DerStandard.at, November 3, 2015.
http://derstandard.at/2000025020664/Widerstandsmahnmal-in-Bregenz-wird-errichtet
On November 14th 2015, the Vorarlberg resistance memorial will be unveiled. It remembers, but not exclusively, the military deserters
Bregenz – The city of Bregenz has sent out the invitations on the occassion only 12 days before unveiling the Vorarlberg resistance memorial at the Sparkassenplatz in Bregenz. Which answers an essential question, if the memorial, the unveiling of which has been announced for Fall 2015 back in May, would really be built. It has been very quiet around the cooperative project of the city and the state of Vorarlberg lately.
There was still no official inauguration date communicated when the first panel discussion on regional culture of remembrance was held on the 27thn October and insiders started to doubt. It’s not a secret that the project is not very popular. Initially, the memorial should honor victims of the Nazi military justice. There was no wish for a memorial honoring deserters in Vorarlberg.
A compromise was found by calling the memorial a resistance memorial to commemorate the people, “who refused or who stopped to obey the Nazi regime: especially conscientious objectors and deserters.”
Split-flap for remembrance
On Thursday, the technically very elaborate memorial will be installed in Bregenz. Nataša Sienčnik, a young Carinthian Slovenian applied after the call for proposals with her project "Flip-over display" and convinced the jury. The artist will set up her installation in a centrally located showcase.
The "Flip-over display" is a computerized machine that reminds of old announcement boards at train stations, showing hundreds of names and fates of people who have opposed the Nazi regime. The data can be updated anytime based on historical evidence, "nothing is set in stone," says Sienčnik. The philosopher Ágnes Heller will be speaking at the inauguration ceremony on November 14th.
Comprehensive framework programme
The framework programme, curated by political scientist Thomas Geldmacher and funded by the state, offers two months of lectures, films and discussions about desertion and the culture of remembrance. The next event on Wednesday evening at the Vorarlberg museum is dedicated to the “consequences of annihilation, persecution and escape for future generations.”