Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service

The Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service (AHMS) is an alternative to Austria's compulsory national military service / alternative service. Its participants serve at major Holocaust memorial institutions.

The AHMS was by Andreas Maislinger, a political scientist from Innsbruck (Tyrol, Austria) who adopted the idea from the German Action Reconciliation / Service for Peace (Aktion Suehnezeichen/Friedensdienste). Maislinger himself had worked as a volunteer at the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum, where the idea of the program was born.

In 1991 the required legislation was enacted by the Austrian Government and Andreas Maislinger began organizing what became known as the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service, an independent, though largely government-funded foundation. The intent of the AHMS is to recognize Austria's part of the collective responsibility for the Holocaust and the responsibility of each one of us to ensure that it "never again" happens (quote from a speech by then Austrian chancellor Franz Vranitzky, Jerusalem, June 1993).

The Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service is a unique international network that provides assistance to Holocaust-related archives and museums. Since 1992 there have been sent about 400 AHMS interns, mostly in their 20s, either working to study and preserve Holocaust history in lieu of military service back home.

Austrian Service Abroad (formerly Austrian Association for Service Abroad) is the main body of the organization and authorized by the Austrian Government to send the interns to partner organizations worldwide.

Partners

:*Melbourne - Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Center:*Melbourne - Jewish Museum of Australia

:*Petrópolis - Casa Stefan Zweig

:*Sofia - Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria "Shalom"

:*Montreal - Holocaust Memorial Centre:*Montreal - [http://web.mac.com/kff3/iWeb/Kleinmann%20Family%20Foundation/Welcome.html Kleinmann Family Foundation]

:*Harbin - Harbin Jewish Research Center (planned):*Shanghai - Center of Jewish Studies

:*Prague - Jewish Community of Prague

:*London - Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library:*London - [http://www.yadvashem.org.il/ The National Yad Vashem Charitable Trust]

:*Oradour - Centre de la Mémoire d'Oradour :*Paris - Amicale de Mauthausen :*Paris - La Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation

:*Berlin - Jüdisches Museum Berlin:*Moringen - [http://www.gedenkstaette-moringen.de/geschichte/lager_eng/lager_eng.html/ Concentration Camp Memorial at Torhaus Moringen] :*Munich - Jewish Museum Munich

:*Budapest - European Roma Rights Centre

:*Jerusalem - Yad Vashem

:*Como - [http://www.isc-como.org/ Istituto di Storia Contemporanea "Pier Amato Perretta"(ISC)] :*Milan - Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea:*Marzabotto - [http://www.montesole.org/ Fondazione Scuola Di Pace Di Monte Sole] :*Prato - Museo della Deportazione:*Oslo - Jewish Community

:*Oświęcim - Auschwitz Jewish Center :*Kraków - [http://www.judaica.pl Center for Jewish Culture]

:*Uppsala - Uppsala Programme for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

:*Detroit - Holocaust Memorial Center:*Houston - Holocaust Museum Houston:*Los Angeles - Simon Wiesenthal Center:*Los Angeles - Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust:*Los Angeles - USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education:*New York - Museum of Jewish Heritage :*New York - Anti Defamation League:*Reno - [http://www.unr.edu/chgps/blank.htm Center for Holocaust, Genocide & Peace Studies] :*Richmond - Virginia Holocaust Museum:*San Francisco - [http://www.hcnc.org Holocaust Center of Northern California] :*St. Petersburg - The Florida Holocaust Museum

See also

*Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award
*House of Responsibility, Paper Clips Project

External links

* http://www.gedenkdienst.org
* [http://www.gedenkdienst.net/ Austrian Holocaust Memorial Servants]
* http://www.gedenkdienst.info