The “Stones of Remembrance” association is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Over the past two decades, the Jewish Welcome Service has repeatedly supported relatives on trips to Vienna so that they could attend the opening of memorial stones for their relatives. Most recently, members of the Rezek and Röder families were supported.
In October, descendants of the Jewish Rezek and Röder families from Switzerland, Canada, the USA, and Australia came to Vienna to unveil “Stones of Remembrance” for their great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents at Pestalozzigasse 3 (1st district). The JWS sponsored part of the trip for some of the relatives.
Josef and Regina Rezek lived at Pestalozzigasse 3 until April 1942, before they were deported by the Nazis, and murdered either on the transport to or at the Sobibor extermination camp. The Rezeks were originally landowners in Lower Austria whose properties were “Aryanized” by the Nazis in 1938. The Rezek family then fled to Vienna and found accommodation in the Röder family’s apartment. The Röders had already fled Austria from the Nazis in October 1938. Anna Rezek, who had married a Röder, was also able to flee.
Multimedia as a reminder
The Stones of Remembrance Association was founded in 2005 on the initiative of Elisabeth Ben David-Hindler, who wanted to commemorate her uncle’s parents with a memorial plaque. This has established itself a project that aims to commemorate the – mostly Jewish – victims of the Holocaust by placing “Stones of Remembrance” at the former homes of the victims. Since 2005, the small, private association has been able to place over 900 memorial stones in 133 projects for thousands of people who were murdered by the Nazis, but also for those who were expelled.
In addition to local initiatives in Vienna and the surrounding area, as well as some in the federal states, the association also carries out bigger projects – such as the establishment of the “Path of Remembrance” through Leopoldstadt, Vienna’s 2nd district. This path commemorates the murdered and expelled Jewish district inhabitants with explanatory plaques and markers. The association also makes efforts to maintain contact with the most important institutions dealing with the Shoah and its consequences. In 2010, the association was awarded the “Karl Renner Prize” for “outstanding services to Vienna and Austria.” Since 2015, a GPS-controlled multimedia guide leads visitors to the Stones of Remembrance and tells the story of the people commemorated.
