Dear Readers,

The end of 2009 has been marked by a number of significant achievements in the field of restitution and expansion of existing programs: in December, the Austrian Federal Government, the Federal Provinces, as well as the Vienna Jewish Community (IKG) reached an agreement to ensure the restoration and maintenance of the 63 Jewish cemeteries in Austria for the next 20 years. As of August 1, 2009, Austrian retirement benefits for Holocaust survivors have been expanded.

Furthermore, we are happy to provide you with a broad range of articles on recent cultural highlights and news on the Jewish Community Vienna that were published in the Austrian media, including the recent inauguration of a new campus of the Jewish Community in Vienna, a modern home for the elderly.

Finally we have included a few articles on a recent exchange of visits between Austria and Israel.


Yours sincerely,


Wolfgang Renezeder
Director of the Press & Information Service
Embassy of Austria


Austrian Press Agency (12/15/2009)

“Part of the United Europe” – Foreign Minister at the Opening of the Maimonides Center in Vienna

Vienna – Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger met with the President of the Jewish World Congress (WJC) Roland Lauder and representatives of the German-speaking Jewish Community in Vienna on the occasion of the opening of the Maimonides Center in Vienna. “The new Jewish Community (IKG) campus is not only a human enrichment for Vienna but also the strong sign of an active, self-confident Jewish community in Austria,“ declared Spindelegger according to a press release.

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Austrian Press Agency (12/15/2009)

Fischer: Austria has lost part of its identity through the expulsion of the Jewish people – senior home concludes the building of the complex in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt.

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Austrian Press Agency (09/20/2009)

Vienna – Vienna’s Jewish Community (IKG) is working the next few years on the goal of inviting Jewish citizens from abroad to come to Austria to live. “When the crisis has calmed down somewhat and we again are back to normal economic growth, the religious community will begin trying to provide possibilities for immigration within controlled parameters,” said Jewish Community President Arial Muzicant in an interview with the Austrian Press Agency. The conflict with the Wiesenthal Institute has meanwhile been resolved, and also a solution to the question of Jewish cemeteries is currently within view.

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Austrian Federal Chancellery (01/18/2010)

After a turbulent year, the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI) is taking an important step towards full operation. In February the go-ahead will be given for digitalization of the documents made available by the Jewish Community of Vienna (IKG).

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Austrian Press Agency (11/09/2009)

Vienna – Vienna’s Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI) has a new chairman: Georg Graf, Professor for Civil Law at the University of Salzburg, is taking over the position of political scientist, Anton Pelinka, who has resigned along with the entire board.

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Austrian Federal Chancellery (02/01/2010)

To mark the International Holocaust Rememberance Day and the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland, leading Austrian politicians condemned the horrible crimes of the NS regime and called for vigilance against anti-Semitism and racism. “The terrible crimes against humanity, which were committed by the murderous regime of the Third Reich based on an inhumane ideology, must never be forgotten”, emphasised Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann in a press release.

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Austrian Press Agency (APA) (09/26/2009)

Political Scientist Maislinger founded the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service volunteering at Holocaust memorial sites

Vienna – The founder of the international Holocaust Memorial Service “Gedenkdienst”, Austrian Andreas Maislinger, will be honored for his lifetime work by the Los Angeles Holocaust Museum. A press release by the Museum stated that his “ten-year struggle” to establish a Volunteer Holocaust Memorial Service, will finally be distinguished. The award will be officially presented on November 8, 2009.

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Austrian Press Agency (APA) (11/30/2009)

Vienna – Moderator for ORF Daniella Spera (52) will take over as director of the Jewish Museum in Vienna beginning July 1, 1010. As Councillor for Cultural Affairs Andreas Mailath-Pokorny and Deputy-Mayor Renate Brauner officially revealed at a press conference, out of the fourteen persons applying for the position, Spera convinced the selection board with her concept, her personal background and her experience in public relations and journalism.

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Austrian Federal Chancellery (12/14/2009)

Under the aegis of Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann, the photo exhibition, “The Children of Maison d’Izieu,” will be presented at numerous vocational schools across Austria until the end of 2010.

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Austrian Federal Chancellery (12/14/2009)

Under the aegis of Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann, the photo exhibition, “The Children of Maison d’Izieu,” will be presented at numerous vocational schools across Austria until the end of 2010.

