2010 - 2011 ANNUAL REPORT 15th Anniversary of the National Fund 10th Anniversary of the Washington Agreement NATIONAL FUND OF THE REPUBLIC OF AUSTRIA FOR VICTIMS OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM GENERAL SETTLEMENT FUND FOR VICTIMS OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM FUND FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWISH CEMETERIES IN AUSTRIA 2 _ ANNUAL REPORT 2010 2011 CONTENTS Foreword by the President of the National Council 4 FUND FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWISH CEMETERIES IN AUSTRIA 64 Foreword by the Secretary General 6 Annual Report 64 Taking Responsibility. Sending a Signal. 8 Monument Protection and Jewish Cemeteries 68 Milestones 10 Barbara Neubauer 15th ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL FUND 12 GENERAL SETTLEMENT FUND 70 That’s the Thing About Numbers 12 Annual Report 70 Susanne Janistyn Giving the Victims Faces and Names 16 Renate S. Meissner ARBITRATION PANEL FOR IN REM RESTITUTION 80 People, Fates, Memories 22 Mirjam Langer, Michaela Niklas Annual Report 80 From the Restitution Commissions to the Arbitration 10th ANNIVERSARY OF THE Panel. Documentation of the Festive Event held by WASHINGTON AGREEMENT 26 the Arbitration Panel on 11 October 2011. 86 Events Leading up to the Washington Agreement 26 Hans Winkler The Washington Agreement in Practice 30 10 Years after the Washington Agreement: Background, Successes, and the Future 36 Stuart E. Eizenstat NATIONAL FUND 46 APPENDIX 100 Annual Report 46 Applicants According to Year of Birth 102 Redesign of the Austrian Exhibition in Auschwitz-Birkenau 54 Applicants According to Country of Residence 104 The Academic Advisory Board 58 Jewish Cemeteries in Austria 108 Wolfgang Neugebauer The Societal Advisory Board 60 Guidelines for Awarding Payments Herta Neiß from the Fund for the Restoration of the Jewish Cemeteries in Austria 110 Organogram 114 Organs 115 Projects Sponsored by the National Fund in 2010/2011 120 Selected Publications 138 LEGAL DISCLOSURE 141 3 FOREWORD PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL COUNCIL BARBARA PRAMMER Since its establishment in 1995, the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism has been expressing Austria’s special responsibility towards the victims of National Socialism through its broad range of tasks and projects. The Fund provides assistance to survivors, it makes a substantial contribution towards research into the Natio- nal Socialist era and it promotes the documentation and dissemination of knowledge of these years to future ge- nerations. It has become one of the Republic of Austria’s key institutions. However, its recognition and support of the victims of National Socialism does not mark the end of its work. In the future its tasks will continue to lie in the field of research and, increasingly, focus will also be placed on education and remembrance. The number of survivors who can describe these years in person conti- nues to wane; documenting their stories and passing on their knowledge to subsequent generations is therefore gaining in importance. In 2010, we took stock of 15 years of the National Fund and the outcome was overwhelmingly positive. Around 30,000 gesture payments amounting to around © Parlamentsdirektion/Wilke 156 million Euro were made to the victims of National President of the National Council Socialism. Many projects were sponsored which are Barbara Prammer directly related to the National Socialist era in Austria. The range of projects for which sponsorship is reques- ted is wide: it includes social and medical projects for Holocaust survivors, school projects and academic re- search, events, exhibitions, books and films. The number The year 2011 marked the 10th anniversary of the conclu- of applications for project sponsorship has continually sion of the Washington Agreement of 23 January 2001 risen in recent years, which not only indicates that the between the Republic of Austria and the USA. Among opportunity to request funding from the National Fund other things, Austria undertook to resolve open questions has become more widely known but also that increasing of compensation for victims of National Socialism and to numbers of associations, schools and other organiza- acknowledge moral responsibility for the losses of assets tions are addressing the subject of National Socialism. suffered by people under the National Socialist regime Many of the projects carried out contributed towards between 1938 and 1945, in the form of monetary pay- documenting unknown fates, some brought back to Aust- ments. The General Settlement Fund for Victims of Natio- ria those who had been forced into exile and others gave nal Socialism was established in fulfilment of this obligati- forgotten victims a name. on. The payments from this Fund can only be understood to be a gesture and not a comprehensive reimbursement of the actual losses. Nevertheless, after ten years we can also take stock in this regard and be satisfied. 