Danielle Spera

[1] In 1983 she completed her doctorate on the election campaigns of the Social Democratic Party in the interwar period,[2] and from 1990 to 2002 she was a lecturer at the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna.

After assignments in Central America, Greece and Cyprus, she was appointed ORF correspondent in the US in April 1987,[4] shortly before the announcement that Austrian president Kurt Waldheim was put on the Watch List of persons banned from entering the United States over suspicions about his wartime record.

[7] She also said she aimed to "open up" the museum to the public, to create a space where fears and prejudices were dispelled and non-Jews could experience both the traumatic past and the vibrant present of the Austrian Jewish community.

[9] To accommodate the new direction of the museum, Spera made the immediate renovation of the Dorotheergasse premises a priority, launching an intensive fundraising effort both from official sources in Austria and from the Jewish diaspora especially in the United States.

The renovation, between January and October 2011 aimed at a complete technical overhaul of the museum infrastructure as well as to changes in layout and visitor facilities.

A museum employee took pictures and sent them to curator blogs[10] and the local media,[11] creating a furore about what critics said was the destruction of cultural artifacts.

Since its re-opening after the renovation, the museum has attracted record numbers of visitors,[13] both to its regular exhibitions and to its evening program of events featuring visiting artists, which Spera moderates.

-27.10.2013), Jewish genius: Warhol's Jews (14.03-28.10.2012) and Waiting room of hope: The Rothschild Hospital in November 1947 - Photos of Henry Ries (19.10.2012-17.02.2013) In 1992 and 2007 she received the Austrian television award Romy for the most popular moderator.