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Mika Vepsalainen

Simon Wiesenthal Museum - A Look at Vienna's Darker Side

Join us for a visit to the Simon Wiesenthal Museum. It is located at the Wiener Wiesenthal Institut for Holocaust Studies documenting the dark history of nazism and nazis in the world.


Themall museum commemorates the life of Simon Wiesenthal, the world renowned investigator of Nazi crimes. His legacy constitutes the foundation of the scholarly, documentary, and educational work on WWII. A survivor himself, Wiesenthal dedicated his life to investigating Nazi crimes, searching for the perpetrators, and struggling against forgetting.


The first room shows a short film of Lemberg in 1939, which made the young Simon Wiesenthal what he was. He lived in the building with his wife Cyle working as an architect before becoming caught up by the Nazis. These are the last moving records of Jewish Lemberg before its annihilation.

 

Four objects – a magnifying glass, an address book, a gun holster, and the nameplate of the “Association of Jewish Victims of the Nazi Regime” – refer to his efforts in the dangerous environment. The map depicts the concentration and extermination camps revealing the extent of the annihilation.


The second room is dedicated to selected cases of Wiesenthal and the dual responsibility he felt towards the victims, for whom he wanted to be a voice, and toward the coming generations, who must be enlightened. A touchscreen about Nazi criminals also highlights the sluggish post-war justice in Austria.


The third room displays the different aspects of Wiesenthal's life: on the one hand the ones that tell his story where Austria did not wish to confront its past, and on the other hand the ones that depict a personality revered and respected throughout the world. The topic “The Future of Memory” sets the tone for a reading corner with publications of and about Wiesenthal, an installation on the events of the WWI, and a showcase with an “Object of the Quarter” from the WWI archive.


Further personal effects of Simon Wiesenthal can be found throughout the publicly accessible spaces of the house to give an idea of his sense of justice.


The museum is at the street level and when you arrive, you need to ring a bell. Tell them that you come in a wheel chair and they will open the bigger door for you.


There are no museum services really - café, shop or loo but as you couldn't be more centrally located in Vienna, feel free to calm yourself in any of the coffee shops in Schwedenplatz or Stephansplatz - you definitely need a bit of time to think about what you have seen.



Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI)

Rabensteig 3, 1010 Vienna, Austria

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