Ute Bock

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Ute Bock (2011)

Ute Bock (born June 27, 1942 in Linz ; † January 19, 2018 in Vienna ) was an Austrian educator, refugee helper and human rights activist . She became known for her commitment to asylum seekers and refugees, which she supported with the Ute Bock refugee project based in Vienna with living space, clothing, courses and the mediation of legal and medical help.

biography

After graduating from high school , at her father's request, she applied to the municipality of Vienna for a position where jobs were traditionally considered secure. Without any further training, she was offered the only job as a teacher. From 1962 to 1969 she worked in the municipal home in Biedermannsdorf , after which she moved to the journeyman's home in Zohmanngasse in Vienna's 10th district as a “home mother” . In an interview conducted in 2012, she said about this time: “It wasn't easy. It was certainly not all right, what I did, I also handed out Dschn . That was so common back then [...]. Not only in homes, but also in families. Terrible, but it was like that. ”In 1976 she became the director of the home, which was increasingly regarded as the“ last station for difficult cases ”. At the beginning of the 1990s, the youth welfare office increasingly sent young people from abroad, initially refugees from the Yugoslav wars, and later from Africa, to the home in Zohmanngasse. Often these were young people who no longer received any federal care, i.e. no state support during their asylum procedure . Bock tried to find them German courses, odd jobs and places to sleep outside of the overcrowded home. This went hand in hand with their increasing commitment to asylum seekers. In autumn 1999, a few days before the National Council election in Austria , the police also raided the house on Zohmanngasse as part of the controversial Operation Spring . About 30 young people of African origin were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking and Bock was reported for gang formation and drug trafficking and temporarily suspended from duty. The charges were later dropped, but she was forbidden from accommodating other African asylum seekers in Zohmanngasse.

Bock died on January 19, 2018 at the age of 75 after a short, serious illness in the Ute-Bock-Haus in Vienna. Her grave is at the Evangelical Cemetery in Vienna's Central Cemetery .

Ute Bock refugee project

In 2000, Bock retired and took care of from that point honorary constantly around her initiated project to help refugees and asylum seekers . On May 21, 2002 the Ute Bock Association - Housing and Integration Project was founded.

Supported by a network of mostly voluntary helpers, Bock now organized private shared apartments and family apartments, which she financed and looked after with the help of donations and out of her own pocket. In her housing project she soon provided around 100 apartments for over 300 people from more than 20 countries who would otherwise be homeless without government support. Another 1,000 homeless asylum seekers have their delivery address as part of a post and registration service, a requirement for correspondence with authorities, at the Ute Bock association. In addition, the association helps organize legal advice for the refugees , also in cooperation with NGOs , operates a free clothing store and arranges various courses (German, literacy , information skills , etc.) as part of an educational program .

In 2008 Bock's association was on the verge of financial failure, but was then given substantial support by the entrepreneur Hans Peter Haselsteiner . Haselsteiner bought the building of the former journeyman's home in Zohmanngasse in Vienna's 10th district from the City of Vienna through his Concordia private foundation in 2011 and financed the renovation and conversion to make it available to Bock's association as a dormitory ("Ute Bock House"). In May 2012, the association moved into the house with living space for around 70 refugees and space for counseling facilities, where Ute Bock herself lived in a small apartment. The establishment of the home led to conflicts with local residents, who blamed the residents, mainly from Chechnya, Nigeria and Somalia, for unrest and crime in the area.

Movies

Bock with Houchang Allahyari and his son Tom-Dariush at the preview of the film Bock for President (2009)

The Austrian filmmaker Houchang Allahyari and his son Tom-Dariusch Allahyari followed Ute Bock with their camera in their daily work in 2008 and 2009. The documentary Bock for President was shown for the first time on October 31st as a preview in a cooperation between Stadtkino and Viennale during the student protests in winter 2009 in the occupied Audimax of the University of Vienna . The official premiere took place on November 1st as part of the Viennale in the Künstlerhaus cinema , the cinema release in Austria was on January 15th, 2010.

In 2010, Houchang Allahyari again devoted himself to the life of Ute Bock with a film project. In the feature film The Crazy World of Ute Bock among other act Josef Hader , Karl Markovics , Viktor Gernot , Andreas Vitasek , Julia Stemberger , Dolores Schmidinger , Peter Kern and Alexander Pschill with. Bock's work, which can also be seen as herself, and the stories of the people with whom she meets - from the refugees who play themselves to the police officers are shown. The launch in Austrian cinemas took place in November 2010.

