On June 28, 2018, the Speaker of the Austrian House of Representatives (First President of the Austrian National Council), Wolfgang Sobotka, visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington, DC.
At the outset, National Council President Sobotka toured the Permanent Exhibition as well as the "Americans and the Holocaust" exhibition; then, deeply moved, he lit a candle in the Hall of Remembrance to pay respect to the victims of the Shoah.
from left: Wolfgang Sobotka guided by the Austrians Anatol Steck (USHMM, Director of International Archival Programs), and Nino Perin, who currently does a Holocaust Memorial Service at the USHMM
Austrian Delegation visits the the USHMM
First row (from left): Anatol Steck (USHMM, Director of International Archival Programs), Paul Shapiro (USHMM, Director of International Affairs), Wolfgang Sobotka (Frist President of the Austrian National Council), Ambassador Wolfgang Waldner, Reinhold Lopatka (Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on European Affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy of the National Council, the Austrian House of Representatives)
The tour was followed by a meeting with the Museum's senior staff, led by Director Bloomfield, in which the multifaceted cooperation with Austrian institutions to deepen the knowledge about the Holocaust was highlighted. The day at the Museum concluded with a tour d’horizon of historical and contemporary matters of mutual concern with senior representatives of five major Jewish Organizations.
from left: Benjamin Rogers (AJC Assistant Director, Policy; Office of Government and International Affairs), Eric Fusfield (B‘nai B‘rith Deputy Director B’nai B’rith International Center for Human Rights and Public Policy), Alan Ronkin (AJC Regional Director DC), Dan Mariaschin (B‘nai B‘rith CEO and Executive Vice-President), Wolfgang Waldner (Austrian Ambassador to the U.S.), Lesley Weiss (NCSEJ Deputy CEO), Wolfgang Sobotka (Frist President of the Austrian National Council, i.e. the Speaker of the Austrian House of Representatives), Jason Isaacson (AJC Associate Executive Director for Policy and Managing Director Office of Government and International Affairs), Richard Schifter (AJIRI Chairman/Board of Directors), David Andrew Weinberg (ADL Washington Representative for International Affairs), Reinhold Lopatka (Chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on European Affairs and Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Policy of the National Council, the Austrian House of Representatives)
Austrian reporter Kurt Seinitz in conversation with Ambassador Richard Schifter (AJIRI Chairman/Board of Directors), who still vividly remembers the "Anschluss" in 1938 as a 15-year old Viennese boy.
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#throwback to our article on this year's International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Austria
Photos (when not noted "United States Holocaust Memorial Museum") (c) Peter Alunans