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TwitterGreat interest in the open day at Palais Epstein
Many people took the opportunity presented by the national holiday on 26 October 2019 to visit Palais Epstein and get to know the National Fund, the General Settlement Fund and the Cemeteries Fund and their diverse range of activities.
Focus on the General Settlement Fund
The focus this year was on the restitution and compensation measures that have been implemented within the framework of the General Settlement Fund since 2001. Compelling historical information, data and facts, as well as a file with documents to browse through allowed visitors to grasp which gaps still existed decades after the end of the Nazi era despite earlier measures being put in place, and why the General Settlement Fund was so important.
Photo: Parlamentsdirektion / Thomas Topf
Research stations
Online research stations enabled visitors to search for looted art in the art database or for historical sources in the Findbuch. In addition, vistors took a first look at an interactive map showing the location of all the projects supported by the National Fund, of restituted properties, Jewish cemeteries and stones of remembrance in Austria.
Photo: Parlamentsdirektion / Thomas Topf
Cinema with eyewitness interviews and a reading corner
A "cinema" showed videos of surviving eyewitnesses, including a conversation with Gerda Frey and Helga Kinsky, clips from the DVD "The Legacy" and the documentary "Talk to me".
Photo: Parlamentsdirektion / Thomas Topf
Reading corner and touchscreen
Anyone who wanted to take a closer look at stories of restitution or life stories found a wide variety of publications on our book tables or gain a greater insight into the subject in a comfortable seat in the reading corner, where several publications subsidized by the National Fund were available for perusal.
A giant touchscreen enabled visitors to call up life stories of the Nazis' victims and lay virtual stones in remembrance.
Photo: Parlamentsdirektion / Thomas Topf
Partnership with the Democracy Workshop
In the reading corner there were also issues of the monthly newspaper "Demokratiewerkstatt aktuell", containing reports on the fates of contemporary witnesses. They are the result of the educational program for children and young people offered by the Parliament's Demokratiewerkstatt (Democracy Workshop). The book series published by the National Fund "Erinnerungen/Lives Remembered", which can be used in schools is also available in the Democracy Workshop.