Awards

Graffiti for Ute Bock on the Vienna Danube Canal

Bock has received numerous awards for its social commitment:

Honors posthumously

Sea of ​​lights in memory of Ute Bock
  • The City of Vienna has offered to bury Ute Bock in an honorary grave. However, her family refused to do so "for reasons of privacy".
  • The photographer and volunteer refugee helper Julian Pöschl and the graphic artist Severin Heckenast started an online petition on January 20, 2018 to rename the Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Platz in Vienna to Ute-Bock-Platz, which the City Councilor for Culture said about the Rejected time and place. By February 2, it had already signed over 32,500 times.
  • On February 2, 2018, commemorative events for Bock took place on Heldenplatz in Vienna as well as in Bregenz, Innsbruck and Klagenfurt. Between 6000 (police estimate) and 10,000 (organizer estimate) people took part in the “Sea of ​​Lights for Ute Bock” in Vienna. The evening was hosted by Hans Peter Haselsteiner, Christl Weinberger (director of the Ute Bock refugee project), Ariane Baron (employee in the Ute Bock house) and residents of the house, as well as the former Federal President Heinz Fischer and the incumbent Alexander Van der Bellen , Erich Fenninger , Heinrich Staudinger , Ferdinand Maier , Irene Brickner and Houchang Allahyari . The musical framework was provided by Michael Fischer as the choirmaster for the introduction, the fountain choir, DrumBock (a percussion group of professional musicians who live in the Ute Bock house) and Rainhard Fendrich .
  • The Ute-Bock-Haus will keep its name, even if there will perhaps be a new leading figure in the future.
  • At Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Platz, which according to the City Councilor for Culture should not be renamed "in principle", a temporary memorial for Ute Bock is to be erected from April 27 to May 20, 2019. Ines Hochgerner and Peter Fritzenwallner conceived to contrast the portrayal of Lueger with a group picture by Ute Bock with two refugees as if for a dialogue.

Publications

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Refugee helper Ute Bock has died. The standard , accessed January 19, 2018 .
  2. ^ Frauenberger and Hacker: City mourns the committed fighter Ute Bock. In: wien.gv.at. Retrieved January 19, 2018 .
  3. ↑ The standard : "Home mother" Ute Bock: No training and "SSler as an educator". October 19, 2011.
  4. ↑ a b Edith Meinhart: About the person: Ute Bock. In: profil.at . April 16, 2012.
  5. ^ Association for refugee project Ute Bock: Living. ( Memento of December 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ).
  6. ↑ A new house for Ute Bock. ORF , accessed on September 16, 2016 .
  7. ↑ Bernhard Ichner: Always trouble with the neighbors. At: Kurier.at. October 20, 2013, accessed on January 20, 2018.
  8. ↑ Duygu Özkan: Ute Bock: Zores with the neighbors. At: DiePresse.com. June 3, 2013, accessed on January 20, 2018.
  9. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: New film with Ute Bock: Start of shooting. At: tele.at. Retrieved September 18, 2010.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.tele.at
  10. ↑ SOS Mitmensch : The Ute Bock Prize for moral courage. ( Memento of October 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ).
  11. ↑ 1st World Human Prize 2007.
  12. ^ Austrians of the year 2010. Retrieved September 15, 2015.
  13. ↑ “In the Middle of Life” award to Ute Bock. In: Wien.ORF.at . October 18, 2011.
  14. Jump up ↑ Ute Bock's gold medal of merit. Retrieved October 4, 2012 .
  15. ^ Petition for Ute-Bock-Platz. At: ORF.at. January 22, 2018, accessed on January 22, 2018.
  16. ↑ DISOBEY: Ute-Bock-Platz instead of Karl-Lueger-Platz! At: change.org. Petition to Vienna City Administration, started January 20, 2018. Accessed January 22, 2018.
  17. ↑ a b c ORF : Thousands at Lichtermeer for Ute Bock. February 2, 2018, accessed February 2, 2018.
  18. ↑ The standard : Thousands at Lichtermeer for Ute Bock in Vienna. February 2, 2018, accessed February 2, 2018.
  19. ↑ Petition for Ute-Bock-Platz orf.at, January 22, 2018, accessed April 19, 2019.
  20. ↑ Temporary memorial for Ute Bock orf.at, April 19, 2019, accessed April 19, 2019.

Web links

Commons : Ute Bock  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Bock, Ute
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian educator
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Linz
DATE OF DEATH 19th January 2018
Place of death Vienna