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For the second time in a row, the former roll call area of the Gusen concentration camp became the site of a high-ranking memorial service. For this purpose, the place, which has been largely cleared of debris in the past few months, was made accessible to the public on Thursday evening. This should only be a first step towards creating a worthy memorial in Gusen.
Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer emphasized that the Federal Government will support all measures to erect a memorial of international format around the property purchased in Gusen the previous year: “The support of the Federal Government is guaranteed.” Don’t lose sight of it: “To commemorate here means to make it possible to commemorate together. With the people who live here and build a future for themselves and at the same time with the relatives who mourn their victims here.”
The importance of this participatory process with international victims’ associations and the local population, which has been running since autumn, was expressed by the fact that they were also able to express their vision of a future Gusen memorial site at the commemoration hour.
From Gusen, the entourage of visitors continued on to St. Georgen, where, in front of the entrance to the “Bergkristall” tunnel system, the victims of the Nazi regime were also commemorated as part of a secret armaments program: the names of those killed were given in the light and sound installation “#eachnamematters”. read aloud and projected onto the embankment next to the tunnel entrance.
In addition to Federal Chancellor Nehammer and National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka, Karoline Edtstadler, Eleonore Gewessler, Gerhard Karner, Martin Polaschek, Klaudia Tanner, Norbert Totschnig, Claudia Plakolm and Alma Zadic came to Gusen and St. Georgen as members of the Federal Government. The group of international guests was led by 97-year-old Gusen survivor Stanislaw Zalewski and Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Chairman Dani Dayan.
Source: Nachrichten
