Teaching about the Roma Genocide. Prospects and Challenges: Conference report now online

“It is key to bring the Roma Agency and Roma perspectives into education about the Genocide of the Roma. By centering Roma voices, this has the potential to empower Roma, support their organisations, and promote a diverse and constructive learning environment for both teachers and students”, say participants at the international workshop “Teaching about the Roma Genocide. Prospects and Challenges” hosted by the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI) in cooperation with the OeAD/ERINNERN:AT on 26-27 September 2024. The workshop was realised at the suggestion and with the financial support of the Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research.
Read the conference report here.

Closing Times

Dear visitors,

Please note the following closing times:

Archive: 16 December 2024 to 6 January 2025
Library: 23 December 2024 to 6 January 2025
Museum: 16 December 2024 to 6 January 2025

Thank you for your understanding.

Research Trip to Poland

As part of the editing project of Adolf Landl's memoirs on his experiences as a policeman and resistance fighter in the Kielce area during the Second World War, Philipp Rohrbach and Jochen Böhler travelled to Poland from 7 to 11 October 2025. They were accompanied by one of Landl's nephews and the son of Josef Rothwein, Landl's assistant at the Kielce gendarmerie station at the time. The journey first took them to Krakow, where on 8 October a research symposium on the project in cooperation with the Krakow City Museum, the Institute of National Remembrance Krakow, and the historical association ‘Vestigia Memoriae’ met with great public interest. On 9 October, the group visited the National Museum in Kielce, where the head of the history department gave them an insight into Landl's memoirs. Prior to this, they had been invited to the Marshal's Office of the Holy Cross Voivodeship for a lively exchange of ideas. The next day's programme included a visit to the Institute of National Remembrance Kielce, which has further files on the project. In Landl's former base in Łopuszno, the visitors from Austria met with locals, including relatives of the victims of the 1943 massacre in nearby Skałka Polska, at the mayor's office and then paid their respects at the memorial site. Polish television (TVP Krakow/TVP Kielce) and radio (Radio eM Kielce) reported extensively on the trip.

Museum Simon Wiesenthal awarded with the Austrian Museum Seal of Quality

The Future of Memory - Museum Simon Wiesenthal was honoured with the Austrian Museum Seal of Quality on Wednesday, 9 October 2024. The award emphasises particularly high-quality and excellent museum work and highlights the highest quality standards in the Austrian museum community to date. It is also a commitment to the responsibility of preserving cultural heritage, recognising the ICOM Ethical Guidelines for Museums and offering visitors an outstanding museum experience. We are delighted to have been recognised and are devoting ourselves to all the next steps to expand the experience of ‘The Future of Memory - Museum Simon Wiesenthal’ and make it even more accessible.

Angelika Brechelmacher, Deputy Director of the VWI, and Sandro Fasching, responsible for the Museum Simon Wiesenthal, accepted the seal of approval at the ceremony at Wien Museum organised by ICOM Austria and the Museumsbund Österreich. Eleven new museums throughout Austria were recognised and the seal of approval was renewed for 109 institutions.

Photo (c) Kollektiv Fischka

Summer Opening Hours Archive & Library

The archive will be closed from 22 July to 9 August 2024.

The library will be closed from 12 to 29 August 2024.

Deported. Comparative Perspectives on Paths to Annihilation for Jewish Populations under Nazi German Control

Michaela Raggam-Blesch / Peter Black / Marianne Windsperger (eds.)

Transit facilities and railway stations used for deportation have been rediscovered as central sites of the Shoah in recent years. Public memorials and monuments recall the deportation of the Jewish population to ghettos, annihilation camps, and sites of mass murder. What has long remained a desideratum is a comprehensive, comparative, and analytical overview of deportations from territories under control or influence of Nazi Germany. This volume aims to determine differences and commonalities in the organisation and implementation of deportations in Nazi-dominated Europe. It analyses the relationship between central switching points of the ‘Final Solution’ and local civilian, military and SS-Police authorities and investigates how Jewish organisations were forced to collaborate in the process of their own destruction. The present research examines the limited agency of Jewish Councils, the deportation of provisionally protected groups such as members of ‘mixed families’, the importance of citizenship, and the despotism of individual perpetrators.

