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The Vienna Project: Closing Ceremony and Naming Memorial

13.10.2014

In remembrance of the thousands of Austrian victims of National Socialism, representing seven victim groups, The Vienna Project team invites you to attend their Closing Ceremony on 18 October at the Austrian National Library at the Hofburg Palace, Vienna.

The programme include opening remarks from prominent Austrian leaders, a video message from Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat, Nikolaus Gansterer's "Memory Map" with a selection of letters read by family members, and a talk by writer Doron Rabinovici addressing the question: "Who is a victim?" with musical orchestration to follow.

Guest will then venture outside on to Josefplatz to witness the momentous display of 85,000 names of persecuted Austrian victims of National Socialism, developed by Karen Frostig and realised with video artist Elisabeth Wildling, which will be projected onto the facades of the surrounding buildings.

The Vienna Project is a multi-dimensional, social action memorial project commemorating the 75th anniversary year of the period 1938/1939. The Vienna Project began in 2004, when Karen Frostig, artist and activist, inherited letters written by her grandparents  between 1938-1945 to her father living in exile. Dr. Benjamin Frostig was arrested by the Gestapo in an early wave of arrests targeting Austria’s intelligentsia. He was abruptly expelled from Austria in June of 1938. Translating the letters in 2005, Karen became acquainted with a large extended family she never knew existed, all of whom were exterminated. A journey of return to Vienna in 2006, and reclamation of her Austrian citizenship in 2007, gave way to an emerging relationship between the artist and her father’s homeland. The Vienna Project grew out of this process starting in 2009, as a new social action, public memory project.

The Vienna Project is a “process-based” expression of remembrance. The Memorial Project opened on the night of 23. October 2013, preceding Austrian National Day, the commemoration of  the beginnings of the Second Republic of Austria, to convey the message that memory is a part of national identity.  The memorial project unfolds over the course of one year, as a dynamic series of performative events, dedicated to stimulating fresh conversations in novel formats regarding the Holocaust and National Socialism.

The Closing Ceremony will begin at 19:00, with the naming memorial to start at 20:15. It is open to the public and you can RSVP to: events [at] theviennaproject.org

A live stream of the Naming Memorial can be viewed here: http://theviennaproject.org/live/

For more information on the project, please see The Vienna Projects website: http://theviennaproject.org/