- Title: 354 AT Shoah memorial site
- Date: 22nd June 2020
- Description:Ceremony held today in Vienna to mark the start of construction of a memorial site The memorial is intended to commemorate the more than 64,000 Jews from Austria who were murdered during the Nazi era. Today was the ground-breaking ceremony for the project, which was initiated by Holocaust survivor Kurt Y. Tutter. The memorial should be finished in autumn 2021. The "Memorial to the Jewish Children, Women and Men from Austria Murdered in the Shoah" envisages to place several stone walls in an oval arrangement in which the more than 64,000 names of the murdered are engraved. The wall is also a "reminder for the future", said Wolfgang Sobotka, President of the Austrian National Council, in his speech. Sobotka, who is also President of the "National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism", addressed a "regretful thank you" to initiator Tutter, because it would not actually have been the task of a survivor to provide such a monument in public space. "We cannot counter the Holocaust, there is no gesture of reparation here, but there is a gesture of remembrance." The name wall should be a place of remembrance, but also of reflection. Everyone has the responsibility "to do everything together every day to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. We owe this to the victims of the Shoah, whose individual names are engraved here," said Oskar Deutsch, the Chairman of the Jewish Community in Vienna. More info at: https://www.shoah-namensmauern-wien.at/ Shotlist - SOUNDBITE (German) Hannah Lessing, secretary general of the National fund of the Republic of Austria for victims of National Socialism: “But now the memory has found a place, the memorial site for murdered children, women, and men during the Nazi period in Austria. Between the panels made of graphite, a meeting point will open up, a meeting space with the murdered people, a meeting point with history. The robbed lives cannot be given back, but more than 64.000 names can, and with these names the memory of unique humans will not be forgotten. “ - SOUNDBITE (German) Kurt Tutter, survivor of the Shoah: “I am infinitely thankful that I can experience this extraordinary day with you, the day of the start of construction of this memorial site.” - SOUNDBITE (German) Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jews community in Vienna (Israelische Kulturgemeinde): “The best way to fight against anti-Semitism, and to honor the victims, against forgetting, and for saying never again, is to celebrate Jewish life here and now, and to support the Jewish community in the future. This wall with all its inscribed names can become a milestone in Austria’s culture of memorizing the past, if it is understood as both a warning and an incentive to stand up against anti-Semitism, and in favor of Jewish life today, and tomorrow, as a matter of fact.” - SOUNDBITE (GERMAN) Wolfgang Sobotka, President of the Austrian National Council and President of the "National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism": “Ladies and Gentlemen, you that prove your support and your interest by your presence today, this memorial does not only aim to be a central place for the families of the victims, but also a warning for the future, it is a warning for the future in the sense that it is a very clear mandate for us to combat anti-Semitism wherever it occurs.” - Rabbi singing a Jewish prayer in front of emplacement of the future memorial - Family photo of involved officials in front of emplacement - WS of the area “Ostarrichi-Platz” in Vienna’s 9th district Alsergrund, where the memorial will be constructed. - documentation of the project
- Collection: ORF
- Genre:News
- Producer:ORF
- Transmission Date:22/06/2020
- Decade: 2020s