“Maison d’Izieu” – the children’s home in the French city located 80 km from Lyon accommodated more than 100 Jewish children of different nationalities from May 1943 to April 1944, whose parents had already been deported by the Nazis. On April 6, 1944, 44 children – 7 from Vienna – and their educators were arrested under Klaus Barbie’s command, the head of the Gestapo in Lyon. With the exception of two children and the headmaster, who were shot in Reval (Estonia), the group was deported to Auschwitz. The children and their educators were gassed shortly after their arrival. Only one educator, who had returned from Auschwitz, and one adult, who had escaped upon arrest, survived.

For more information: www.millisegal.at

Austrian Federal Chancellery (02/01/2010)

Federal Chancellor Werner Faymann is of the opinion that “tolerance“ is a number one priority (not only) in 2010. Under his aegis and at his express wish, the photo exhibition “Children of Maison d’Izieu“ (see also “News from Austria“ No. 24/09) is presented in numerous Austrian vocational schools until the end of 2010.

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Austrian Press Agency (APA) 10/27/2009

Documentary presented in Vienna by Andrea Eckert on the successful author who emigrated – “When I was 15 I always wanted to be a film star, and at 85, I was one.

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Austrian Federal Chancellery (02/01/2010)

Up to 30 May 2010 the Vienna Jewish Museum Judenplatz presents the exhibition “Walls of Sound – Jewish Music Worlds“ featuring Jewish music and Jewish musicians. Only very few people are aware of the fact that many popular melodies and compositions such as “God bless America“, “The Christmas Song“, “Edelweiß“, “An der schönen blauen Donau“, “Hello Dolly“ or “My Funny Valentine“ are of Jewish origin or that some of the most beautiful gospel songs of Christian Afro-American music were composed by George Gershwin.

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Austrian Press Agency (APA) (11/01/2009)

Vienna – One of the most successful European film directors in Hollywood, native born Austrian Fred Zinneman has been honored with a commemorative plaque placed on the building where he once resided in the Weyrgasse 9 in Vienna.

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Austrian Federal Chancellery (10/19/2009)

Young people attending the Lauder Chabad School in Leopoldstadt in Vienna’s 2nd district gathered in numerous workshops to reflect on their religious-cultural views and identity through painting, illustration, film and photography.

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Jewish Museum Vienna (www.jmw.at)

Fritz Schwarz-Waldegg (1889-1942) was one of the pioneers of Expressionist painting in Austria after 1918. Led by modern artists like Egon Schiele and Oskar Kokoschka, many young Viennese painters saw this dynamic expressive style as an artistic response to the turbulent era around the end of the First World War.

Their platform was the Hagenbund artists’ association, which was the most important forum for Expressionism and New Objectivity between the wars until it was banned by the Nazis in 1938. Fritz Schwarz-Waldegg, along with Josef Floch, Georg Merkel and Franz Lerch, was one of the main figures in the Hagenbund and was its president in 1924/25.

After the annexation of Austria in 1938 he was forced out of his studio and worked underground until his deportation and death in 1942. The exhibition by the Jewish Museum Vienna is the first retrospective devoted to this largely forgotten inter-war painter.

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(www.wieninternational.at)

The 6th KlezMOREFfestival in Vienna from November 7 – 23, 2009, once again offers a stage for the diverse facets of traditional Yiddish music.

As the title suggests, the Festival is about ‘more Klezmer’ and presents a varied program ranging from traditional performances to contemporary approaches to some bold re-interpretations. KlezMORE provides ample opportunity for a positive, rewarding and discursive exploration of a seemingly ‘foreign’ culture.

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Austrian Press Agency (APA) (10/08/2009)

Klezmer celebrates its 20th anniversary with an opening gala.

Vienna – The performance of New York’s “Klezmatics” provides a highlight for Vienna’s KlezMore Festival’s 6th anniversary. Form November 7 – 23 performances will take place at various spots throughout the city.

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Austrian Press Agency (APA) (11/19/2009)

His film, “38” – That, Too, Was Vienna” was nominated in 1987 for an Oscar – One of Europe’s busiest directors over the past fifty years celebrates his birthday

Vienna – Wolfgang Glück, with over 100 productions and 80 lengthy- and over 400 short television plays in Germany and Austria, is considered one of Europe’s busiest directors over the past fifty years. On September 25 the Austrian film producer celebrated his 80th birthday. He acquired his international reputation primarily by filming literature pieces from which Torberg’s adaptation of “Student Gerber” stood out. However, the highlight of his career as a director was his highly recognized “38 – That, Too, Was Vienna,” which earned him the nomination in 1987 for an Oscar for best foreign film. 

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