Participants

Working Groups

August 2010 – April 2011 Alternative Civilian Service at Mauthausen Memorial Since April 2011 employed guide at Mauthausen Memorial October 2011 – July 2012 studying Business, Economics, and Social Sciences at the Vienna University of Economics and Business July 2012 – March 2013 guide development program Since October 2012 studying Business Law at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Since March 2013 member of the guide pool at Mauthausen Memorial When I was asked to take part in this project, I was very happy to get the opportunity to make a contribution to such a meaningful place as the former concentration camp of Mauthausen. In the first place I focussed on developing new perspectives for the narratives for a guided tour as a whole. This lead me to the question what would change in the narrative of a guided tour, if there is a variation in the order of different stations of such a tour. So I worked on alternative ways to structure a guided tour.

Cetinkaya, Ünal

I come from Galicia (Ukraine), near Lviv/Lemberg, and have successfully completed a degree in History at the national “Ostrog Academy” (dissertation title: “Foreign Help for the Contributors to Ukrainian Resistance in the second half of the 60s and 70s of the 20th century”). Following that, I passed further exams of the Ukrainian Candidate of Sciences. I now live in Kronstorf/Upper Austria. As I have done some research work in Ukraine since my graduation, I am always interested finding ways to adequately apply my knowledge and skills. My interest and motivation for this area is best expressed by the inscription of the Greek memorial in the Memorial Mauthausen: “Do not forget us, who died here, for forgetting evil allows it to be repeated.” I come from a country where groups of people have also been persecuted by others. It shocks me again and again how, in these dark times in history, human beings could act in this way and yet be “normal, regular” people. If we become aware that people like “you” and “me” can lose all humanity, it enables our generation to learn important things. Since I act as a guide at the Memorial Mauthausen, developing new material is relevant to me. My particular interests in the research project are the scope of action of the perpetrators, particularly the doctors, the medical aide personnel (often recruited from among the inmates) and the women among the guard troops.

Dmytruk Kolarik, Oksana

For me personally, contributing to this project is very rewarding. On the one hand, because it gives me the opportunity to work with and learn from lots of extraordinary, intelligent, wonderful people; and on the other hand, because developing new material presents an enormous challenge to my creativity. I particularly like the practical work, planning, constructing and application of new ideas. Apart from this project, I have been acting as a guide at the Memorial Mauthausen since the third training cycle, and I am studying to be a teacher of history, science and political education as well as German at the University of Vienna.

Fröhlich, Magdalena 

Since Brigitte Kiesenhofer began engaging in social work almost 20 years ago, she has been confronted with social exclusion and discrimination of people who have been ostracised by parts of society because they do not conform to the pervasive norms of consumption and success. In her concrete work, she experiences how fearful, irrational projections tend to particularly target those who do not have a lobby or anyone to represent their interests. In this context, she is confronted again and again with the process known as “scapegoating”. She is concerned by political developments which make use of or encourage this process. In her work as a guide, which she has been doing since March 2012, she tries to encourage critically questioning ways of thought and behaviour that disregard human dignity, and to connect the past with these tendencies in the present. Both as a guide in the memorial and with her work in a counselling centre, where working with others and, therefore, psychological processes are prioritised, she considers herself her immediate “tool” which she has to take good care of. In order to do this, suitable structures are necessary which provide time and space for reflecting and exchange. She is contributing to the working group 2 in the context of the EU project in order to create ideas and opportunities to make this possible.

Kiesenhofer, Brigitte

Stefanie Maier took part in the guide training in 2012 and has been working as a guide at the Mauthausen Memorial since January 2013. She has studied German and Slavonic Philology and teaches German as a foreign language in Vienna. During training and from practical experience with visitors at the Mauthausen Memorial, she learned that the representation of prisoners during the tours is often questionable. Her interest in the project is to find ways to speak about prisoners in a way that allows empathy and some insight to their perspective without exposing them or even reproducing a dehumanizing perspective on them. The working group focuses on potentials and risks of testimonies portraying specific situations that took place in the concentration camp. The aim is to design interactive sequences based on personal testimonies of victims.

Maier, Stefanie

2010/11 volunteer service at the Anne Frank House Amsterdam since 2011 studying Social- & Cultural Anthropology and History at the University of Vienna since February 2013 Guide at the Mauthausen Memorial In addition to providing historical expertise, as a guide I try to put an emphasis on the different ways of getting involved with my groups. How to create an atmosphere where dialogue and exchange of ideas, thoughts and feelings are best possible for everyone? How to engage with groups, for instance by applying participatory methods? But also ‘appropriate’ use of language, places, and narratives are challenges I am reflecting on. Besides that, theories of remembrance cultures/collective memories and ways of representation constitute areas of interest - both in the context of my studies as well as a guide in Mauthausen.

