On October 5, 2021, a historically revised Austrian national exhibition was opened in “Block 17” of the former concentration and extermination camp and present-day Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial. The newly designed national exhibition was opened at a ceremony attended by a high-ranking Austrian delegation including Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg, Minister for Europe and Constitution Karoline Edtstadler, as well as the President of the Jewish Community of Vienna, Oskar Deutsch.

“The anti-Semitism and racism of the National Socialists did not fall from heaven. Auschwitz did not fall from the heavens. Anti-Semitism and racism were already present in Austrian society before 1938. It is our will and obligation to preserve the memory of the victims of the Holocaust. And it is our will and our obligation to remember that not only the victims, but also the perpetrators were part of our society and shaped by it.”

Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen

The first Austrian exhibition at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial opened in 1978. At that time, Austria still presented itself as the "First Victim of National Socialism". The title of the new Austrian exhibition, “Far Removed – Austria and Auschwitz,” not only refers to the geographical distance between Austria and Auschwitz, but also and above all to the removal of those deported to Auschwitz – from Austria and from the realm of the living. In addition to the fate of the Austrian victims of Auschwitz and the acts of resistance by Austrian concentration camp inmates, the new exhibition also tells the story of Austrian involvement as perpetrators and accessories to the crimes committed there.

“Today’s opening of the Austrian exhibit faces this dark part of our history head-on. And it clearly accepts Austria’s historical responsibility. We must confront the shadows of the past – as a state, as politicians, and as individuals. That is the only way for us to turn ‘never forget’ into ‘never again’.”

Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg

The renewal of the Austrian exhibition at the former concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau was coordinated by the Secretary General of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism Hannah M. Lessing and the Head of the Coordination Office at the National Fund Claire Fritsch and her team.

Learn more about the new exhibition: https://auschwitz.at/home

Photo credits: (c) Parlamentsdirektion/Topf/Zinner