Stones of memory

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Stones of Remembrance, Leopoldstadt 2007

Stones of Remembrance of Jewish Victims of the Holocaust is an Austrian association based in Vienna , which dedicates its work to the memory of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust and, according to its own statements, "wakes up the memory of Jewish life and culture before the Nazis came to power" want to hold. The association has existed since 2005 and is primarily active in the Viennese districts of Leopoldstadt , Brigittenau and Alsergrund .

tasks and goals

The initiatives Viennese memorials to the victims of the Nazi regime , although based on the concept of the stumbling blocks of Gunter Demnig , but reject the notion unison stumbling blocks off. In Vienna, five initiatives have been established to equip the different neighborhoods with memorial stones: in Vienna Highway initiative is stones of remembrance active in Vienna-Mariahilf initiative Remembering for the Future , in Vienna Josefstadt the project Stones of Remembrance Josefstadt founded, by the former member of the National Council Irmtraut Karlsson and in Liesing the Stones of Remembrance project in Liesing . Stones of Remembrance is the only initiative in Vienna that operates nationwide in several districts and has so far erected memorial stones or plaques in fifteen municipal districts of Vienna . The association's website reads: “We are giving the murdered a place in their home district again. So they and their fate are not forgotten. "

From the very beginning, the project intended to give relatives the opportunity to commemorate their murdered grandparents, parents and siblings: “The trauma of the relatives, for whose families we are setting stones, is so deep that even with the best project we do not have these wounds can heal, but our great wish is to help alleviate the pain. ”Survivors also benefit from the concrete experience that the great suffering of their families in Vienna, the place of displacement and deportation, is“ recognized and recognized ”.

The executive bodies of the association are mainly recruited from the Hindler family, namely: Elisabeth Ben David-Hindler (died on May 11, 2016), Karl Jindrich, Zahava Hindler, Vally Steiner, Ernst Fitzka, Daliah Hindler and Matthias Beier. Due to illness, no further memorial stones were placed in 2015.

Field of activity

Memorial stone in Brigittenau

The focus of the association's activities is on laying stones of remembrance in Vienna's Leopoldstadt , in Brigittenau and on Alsergrund , that is, Vienna's districts 2, 20 and 9.Furthermore, a number of stones were laid in Vienna's inner city (1st district ) relocated. Some memorial stones of the association can also be found in the districts of Wieden (4th) , Margareten (5th) , Neubau (7th) , Favoriten (10th) , Penzing (14th) , Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus (15th) , Ottakring ( 16.) , Hernals (17.) , Währing (18.) , Döbling (19.) and Floridsdorf (21.) .

Anchoring in the population

Anchoring the association's projects in the local population is a central concern of the association. This is partly done through sponsorships, building blocks and donations, "but at least as important to us is that many people help build and support our projects." One of the important supporters of the project is Mr. Sommer, the owner of Cafe Sperlhof in der Große Sperlgasse in Leopoldstadt. The association on its website: “This form of coming to terms with the Viennese past should be a common cause. The more people involved, the stronger the anchoring. And the effect. Whereby we are not primarily addressing Jewish circles. "

Furthermore, residents take on the regular cleaning of the stones and the regional population is active and proactive in many forms on a voluntary basis in the association: “This is how we write history together from below. We create awareness of the repressed and the unknown in people who pass by. We make a sustainable contribution to coming to terms with the past in Vienna. "

Resistance from homeowners

A number of homeowners are opposed to placing plaques on the facade of the home. "It is still the case that most homeowners do not want the blackboards," emphasized the association's spokeswoman Elisabeth Ben David-Hindler. For the most part, the association does not get permission to put up panels on the facade, and if there are several owners, even a party’s no is enough. Therefore the association is mainly dependent on memorial stones in the sidewalk in front of the respective house.

