Foreign service in Austria

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The term foreign service refers to the general term, namely a replacement of the Austrian civil service or a voluntary service abroad, as well as a certain association, which as a supporting organization gives young Austrians the opportunity to get involved on an international level every year. Be it in the broadest sense as an extended civil service in the interests of the Republic of Austria as an alternative to basic military service, be it as a volunteer in global non-profit projects instead of the voluntary social year (FSJ) , which is limited to the domestic market . There are three different ways in which an international service can be provided:

  1. Memorial service
  2. Social service
  3. Peace service

Association of Austrian Foreign Service

The Austrian Foreign Service Association is a sponsoring organization recognized by the Federal Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Consumer Protection in accordance with Section 46 (5) of the Voluntary Act, which offers participants the opportunity to do voluntary or alternative civilian service abroad. It is the only organization through which all three types of international service can be completed. It is distinguished by the variety of its deployment locations, which are spread around the world on all continents. The locations can be geographically grouped into nine areas. The different areas also differ greatly in terms of the type of service performed. While in the First World there are mainly places of work for memorial service, social services predominate in the southern hemisphere (except Oceania).

Red: memorial service, green: social service, blue: peace service

The nine operational areas are - clockwise:

  1. Area South America
  2. Area Central America
  3. Area North America
  4. Area Western Europe
  5. Eastern Europe area
  6. Area Mediterranean
  7. Area East Asia-Oceania
  8. Area South Asia
  9. Area Africa

The service

Young volunteers can choose from a range of types of work. You can decide for yourself without restrictions on a project and for how long you want to work. However, in order to be able to count towards civil substitute service abroad, the minimum duration of ten months of free assistance must be demonstrably fulfilled. The service must be in the interests of the Republic of Austria and can only be carried out through a state-recognized, non-profit-making organization that supports a project related to Austria according to the following criteria:

Work in memorial service

This form of service deals with the consequences of National Socialism and its victims. He takes on the majority of volunteer work abroad. The work consists mainly of the figures and organizing tours and events, archive -Work, the holding of lectures at universities and schools, and interviews with witnesses and documentation, can not be buried by their stories and the through-made forgotten The principle is : "For a never again"

Work in social service

The project work aims to support the social or economic development of a country, or has set itself the goal of environmental protection . Social workers are involved in educational institutions or children's homes, in the care of refugees, promote awareness of the importance of our environment in public lectures or events such as clean-ups and are used worldwide in medical care.

Work in peace service

Institutions with the deployment of peacekeepers contribute to achieving or securing peace in crisis areas with armed conflict. They analyze compliance with human rights , organize workshops and joint initiatives with the conflicting parties to support people in their endeavors to eliminate tension and conflicts.

history

prehistory

Andreas Maislinger as ASF -Freiwilliger in Poland (1981)

From the end of the 1970s, Andreas Maislinger campaigned for this type of alternative military service to be legally anchored in Austria, the aim of which was to educate people about the Holocaust . On October 10, 1980, at the invitation of Anton Pelinka, he had the opportunity to present his "community service in Auschwitz" in the ORF program "Kreuzverhor" directed by Dolores Bauer . However, Federal President Rudolf Kirchschläger had rejected his concept that an Austrian had nothing to atone for in Auschwitz . Later, however, Kirchschläger recognized “the positive result” of the memorial service that Maislinger “implemented”.

In 1980/81 Maislinger and Joachim Schlör volunteered in the Poland department of the German Action Reconciliation Service for Peace , headed by Volker von Törne and Christoph Heubner . At the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum he looked after German youth groups. After his return he was even more convinced that a similar program would be implemented in Austria. He was supported above all by Simon Wiesenthal , Teddy Kollek , Ari Rath , Herbert Rosenkranz , Gerhard Röthler and Karl Pfeifer . One of Röthler's sons later did a memorial service and Pfeifer published an interview in the IKG magazine “Die GEMEINDE”.

realization

In May 1991 Andreas Maislinger was finally informed in a letter from Interior Minister Franz Löschnak that the memorial service had been approved by the Austrian government as an alternative to civilian service and that the necessary funds would be borne by the Federal Ministry of the Interior within a specified framework .

On September 1, 1992, the first memorial servant took up his duties at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum .

development

In November 1997 a new legal regulation of the foreign service was decided, which from this point on also made social and peace services possible outside of Austria.

In 2001, under Minister of the Interior Ernst Strasser, a foreign service support association was set up, which distributes the funds to independent sponsoring organizations such as the Austrian Foreign Service.

