Life Stories

One of the main aims of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for the victims of National Socialism is to encourage debate within society regarding the circumstances and consequences of Nazi rule in Austria. By recording life stories, the years 1938 to 1945 will be documented from the victims' perspective.

Click here to read individual life stories in English

Click here to read individual life stories in German

Against a backdrop of decades of denial of Austria's shared responsibility for the consequences of the Nazi period and the fact that for a long time there no official recognition of the victims of National Socialism, the reminiscental process of the applicants taking place in the context of the National Fund takes on a special meaning. In the course of people's applications to the National Fund, their life stories were already being refreshed through their reminisces. Since it was founded, many people from Austria and abroad have visited the National Fund personally.

There are thousands of stories that have been recalled at the National Fund: individuals deprived of their rights and discriminated against, expelled from their homes and forced to begin a new life in a different place. It is very important to record the stories of those affected, their personal histories and experiences during the Nazi period. In this way the survivors' autobiographical recollections of persecution and the Holocaust are recorded for posterity and crucially, for raising awareness among future generations. By putting these memories down on paper and publishing them, those concerned were themselves able to take an important step forward.

In the year 2000, on the fifth anniversary of the foundation of the National Fund, the life stories of applicants were published for the first time under the title "Looking into the Abyss" ("In die Tiefe geblickt"). On the ten-year anniversary of the foundation of the National Fund, a two-volume anniversary publication, which also contained the life stories of applicants, was published. On the seventieth anniversary of the annexation of Austria, the National Fund would like to remember the years of Nazi rule from the perspective of those affected. Beginning in March 2008, a series of applicants' autobiographical texts will be published on the National Fund's website. In accordance with an emphasis in the memorial year 2008, these texts will predominantly focus on people who experienced the 1938 'Anschluss' as children or young people. Further life stories of those affected who have agreed for their memoirs to be published will appear regularly on the website.

Editors: Dr. Renate S. Meissner, Mag. Mirjam Langer, Mag. Michaela Niklas
Historical research & Copyeditor: Mag. Martin Niklas

Moreover, the National Fund also succeeded in placing life stories with various journals and compendiums for publication. Below you can download recent publications of life stories from the period of National Socialism, in which applicants of the National Fund and/or the General Settlement Fund for Victims of National Socialism speak out (available only in German):

Parlament Transparent 2008

Meissner, Renate S.: "Entheimatet" - Erinnertes Leben - erzähltes Gedächtnis aus fünf Kontinenten. In: Juden in Mitteleuropa, Ausgabe 2006, herausgegeben vom Institut für Geschichte der Juden in Österreich

Hannah M. Lessing, Renate S. Meissner, Nina Bjalek: "Wir können nur anklopfen, wo die Tür offen ist" - Der lange Weg zu Anerkennung und Entschädigung. in: Verena Pawlowsky, Harald Wendelin (Hg.): Ausgeschlossen und entrechtet. (Reihe: Raub und Rückgabe - Österreich von 1938 bis heute. Band 4) Mandelbaum Verlag, 2006. Foto auf Seite 248: Susanne Betz.

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