"An Act of Defiance" : Austrian Holocaust Memorialization and Reclamation of Austrian Citizenship Post-Holocaust

Abstract

The Republic of Austria has a complex relationship to Holocaust commemoration and its Jewish community. Within this paper, I explore the complexities which Holocaust memorialization in Austria presents. This was accomplished through visiting Holocaust memorial sites around Austria. Beginning in September 2020, descendants of those who fled Austria because of the National Socialist Regime became eligible to claim Austrian citizenship. I examine how descendants of the Austrian Jewish community forced to leave Austria reckon with the opportunity to gain Austrian citizenship in the modern day. From my conversations with interlocutors around the world, I learned how common threads of emotional and pragmatic experience connect members of this diasporic community, despite being thousands of miles—sometimes even continents—apart. I first investigate the history of Austria before exploring Austrian Holocaust memorialization and finally, the experiences of my interlocutors in their journeys gaining and living with Austrian citizenship. Despite different backgrounds, shared experiences brought forth by acquisition of Austrian citizenship unites my interlocutors together. These experiences connect to the overall theory of memorialization and commemoration and tie this community together in diaspora.