Gedenkdienst Student’s Report on French Jewry

Ulrich Kopetzi

language courses in numerous levels constitute one of the main activities of the centre.

Since 2005, the Medem library hosts each year one young Austrian volunteer, who works at the centre for twelve months. This happens as part of the “Gedenkdienst” program. Since 1992, the Austrian organization “Gedenkdienst” (“memorial service”) has sent over 200 young Austrians to work abroad at various Holocaust centers, Jewish cultural institutions and nursing homes around the world, thereby fulfilling their compulsory military duty. Amongst the almost 20 partnerinstitutions of “Gedenkdienst” are Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the Leo Baeck Institute in New York and the Anne Frank Center in Amsterdam.

Last year, in 2006/2007, I was happy enough to be nominated to work at the “Maison de la culture Yiddish” in Paris as the second Austrian volunteer at this place ever. An about two-year-long preparatory phase preceded this venture and it was right at the Melbourne Jewish Holocaust Centre, where I first got seriously involved with my country’s history and where I eventually made the decision to do a “Gedenkdienst”.

It was in 2003/2004, I was in Australia on a one-year Rotary Youth Exchange Program, and I was keen on learning about Austrian Jews who might have immigrated to Australia after the Holocaust. I looked for immigrants who would be willing to talk to me and it didn’t take long before I found Eva Marks, volunteer at the Melbourne Jewish Holocaust Centre, who was very kind and happy to tell me her story. This motivated me to deal more thoroughly with the Holocaust, especially the role of Austria as a victim and perpetrator, and ultimately led to my “Gedenkdienst”year in Paris.

The interest in Jewish culture in France today is as strong as ever before during the last decades. The third generation of Holocaust survivors is again interested in their ancestors’ roots, their grandparents’ culture and are actively studying and practicing it. Yiddish courses for children prosper, in various Klezmer music ensembles, many young students are actively participating and people from all over the world contact the Medem library when looking for Yiddish literature. Cultural events organized by the “Maison de la Culture Yiddish – Bibliothèque Medem” are highly demanded and often sold out. The Yiddish culture is being practiced, the Yiddish culture lives.