In September, Professor Jacob “Kobi” Metzer visited the Aron Menczer educational campus on the Aspanggründe in Vienna’s 3rd district at the invitation of the JWS. “Kobi” Metzer is an Israeli economic historian and nephew of Aron Menczer. He was accompanied by his grandson Yoav. The school’s dedicated team of teachers and students gave the guests a particularly warm welcome.
Following the visit to the campus, Metzer also visited the Aspang Train Station Memorial in Leon Zelman Park and the installation “Psalm 23” by Dvora Barzilai. This commemorates Leo Luster (1927-2007), the initiator of the memorial.
The Aron Menczer Educational Campus for 1,350 children opened in September 2021 and is named after the Jewish educator born in Vienna in 1917 and head of Vienna’s “Children and Youth Aliyah”. The task of the Children and Youth Aliyah was to bring as many Jewish children and young people as possible to safety from the Nazis. In his function as Aliyah leader (from 1939), Aron Menczer enabled thousands of children to escape from Austria during the Nazi era. Among those rescued were personalities such as Paul Grosz and Ari Rath. Aron Menczer was murdered in Auschwitz in 1943.
