May 4



AUSTRIA:

Austrian Kids Research Holocaust Victims


ntil recently, 11-year-old Lilly Maier had no idea her small bedroom
(in Vienna) was once the piano room of a Jewish family evicted
by Nazis and deported to Poland.

In fact, Lilly knew nothing about the Kernberg family -- or the Holocaust
-- until she began researching the family's fate earlier this year through
a nationwide school project that encourages children to learn about
Austria's 80,000 Nazi victims.

The project, dubbed ``A Letter to the Stars,'' has received widespread
attention and enthusiasm, a response organizers say shows that Austrians
are more openly acknowledging their country's role in Nazi-era atrocities.

About 15,000 students, ages 13-18, have researched Holocaust victims and
written their reflections in the form of a letter to the person they
studied.

The project culminates Monday when 80,000 white balloons -- each
representing an Austrian Nazi victim and some carrying the letters -- will
be released at Heldenplatz, or Heroes' Square, the Vienna landmark where
Adolf Hitler made his historic address to a large and jubilant crowd after
annexing Austria to the Nazi Reich in 1938.

The ceremony, also marking the May 5 day of remembrance for Austrian
victims of the Nazi era, will be attended by Holocaust survivors and
dignitaries, including President Thomas Klestil.

About 65,000 Austrian Jews perished in the Holocaust, as well as 15,000
others, including Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses and
handicapped people.

``We can't bring the victims back to life, but we can give them back their
names, their faces, their dignity,'' said Andreas Kuba, one of two
journalists who launched the project.

Kuba said the eager response from students, parents and teachers signals a
new willingness by Austrians -- many of whom long saw Austria as Hitler's
first victim -- to explore their country's responsibility for Nazi
horrors.

``Even five years ago there wouldn't have been this kind of support,'' he
said. ``Today there's a new generation of students whose parents weren't
involved in World War II.''

About 500 schools participated, including a Jewish high school in Vienna
where students researched Gypsy victims. Some parents wrote to the
organizers asking if their children could participate, even though their
schools were not involved in the project.

Among them was Sabine Maier, Lilly's mother.

By coincidence, just two days before the project started, friends of the
only remaining member of Kernberg family rang Maier's door. They asked if
she would let the man, now 74, visit his childhood home.

Maier believed it was a good chance for Lilly to begin thinking about the
Holocaust.

``This project is the first time in Austria that children are asked to
confront the topic on a wide scale. It's the Austrian mentality not to
talk about past problems,'' she said. ``But it's wrong, it's immoral and
it's also dangerous not to talk about this.''

So part of Lilly's research was meeting Arthur Kernberg, who survived only
because his family sent him to France in 1939. He was 11 years old. It was
the last time he saw his mother, father and brother.

In 1941, the Kernbergs were deported to a Polish village, Opole, where
they died of unknown causes. Arthur fled France in 1941 when the Nazis
invaded. He emigrated to the United States and changed his last name to
Kern.

Now 74, he lives in North Hills, Calif. By telephone, he described the
trauma of seeing his old home when he visited Vienna in March. He also
praised Lilly's research.

``By doing projects like this, Austria shows that it's more willing to
face its history than it used to be,'' he said. ``It is a very
heartwarming project to honor the 65,000 Jews who were killed.''

Lilly says that despite the project, she still cannot understand how the
Holocaust could have happened.

``Mr. Kern has come to terms with what happened and he was so nice that it
didn't make me sad,'' Lilly said.

After learning where Lilly sleeps, Kern gave her a music box shaped like a
piano.

``Lilly is now calling her room the piano room,'' Kern said. ``Which is
funny because they don't even have a piano.''

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On the Net:

www.LetterToTheStars.at

(source: Associated Press)