Neuhuber, Lisa

Gerhard Riegler has been in social work for almost 30 years and nevertheless (or maybe because of that) still wants to engage in social-political work. He is a trained educator for people with disabilities and also has completed training as a mediator, moderator in sexual therapy and outdoor education teacher. Since 2011, he has been working with groups as a guide at the Memorial Mauthausen and is a member of a number of groups that work on the educational concepts and, in particular, the situation of the employees at the Memorial. Gerhard Riegler intends to fight the financial shortages that social institutions face, the scandalous, because sometimes precarious income situations which haunt employees in this field, as well as the political pronouncements of Austrian political parties concerning issues such as racism, refugees, success mentality and so on, which in turn enable simplistic, discriminating problem-solving strategies in politics. As a guide at the Memorial, he wants to contribute to this goal. The working group 2 gives him a dynamic space to help develop his ideas and recommendations particularly regarding the support of the guides.

Riegler, Gerhard

Axel Schacht studied Social sciences in Linz, but has worked in the areas of social work and social education for the last 15 years, most recently working with homeless people. He also independently works in political education and adult education. Since the beginning of 2011, he is employed in the capacity of an educator at the Memorial Mauthausen. Further interests in historical/political education include historical hiking in the country as well as in cities, and accompanying excursions and educational journeys in Austria and Israel. His professional experience in social work has helped him realize how important it is, when interacting socially, to continually critically reflect on one's own actions. This is particularly necessary in difficult situations, which also occur in the work at the memorial. In this context, it is necessary, on the one hand, to collectively clarify our own place in the organisational structure of the Memorial, and to represent your own interests while simultaneously making space for a network of learning, communication and action. It is important to provide working conditions that include respectful interaction, transparent structure, opportunities to contribute and financial security, and thereby to enable necessary goals such as self-reflection, personal development and professionalization.

Schacht, Axel

Heidrun Schulze-Oben was born in Unna, Germany, in 1957. She studied History, English and pedagogics (teacher training) and did her PhD in Ancient History, History and Anglistics at the University of Münster. After her assignments as a research and lecture professional at the Universities of Münster and Heidelberg she worked in several professional and executive positions in Corporate Communications. She has an education in Systemic Organisational Development and worked as a consultant for Corporate Communications and Change Management before she moved to Austria. Heidrun received the third guide development program at the memorial site of Mauthausen and is a member of the guide pool since spring 2013.

Schulze-Oben, Heidrun

August 2009 – April 2010 Alternative Civilian Service (Zivildienst), Memorial Mauthausen since April 2010 employed part-time as guide at the Memorial Mauthausen July 2012 - March 2013 training to be a guide at the Memorial Mauthausen since autumn 2010 studying agricultural science at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna

Schwediauer, Paul

2009 - 2010 Alternative Service at Ghetto Fighers' Museum in Israel 2010 - current Student of Linguistics and Sociology at the University of Vienna 2012 Training as a Guide at Mauthausen Memorial During training I took a particular interest in the representation of the Guard Troops in a guided tour to the memorial. The structure of the training allowed for the trainees to experiment with their own station sequences. Particularly the memorial park, were the guard troops' buildings were located, left space to introduce new ideas. In my work for the Think Tank I aim to contribute to the development of concepts for station sequences in this area of the memorial and the lifes and actions of Guard Troops at Mauthausen.

Strasser, Lukas

Angela Tiefenthaler has studied art history in Vienna and Berlin, and is pursuing teacher training in art education and history. She is involved in a variety of youth education projects dealing with issues that touch on feminism, democracy, and contemporary history. She has been working as a guide at the Mauthausen Memorial since 2011. In her work at the memorial site she strives to develop ways of communicating that create an environment conducive to the discussion of those difficult topics that this place and its history bring up. She is interested in exploring narrative structures, explanatory traditions, and taboos surrounding conversations about the Holocaust and National Socialism.

Tiefenthaler, Angela

Daniel Tscholl has been involved in the work at the memorial for almost a decade, starting with his community service in 2004. He has been mainly working as a guide, but also briefly as a support for the educational team, contributing among other things to the development of new formats for guided tours.