Contributions are based on the 2019 workshop “Deportiert. Vergleichende Perspektiven auf die Organisation des Wegs in die Vernichtung”, co-organised by the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI) and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

With contributions from:
Cornelia Shati-Geissler, Akim Jah, Dieter Hecht, Laurien Vastenhout, Hendrik Althoff, Niklas Perzi, Lovro Kralj, John R. Barruzza, Valeria Galimi, Andreas K. Bouroutis, Michaela Raggam-Blesch, Maria von der Heydt, Naida-Michal Brandl, Borbála Klacsmann

Published in: Beiträge zur Holocaustforschung des Wiener Wiesenthal Instituts für Holocaust-Studien (VWI) – soon as open access.

The book is dedicated to the memory of Heidemarie Uhl, who made a significant contribution to the concept of the workshop.

Éva Kovács honoured with Mensch Award 2024

On Friday, 3 May 2024, Éva Kovács (VWI Deputy Director) received one of the five 3rd annual Mensch Awards from the Mensch International Foundation for her contribution to Holocaust research. The ceremony was opened by Lukas Mandl and Mensch Foundation Founder Steven Geiger, with music by Shmuel Barzilai and keynotes by Jaron Engelmayer and Oskar Deutsch.

The other four awardees are Yvonne Oswald, Giora Bernstein, Daniel Landau, and Joshua Sinclair.

Gender Equality Plan (GEP) 2023-2026 for the VWI

The Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI) is dedicated to researching and documenting anti-Semitism, racism and the Holocaust. In its educational activities, it promotes awareness and understanding of human dignity, strengthens the willingness to take responsibility for the social community as well as personal civil courage. The VWI strives to reflect gender equality and an appreciation of diversity in its organisational structure, its academic and programmatic work as well as in its representation and external communication.

Appreciation for diversity is reflected throughout the entire organisation in mindful and respectful interaction with one another. It is also expressed in the endeavour to integrate diversity into the personnel structure and in the selection of fellows. Finally, it helps to reflect the needs of people of different genders, ethnicities, religious traditions, social class, mental and physical abilities, language and regionality in research, teaching and communication. In line with the mission of the VWI, vigilance against anti-Semitism, racism and all forms of discrimination is an important ethical principle of everyday communication.

To ensure this mission, the VWI is committed to a comprehensive Gender Equality Plan, which can now be read in German here.

Junior Fellowships 2015/2016
At the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI)

The Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI) invites applications for its junior fellowships for the academic year 2015/2016.

The VWI is an academic institution dedicated to the study and documentation of antisemitism, racism and the Holocaust. Conceived and established during Simon Wiesenthal’s lifetime, the VWI receives funding from the Austrian Ministry of Science, Research and Economy as well as the City of Vienna. Research at the institute focuses on the Holocaust in its European context, including its antecedents and its aftermath.

Ph.D. candidates from anywhere in the world are eligible to apply for a junior fellowship. Junior fellows will be able to work on a research project of their choice in the field of Holocaust studies at the institute. Beyond the research work itself, the stay at the institute is intended to encourage communication and scientific exchange among the fellows at the institute. Junior fellows will receive support and advice from the VWI as well as its senior and research fellows. Junior fellows are expected to regularly attend the VWI and take on an active role in the institute’s research activities.

Research projects are to focus on a topic relevant to the research interests of the VWI. Within this parameter, applicants are free to choose their own topic, approach and methodology. Fellows will have access to the archives of the institute, now under development. It is expected that fellows will make use of relevant resources from the collection in their research projects. Research results will be the subject of formal fellows' discussions and will be presented to the wider public at regular intervals. At the end of their stay, fellows are required to submit a short research paper which will be reviewed by the Editorial Board of the Academic Advisory Board and published in VWI‘s e-journal S:I.M.O.N. – Shoah: Intervention. Methods. Documentation.

