Die Presse - June 30, 2016

German Original: http://diepresse.com/home/zeitgeschichte/5040856/Neue-Struktur-fur-KZGedenkstaette-Mauthausen

The Committee on Internal Affairs of the [Austrian] National Council, the Austrian House of Representatives, has approved the transformation of the Mauthausen Memorial into a federal agency.

Now it is almost certain. The Mauthausen Memorial will be transformed into a federal agency by January 2017. Committee on Internal Affairs of the [Austrian] National Council has approved the government’s plan with a big majority; therefore, the voting on the floor of the House is therefore just a matter of form. So far, the responsibility for the Mauthausen Memorial was held by the Interior Ministry, henceforth, the federal agency will be headed by an advisory board.

In an open letter to Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka (ÖVP), the outsourcing was supported by ambassadors of eight countries, whose citizens had been detainees of the Mauthausen concentration camp. Furthermore, the ambassadors asked the Interior Minister to change the name of the memorial into Mauthausen-Gusen. Many prisoners lost their life in the satellite camp Gusen, especially detainees from Poland. However, the interior ministry has opposed the renaming.