Tscholl, Daniel

External Experts

Study of history, historicalauxiliary sciences, philosophy in Marburg and Cologne Head of Education Department of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site since March 2010 Director of Museum and Memorial Trutzhain in Hesse, Germany; responsible for the conception of the exhibition and education program The permanent exhibition deals with the history of the STALAG IX A Ziegenhain POW Camp, which was situated here between 1939 and 1945. Museum and Memorial Trutzhain shows the treatment of POW from all over Europe against international law, their suffering, their dying and their abuse for forced labour, as well as the ramifications of the War like flight and displacement. Dachau Memorial Site Education Department The Memorial Site’s educational work focuses on the history of the concentration camp, which is conveyed mainly from the perspective of the prisoners, without however ignoring the historical context, the structures. The historical and political educational work at the Dachau Memorial Site is geared to addressing the needs of both school as well as adult groups. The Memorial Site is also very much an international location. For these reasons, the historical and political educational work spans two poles: extracurricular youth education and intercultural adult education.and processes of Nazi terrors, and the history of the perpetrators. Avoided at all cost is an educational model that tries to “shock” visitors by generating a superficial emotional impact, one disconnected from historical realities, so too a voyeuristic and mechanistic look at the SS power apparatus and its internal workings. Guided tours for groups as well as the following project days (day and half-day seminars) for groups and school classes may be booked by contacting the Education Department. Besides managing and developing educational programs, another key task of the Education Department is to train the freelance guides conducting tours on the grounds of the Memorial Site. Currently they are prepared for the role of guide in a nine-month course offered together with the “Dachauer Forum” and the “Max-Mannheimer-Studienzentrum, Dachau”. There is also a comparable course for training commercial tour providers (e.g. Munich tour guides). Assistance is given to school pupils who are writing term papers and researching project seminars (“P- und W-Seminare”); for this purpose they may also use the archive and library. Education Department of the Memorial Site and Mauthausen EU-Project The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site will participate in the project by contributing its extensive experience gathered by the Education Department. Areas of expertise concern particularly the development of educational concepts on the one hand and the training of educational staff on the other. The exchange of best practice methods in between different memorial sites will allow for the development of methods and tools that can lead to a greater quality control within the educational work of memorial sites in general.

Burger, Waltraud

I have the degree of Bachelor of Education. Since 2009 I'm working for de Group Visits departement at the Anne Frank House. I started as a freelancer, since april 2012 I'm a member of the regular staff. The Group Visits department offers 2 hour educational programs to over 900 school groups and over 2000 (shorter) programs annually. Different programs and materials are offered according to age and education of students. In the last couple of years the Group Visits Department developed new materials together with the Education Department. This year we are organizing, together with Yad va Shem in Jerusalem, for the first time a Seminar (there will be three seminars) for teachers and educational workers to learn “How to teach about the Holocaust.” I'm participating in this project and this year I will be one of the people who is organising this seminar and Iam accompanying the group to Israel, to Yad va Shem and the Ghetto fighters museum. Anne Frank House The Anne Frank House was founded on 3 May 1957 with the primary aims of preserving the Anne Frank House and spreading the message of Anne Frank’s life and ideals. Following a fundraising drive, restoration work began in 1958, and the Anne Frank House was officially opened as a museum on 3 May 1960. The Anne Frank House is a non-profit organisation. Its main aims are to administer the Anne Frank House museum and to spread the message of Anne Frank’s life and ideals. The Anne Frank House is an independent organisation with no affiliations to any political party or ideological movement. The Anne Frank House is entrusted with the care of the Secret Annexe, the place where Anne Frank went into hiding during World War II and where she wrote her diary. It brings her life story to the attention of people all over the world to encourage them to reflect on the dangers of anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination and the importance of freedom, equal rights and democracy.

Grassiani, Ayellet

The research of the Social Psychologist Christian Gudehus (Universität Flensburg) focuses on memory studies, reception studies (with an emphasis on film, exhibitions, and memorials), as well as on the social psychology of collective violence. He has taught and undertaken research in several institutions as the Ruhr University Bochum, the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities Essen, the Institute for Culture Studies and Theatre History of the Austrian Academy of Science, the Centro de Estudios Sobre Genocido at the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (Buenos Aires), Sciences Po (Paris), and the Université de Paris Ouest - Nanterre La Défense. He has widely published on the aforementioned and other subjects. Amongst others he co-edited an interdisciplinary Handbook on Memory and Remembrance (with Ariane Eichenberg & Harald Welzer, 2010) and the Handbook on Violence (with Michaela Christ, 2013). The latest publication is in collaboration with Carmen Meinert: Bringing knowledge to action. A case study of environmental activism on the Tibetan plateau. In: Carmen Meinert. Nature, Enviroment and Culture in East Asia. The Challenge of Climate Change. Leiden: Brill, 231-258. Christian Gudehus is also co-founder of the Norbert Elias Center for Transformation-Design and Research (NEC) and coordinates the Center for Interdisciplinary Memory Research (CMR).

