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When visitors to the concentration camp memorial stop in the center of Mauthausen after their stay in the former camp, they often ask how the people who live in Mauthausen can deal with this historical heritage. It is not uncommon for such encounters to leave the residents with the feeling of being stigmatized. A balanced picture that brings perpetrators and bystanders, but also acts of resistance in front of the curtain, paints an exhibition of the “perspective mauthausen” that opened on Friday in the Pragstein Castle Museum.
For decades there has been a very ambivalent relationship between the population and the topic of the “camp”, says Franz Pötscher, who developed the exhibition with a team of six people: “We wanted to use concrete examples to illuminate the entire spectrum of this relationship: from participation to resistance .”
The second part of the special exhibition deals with the work of “perspective mauthausen”, which for 19 years has been contributing to democratic awareness-raising through active remembrance. “It’s not enough to accept the concentration camp up on the mountain as the site of National Socialist crimes,” says employee Josef Katzlinger. Therefore, the exhibition is not limited to a niche in the castle museum, but is also carried out to public places with sound installations.
As a contribution to the exhibition, the Mauthausen Middle School carried out a survey on the relationship between the Mauthausen residents and their place of residence. In addition, students wrote messages on granite stones. These are given to visitors on their way home. The exhibition is open every Saturday and Sunday (2 to 5 p.m.).
Source: Nachrichten
