2023-05-08 12:40:40
Vienna / Mauthausen. On the occasion of the 78th anniversary of the liberation of the Mauthausen concentration camp, the Mauthausen Committee Austria, in cooperation with the Comité International de Mauthausen (CIM) and the Austrian Camp Community (ÖLM), once again invited to the international liberation ceremony at the Mauthausen concentration camp memorial site. A large number of commemorations, organized by local initiatives in the MKÖ network, also take place across Austria at the sites of former satellite camps. The commemoration in Mauthausen is Europe’s largest liberation celebration.
The commemoration and liberation ceremonies of the MKÖ and its network in 2023 are dedicated to the thematic focus of “civil courage”. People who resisted or rescued others, who initiated courageous individual actions against authorities or officials, who led the resistance in factories or in armaments production, were mostly only reported after the collapse of the system. Those who acted were accused, persecuted, degraded, punished by the Nazi terror regime and all too often had to pay with their lives – even in the Mauthausen concentration camp.Willi Mernyi, Chairman of the MKÖ, calls for civil courage in view of the topicality of this year’s main topic: “Racism, discrimination and violence cannot be eliminated from the world overnight. With small steps, however, it is possible to achieve a lot. Namely when people look, when bystanders intervene to help and when victims do not remain powerless. Let’s have the courage to stand up together for ‘never again’.”
Liberation celebration in the form of a commemorative procession
Thousands of people from Europe and all over the world take part in the commemoration and liberation ceremony every year, including the last survivors of the Mauthausen concentration camp and its satellite camps, as well as numerous young people. MKÖ chairman Willi Mernyi addressed his words of welcome to the thousands of participants during the joint liberation ceremony, in particular to the concentration camp survivors and contemporary witnesses at the liberation ceremony and in front of the screens and to the many young people present. Before the welcome, the liberation ceremony was opened with a virtual reading of the “Mauthausen Oath” in several languages by international young people.
As part of the joint liberation ceremony, the wreath was laid by around 130 delegations. Speeches by MKÖ Chairman Willi Mernyi and CIM President Guy Dockendorf were also part of the commemoration. The ensemble “Resistance” provided the musical accompaniment for the entire memorial procession. As in previous years, the commemoration was moderated in several languages by Konstanze Breitebner and Mercedes Echerer. The path of the commemorative train finally ended with the departure from the former protective custody camp, which symbolized the liberation of the concentration camp inmates in 1945. Afterwards there was the opportunity for individual, silent remembrance.
More than 10,000 guests attended the celebrations, the police confirmed the number of visitors.
About the Mauthausen Committee Austria:
In 2000, the survivors of the Mauthausen concentration camp officially handed over their legacy to the Mauthausen Committee Austria. This legacy of the concentration camp survivors forms the basis of the MKÖ’s activities. In addition to the memorial work for the victims of the crimes of the Nazi regime, especially those who were held captive in the Mauthausen concentration camp and in the satellite camps, activities against right-wing extremism and committed anti-fascist and anti-racist work, especially with young people, are other activities important focal points. In recent years, the MKÖ has conducted civil courage training courses with more than 180,000 young people, multimedia educational offers through the Mauthausen Memorial and at sites of former satellite camps, the preparation and follow-up of the concentration camp memorial visits, anti-racism workshops such as the workshop “We are all” as well as the new thematic tours “think mal wien” as well as various event and topic-related youth projects.
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