New Holocaust Museum

“Austria has a special responsibility”

Federal President Van der Bellen during his speech in the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam(Bild: Peter LECHNER)

Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen attended the opening of the new Holocaust Museum in the Netherlands. Austria provided financial support for the project. In his speech, Van der Bellen recalled Austria's "special responsibility" in connection with the Nazi atrocities in the Netherlands. 

"There is a very specific reason why I am standing here today," Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen opened his speech at the opening of the new Holocaust Museum in the Dutch capital Amsterdam. "It was an Austrian," said Van der Bellen on the occasion of the celebrations in the Portuguese Synagogue.

"Arthur Seyß-Inquart, the Nazi Reich Commissioner in the Netherlands, was an Austrian. It was an Austrian who ordered the deportation of over 100,000 Jews from the Netherlands to Nazi extermination camps. It was an Austrian who enslaved half a million people from the Netherlands to forced labor in Germany. An Austrian who had people persecuted, tortured and murdered here in the Netherlands. It was someone from our society, from Austrian society. Austria therefore has a special responsibility. I have a special responsibility here".

According to Van der Bellen, it is not enough just to say "Never again!" We must live up to these words by taking a firm stand against all forms of anti-Semitism and hatred. "The National Holocaust Museum was created to keep the memory of the horrors of Nazi terror alive. Because far too often we underestimate how inhuman human beings can be. This place reminds us of that. Far too often we forget to take a stand when a person's dignity is violated. This place reminds us of that. This place wakes us up," said Van der Bellen.

Austria has supported the construction of the museum with 400,000 euros. "We need it!" concluded Van der Bellen, who subsequently met with Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.