Austrian Armed Forces’ cooperation with Mauthausen Memorial extended
ORF, December 12, 2022
German original: https://steiermark.orf.at/stories/3186054/
On the occasion of Human Rights Day on December 10, the cooperation agreement between the Austrian Armed Forces and the Mauthausen Memorial, which has been in place since 2021, was extended by five years. The agreement was signed on Monday.
Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) and the director of the Mauthausen Memorial, Barbara Glück, signed the agreement on Monday during the annual commemoration ceremony at the Belgier Barracks in Graz.
Creating historical awareness
"The struggle for human rights - that is seen currently as it has not been for decades - never ends. The events of the dark period of Nazi terror must never be forgotten," Tanner said in her speech.
The cooperation with the Mauthausen Memorial is intended to create historical awareness, especially among basic and cadre soldiers in training and further education: "This cooperation is an important contribution to the national and European strategy against anti-Semitism, racism, and totalitarianism. Historical sites are actively included in the training of our soldiers in order to remember, raise historical awareness, and strengthen democratic values," she explained.
Content is constantly being developed
To this end, the National Defense Academy, the Theresian Military Academy, the Army NCO Academy and individual units of the Austrian Armed Forces will also be involved. The contents of the agreement are in a state of constant development. Basic military personnel are to visit places of remembrance and receive all important information related to them, the defense minister told APA. Director Glück also emphasized the importance of the cooperation: "Educational work is the most sustainable form of commemoration of our time."
Memorial grove
The memorial grove in the Belgian Barracks was chosen as the location for the signing of the contract. In a research project at the University of Graz commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Defense and Sports in 2008, the crimes of the "SS Barracks Wetzelsdorf" were reassessed. After completion of the project in 2011, the memorial grove was erected in the Belgians' Barracks. More than 200 people were murdered there in 1945 by the Gestapo and Waffen-SS and subsequently buried in bomb craters inside the barracks and in a mass grave at the nearby Feliferhof. Those murdered were various groups of victims, including Hungarian Jewish forced laborers on the death marches to the Mauthausen concentration camp, prisoners of war, and Austrian resistance fighters. The persons involved in the crime were never prosecuted.
"Space for remembrance"
Today, the Feliferhof is still used as a firing range by the Austrian Army. "It is important that one is also always aware of this historical responsibility, not only when it comes to the question of the use of it, but also creates an appropriate space for commemoration," Tanner said in an APA interview. The memorial sites of the Belgier barracks and the Feliferhof are not open to the public, but can be visited on selected days, for example during a performance show.