2024-01-15 18:12:03
Kaup-Hasler thanked the 94-year-old doctor who, despite all the monstrosities that had happened, honored Vienna with her tireless actions
Vienna (OTS) – This Monday afternoon, City Councilor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler awarded the Golden Medal of Merit of the State of Vienna to the doctor, Holocaust survivor and tireless contemporary witness Lucia Heilman in the Stone Hall of the Vienna City Hall. Heilman, who survived the Nazi era in Vienna as a so-called “U-boat” and owes her life to a “Righteous Among the Nations”, Reinhold Duschka, dedicated her own life as a doctor to helping others and has been working since the 1990s as a contemporary witness in numerous remembrance projects, for example in “The Last Witnesses” at the Burgtheater or in the documentary “Whoever saves a life saves the whole world”.
In addition to the laudator Tanja Eckstein, numerous friends and companions as well as Heilman’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the honor was attended by the former deputy mayor and honorary citizen of the city of Vienna, Sepp Rieder, the President of the Israel Cultural Community, Oskar Deutsch and Hannah M. Lessing, Secretary General of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism. The musical tribute was provided by the Atlas Quartet with pieces by Antonio Vivaldi and Antonín Dvořák.
Kaup-Hasler: Heilman never tired of raising her voice for humanitarian values and against injustice
“Despite the monstrous and still speechless things that happened to her, Lucia Heilman worked tirelessly in her later life as a bridge builder and warning against anti-Semitism and racism,” emphasized City Councilor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler. “It is not the city of Vienna that honors you, but you have honored this city with your work, whether as a doctor or as a contemporary witness. Especially now, when we have to complain about the flare-up of anti-Semitism and xenophobia all over the world, it is clear how important it is for a society to speak and that each of us must never tire of raising our voices loudly against injustice and for humanitarian values.”
Laudator Eckstein: Heilman made it clear in clear words where exclusion leads
“Lucia Heilman has made it her life’s mission to declare war on ignorance. With clear words she made it clear where exclusion leads and how important democracy is,” said laudator Tanja Eckstein, biographer of the contemporary witness project Centropa. Eckstein also pointed out the strength and steadfastness with which Lucia Heilman answered the questions of young people endless times and with which she talked about her life endless times. This tireless commitment was also stressful, because the fears that the sudden ringing of the bell on the door triggered alone remained with her. Heilman himself, Eckstein recalls, once declared: “What else am I supposed to do? Because if I have touched a single one, if a single one has understood something, I have already won.”
The 94-year-old Heilman herself emphasized again in her words of thanks that she accepted this honor on behalf of all contemporary witnesses. She also emphasized that thanks also go to the many teachers at the schools; Because it is only through their commitment that work in schools becomes possible.
Short biography of Lucia Heilman
Lucia Heilman was born as Lucia Johanna Treister in Vienna in 1929 and grew up in Vienna Alsergrund. In 1938 Lucia was expelled from school because of her Jewish origins. In 1941, after her grandfather had already been deported to Buchenwald in 1939, a close friend of her father hid Lucia and her mother in his workshop on Mollardgasse, and later in a coal cellar on Gumpendorfer Strasse. Her story and that of her rescuer Reinhold Duschka are written down in “On the Rope – A Hero’s Story” (Erich Hackl).
After the war, Lucia Heilman graduated from high school in Vienna, studied medicine and worked as a general practitioner AKHim Kaiser Franz Josef Hospital as well as in the hospital Brothers of Mercy employed. Lucia Heilman spoke for the first time about her survival as a “submarine” in Vienna in connection with the film project by the Israeli photographer Alisa Douer “Whoever saves a life, saves the whole world” (1993). Since then she has been active as a contemporary witness. In the 2013/2014 season, Lucia Heilman worked in the production “The Last Witnesses” at the Wiener Burgtheater with, in 2017 she was a speaker at the Festival of Joy.
https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Lucia_Heilman
Press photos: presse.wien.gv.at/presse/bilder
Questions & Contact:
Anne Katrin Feßler
Media spokesperson StRin Mag.a Veronica Kaup-Hasler
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