Gudehus, Christian

Léontine Meijer-van Mensch is lecturer of heritage theory and professional ethics at the Reinwardt Academy (Amsterdam School of the Arts) and co-director in the recently founded firm MMC Mensch Museological Consulting (Amsterdam-Berlin). She is active in the board of several (international) museum organizations, for example chairperson of COMCOL, the ICOM International Committee for Collecting, and board member of the International School of Museology in Celje (Slovenia). She worked for a variety of exhibition projects in Germany, Poland and the Netherlands, for instance as a researcher and as an educator in the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Jewish Historical Museum in Amsterdam. She is a frequent speaker at international conferences and guest lecturer in institutions in- and outside the Netherlands. Her main interest lies in remembrance culture, participatory work in heritage institutions and contemporary collecting. For Léontine museums and other heritage sites should be about, with and for people!

Meijer-van Mensch, Léontine

Studied political science and history in Augsburg and Messina. From 2011 she conducted seminars for the “Max-Mannheimer-Studienzentrum, Dachau” and worked as a guide for the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. Since 2012 Rebecca is staff member of the Education Department of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. With approximately 800,000 visitors annually, it is the most visited site in Germany. More than 60% of adult visitors arrive from foreign countries. One of Rebecca’s main tasks is the examination of different national narratives and expectations from visitors of the Memorial Site. She is responsible for the education and training of foreign language guides and freelancers and in addition the development of pedagogical material for them.

Ribarek, Rebecca

Studied political science and history in Augsburg and Messina.

From 2011 she conducted seminars for the “Max-Mannheimer-Studienzentrum, Dachau” and worked as a guide for the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.

Since 2012 Rebecca is staff member of the Education Department of the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site.

With approximately 800,000 visitors annually, it is the most visited site in Germany. More than 60% of adult visitors arrive from foreign countries.

One of Rebecca’s main tasks is the examination of different national narratives and expectations from visitors of the Memorial Site.

She is responsible for the education and training of foreign language guides and freelancers and in addition the development of pedagogical material for them.

Paul Salmons is Programme Director of the Centre for Holocaust Education at the Institute of Education (IOE), University of London. The IOE is the UK’s leading institute for educational research and practice. Since 2008 its Centre for Holocaust Education has conducted large scale national research into the challenges of teaching about the Holocaust in schools and has created educational approaches, activities and materials specifically designed to respond to these classroom needs – the first time that such a research-informed programme has been created anywhere in the world. The Centre is currently working on a major research project into young people’s knowledge and understanding of the Holocaust that will comprise a national survey of at least 5,000 secondary school students; at least six detailed case studies in individual schools; and a series of some 5-8 flexible thematic studies offering in-depth explorations of specific issues or concerns. The findings of this national research project will richly inform the Centre’s work with schools in England and, it is hoped, will make a significant contribution to the work of others throughout the UK and internationally. Before joining the IOE, Paul helped establish the United Kingdom’s national Holocaust Exhibition at the Imperial War Museum and created its education programme. He is author of Reflections, an educational resource for teaching about the Holocaust that has won international acclaim; has represented the UK at the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) since its inception (as the International Task Force), and chaired the IHRA’s Education Working Group and its subcommittee on Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity. Paul was invited by the United Nations to develop new educational materials for teaching and learning about the Holocaust that have been translated into many languages, and has served as consultant on a wide range of national and international projects.

Salmons, Paul

born 1959 in Essen/Germany 1978 Woodbrooke College Birmingham 1979-1986 studied protestant theology in Berlin (1979-1982;1984-1986), Tübingen (1982-1983) and Prague (1983-1984) October 1986 First Theological Examen 1986-1989 Vikariat in Berlin 1989 Second Theological Examen In 1989 he founded with a sociologist, Dr. Manfred Jurgovsky the Institut für vergleichende Geschichtswissenschaften e.V. (IvGw) in Berlin. (Institute for comparing history studies) 1991, 1993, 1995 as freelancer for the Protestant Academy in Berlin together with Björn Krondorfer, St. Mary´s College Maryland, planning, organisation and facilitating of three four week summerprogramms „ The Third Generation after the Shoah“. About these programms three publications (see below). 1990-1998 programm director at the Protestant Academy Sachsen-Anhalt for Eastern Europe, Jewish-Christian-Dialogue, and the history of NS-Germany. 1998 PGD on Bohemian church history and its reception in German church history. 1999-2012 executive director of Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste) in Berlin. Speaker of a churchrelated nationwide network against rigthwinged extremism.

