Gedenkstätte für die in der Shoah ermordeten Jüdischen Kinder, Frauen und Männer aus Österreich

The Gedenkstätte für die in der Shoah ermordeten Jüdischen Kinder, Frauen und Männer aus Österreich stands in a central Vienna park. Around 160 granite panels, each about two metres high and one metre wide, form an oval there. Together they bear the names of some 65,000 Jewish children, women and men from Austria murdered in the Shoah. The memorial is the first in Austria to list every one of these victims.

The idea came from Kurt Yakov Tutter, an Austrian-born artist. He fled to Belgium with his family in 1939 to escape the Nazi annexation, and moved to Canada in 1948. In 2000 he founded an association for the project, and Austrian politicians and public figures backed it over the years. About 5.3 million euros came mainly from the federal government, the Austrian states and donations. A fundraising dinner brought in a large sum as well. Construction work began in the summer of 2020. The opening followed on 9 November 2021, the anniversary of the November pogroms of 1938. The Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance compiled the names, with input from relatives and descendants of the victims.

The panels are made of Kashmir Gold, a light granite brought from India, processed in Italy and engraved in Vienna. The government chose the park in 2018 after weighing other options, among them the Aspangbahnhof, from which fifty thousand Jews were deported. Descendants come here to remember their relatives, and researchers use the site as a resource. Every name you read belongs to a child, a mother, a father or a neighbour, each with a story of their own.