In mid-September, this year’s Leon Zelman Prize for Dialogue and Understanding was presented to Hannah Landsmann at Vienna City Hall. During the award ceremony, tribute was also paid to Heidemarie Uhl, who was one of Austria’s most important historians and also formed part of the Zelman prize jury.
Hannah Landsmann is the head of the Communication and Mediation department at the Jewish Museum Vienna. “Since 2000,” stated the jury’s assessment, she has been “making Jewish life in Vienna in all its facets as well as its significant history for Vienna tangible for all generations of visitors aged 4 to 99 from Austria and abroad. As a doyenne of mediation work in Jewish museums, she has established numerous different educational formats and, in particular, done pioneering work in the context of Holocaust education in collaboration with schools.”
Outstanding commitment to Jewish culture
The prize was handed over by City Councilor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler on behalf of Mayor Michael Ludwig, with the laudatory speech given by Martin Krist, Viennese network coordinator of erinnern.at and himself a Zelman prizewinner from 2014. Gabriele Kohlbauer-Fritz, a long-standing colleague and head of the collection of the Jewish Museum in Vienna, added to the accolades with some personal words on Landsmann’s significant collaboration and outstanding commitment in the service of Jewish culture and history in Vienna.
As part of the event, tribute was also paid to contemporary historian Heidemarie Uhl (1956 – 2023), who had been a jury member for the Zelman Prize since 2017. The renowned scientist worked at the Institute of Culture Studies and Theatre History of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and taught at the Universities of Vienna and Graz. She frequently supported Hannah Landsmann in her activities.
The event was moderated by Susanne Trauneck, Secretary General of the Jewish Welcome Service Vienna.
