Gedenkdienst

www.auslandsdienst.at/en/ Gedenkdienst is a concept in Austria aimed at young people to face and take responsibility for the darkest chapters of the country's history while being financially supported by Austrian government.

[1] The historian, political scientist and scientific director of the Braunau Contemporary History Days Andreas Maislinger promoted the idea of an alternative to the compulsory military service dedicated to the research, understanding and remembrance of the Holocaust as well as the commemoration of its victims since the late 1970s.

It touched me to read there is now, thanks to the possibility to perform the Austrian civilian service within the framework of the Gedenkdienst.As a former Polish political prisoner of a fascist Concentration Camp and historian of World War II, I want to take the honoring opportunity to speak in front of the high house.

Here I specially think of the people of the documentation archive of the Austrian resistance under the leadership of Prof. Wolfgang Neugebauer, the Austrian Camp Community Mauthausen, the Gedenkdienst, and also the local initiatives of the communities Gusen, Langenstein und St. Georgen in Oberösterreich, the working circle for homeland, memorial and history care.I thank you for the information about the positive result from your accomplished Gedenkdienst.The Gedenkdienst is a very impressive initiative.I feel very close to this organization and I have great respect for the servants, because what they achieve is the right way for Austria – to look the past directly into the eyes and to do something against it.

It also is a reminder that today's values like a sense of responsibility and moral courage did not lose their importance.Each Generation has to be aware of the horror of the past, to be able to build a new world of peace and respect for human rights.

The project Gedenkdienst serves this important challenge of sensitizing for the meaning of the words “Never forget.The association provided positions in 19 memorial sites in Germany and Poland.