Maintenance and cleaning

The memorial stones of the association are cleaned and serviced regularly, usually once a month. However, that is not enough in the winter months, which is why the association was looking for a number of volunteer workers who live near a station and who they wait once a week. A teacher reported: “We have already cleaned 'our' stone, it was very touching, we marched there with the whole school, two children scrubbed the stone, then we took a minute to remember and I got a little something about the stones and the memory work in general - we were a real sensation! "

Path of memory, path of memory

A path of remembrance through Leopoldstadt reminds us today of the largely displaced or murdered Jewish population of Leopoldstadt, of their living space in the district, their houses, synagogues, schools, theaters, coffeehouses, but also of the assembly camps to which they were before deportation and Death in the concentration camp. Explanation boards on buildings, "stones of remembrance" and memorial boards for individual people, as well as path markings guide you through a total of 102 stations. “In this way we want - stone by stone - symbolically to give the Jewish residents expelled and murdered from here a place in their home district again; and the relatives the chance to immortalize their parents, grandparents and siblings. ”The project was supported by the then district chairman Gerhard Kubik and the cultural councilor Andreas Mailath-Pokorny .

Part of the project is the street of remembrance on Volkertplatz , which consists of 84 “Stones of Remembrance”, “moved many people and received wide media coverage”. The street of remembrance is intended to commemorate the 1,585 victims from this part of the city. The association also offers guided tours to the places of remembrance.

Multimedia guide

Since 2015, a GPS-controlled multimedia guide has also led to the stones of memory. In images, text and sound, you can find out the story of the people who are being thought of via smartphone or tablet. (See link below.)

Quotes

“What I find so special about this project: I get to know the story better and at the same time I can contribute something positive. I can be active, that's a relief for me, so I'm doing something good for myself too. I found it very fascinating that you can take on a sponsorship. You can now do the remembrance for a person who has been a victim of this system and no longer has any relatives. "

- Interview with a godfather

"Dead are those who no one remembers," says a Jewish proverb. "

- Elisabeth Ben David-Hindler

"For me it is as if my grandparents finally got a tombstone."

- Barbara Zeisl : on the occasion of the laying of a memorial stone for her grandparents (her parents managed to escape to the USA in 1938, but the grandparents were abducted and murdered in the concentration camp)

Relocations outside of Leopoldstadt

Memorial stones in Vienna's new building

So far, the following districts have been recorded:

The inner city, Alsergrund and Brigittenau districts are currently in progress.

Financing the project

The production and installation are financed through sponsorships from citizens of the city or from surviving relatives. The work of the association was and is supported by the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism , further by the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria , by the Vienna Municipal Department 7 of the City of Vienna and earlier also by the Austrian National Bank .

criticism

The stumbling block or memorial stone project is generally viewed as controversial. For example, the former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany , Charlotte Knobloch , criticized that it was unbearable that the names of the victims were set in stones on the ground.

A controversy also arose when Gunter Demnig , the initiator of the Stolpersteine , felt the Vienna Stones of Remembrance as a plagiarism of his initiative.

Publications

  • Elisabeth Ben David-Hindler: 10 years of stones that move , book publication of the association
  • Stones of Remembrance , CD by the Avanim group

Award

Similar projects

  • "Traces of Remembrance" have been taking place in the Piedmontese city ​​of Saluzzo since 2009. The plates are designed by school classes as part of the local project "Tracce del ricordo" (Traces of Remembrance).
  • "Denksteine" have been laid in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf since 2009 . Demnig suggested a "handcrafted alternative" there. In the meantime, memorial stones are also being laid in other Berlin districts .
  • Since 2015, individual memorial stones (Herdenkingsstenen) have been laid in various places in the Netherlands. The local initiatives of these communities have decided to lay their own stones. In Amersfoort are 433 stones in Vught 11 and in Veendam 164 stones are laid. A close resemblance to the Stolpersteine ​​project is deliberately aimed at.

Web links

Commons : Stones of Remembrance  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ORF : 2015 no new “Stones of Remembrance” , January 12, 2014
  2. ^ ORF : Many homeowners against memorial plaques , November 11, 2012
  3. ^ Wien.at : Path of Remembrance through Leopoldstadt , September 21, 2006
  4. ^ Die Presse : Stolpersteine ​​in Salzburg & Wien , July 23, 2007
  5. ↑ enken.at : Path of Remembrance , accessed on May 7, 2015
  6. ^ Ö1 : In conversation: “Memory relieves pain” - Renata Schmidtkunz in conversation with sociologist Elisabeth Ben David-Hindler , March 31, 2016, 9 p.m.
  7. ↑ Well-known in the city: Stones of Memory , December 28, 2010
  8. ^ Project website