2023-06-16 16:30:14
Councilor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler: The achievement of the honorary genealogist is “a sensation even in professional circles”.
Vienna (OTS) – Today, Friday, City Councilor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler awarded the Golden Medal of Merit of the State of Vienna to the honorary genealogist Franz Spevacek in the Vienna City Hall.
The tribute was musically designed by the Atlas Quartet, which played works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Edward Elgar. In addition to the laudator, Felix Gundacker, family and friends of the honoree attended the ceremony.
The laudator Felix Gundacker emphasized that the digitization of many historical sources in Vienna, which began in 2010, represents a “revolution for historical research”. “The data provided can be called up at any time from anywhere in the world – a real Eldorado for research.” Franz Spevacek wanted to work on the citizen science project initiated by Gundacker in 2010 “because he thought it was something very useful. I don’t know of anyone who has done similar extensive volunteer work in this area.”
City Councilor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler emphasized the value of voluntary work: “In Vienna alone, more than half a million people do voluntary work. I am pleased to be able to honor Franz Spevacek, one of the many enthusiasts who devote their time to working together in society. His achievement in the Citizen Science project is considered a sensation even in genealogical circles. Without such time-consuming preparatory work, well-founded historical research would not be possible. On behalf of the City of Vienna, I would like to thank you very much for your dedication and perseverance.”
Franz Spevacek thanked his wife, who always supported his work. “The possibility of finding the way into the past and making it easier for everyone to search for ancestors continues to fascinate me. There is never an end to research,” says Spevacek.
On the biography and activities of Franz Spevacek
Franz Spevacek was born in Vienna in 1939 and, following his retirement as an ÖBB employee, began indexing and processing genealogical data. As part of the genealogical citizen science project GenTeam, initiated and managed by Felix Gundacker, Franz Spevacek volunteered one million data sets that can now be viewed worldwide free of charge.
After numerous parish registers in the Waldviertel, Franz Spevacek turned to the civil status documents of the parish of St. Anton in Vienna Favoriten, indexed the birth registers of Lichtental in the 9th district of Vienna and then began indexing the birth registers of the former state maternity hospital in Alservorstadt.
Once the genealogical information has been recorded, it can be scientifically evaluated. The honoree thus makes an indispensable contribution to the overall index of births in today’s urban area of Vienna between 1783 and 1900.
Questions & contact:
Judith Staudinger
Media spokeswoman StRin Mag.a Veronica Kaup-Hasler
Tel.: 01 4000 81169
judith.staudinger@wien.gv.at
1686981597
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