VIENNA—Austria has a special responsibility in the fight against antisemitism and in safeguarding Jewish life in Europe, Israel and in the rest of the world, said Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
He spoke at a commemorative event marking the end of the Second World War in Europe on May 8th 1945 and the end of the Nazi reign of terror in Austria. He emphasized that remembrance must be followed by concrete action.
He said the first ever agreement of the European Union countries to decisively fight antisemitism which Austria managed to reach during its EU Presidency last year, ‘’was an important step into the right direction,’’ in a reference to the EU Council Declaration of December 2018 on the fight against antisemitism and the development of a common security approach to better protect Jewish communities and institutions in Europe.
“My generation is probably the last one that is able to speak to Holocaust survivors. In this context, I fully support the proposal to give all secondary students in Austria the possibility to visit the Mauthausen memorial at least once in their lifetime,” stated the Austrian Chancellor.
Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache also underlined Austria’s commitment to remembrance on such a significant day: “The Shoah was the most horrible and vicious manifestation of the Nazi terror regime. I bow my head to all those who became victims to this gruesome and cruel time in our history.”
Austria has been cooperating actively with Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, over the past decades. Since the year 2000, around 800 Austrian teachers participated in seminars and courses at the memorial to improve the curricula of Austrian students, and last year, the Austrian government contributed 1 million euros to the construction of the Shoah Heritage Campus.
To further strengthen this relationship, Chancellor has signed on behalf of the Austrian Federal Government an archival agreement with Yad Vashem which will give historians from Austria and Israel the opportunity to access their respective archives and conduct their research. ‘’We are firmly committed to make sure that no individual story will ever be forgotten,’’ the government said. .