Joint Remembrance in Gusen

Yesterday, on the eve of the 79th anniversary of the liberation, the Mauthausen Memorial and Gusen Memorial Committee organised their first joint commemoration ceremony on the roll call square of the former Gusen concentration camp. After more than three decades of memory work in Gusen coordinated primarily by the Gusen Memorial Committee and the last survivors, this event marked the next step towards closer cooperation between the two organisations. This decision came out of the findings of the participatory process on developing the Gusen Memorial: it is only by working together closely and exchanging ideas that we can create an educational and memorial site fit for the future.

Around 1500 participants gathered in a circle. The Mauthausen Memorial and Gusen Memorial Committee shared the moderation of the event. Representatives of victim nations and regional victim organisations, as well as National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka, gave short statements in several languages about their hopes for Gusen in future. After laying flowers at the centre of the circle, the participants walked together along Georgestrasse to the Memorial de Gusen, where the event concluded with a commemoration ceremony at the former crematorium.

We, the two cooperation partners, would like to express our thanks to the growing memorial community, which brings together many young people from different countries with ever more people from the region itself.