242 Gedenkzeichen von NS-Opfern im Burgenland sind ab sofort Teil der digitalen Erinnerungslandschaft DERLA

On 5 February 1995 four Roma from Oberwart fell victim to a right-wing extremist bomb attack. On this anniversary Austria's education agency OeAD, together with the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Graz, the Private University College of Teacher Education Burgenland and representatives of the Roma ethnic group, presented the expansion of Austria's digital "remembrance landscape" (DERLA for short) to include the province of Burgenland in the presence of Education Minister Martin Polaschek and Provincial Governor Hans Peter Doskozil. The event took place at the Bundesgymnasium Oberwart.

Places of remembrance on a digital map

DERLA is a documentation and education project. The places and symbols of remembrance of the victims and sites of terror of the Nazi regime in Austria are documented on a digital map. The biographies of the victims of National Socialist persecution were researched for each memorial site and digital tours of the memorials are offered to schools and the public. The project makes an important contribution to teaching history in schools. It is financially supported by the BMBWF, the National Fund and the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria as well as the Provincial Government of Burgenland. DERLA currently contains 1,874 memorials and sites, 2,915 biographies and 83 educational programmes, including 242 memorials and 99 biographies of victims of National Socialism from Burgenland.

The interdisciplinary co-operation project is also dedicated to the development of new concepts of digital remembrance education and offers specific services for educational work.

How does DERLA work?

The platform consists of four main elements: An interactive map of remembrance leads to places and symbols of remembrance and makes their history visible. In the archive of names all those named and remembered on the memorials are presented biographically. The education portal contains offers for school education work. The paths of remembrance connect the places of remembrance. www.erinnerungslandschaft.at

"School visits to local places of remembrance are particularly valuable from an educational perspective and are facilitated by DERLA at a low threshold. Local signs of remembrance connect to the reality of pupils' lives because they are located in the immediate vicinity of schools and places of residence and thus enable history to be taught in a lively way," says Education, Science and Research Minister Martin Polaschek about DERLA.

"The digital memorial landscape makes the history of National Socialism in Burgenland visible in a virtual way. History shows how difficult it was for the Roma and Sinti. Dealing with our past is important for a living culture of remembrance – and at the same time a mandate to stand up vehemently against discrimination, exclusion and incitement to hatred in the here and now," said the Provincial Governor Hans Peter Doskozil, emphasising the importance of the project.

Emerich Gärtner-Horvath, Chairman of the Ethnic Group Advisory Council for the Roma and Chairman of the Roma Service Association, in his message of greeting: "Coming to terms with our shared history, especially that of my ethnic group, was a matter of great personal concern to me. My three siblings, Josef, Berta and Karl, were deported with my grandparents. My grandparents were murdered in Auschwitz. However, I still don't know what happened to my three siblings. I don't know what happened to them, where they were deported to. To Lodz or somewhere else? This still bothers me and other members of my ethnic group who suffered the same fate. ERINNERN:AT (OeAD) has long been committed to remembering the Roma who were persecuted and murdered during the Nazi era. As Chairman of the Advisory Council for the Roma National Minorities I would like to thank all those involved for this important work."

Jakob Calice, Managing Director of the OeAD, emphasises: "Where and by whom does remembrance take place and how? DERLA, as a digital landscape of remembrance, stands for contemporary history education on National Socialism and the Holocaust. With DERLA pupils can go in search of local traces – whether it is memorials or memorial plaques, memorial sites or commemorative plaques. They will learn to make concrete references to the past. They will take a critical look at National Socialism and its impact on society and politics to this day."

Gerald Lamprecht, Head of the Centre for Jewish Studies at the University of Graz and Herbert Brettl, Network Coordinator for Burgenland for the OeAD programme ERINNERN:AT explain: "The continuously expanded DERLA platform documents all memorials to the victims of National Socialism in a digital memory map for the first time. It links documentation with learning about National Socialism and the Holocaust. Of the 242 memorials recorded in Burgenland 26 are dedicated to the genocide of the Burgenland Roma. The majority of the Roma living in Burgenland were deported and murdered during the Nazi era. Only a few returned after liberation. For many a new start was made difficult or even impossible. It was only late in the day that the crimes against the Roma were commemorated and the first memorials were erected – mostly by the ethnic group itself. More than half of the memorials were only initiated in the last ten years. With DERLA we are now making them visible to a wide audience. And we have developed educational programmes for schoolchildren in cooperation with the Private University of Teacher Education Burgenland."

Ute Leonhardt, Private University College of Teacher Education Burgenland, explains: "The educational programme is aimed at pupils, giving them the opportunity to engage with National Socialism and its victim groups.

The tasks are not limited to traditional source analyses but are designed to be varied and creative. By analysing, evaluating and interpreting historical information learners will develop an awareness of history that contributes to the formation of a critical and reflective perspective on the past and the present. It also enables learners to understand their own identity and analyse social processes and thus learn from history."

DERLA Burgenland is a cooperation project between the OeAD, the University of Graz (Centre for Jewish Studies, Centre for Information Modelling) and the Private University College of Teacher Education Burgenland. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF), the Province of Burgenland, the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria and the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism. DERLA is implemented in Burgenland by the network coordinator for the OeAD programme ERINNERN:AT. DERLA already exists for Styria, Vorarlberg, Tyrol and Carinthia.

The event marks the start of the annual focus of the OeAD programme ERINNERN:AT on the genocide of the European Roma and Sinti during the Nazi era.