2023-10-12 14:19:07
Final report and master plan published – Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial officially commissioned with implementation
Vienna (OTS) – In the presence of numerous participants, the participation process for the expansion of the Gusen concentration camp memorial took place on the evening of October 11, 2023 in St. Georgen an der Gusen. In a process that lasted over a year and a half, regional, national and international interest groups were able to submit their expectations and wishes for a new memorial site and discuss them together.
The results were summarized in a final report and incorporated into a master plan for the future design of the memorial. This master plan was approved on October 12, 2023 by the director of the Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial, Barbara Glück, and Interior Minister Gerhard Karner together with the chairman of the International Mauthausen Committee, Guy Dockendorf, as well as the mayors of the municipalities of St. Georgen an der Gusen and Langenstein, Andreas Derntl and Christian Aufreiter. It is now available for download on the website gusen-memorial.org.
The master plan sets the parameters for the future design of the place. He defines forms of use of areas and existing buildings, designs concepts for their development and accessibility and makes recommendations regarding development, adaptations of existing buildings and landscape design. The master plan will subsequently form the basis for a competition to redesign the Gusen concentration camp memorial.
On October 11, 2023, the Federal Government decided in the Council of Ministers to submit a draft amendment to the Memorials Act to the National Council for further consideration. The change in the law is intended to commission the Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial to expand and redesign the Gusen Concentration Camp Memorial, which it already oversees, and to secure financing for the upcoming, multi-year design process.
Director Barbara Glück was pleased that the next steps have now been initiated: “We have chosen the path of this comprehensive participation in order to ensure that the concept reflects a broad consensus among the interest groups. We are grateful that implementation is now secured by the federal government’s decision. The new memorial will ensure a worthy remembrance of the victims of the Gusen concentration camp. However, in keeping with the wishes of the former prisoners, it will also be a forward-looking place that will work against National Socialist re-activation, any form of racism, anti-Semitism and hostility to democracy.”
“I would like to thank everyone who took part in this unique process to further develop the Gusen memorial: the people from the two communities of Gusen and Langenstein, the residents, the national and international victim associations. Yesterday’s decision in the Council of Ministers is historic and at the same time a sign of how Austria is assuming its historical responsibility,” said Interior Minister Gerhard Karner.
Guy Dockendorf, Chairman of the International Mauthausen Committee, said: “Commemorative work is a matter of the heart for everyone involved in this important project, and it is important to us that we include all generations in future design.”
The further development of the Gusen concentration camp memorial is a project of national and international importance. By broadly involving a wide variety of organizations and individuals in the discussion process, the Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial has taken a new path towards social participation in the culture of remembrance and the politics of remembering the crimes of National Socialism.
In the Gusen concentration camp, a branch camp of the Mauthausen concentration camp, around 71,000 prisoners from almost 30 nations were imprisoned from 1940 until its liberation in May 1945. More than half did not survive their imprisonment. After the liberation, the camp in Austria was quickly forgotten. Most of its buildings were demolished and built over with a housing estate or used for industrial purposes. In 2021/22, the Republic of Austria purchased land on the site of the former Gusen concentration camp, which will now be redesigned and integrated into the existing memorial in the coming years.
Questions & Contact:
Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial / Mauthausen Memorial
Mag.a Valerie Seufert
Head of public relations
+43 1 376 3000-106
valerie.seufert@mauthausen-memorial.org
www.mauthausen-memorial.org
Argentinierstraße 13
1040 Wien
1697120861
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