Last November, W24 and ORFIII broadcast a documentary film entitled REMEMBER – ENCOUNTER – UNDERSTAND on the 40-year history of the Jewish Welcome Service. The 45-minute documentary can now also be watched in English. It explains the work and significance of the institution founded by Leon Zelman and the city of Vienna with recent and historic recordings, interviews and background information.
Watch the film online
In remembrance of Leon Zelman
July 11 marked 15 years since the death of Leon Zelman. The founder and long-standing head of the Jewish Welcome Service Vienna was remembered in many ways around this date. Including with a video clip on social media. A CD by composer and double bass player Roman Britschgi and his ensemble has also been released that is dedicated to Leon Zelman (listen on Spotify).
Heritage trip of the AJR to Vienna
At the end of June / beginning of July, a group of the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) from London visited Vienna at the invitation of the JWS. Family research sessions, a reception with the Federal President, and visits to memorials and sights were on the program. Read more
Restart of the visitor program
The coronavirus pandemic meant that the visitor program, a focal point of the work done by the JWS, had to be canceled or heavily curtailed in the past two years. In May, a group of 30 people was hosted in Vienna. This marked a pleasing restart of this program. Read more
Leon Zelman Prize 2022 goes to Michaela Raggam-Blesch
This year’s Leon Zelman Prize for Dialog and Understanding is awarded to the historian Michaela Raggam-Blesch. With her many years of research and mediation work, she contributes significantly to raising public awareness of the Shoah and its consequences for the Jewish people. The prize will be presented at Vienna City Hall in the fall. Read more
Vienna Trips: Cheers to my grandma
On the occasion of its 40th anniversary in December 2020, the Jewish Welcome Service launched a plethora of extraordinary initiatives. Among others, it launched the campaign “Vienna Trips”. It invites descendants of Holocaust survivors aged between 18 and 35 to Vienna – both to get to know the home of their ancestors and to search for traces of them. Read more
