Vienna (OTS) – The Leon Zelman Prize has been awarded since 2013 to people or initiatives who are actively committed to remembering the Shoah in the spirit of Leon Zelman (1928-2007). The prize also recognizes special civil society commitment, advocacy against anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia, education and youth work as well as projects that promote intercultural dialogue. He is reminiscent of the long-time head of the Jewish Welcome Service and editor of the magazine “The Jüdische Echo”.
The prize is endowed with EUR 5,000 and is donated by the City of Vienna. The award ceremony will take place in the Vienna City Hall in autumn.
The jury’s statement
This year’s award winner Andreas Peham has been working in the Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance (DÖW) for almost 30 years. He also completed his community service there.
“With his comprehensive work, from research to education to mediation work in the sense of dialogue and understanding, Andreas Peham meets the prize criteria in many respects. Key areas of his work include mentoring and analysis of right-wing extremism/neo-Nazism, Islamism and anti-Semitism. Peham has also presented internationally acclaimed works here. In the area of anti-Semitism, he has worked with numerous institutions at home and abroad, especially in Germany and Israel.
He is a sought-after speaker and leader of numerous workshops on extremism prevention, whereby his pedagogical skills in working and dialogue with young people in secondary schools, but especially in vocational schools and youth centers, are particularly noteworthy.
Andreas Peham also makes a significant contribution to intercultural educational work and Holocaust education. As part of contemporary witness visits to schools, he accompanied the artist, writer and Auschwitz survivor Ceija Stojka for many years in order to work with her to draw attention to the persecution and fate of the Roma during the Nazi era.
The jury consists of the experts for memorial and remembrance culture, Martina Maschke and Peter Schwarz, the historians Sophie Lillie and Michaela Raggam-Blesch, succeeding Heidemarie Uhl, who died in 2023, and Armin Thurnher, journalist and editor of the city newspaper Der Falter.
Jewish Welcome Service
The organization was founded in 1980 on the initiative of the then mayor Leopold Gratz and the city councilor Heinz Nittel together with Leon Zelman, who died in 2007. The president is the respective mayor of the city of Vienna. The main tasks are visit programs for displaced Viennese Jews and their descendants, study trips for the younger generation, support of memorial and remembrance projects as well as information and service for Jewish visitors to Vienna. Since 2018, Wien Holding has also been supporting the work of the Jewish Welcome Service.
Leon Zelman
Leon Zelman was born on June 12, 1928 in Szczekociny, Poland. He survived the Łódź ghetto and the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Mauthausen-Ebensee, where he was liberated by the Americans on May 6, 1945. Leon Zelman lost his entire family in the Shoah.
After hospital and regeneration stays in Bad Ischl and Bad Goisern, Leon Zelman came to Vienna in 1946. He attended high school and began studying newspaper studies in 1949, which he completed with a doctorate in 1954. During his time as a student, Leon Zelman was a leading official of the Jewish Students’ Union, initially as a social officer and from 1953-1959 as its president. In 1951 Leon Zelman was one of the co-founders of the magazine Das Jüdische Echo. In 1963, Leon Zelman from the Austrian Transport Office took over the management of the City travel agency in order to develop Israel tourism. Leon Zelman was also editor-in-chief of the magazine “The Jüdische Echo” for many years, which grew from a small newsletter of the Jewish Student Union into an important magazine for culture and politics in German-speaking countries and also overseas.
In 1995, together with Armin Thurnher, editor-in-chief of the Vienna city newspaper Falter, the autobiography “A Life After Surviving” was published, which was also published in the USA. In 1995, the Leon Zelman Hall was also opened in the Rehavia Gymnasium, the oldest high school in Jerusalem. The aim was to create a meeting place for Jewish, Muslim and Christian young people and was initiated, among others, by Leon Zelmans Dr. Funded by Karl Renner Prize money. The other half of the prize money went to Roma and Sinti organizations. Leon Zelman himself received numerous awards and was honored many times – including the City of Vienna’s Ring of Honor in 2001.
A year after Zelman’s death on July 11, 2008, a memorial plaque for Leon Zelman was unveiled at Vienna’s Palais Epstein by National Council President Barbara Prammer in the presence of Vienna’s Vice Mayor Renate Brauner, Vienna City Councilor for Culture Andreas Mailath-Pokorny and publicist Ari Rath. Leon Zelman fought for a long time for the establishment of a “House of History” in the palace that belongs to the neighboring parliament.
Further information about the Zelman Prize and the jury: https://jewish-welcome.at/de/zelman-preis/
Questions & Contact:
Jewish Welcome Service
0664 503 46 56
susanne.trauneck@jewish-welcome.at
www.jewish-welcome.at
http://twitter.com/JWS_Vienna
http://www.facebook.com/JewishWelcomeVienna