Junior fellowships are awarded for a duration of between six and eleven months. Junior fellows will have a work station at the VWI with computer and internet access and will receive a monthly stipend of € 1,200. In addition, junior fellows who are not Vienna residents will receive accommodation funding of € 340 per month. VWI will also cover the costs of a round-trip to and from Vienna (coach class airfare or 2nd class train fare). There is an additional one-off payment of € 500 available for research conducted outside of Vienna or photocopying costs outside of the institute, where applicable.

Junior fellows will be selected by the International Academic Advisory Board of the VWI.

Applications may be submitted in English or German and must include the following documents:

• completed application form,
• a detailed description of the research project, including the research objectives, an overview of existing research on the topic and methodology (12,000 character max.)
• two letters of recommendation (please indicate when sent separately),
• list of publications (if applicable),
• a CV – or, optional: up-to-date Europass-CV with picture.

Please send your application in electronic format (if possible in one integral *.pdf-file) with the subject header "VWI Junior Fellowships 2015/2016" by February 15, 2015 to:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you do not get confirmation that we have received your proposal, please contact us.

Future junior fellows are advised to endeavour to finance a part of their fellowship via a stipend from the Stipendienstiftung der Republik Österreich  and to submit an application to this end after they have received notification of being awarded their fellowship.

Junior Fellowships 2016/2017
At the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI)

The Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies (VWI) invites applications for its junior fellowships for the academic year 2016/2017.

The VWI is an academic institution dedicated to the study and documentation of antisemitism, racism and the Holocaust. Conceived and established during Simon Wiesenthal’s lifetime, the VWI receives funding from the Austrian Ministry of Science, Research and Economy as well as the City of Vienna. Research at the institute focuses on the Holocaust in its European context, including its antecedents and its aftermath.

Ph.D. candidates from anywhere in the world are eligible to apply for a junior fellowship. Junior fellows will be able to work on a research project of their choice in the field of Holocaust studies at the institute. Beyond the research work itself, the stay at the institute is intended to encourage communication and scientific exchange among the fellows at the institute. Junior fellows will receive support and advice from the VWI as well as its senior and research fellows. Junior fellows are expected to regularly attend the VWI and take on an active role in the institute’s research activities.

Research projects are to focus on a topic relevant to the research interests of the VWI. Within this parameter, applicants are free to choose their own topic, approach and methodology. Fellows will have access to the archives of the institute. It is expected that fellows will make use of relevant resources from the collection in their research projects. Research results will be the subject of formal fellows' discussions and will be presented to the wider public at regular intervals. At the end of their stay, fellows are required to submit a short research paper which will be peer-reviewed and published in VWI‘s e-journal S:I.M.O.N. – Shoah: Intervention. Methods. Documentation.

Junior fellowships are awarded for a duration of between six and eleven months. Junior fellows will have a work station at the VWI with computer and internet access and will receive a monthly stipend of € 1,200. In addition, junior fellows who are not Vienna residents will receive accommodation funding of € 340 per month. VWI will also cover the costs of a round-trip to and from Vienna (coach class airfare or 2nd class train fare). There is an additional one-off payment of € 500 available for research conducted outside of Vienna or photocopying costs outside of the institute, where applicable.

Junior fellows will be selected by the International Academic Advisory Board of the VWI.

Applications may be submitted in English or German and must include the following documents:

• completed application form,
• a detailed description of the research project, including the research objectives, an overview of existing research on the topic and methodology (12,000 character max.)
• two letters of recommendation (please indicate when sent separately),
• list of publications (if applicable),
• a CV (optional: with picture).

Please send your application in electronic format (if possible in one integral *.pdf-file) with the subject header "VWI Junior Fellowships 2016/2017" by 31 January, 2016 to:

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

If you do not get confirmation that we have received your proposal, please contact us.

Future junior fellows are advised to endeavour to finance a part of their fellowship via a stipend from the Stipendienstiftung der Republik Österreich  and to submit an application to this end after they have received notification of being awarded their fellowship.