Staffa, Christian

Educational / Project Team

Christian Angerer was born in 1960 in Linz. German and History studies (teacher training) as well as doctorate in German at Salzburg University. Teacher at Khevenhüller Gymnasium (grammar school) in Linz and at Pädagogische Hochschule Oberösterreich (Pedagogical University Upper Austria). Since 2003 working at _erinnern.at_, since 2008 in the educational team of Mauthausen Memorial. Publications in the fields of literary studies, literature and history ditactics and Gedenkstättenpädagogik (pedagogics at memorial sites).

Angerer, Christian

Ines Brachmann received the second guide development program at the memorial site of Mauthausen in 2010/2011 and works as a guide since spring 2011. She absolved the course of studies Pädagogik an Gedächtnisorten/Pedagogics at Places of Remembrance at the University of Education in Linz from March 2012 to February 2013. Ines holds a degree (Diplom) in International Cultural and Business Studies of the University of Passau and currently works as an editor in a publishing house. She is a guide-in-training at Hartheim Castle – Place of learning and remembrance. In June 2013 she joined the project team for the editorial support of the website and the planning and preparation of the publication of the results of the EU project.

Brachmann, Ines

Karin Gschwandtner has been working as a guide at the Mauthausen Memorial since 2011. From 2011 to 2013 she was part of the team that organized two new permanent exhibitions at the Mauthausen Memorial. Her responsibility was the organization of all original objects that are being presented in the exhibitions at the Memorial. Now Karin is a member of the educational team at the Mauthausen Memorial. In the project team she is dealing with organizational matters and the budget.

Gschwandtner, Karin

Karin Gschwandtner has been working as a guide at the Mauthausen Memorial since 2011. From 2011 to 2013 she was part of the team that organized two new permanent exhibitions at the Mauthausen Memorial. Her responsibility was the organization of all original objects that are being presented in the exhibitions at the Memorial. Now Karin is a member of the educational team at the Mauthausen Memorial.

In the project team she is dealing with organizational matters and the budget.

Yariv grew up in the north of Israel and studied in Jerusalem and Hamburg. The focus of his work has been the development of dialogue on the meaning of the Holocaust between societies with differing, and at times contradictory and competing collective memories. An important aspect has been the development of strategies for the reflection of evil actions and motivations as an aspect of normative human behavior and their incorporation into a moral self-image. A central challenge of Yariv's work has been his employment by formal state institutions, creating constant tensions between notions on moral issues such as human rights on the one hand and national narratives and their representations on the other. He worked at Israeli NGO’s, at Yad Vashem, and then went on to build a pedagogical infrastructure at the Mauthausen Memorial. From October 2013 he is the director of the Center for Humanistic Education at the Ghetto Fighters House in Israel, while continuing to lead the project Developing Education at Memorial Sites.

Lapid, Yariv

Born and raised in Upper Austria, Stefan Rummerstorfer attended HTL Leonding with a focus on Information Technology and received his diploma in 2007. In the course of civilian service at Mauthausen Memorial, among other duties, he conducted guided tours in German and English. Subsequently, he became part of the guide pool at the Mauthausen Memorial. Starting in September 2008 he studied Communication and Knowledge Media at the University of Applied Sciences Hagenberg, and graduated with a Master's Degree in Social Sciences in September 2013. Stefan Rummerstorfer wrote his Master's Thesis on the application of new media in the course of guided tours at Mauthausen Memorial. For the EU-Project he created the edums.eu-Website and is responsible for the design, the programming and some of the content on it. Additionally, it's his job to document the project creating video and audio content, photographs and workshop protocols. Occasionally, he also supports the Project Team with various kinds of technical and organizational tasks, such as setting up video call conferences.

Rummerstorfer, Stefan

Born in Linz in 1977. Wolfgang has studied German language and literature and applied cultural studies in Linz, Graz and Bologna. After several engagements at art, theatre and film festivals he worked as a cultural journalist. Since 2009 he is active as local researcher and production assistant for films and documentaries related to the Holocaust ("Six Million and One", "Ha'Bricha 3G"). In 2009 he started to be a guide at Hartheim Castle, Place of Learning and Remeberance. Since 2011 he's a member of the guide pool and the educational team of Mauthausen Memorial. His focus in the team is the support and developement of the guide pool.

Schmutz, Wolfgang

Thomas attended HTL Perg with a focus on commercial data processing in 2005 and started working at the memorial for his community service in 2006. With several breaks he continued doing guided tours after the community service and ​ joined the first guide training 200​9. ​Besides studying cultural- and social anthropology as his main subject Thomas also is self-employed IT engineer. In February 2014 he joined the educational team of Mauthausen Memorial. In the project team, Thomas is dealing with technical support, organizational and budget matters.

Zaglmaier, Thomas