Most of them were Jews. But there were also political dissenters and homosexuals among them. 65 Gmundners were murdered by the National Socialists. In the past, it was assumed that there were fewer Nazi victims (the memorial at the Jewish cemetery mentions 18). But the Gmunden historian Holger Höllwerth has compiled the names of 65 demonstrably murdered people in recent years.
On the initiative of Höllwerth and General a. D. Hubertus Trauttenberg, the city councils are now erecting a memorial to these victims of National Socialism. The decision was made in the municipal council with a large majority (only three FPÖ mandaters abstained).
Design by Kurt Ellmauer
After a competition in which four artists submitted designs, the city presented the winning project yesterday. It is a sheet of bronze almost ten meters long, from which the names of the 65 victims are cut out in stenciled letters.
The draft came from Gmunden architects and HTL teacher Kurt Ellmauer, who had already submitted the template for the concentration camp memorial in Ebensee. Above all, the jury praised the “clarity, simplicity and unobtrusiveness” of the memorial. “All attention belongs to the names of the murdered.”
But the installation site – the quay wall on the Esplanade – is also part of the concept. The memorial was originally supposed to be near the Jewish cemetery. But both Ellmauer and the city officials preferred the promenade. Not just because it’s heavily frequented. “Practically everyone looks at the Traunsee and the mountain panorama there,” says Andreas Hecht (ÖVP parliamentary group), chairman of the culture committee. “People are suddenly confronted with the names and have to deal with them.”
General Trauttenberg also considers the location to be “perfect” because there are many young people there. “We have an obligation to convey to the next generation what happened under the Nazi regime,” says the former high-ranking military officer.
The memorial will be erected in the summer. The project costs amount to 57,000 euros, around half of which is contributed by the federal government. “The erection of this memorial will be one of the most moving moments in my mayoral career, I already know that,” says Stefan Krapf (ÖVP).
Source: Nachrichten
