For the eleventh time, the “Festival of Joy” took place at Vienna’s Heldenplatz, during which the liberation of Austria from National Socialist rule is commemorated. The motto of this year’s festival was civil courage, which Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen also called for in his speech.
The red-white-red head of state reminded that there is still a longing for the “strong man” in large parts of the population – as well as the fear of a colourful, diverse society. These are views, “because it is not an attitude.” “Look and act, that is moral courage, that is attitude,” Van der Bellen appealed to the Austrians. However, there is no attitude for free, nor is the use manageable. “Linguistic attacks are the sledgehammer” The Federal President also reminded – without naming names – that fundamental democratic values are being called into question again and again – “not in secret, but openly and effective in the media”. It is not enough to ignore such speeches. “Linguistic attacks are the sledgehammer with which the wall of humanism is broken down.” Civil courage is therefore already in demand today and “not only when true heroism is required”. Previously, the chairman of the Mauthausen Committee, Willi Mernyi, had traditionally only greeted a group of guests: the eyewitnesses. “You are role models, admonishers,” he said, not only to the survivors of the Holocaust who were present. “You stand for ‘never again’ and ‘never forget’.” Mernyi also emphasized values such as solidarity and civil courage. This not only applies to open racism, but also to hate comments and bullying.Contemporary witness and Soviet soldiersThe high point was the words of contemporary witness Anna Hackl against forgetting. Hackl and her family took in two Soviet soldiers who had escaped from the concentration camp under National Socialism and hid them from the SS until the end of the war.
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