Among other things Commemorative event in the Federal Chancellery on May 8th on ORF 2, extensive ORF III program with “Festival of Joy” as the highlight
Vienna (OTS) – May 8, 2024 marks the 79th anniversary of “Liberation Day” – the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht and thus the liberation from National Socialism and the end of the Second World War in Europe. To mark this occasion, the ORF is once again creating a TV focus with live broadcasts and numerous documentaries.
On Wednesday, May 8th, at 12 p.m., ORF 2 will show the “Commemoration of the liberation from National Socialism and the end of the war in Europe” live from the congress hall of the Federal Chancellery: Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler will speak at the Federal Government’s memorial event , the keynote speech will be given by Wolfgang Müller, historian and deputy director of the Institute for Eastern European History at the University of Vienna. An ensemble from the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will provide the musical framework.
ORF III presents two further live broadcasts: On Sunday, May 5th, the International Liberation Celebration can be seen in the Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial (11 a.m.), which has been organized and carried out by the survivors and their associations since 1946; The highlight of the program on the main evening on May 8th is the “Festival of Joy” from Vienna’s Heldenplatz.
The comprehensive ORF III focus begins on Saturday, May 4th with the new documentary “The Gusen Concentration Camp – Crimes in the Shadow of Mauthausen” (8:15 p.m.) about the history of the long-forgotten subcamp of the Mauthausen concentration camp. However, this was in no way inferior to the main camp in terms of the crimes committed. In contrast, Gusen was largely demolished after 1945, the land was parceled out and sold as building sites. In archive recordings, survivors and the son of the former Gusen camp director Walter Chmielewski have their say, painting an authentic picture of life in and with the Gusen camp. ORF III will then show three more “zeit.geschichte” productions from the “Mauthausen in front of the door” series: “Vienna’s Forgotten Concentration Camps” (9:05 p.m.), “Death Marches” (9:55 p.m.) and “The Fate of Women” (10:50 p.m.) . Finally, the spectacular historical drama “Downfall” (11.40 p.m.) based on the bestseller of the same name by Hitler biographer Joachim Fest, co-produced by ORF, can be seen, in which Bruno Ganz delivered an acting masterpiece as Adolf Hitler in the last days in the Führerbunker. Wednesday, May 8th, on ORF III is dedicated to Liberation Day, including numerous documentaries (from 8:35 a.m.). A new ORF III production portrays the recently deceased “contemporary witness and journalistic legend”: Hella Pick (6.20 p.m.), who came to Great Britain from Austria on a Kindertransport in 1939 as a ten-year-old, where she experienced a remarkable career advancement and ultimately became a leading international correspondent at the Guardian. Over the course of her career, Pick reported on world political events and met important personalities such as Willy Brandt, John F. Kennedy and Winston Churchill. From the late 1990s onwards, her books about Simon Wiesenthal and post-war Austria’s dealings with the Nazi past brought her back to her native country more and more often.
The highlight of the ORF III focus on May 8th this year is once again the “Festival of Joy” from Vienna’s Heldenplatz, which is being organized for the twelfth time by the Austrian Mauthausen Committee with the support of the Jewish Community, the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance and the Memorial Service Association becomes. The ORF III transmission takes place in two parts:
“The Ceremony” (8 p.m.) and “The Ceremonial Concert” (8:15 p.m.). The chairman of the Mauthausen Committee, Willi Mernyi, and Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen will speak. This year the open-air concert will be performed by various chamber music ensembles from the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The highlight will be the speech by contemporary witness Rosa Schneeberger, born in 1936 and survivor of the Lackenbach camp. The evening will be moderated in the tried and tested manner by Katharina Stemberger.
The two-parter “Continent of Displaced People – Europe after the War” (from 9:30 p.m.) concludes the TV focus.
ORF 2 is also presenting the documentary premiere “Classical Music under the Swastika – The Maestro and the Cellist of Auschwitz” (9:05 a.m.) about the history of classical music in the so-called “Third Reich” in the “matinee” on Sunday, May 5th. At the center of the story are the fates of the German Jew Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who only survived Auschwitz thanks to her musical talent, and the internationally celebrated German star conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, who came to terms with Hitler and his helpers.
ORF.at network and ORF TELETEXT
As part of their current overview reporting, the ORF.at network and ORF TELETEXT remember in detail the liberation from National Socialism and the end of the Second World War in Europe and provide information about commemorative events. Streams from the ceremony from the Federal Chancellery and the “Festival of Joy” as well as other programs from the TV program focus (if the corresponding online license rights are available) will be made available on ORF ON and in the ORF TVthek. Numerous other articles, documentaries and eyewitness reports are also available in the video archives “Austria’s Contemporary Witnesses” and “The Darkest Time of the 20th Century – The Second World War”.
Further details about the TV focus can be found at presse.ORF.at or tv.ORF.at.