Memorial in Vienna
The 25th of October 2000 was an important day for Simon Wiesenthal and the city of Vienna. After a four-year hiatus in construction, a Holocaust Memorial was finally inaugurated at the Judenplatz in Vienna. The memorial commemorates the 65,000 Austrian Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. In 1994 Mayor Michael Haeupl made the decision to erect the memorial; however, when construction began in 1997, the ruins of a medieval synagogue were discovered beneath the area where the memorial was to be built. This exciting piece of Jewish history has given the memorial even more meaning: it now includes an underground showroom exposing the ruins.
Interestingly, the memorial itself, designed by the British artist Rachel Whitehead, is an empty room. Whitehead’s concept is fascinating. Without showing the vivid and brutal cruelties of the Holocaust, she has created a unique and poignant reminder of its devastating results. The memorial is a hermetically closed library, a vacuum, an eternal emptiness in the middle of the city. Its books — forever sealed within — will never be read again.
The absence of certain representatives of the Austrian government, internationally known for the right-wing politics of its ruling Freedom Party, was apparent. This was due to the fact that the Jewish community of Vienna felt that their presence at the opening ceremonies would be an affront.
Mayor Haeupl talked about the long history of anti-Semitism in Vienna, declaring that “700 years of anti-Semitism are enough.” Austrian President Thomas Klestil said that the process of coming to terms with the past — including legal obligations — had been put off for too long.
Simon Wiesenthal, who had recently been decorated with the highest honor a civilian can receive in the United Sates — the Presidential Medal of Freedom — declared: “The Judenplatz will encourage people to read, to learn, to come see it; and it will be a contribution that will prevent [the memory of the Judenplatz from disappearing into] oblivion. The memorial will name the victims and accuse the guilty.”

Michael Feuerstein (Austrian Gedenkdienst Intern)

Memorial in Vienna (Photo
courtesy of ABC)

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