Agreement on the restoration and care of Jewish cemeteries
The restoration and care of the 63 Jewish cemeteries in Austria has been ensured for a period of 20 years by making available a total of 40 million euro. On 21 December 2009 the federal government, the Länder (notably Vienna and Lower Austria), various municipalities as well as the Jewish Religious Community (IKG) reached an agreement in a meeting at the Federal Chancellery. A fund for the restoration of the
cemeteries will be established, to which the Federal Republic will allocate 20 million euro (i.e. one million euro annually). The remaining difference of 20 million euro will be granted by the Länder, municipalities and Jewish communities.
In addition, Lower Austria will cover 25% of the costs arising on its territory, the Burgenland considers a similar approach. The City of Vienna will provide the funds for the restoration of the “Kornhäusl“ (a building named after architect Josef Kornhäusl) at the Währing Cemetery (costs: 500,000 euro). Chancellor Faymann described the agreement on the restoration of the Jewish cemeteries, brokered
by him, as a “matter of responsibility, of “respect for history”, for fellow Jewish citizens and for the cultural-historical heritage of this country.
The IKG referred to a “late Chanukah gift“. The “last open claim under international law” was finally being settled”, informed the IKG. Austria had committed itself to the preservation of the graveyards under the 2001 Washington Agreement, but all efforts had failed. The Jewish graves are in a bad condition, especially in eastern Austria. This is mainly due to the fact that after the Holocaust there almost no descendants. Based on the Jewish religion, Jewish graves are not removed and exist forever.
Administrator
Amendment to Art Restitution Act
Based on an agreement by Vice Chancellor and Minister of Finance Josef Pröll and Minister of Culture Claudia Schmied, the Amendment to the Art Restitution Act is to pass the Council of Ministers on 23 June 2009. According to the draft amendment, the Ministry of Finance will have a voting right in the Advisory Board on Restitution, the Office of the State Attorneys at the Ministry of Finance will act in an advisory capacity.
Apart from works of art, the Federal Republic should also be able to return “other movable cultural assets”. In addition to items from the collections of the federal museums or the Federal Furniture Collection, the new law will cover “other federal property”.
The term of the Advisory Board on Restitution is to be extended to three years “to ensure independence”. Moreover, assets will be covered which the NS regime seized outside Austria as well as before 1938. The tasks of the Provenance Research Commission (“the systematic description of the provenance of the federal collections in connection with possible seizures by the NS regime“) are to be stated explicitly in the law.
“Restitution is a historic duty which has to be performed by the Republic of Austria in the best possible way. The Amendment to the Art Restitution Act is another important task in the context of indemnification“, said Schmied. Pröll considers this a “clear step towards the comprehensive restitution of works of art of doubtful origin“.
Spots of Light – To Be a Woman During the Holocaust
Under the aegis of Federal President Heinz Fischer, the international exhibition “Spots of Light – To Be a Woman During the Holocaust,” curated by Yehudit Inbar of Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, is shown at Vienna’s Nestroyhof Theatre –Hamakom (Vienna’s 2nd district, Nestroyplatz 1) from April 1 to May 31, 2009. Jewish women during the Holocaust applied their minds at a place that threatened to deprive them of their minds, brought strength to a place where they had no strength, where they marched all the way to death and invested every additional moment of life with meaning.
The exhibition “Light Spots“ attempts to present the human history concealed behind the historical facts and to create space for the unique voice of women based on forty-five various stories. The visitor should always bear in mind that these events and incidents reflect an abyss of evil reaching unparalleled dimensions. More than three million women and girls were killed during the Holocaust. NS ideology called for the annihilation of the entire Jewish “race”. Women endowed with fertility were a main target of persecution. The forty-five stories of women encompass subjects like love, motherhood, caring for others, life as a partisan, everyday life, friendship, religion, food and art.
Screenings of outstanding films (e.g. by Anja Salomanowitz, Yaron Silberman and Michael Deutsch) accompany the program, presenting the various fates of Jewish women.
Arnold Schönberg – Who I am
The Vienna-based Arnold Schönberg Center (3rd district of Vienna, Schwarzenbergplatz 6) is presenting a multi-media exhibition about the composer (1874-1951) running until the end of the year. What makes“Who I am” so special is the fact that the exhibits are directly related to the life of Schönberg. The exhibition was designed by Nuria Schönberg Nono, daughter of the composer and widow of Luigi Nono.
The exhibition presents, for example, his study in Los Angeles with the original furniture, including pieces designed by himself. Moreover, Schönberg’s living room in Los Angeles, where the family often listened to classical music on the radio and read relevant scores – one of the “most beautiful memories” of Nuria – was reconstructed for the exhibit. Numerous copies of notebooks and manuscripts are available to the visitors for viewing. Highly interesting paintings by Schönberg himself and a recording device Schönberg used way before the invention of the tape recorder are also on display. The audiovisual highlight of the show – the music-video room – offers excerpts of quality listening, including those from Pierrot lunaireop. 21. www.schoenberg.at
Vienna to become the international centre of Holocaust research
Before the end of the year the City of Vienna, which has always advocated a Simon Wiesenthal Institute in Vienna, made available the necessary financial funds. The Municipal Council agreed to provide a multi-annual subsidy to the association “Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies”. The City of Vienna will grant the association 1.3 million euros up to 2011 for establishing the Institute. Vienna is to become a leading research location for all topics concerning anti-Semitism, racism and the Holocaust. As from 2012 onwards, the Institute will be accommodated in Palais Strozzi (8th district of Vienna).
NEW ISSUE
The new issue of Jewish News From Austria is now online.
15 years of Jewish Museum Vienna
The Jewish Museum situated in Vienna’s city centre is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. The premises in Palais Eskeles were inaugurated on 18 November 1993 by Vienna’s recently deceased former Mayor Helmut Zilk and his counterpart from Jerusalem Teddy Kollek. In his overview of the past on 17 November 2008 Director Karl Albrecht-Weinberger stated that since the opening about 1.2 million visitors had been welcomed to 150 exhibitions.
Austrian Federal Chancellery (11/17/2008)
Vienna: Council of Europe and Holocaust Task Force will cooperate
The Council of Europe and the International Holocaust Task Force (ITF) signed a declaration of intent to team up in the combat against anti-Semitism at European level on 10 November 2008. Terry Davis, Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, and Ferdinand Trauttmannsdorff, ITF Chairman, signed the agreement that is to become a model for Europe.
Austrian Federal Chancellery (11/17/2008)
Parliament commemorates November pogroms 70 years ago
On 9 November 2008 the Austrian Parliament commemorated the November pogroms 70 years ago in a ceremony held at Palais Epstein. The events of the “Reichskristallnacht“ – the “Night of Broken Class” – on 9 November 1938 had marked the climax of a year of anti-Semitic riots. In her speech Speaker of Parliament Barbara Prammer vehemently called for an end of further debates about the abolishment of the “Prohibition Act”. “More than ever” this Act was to be considered a constitutional reaction to Austria’s role during the NS period, and as a clear no to the belittlement of the Nazi atrocities it was of a high symbolic value. “This should not and must not be called into question in Austria“, Prammer underlined.