After a few years of planning, the project will be implemented as a joint initiative by the Federal Chancellery, the State of Salzburg, the Archdiocese of Salzburg and the Archabbey of St. Peter. Science State Councilor Andrea Klambauer (NEOS) presented the “Marko Feingold Visiting Professorship” on Saturday together with Federal Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) as well as companions and representatives from church and science.
Politics honors Holocaust survivors
“It was very important to Marko Feingold to keep the Jewish heritage alive in Salzburg. We dedicated this professorship to him during his lifetime and thus enabled the scientific discussion and research into the causes of anti-Semitism. Marko Feingold was a steadfast admonisher and tireless in his work. This awareness-raising and the Judeo-Christian dialogue will be carried on within the framework of the professorship and passed on to students with scientific arguments ”, said Klambauer at a media talk on Saturday.
“The Holocaust survivor Marko Feingold was an admirable personality and spent decades educating especially schoolchildren about the darkest chapter in our history. Thanks to his unmistakable manner, he managed to make the incomprehensible tangible for these young people ”, emphasizes European Minister Karoline Edtstadler.
Feingold: “We mustn’t forget”
Marko Feingold’s widow, Hanna Feingold, expressed her thanks to all those involved on Saturday. “I would like to thank Ms. Renate Egger-Wenzel, it was she who approached me in 2017 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Austria, the 70th anniversary of the founding of Israel and the 105th birthday of my husband Marko Feingold to celebrate. For more than 70 years my husband had tried to pass on his experiences from six years in concentration camps to schoolchildren, young people and later also students in order to never let one arise again. He was very happy when students came to him and brought greetings from their parents and told them that they too had already attended a class in the synagogue. “
Requirements for the professorship
“It is very important to me to keep up the memory of Marko Feingold, who for decades devoted himself to coming to terms with the past in a conciliatory manner – regardless of the worst personal experiences,” summarizes Hendrik Lehnert, Rector of the Paris-Lodron University in Salzburg.
The mastery of Jewish sources and Jewish practice is one of the main requirements for the professorship, along with knowledge of modern Jewish history. Networking with European, Israeli and American universities is desirable in order to take an active role in the Judeo-Christian dialogue. Fluent language skills in biblical to modern Hebrew as well as German, English and another foreign language are required. The professorship is limited to one year – there is also the option of a one-time extension after evaluation.
Lackner: “Never bitter, but always admonishing”
“For me, meeting Marko Feingold is one of the great moments in life. After all, he stands for the unspeakable suffering of Jewish fellow citizens in our country; upright, not bitter, always admonishing. As a Christian country, we are guilty of the chosen people of the Jews. We must not forget that – especially since we owe our faith to Judaism. As an archdiocese, we are happy to take this opportunity to support the Marko Feingold Professorship, ”said Archbishop Franz Lackner.
The life of Marko Feingold
Feingold was born on May 28, 1913 in Neusohl (today Banská Bystrica in Slovakia) and grew up in Vienna-Leopoldstadt. In 1939 he was arrested by the Gestapo in Prague, and until his liberation by the US Army in April 1945, Feingold survived stays in the concentration camps Auschwitz, Neuengamme near Hamburg, Dachau and Buchenwald, which he claims to have achieved only through a series of miracles. Because he was refused entry into the Soviet occupation zone on the way to Vienna at the demarcation line on the Enns, he settled in Salzburg and helped Jewish refugees, most of whom came from Eastern Europe, to flee across the Alps to Palestine. From 1948 to 1977 he ran a fashion shop in Salzburg and since 1978 was head of the Israelite religious community in Salzburg. Marko Feingold is among other things the holder of the Golden Medal of Merit, the Golden Medal of Honor of the State of Salzburg and the Golden Ring of Honor of the Paris-Lodron University of Salzburg.
(Source: SALZBURG24)
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