Forty-four years after the Nazis closed down the first Jewish Museum in the world, built in Vienna at the end of the last century, a new Jewish museum was opened last month in Austria’s easternmost province of Burgen-land. The Austrian Jewish Museum opened its doors with a large exhibition called “1,000 years of Austrian Jewry.”
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Theodor Kery, the Governor of Burgenland, expressed his gratitude to the Jewish community for its contribution to Austria in the fields of art, medicine, politics and economics. “My thanks may come late,” Kery said, “but they should never be too late.” Quoting the German philosopher and social scientist Theodor Adorno, Kery added, “Anti-Semitism is the rumor about Jews. And this museum is intended to do away with such rumor.”
The museum, which was opened by Hertha Firnberg, Minister for Science and Research, came into existence through active lobbying by the Association for the Jewish Austrian Museum, a group closely linked with the Institute for Judaic Studies at the University of Vienna. Located within the old Jewish ghetto of Eisenstadt, capital of Burgenland province, the museum was financed by the Austrian Government, and by that country’s nine provinces.
RIMINDER: There will be no Daily News Bulletin dated July 5, due to the July 4th postal holiday.
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