According to the Austrian Volunteer Act, men and women have been given equal status since 2016. Interested young women can now do all kinds of foreign service. At the same time, the general willingness among the young population to do voluntary service abroad has grown rapidly and, it seems, has become really attractive. The sponsoring organizations have recently been exposed to a rush of interested parties that they cannot yet meet due to limited possibilities and funding resources. It is now jointly hoped that the funding from the Republic of Austria will be adjusted.

In the meantime, more than 1,000 young Austrians have completed their community service abroad. Today the Austrian Foreign Service Association is the only supporting organization that offers memorial, social and peace services and is active on all six continents.

financing

The Republic of Austria provides each foreign service sponsoring association with a certain budget through the association for the promotion of foreign services within the meaning of Section 12b of the Civil Service Act - foreign service sponsoring association . Each financed foreign servant is funded with a maximum of 9,000 euros. The supporting organization can, however, make reallocations so that a larger number of foreign servants can be supported, whereby the amount of 4,500 euros per person obliged to do civil service must not be undercut. Due to these limited funds, it is therefore not possible for everyone interested in doing a sponsored service abroad.

Approved carriers

Support organizations for memorial service

→ Main article: memorial service

Support organizations for peace service

Support organizations for social service

Deployment sites with the cooperation of Austrian supporting organizations

Small excerpt from the various places of work:

Country City, place Project name

Object name

Type (FD, GD, SD) Supporting organization
AlbaniaAlbania Albania Tirana Caritas Center Social service International volunteer work
ArgentinaArgentina Argentina Buenos Aires AFI - Asociacion Filantropica Israelita Memorial service Association memorial service
Santiago del Estero Parish of Espíritu Santo Social service International volunteer work
ArmeniaArmenia Armenia Gyumri Emili Aregak Center for Children and Youth with Multiple Disabilities Social service International volunteer work
AustraliaAustralia Australia Melbourne Jewish Holocaust Center Memorial service Austrian service abroad
BelgiumBelgium Belgium Brussels CEGESOMA - Center d'Étude Guerre et Société Memorial service Austrian service abroad
BoliviaBolivia Bolivia Santa Cruz PROBIOMA - Productividad Bisofera Medio Ambiente Social service INTERSOL
BrazilBrazil Brazil Petrópolis Casa Stefan Zweig Memorial service Austrian service abroad
Rio Grande do Sul Casa Madre Giovanna Social service Limitless
BulgariaBulgaria Bulgaria Sofia Sveti Konstantin Social service CONCORDIA
ChileChile Chile Santiago de Chile Hogar Beit Israel Memorial service Association memorial service
China People's RepublicPeople's Republic of China People's Republic of China Nanjing John Raven House Memorial service Austrian service abroad
Shanghai Center for Jewish Studies Memorial service Austrian service abroad
Costa RicaCosta Rica Costa Rica La Gamba La Gamba tropical station Social service Austrian service abroad
Puntarenas Finca Sonador , Longo Mai Social service Austrian service abroad
San Jose ACI - Costa Rica Social service Limitless
San Jose Obras del Espíritu Santo Social service Limitless
GermanyGermany Germany Berchtesgaden Institute for Contemporary History - Documentation Obersalzberg Memorial service Austrian service abroad
Berlin ne Frank Center eV Memorial service Association memorial service
Berlin Jewish Museum Berlin Memorial service Austrian service abroad
Munich Jewish Museum Munich Memorial service Austrian service abroad
...
La Gamba Tropical Station , Costa Rica
Jewish Museum Berlin , Germany
Oradour-sur-Glane Memorial , France
Liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp, Austria (1945)
Yad Vashem , Israel: Hall of Names
Museo della Deportazione , Prato , Italy
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum , Japan
Casa de los tres mundos , Nicaragua, founded by Dietmar Schönherr
Austrian Memorial Service Auschwitz Jewish Center , Poland (2009)
Forum för levande historia , Stockholm, Sweden
Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles , USA
Museum of Jewish Heritage , New York, USA


EnglandEngland England

FranceFrance France

GabonGabon Gabon

GuatemalaGuatemala Guatemala

IndiaIndia India

IsraelIsrael Israel

ItalyItaly Italy

JapanJapan Japan

CanadaCanada Canada

KenyaKenya Kenya

  • Nairobi - Kenya Water for Health Organization

CroatiaCroatia Croatia

MadagascarMadagascar Madagascar

MexicoMexico Mexico

NepalNepal Nepal

  • Bandipur - Himalayan Welfare Service Center of Helpless Children

NicaraguaNicaragua Nicaragua

NetherlandsNetherlands Netherlands

NorwayNorway Norway

  • Oslo - Jodisk Aldersbolig

PakistanPakistan Pakistan

  • Lahore - SOS Children Villages Pakistan
  • Lahore - proLoka Pakistan

PeruPeru Peru

  • Huancayo - sub-organization of the Peruvian Ministry of Health
  • Lima - Centro de Información y Educación para la Prevención del Abuso de Drogas ( CEDRO )

PolandPoland Poland

RomaniaRomania Romania

RussiaRussia Russia

SloveniaSlovenia Slovenia

  • Laibach - National Museum of Contemporary History

SwedenSweden Sweden

Czech RepublicCzech Republic Czech Republic

TurkeyTurkey Turkey

UgandaUganda Uganda

UkraineUkraine Ukraine

HungaryHungary Hungary

United StatesUnited States United States

BelarusBelarus Belarus

  • Minsk - Belarussian Children's Hospice
  • Minsk - Dietski dom no.6 - Children's home no.6
  • Minsk - Kindergarten for Children with Special Needs

Well-known former foreign servants

  • Heinz Chen (music teacher)
  • Tim Cupal (ORF correspondent)
  • Ralph Gabriel (architect)
  • Christian Klösch (historian)
  • René J. Laglstorfer (journalist, OÖNachrichten)
  • Gebi Mair (member of the Tyrolean state parliament)
  • Andreas Th. Müller (international lawyer, University of Innsbruck)
  • Florian Niederndorfer (Journalist, Der Standard)
  • Gregor Sieböck (author & world wanderer)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Markus Kerschbaumer: Abroad instead of community service. In: WeltWegWeiser. Retrieved September 22, 2019 (German).
  2. ↑ Projects Abroad, IT Office: FSJ Alternative Abroad: Voluntary Social Year | Projects Abroad. Retrieved September 22, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Voluntary service at home and abroad. Retrieved October 8, 2019 .
  4. ^ Austrian Parliament: Excerpt from the law. In: Jusline. Austrian Justice, January 1, 2018, accessed December 29, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Florian Anton Ocenasek: Deployment sites abroad. In: Austrian Service Abroad. Retrieved December 29, 2019 .
  6. ^ Austrian Parliament: Civil Service Act. In: Legal information of the Austrian federal government. Retrieved December 29, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Community Service Agency Austria: Voluntary service in Germany and abroad. Accessed December 30, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Press archive and letter archive ( Memento of May 21, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) document the aforementioned commitment to the memorial service since 1977.
  9. ↑ "Community service in Holocaust memorials" , Dr. Peter Huemer and Dr. Andreas Maislinger, ORF Moment - Leben heute, March 9, 1988
  10. ↑ Andreas Maislinger: "ZIVILDIENST" in Auschwitz ( Memento from March 9, 2001 in the Internet Archive ), Stattblatt - Linzer Programm- und Belangzeitschrift 22/1980
  11. ↑ Rejola: The alternative to the army. In: THE PRESS. Accessed December 30, 2019 . Document not available, May 22, 2020.
  12. ^ Letter from Dr. Rudolf Kirchschläger to Dr. Andreas Maislinger , Vienna February 3, 1995. Document not available, May 22, 2020.
  13. ↑ Lonely among angels of peace: Conscientious objector Andreas Maislinger exemplifies alternative peace service , PROFIL, July 12, 1982
  14. ↑ "Community service in Holocaust memorials" , Dr. Peter Huemer and Dr. Andreas Maislinger, ORF "Moment - live today", March 9, 1988
  15. ^ Teddy Kollek on the memorial service project , Tiroler Tageszeitung, January 12, 1993
  16. ↑ Interview with Dr. Andreas Maislinger ( Memento from March 9, 2001 in the Internet Archive ), Die Gemeinde, December 22, 1982
  17. ^ Letter from Interior Minister Franz Löschnak to Andreas Maislinger , Die GEMEINDE, July 22, 1991
  18. ^ Positive response to Austria's first civil servant who serves in the former Auschwitz concentration camp ( Memento from March 9, 2001 in the Internet Archive ), Tiroler Tageszeitung , 12./13. September 1992
  19. ^ Zivildiener: New Association for Foreign Services - "Association for the Promotion of Foreign Service" , Der Standard, March 5, 2001
  20. ↑ Foreign service - experience for life? ep.12, # Europa4me. Accessed December 30, 2019 .
  21. ↑ The Standard Gerald John: Hard Cut at Memorial Service, The Standard November 10, 2010
  22. ^ A b c Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs: Approved institutions. In: Volunteer Web. Accessed December 31, 2019 .
  23. ^ Ministry of Social Affairs Austria: Deployment sites. In: Volunteer Web. Accessed December 31, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Homesickness for the world. 20 years of service abroad ( Memento from January 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )