… for Dialogue and Understanding
The prize
Based on an idea of City Councilor for Culture Andreas Mailath-Pokorny, the prize is awarded once each year in memory of Leon Zelman and his work as the longstanding director of the Jewish Welcome Service and publisher of the periodical The Jewish Echo.
The aim
To award projects and organizations in the spirit of Leon Zelman and the Jewish Welcome Service. The prize money is intended to contribute to the continuation of the respective project/initiative.
The Jewish Welcome Service is an essential link and often also the point of contact for the concerns and projects of many organizations and initiatives.
Criteria for awarding the prize
Projects and organizations that work actively in the spirit of Leon Zelman for remembrance, its exploration and “the fight against forgetting and for the dialog between present-day Austria and the survivors of National Socialist persecution, and in particular their descendents, as the basis for a shared future” (see also text on memorial plaque for Leon Zelman at Palais Epstein). This includes above all a commitment to civil society; standing up against anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia; education and youth work as well as projects that promote intercultural dialog.
Prize donated by:
City of Vienna
Cash prize:
€ 5.000,-
The jury
- Dr. Sophie Lillie, art and contemporary historian
- Martina Maschke, until 2023 BMBWF (Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, The Arts and Culture); head of department for International Bilateral Affairs – Education; long-time chairwoman of the association www.erinnern.at
- Dr. Michaela Raggam-Blesch, historian, Leon Zelman Prize 2022
- Peter Schwarz, Member of the Board of the Jewish Welcome Service; former managing director of the ESRA association (psychosocial center for people persecuted under National Socialism)
- Armin Thurnher, publisher and editor in chief of “Der Falter”; author of the autobiography “Leon Zelman. After Survial”
PD Mag.a Dr.in Heidemarie Uhl (1956 – 2023), Austrian Academy of Sciences
Ari Rath (1925 – 2017), publicist; former publisher and editor in chief of the Jerusalem Post
Chair/Administration
Susanne Trauneck, Secretary General of the Jewish Welcome Service
