Pedagogical materials to accompany the visit to the Shoah Wall of Names Memorial

The Shoah Wall of Names Memorial in Vienna commemorates the Jewish children, women and men from Austria who were murdered in the Shoah. On the initiative of the Austrian-born Holocaust survivor Kurt Yakov Tutter, the implementation of the memorial began in the commemorative year 2018. On 9 November 2021, the memorial was ceremonially inaugurated; it is located on a green area in front of the Austrian National Bank, the "Ostarrichi Park", in the 9th district. The memorial consists of around 160 oval stone walls, in which the names and years of birth of the Jewish victims of the Shoah are engraved. Another stone wall also commemorates all other groups of victims and persecutees of National Socialism. The memorial site is accessible at all times.

The educational materials

The Shoah Wall of Names Memorial impress young people as well as adults with the scale. At the same time, they require contextualisation and the addition of individual fates. Therefore, the OeAD programme ERINNERN:AT, together with the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, provides a low-threshold educational offer with biographical access for school classes and youth groups. This can be carried out independently by educators. All materials can be downloaded here. You can also find the German version here.

Target group

The unit can be used for youth groups and pupils from the 8th grade upwards.

Duration

1-1,5 hours

Content of the educational unit

The material consists of 14 biographical cards of Austrians (families, couples or individuals) murdered in the Shoah. The authors have made sure that they come from different social classes, are of different age, gender and origin. In addition to the biographical data, the biographies also contain information on the time before 1938. The tour also mentions the most important places where Austrian Jews were murdered by the National Socialists.

The material is supplemented by

• a copy template of the work assignment
• large-format pictures of the biographical maps as copy templates for the joint tour
• a glossary, which is also available online here.

Methodical implementation

Before the tour, the young people in groups of two or three each receive a biography card with a corresponding picture and the following tasks and instructions. Later, the small groups will present their biographies to their classmates.

Follow-up on site

Dealing with the biographies, which all deal with persecution and death, can have a strong emotional effect on some young people. Therefore, it is recommended to have a short final round to process the impressions of the young people together. At this point, the materials give recommendations for possible questions for debriefing.

Before or after the visit to the the Shoah Wall of Names Memorial, the tour for school classes "Life and Expulsion of the Jewish Population in Vienna" is recommended. This can be booked directly with the OeAD programme ERINNERN:AT.