4 _ ANNUAL REPORT 2010 2011 The enormous challenges involved in processing the The planning for the redesign of the Austrian memorial many applications were met by the staff of the General in Auschwitz-Birkenau, resolved by the Austrian Federal Settlement Fund with a huge depth of knowledge and the Government in 2009, which the National Fund has been desire to provide maximum support to the applicants. entrusted with coordinating, is already very advanced. It is of great importance that the present exhibition be Thanks to their dedication, the 210 million US Dollar with swiftly renewed as its contents and themes are no longer which the Fund was endowed has been almost entirely in keeping with the Republic of Austria’s view of her own disbursed and the imminent completion of its task can history. It is intended that the exhibition reflect the histo- be expected. The Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution rical and political knowledge gained in the last decades was also established at the General Settlement Fund. It is and be a further sign of Austria’s avowal to responsibly responsible for deciding on applications for restitution of deal with and actively come to terms with her past. publicly-owned property, for the most part real estate. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Members This is also to be achieved through the Societal Advisory of the Claims Committee, which decides on applications Board which involves representatives from religious com- for monetary compensation, and the Members of the Ar- munities and victims’ organizations and also from the bitration Panel, for their many years of service. Federal Government and political parties in the work on the redesign. In December 2010, the Fund for the Restoration of the Jewish Cemeteries in Austria was founded to put into I would like to express my deep gratitude to all those who, practice Austria’s obligation under international law to with their tireless work for the National Fund, the General restore known and unknown Jewish cemeteries in Austria, Settlement Fund and the Fund for the Restoration of the which was also set out in the “Washington Agreement”. Jewish Cemeteries in Austria, are making a fundamental contribution to the successful processing of the thousands Until 2030, the Republic of Austria shall provide of applications and the projects. Special thanks are due an annual amount of 1 million Euro for the resto- to Secretary General Hannah Lessing and her staff. ration of the over 60 Jewish cemeteries in Austria. I am confident that in the coming years the necessary arrangements shall be reached with both the cemetery owners and with the relevant towns and municipalities in order to be able to carry out the pending renovations and subsequent maintenance. The upkeep of the Jewish cemeteries in Austria is not only a responsibility the Re- public of Austria has towards its Jewish citizens, most of whom were forced into exile or murdered. It is also a matter of showing respect for places of remembrance, where the memory of the dead should be preserved. 5 FOREWORD SECRETARY GENERAL HANNAH M. LESSING This year, the publication of the Annual Report for the years 2010 and 2011 is not only, as in previous years, a documentation of the work of two Funds – the National Fund and the General Settlement Fund – but, for the first time, also a documention of the work of the Fund for the Restoration of the Jewish Cemeteries in Austria, which commenced its activities in early 2011. All three Funds share a common aim: the expression of Austria’s historical responsibility arising from the National Socia- list era and its consequences. The year 2010 was a special milestone for the National Fund in several respects: In 1995, the Fund was established at the National Coun- cil; its 15th anniversary was an opportunity for us to present in a two volume publication not only the diverse aspects of its work but also some of the stories which are at the root of every application. The survivors, and pro- viding them with recognition and support, have always been at the very heart of our work and this will remain unchanged in the future. But there are also new challen- ges which are increasingly gaining in importance: as the last surviving eyewitnesses fall silent, the need to create a lively culture of remembrance moves to the forefront. The publication of life stories and sponsorship of projects on remembrance, research and education, are, in different ways, contributions towards safeguarding memories and, Rigaud © Peter as such, “planting the seeds of a better future amidst the Secretary General Hannah M. Lessing soil of a bitter past” 1. In 2010, the National Fund was also entrusted with the coordination of the redesign of the Austrian national ex- hibition at the former concentration and extermination Additionally, people who have significantly influenced camp and present State Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau – a the three Funds – Dr. Susanne Janistyn, Dr. Hans Winkler, redesign which is intended to demonstrate the change Stuart E.