Musik.Gedenk.Schule

A Music project for memory the Jewish History in Burgenland and to commemorate jewish composers

Series of events organised by the Oberpullendorf/Deutschkreutz music schools and shalom.nachbar in Lockenhaus in the former synagogue in Kobersdorf. (Start autumn 2023)

The main basic ideas:

Commemoration and remembrance of Jewish Burgenlanders who were expelled or murdered in the Holocaust. Remembrance of Jewish culture/music in Burgenland.

Musical ways of remembering, developing and performing pieces of music by Jewish composers. Getting to know the biographies of expelled Jewish artists.

Pupils learn about the Jewish history of Burgenland, family histories of Jewish neighbours and the events around 1938 in their home villages and are encouraged to do further research and ask questions.

Anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia, trivialisation, concealment, radicalisation... educate people about this and take a stand against it (resistance)

Event/presentation:

Concerts in memory of the expelled Jewish artists with a connection to Burgenland
Readings by Jewish authors, lectures on Jewish history in Burgenland
Workshops with descendants of the expellees and contemporary witnesses from Burgenland
Exhibitions in memory of murdered and expelled Jewish Burgenlanders

Dates.

19.October 2023 Mischpoche Musikal

18. April 2024, Es wartet doch soviel auf mich"

PREVIEW:

Thuesday, 22 October 2024, 6.00 pm

Violins of Hope, exhibition and concert

Ticket reservation starts at 2. September 2024 by email: musikgedenkschule@aon.at

10. April 2025, cooperation with the business college HAK

23. Oktober 2025

Musik.Gedenk.Schule is a project ...

... in memory of Jewish composers who composed and were murdered in the concentration camps.
... in memory of Jewish artists who were forced to leave Austria/Europe and had to continue working in exile.
... in memory of the vanished culture of Jewish Burgenland, a reminder of the once flourishing Jewish life in the villages. (general stores, doctors, craftsmen, lawyers...)
... in memory of Jewish people born in Burgenland, children and young people who were murdered or expelled. (Biographies of Jewish "neighbours")
... to come to terms with the history of anti-Semitism and xenophobia that happened directly "at home", in the home villages. The history and fate of the synagogue buildings in Burgenland. (the Holocaust, abuse and desecration did not only take place in the towns and camps).
... to sensitise young people to the topics of anti-Semitism, xenophobia, right-wing extremism and resistance in their immediate surroundings.

Cooperations

The aim is to work closely with schools in the region.

The grammar school in Oberpullendorf has already been provided with books, Ruth Maier's diary, so that the pupils can familiarise themselves with the topic "Remembrance of expelled Jewish pupils from Burgenland" based on the well-documented fate of a young Austrian woman.

The HAK Oberpullendorf and the NMS school in Kobersdorf will also be invited to take part in the project of the music schools and shalom.nachbar with their own project ideas.

The project will be supported by experts on the subject of Judaism, anti-Semitism,... and by artists from the fields of theatre and literature. Cornelius Obonja has already confirmed his participation in one of the events, Shlomo Mintz is making his videos available, we are in contact with "Violins of Hope in Israel,...

A warm invitation to colleagues/teachers/pupils/principals at schools in Central Burgenland to use your skills and knowledge to be part of this initiative to commemorate the former synagogue in Kobersdorf once a school year.

Next Event:

"Violins of Hope"

Thuesday, 22. October 2025, 18.00 in the former Synagoge in Kobersdorf

Music: Fritz Kreisler, Carl Goldmark, Klezmer, ...

more soon...

! Date has been changed !

The last events:

2nd event - spring 2024

Es wartet doch sovel auf mich* There is so much waiting for me *

Thursday 18 April 2024, 6.00 pm, in the former synagogue in Kobersdorf

Participants:

Teachers and pupils from the Oberpullendorf and Deutschkreutz music schools, the 8C class from the Franz List Gymnasium Oberpullendorf (Teacher Alfred Liebmann) and Rachel Schon, London, descendant of a Jewish family from Burgenland

Topics: Ruth Maier - her diary and letters, Kindertransport, Young Austria, Free Austrian Mouvement, Escape, Hope, Love, Future, Family history, Surviving in the exile,...

Cooperation with the Franz Liszt Gymnasium Oberpullendorf. The pupils of the 8C class of the BORG will work with the diary of Ruth Maier, a young Jewish woman from Vienna, who first managed to escape to Norway, but was captured by the Nazis and deported to Auschwitz. Together with Rachel Schon, a relative of a Jewish family from Burgenland (the Stössel family from Lockenhaus, later lived in Mödling), they will learn in a workshop on the topics of Kindertransporte to England and Young Austria London. The pupils from the 8C class will present the results of their research at the event in the former synagogue in Kobersdorf.

Music:

The programme is expected to include works by John Zorn, Amy Winehouse, Harold Arlen, Sholom Secunda,...

* A Sentence by Ruth Maier in her diary.

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1. event - 19. October 2023

"Mischpoche Musikal"

Participants: Teachers and pupils of the music schools Oberpullendorf and Deutschkreutz

The programme of the fully booked concert included works by Walter Arlen, Mordechai Gebirtig, Kurt Weill, Alexandre Tansman, Carl Goldmark and the theme from "Schindler's List" by John Williams. The concert was held in memory of the musician and composer Walter Arlen, who died on 2 September 2023. Cornelius Obonya read the report on Zelem, the Jewish Deutschkreutz, from "Reise in das Heanzenland" by Joseph Roth.

We are delighted that Cornelius Obonya, President of the Action against Anti-Semitism in Austria, has agreed to support Musik.Gedenk.Schule with his participation.

Thanks to all participants!