"Important pillar against illiberal tendencies"
ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation), January 11, 2024
German original: https://orf.at/stories/3345306/
On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW), Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen paid tribute to the work of the institution at Wednesday evening's ceremony in Vienna and emphasized a clear commitment by politicians to the work of the DÖW: "It is precisely now that we must not draw a comfortable line."
The DÖW is an "important pillar in the fight for a historical, unsparing reappraisal of our darkest history", but also an "important pillar in the fight against illiberal and totalitarian tendencies today in the present". Liberal democracy must be nurtured and strengthened - "especially when the environment has become more difficult".
With regard to the rise in anti-Semitism, Van der Bellen said that we are in a situation that we could not have imagined just a few years ago. The DÖW is "an indispensable element in the network against the enemies of an open society."
"Important role" in the prevention of antisemitism
ÖVP Science Minister Martin Polaschek described the DÖW as the "central nucleus of resistance research" and research into the victims and perpetrators of the Nazi era. He also praised its "important role" in the prevention of antisemitism and extremism.
At the end of last year, the Ministry of Science and the City of Vienna agreed to increase the annual funding to 855,000 euros each. Veronica Kaup-Hasler, Vienna's SPÖ City Councillor for Culture and Science, emphasized the need for a "further in-depth scientific examination of the newly emerging phenomena of antisemitism."
Former resistance fighters and academics founded the DÖW in 1963. 20 years later, it became the DÖW Foundation, which has been funded in equal parts by the Republic of Austria and the City of Vienna ever since.
Concern about the networking of right-wing extremist groups in Europe
In his speech on Wednesday evening, Vienna's Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) expressed concern about the increasing networking of right-wing extremist groups in Europe and their support by groups that want to destroy the common Europe. Ludwig warned that this was not about party politics, but a debate about the principles of our democracy.
Like his predecessor in office and current Chairman of the DÖW Foundation Council, Michael Häupl (SPÖ), he spoke out against attacks by the FPÖ and other right-wing groups against the DÖW. "If you deny a scientific institute its scientific nature, you also deny it the right to exist," criticized Häupl.
On Thursday and Friday, to mark the anniversary, a high-caliber academic symposium will be held on the topic of "Resistance. Impulses for Resistance Research" will take place on Thursday and Friday.
Relocation to the Otto Wagner site planned
The most important tasks of the Documentation Archive include archive, library and museum operations as well as research management and educational tasks. In addition to the topics of resistance and persecution in Austria in the years before and during the Second World War, the focus is on the Holocaust, Roma and Sinti, right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism as well as restitution after 1945.
The planned relocation of the institute to the Otto Wagner site on the Steinhof in Vienna-Penzing is intended in particular to expand its educational and public relations work as well as its research into anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism.