Vienna  - “We want to open the doors”: Oskar Deutsch, who was elected to succeed Ariel Muzicant as president of the Jewish Community (IKG) this past Tuesday, wants to open the community for others. “We want to present ourselves as part of Austrian society” he said Wednesday. An open house day, planned for May 13, 2012, as well as a Facebook presence and the use of new media are to demonstrate a “vibrant Jewish life” in Vienna. In order to keep things this way, Deutsch also wants to tackle the problem of emigration of Austrian Jews. “We can only counter this through a big enough community where everyone can find a partner”.

Oskar Deutsch wants to move the Jewish Community closer to non-Jewish society. A change of course towards the FPO is ruled out.

Oskar Deutsch, the successor of Ariel Muzicant as president of the Austrian Jewish Community (IKG) wants to increase efforts to open the Community for non-Jews. “We would like to present ourselves as part of Austrian society”, Mr. Deutsch said at a press conference on Wednesday, where the new board of directors was presented.

Der Standard, February 22, 2012. Translation.
German Original: http://derstandard.at/1329703270039/Oskar-Deutsch-Ein-Kaffeeroester-fuehrt-die-juedische-Gemeinde

A new face is on top of the Jewish Community (IKG), bringing with him a new style of leadership. But the course will remain the same. Because Oskar Deutsch, elected by a wide margin to succeed Ariel Muzicant, is a guarantor that things will stay the same in the Jewish Community like they have under Muzicant.

Honoree with Ambassador Emil Brix. Photo Mike Neale

HE Ambassador Emil Brix was delighted by this important remembrance event. He told his guests of honour: “It is always a special moment for me to meet Austrians who once had to flee their home under those tragic circumstances, and who – after all those long years – find a home in Austria once again”.

Writer Christoph Bauer, historian Horst Schreiber and teacher Irmgard Bibermann also came from Innsbruck especially to celebrate the three. Bauer read from his recent book on the Graubarts’ harrowing story, “Graubart Boulevard”.

IKG Vienna

Shai Ginott was born in Jerusalem in 1958. After  studying biology, she began work at the Isreali Department for Natural Conservation as Director of Photography. Her photographs have been published in several magazines and photo books. Ginott received several distinctions, among them 1st prize at the Intrenational Boo Fair in jerusalem in 1993 for her best-seller "Echoes of a landscape" (1992).

Shai Ginott directs several photography workshops in Insrael. Her work has been shown in several exhibitions, both inside and outside of Israel, including London Tokyo, and now Vienna.

The photographs shown were all shot in Israel - at the Negev, the Medittaeranean coast, Glaiea, See genezareth, as well as on Mount Hermond. Through composition of two photographs on top of each other, she created imaginary scenes that isslutrate passages of the Bible.

The exhibit will be on display at the Library of the Evangelical and Catholic Faculty of Theology at the University of Vienna.

-> Information (in German) at the IKG Vienna

The project also documented those already passed away through the help of descendants and the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance (DOW). Initiated by Erich Herzl and Sonja Frank, the project aims to keep the stories of Young Austrians alive, primarily through the use of photographs, and also chronicles the political engagement after World War II.

The exhibit will be on display at the Volkshochschule Hietzing in Vienna during March 2012.

The Jewish Museum Vienna is currently showing BIGGER THAN LIFE. 100 Years of Hollywood: A Jewish Experience. The exhibit will run until April 15, 2011.

For more information, please visit the exhibit page at the Jewish Museum Vienna

The Vienna Jewish Film festival is currently under way in Vienna until December 4, 2011.

Please follow this link for a list of films