Aviso: Open Day Parliament, 26.10.2019

This year's Austrian National Holiday will once again provide an opportunity to visit the magnificent rooms of the Palais Epstein and get to know the National Fund, the General Settlement Fund and the Jewish Cemeteries Fund and their various fields of activity.

The National Fund, established with the National Council, has now been in existence for over 24 years. What began in 1995 with comprehensive recognition for the victims of National Socialism has brought with it further tasks, which have deepened and in some cases brought about changes in the knowledge and awareness of Nazism in Austria.

This year, the focus is 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 will allow 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.

The presentation in the Bel Etage of the Palais Epstein, which looks onto the Ring, presents the Funds’ various tasks in two rooms; employees of the Funds will also be on hand to talk about their work and answer questions.

Online research stations will enable visitors to search for looted art in the art database or for historical sources in the Findbuch. In addition, you can be among the first to take a 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.

A "cinema" will show videos of surviving eyewitnesses, and anyone who wants to take a closer look at stories of restitution or life stories will find a wide variety of publications on our book tables as well as a comfortable place in the reading corner.

You will also be able to find issues of the monthly newspaper "Demokratiewerkstatt aktuell" here, 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).