memorials for victims of the Holocaust have also been created in many smaller places. In Graz the synagogue, destroyed in 1938, was reconstructed and handed over to the Jewish Community. Furthermore it is planned to re-conceive and to renovate the permanent Austrian exhibition at Auschwitz Memorial.
The Jewish Museum Hohenems tells about the conflicting forces of Jewish life and experience in the middle of Europe: Diaspora, migration and persecution, tradition and modernity, transnational networks and local roots between Austria, Germany and Switzerland – in the light of destruction and reconstruction.
Although remembrance in Austria has become an integral part of the European culture of Holocaust remembrance, the exposure to the after-effects of the Austrian post-war myth of victimisation theory continues to be a challenge for the present and the future: the principal duty still is to prime, in the political culture and the collective memory, the awareness of Austrian participation in Nazi crimes.
Research
Though first research on the Holocaust and National Socialist persecution in Austria was undertaken by the Documentation Archive of Austrian Resistance as early as in the 1960s, it was only in the second half of the 1980s that research on Holocaust became established in Austrian historiography.
The paradigm shift was eventually caused by the debate on the war-time past of former UN-Secretary General Kurt Waldheim during his campaign for presidential elections in Austria in 1986, which was followed by intensive research and remembrance particularly on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the “Anschluss” in 1988. A further decisive development was marked by the establishment of the Austrian Historical Commission in 1998, which carried out thorough research on the looting of property during National Socialism and restitution and indemnification after 1945.
Research on the Holocaust as well as on National Socialist persecution of other population groups, such as Roma and Sinti, is being carried out by various Austrian university institutes for history and contemporary history as well as by several independent institutes, e.g. the above mentioned Documentation Archive of Austrian Resistance.
Unions of victims of National Socialist persecution, like the Association of Roma and Sinti, memorial organisations such as the “Gedenkstätte Hartheim” or the Mauthausen Memorial carry out their own research or commission research.
Almost all research in Austria is publicly financed. The Austrian National Fund has an important role in this, and also subsidises projects not only to the benefit of victims of National Socialism, but also in order to promote academic research on National Socialism and on the fate of its victims.
Since the 1990s research has been undertaken on aspects of Austria’s dealing with her National Socialist past: the situation of victims of National Socialism regarding compensation and restitution as well as the judicial persecution of war criminals.
