The head of state congratulated his young guests on behalf of all 85,000 children and young people nationwide involved on this year’s 70th birthday of the star singer campaign and acknowledged their “important message of peace.”
Upper Austria was represented by a group from Ottensheim, Urfahr-Raum district: Johanna Mitter (11), Johanna Fürlinger (11), Miriam Geiger (11) and Anna Binder (10) visited together with Franziska Lehner, who is responsible for the star singer campaign in Ottensheim , the Federal President and his wife.
Anna took her chance
The encounter was a unique experience for everyone, as they report. After each group’s performance there was some time for personal discussions. Anna Binder as Melchior took advantage of this opportunity and asked the Federal President a question that was burning under her fingernails. “I asked him whether a Federal President ever takes a real vacation when he has nothing to do. He said he’d try. Now he’s done it for Christmas and he wants to take another vacation in the summer.”
Picture gallery: Star singers in the Vienna Hofburg
Star singers from Ottensheim are happy about the visit (Photo: © Ludwig Schedl) Bild 1/15
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The Ottensheim star singers were particularly impressed by the nice reception and the splendor in the Hall of Mirrors: “Inside the Federal President’s house, everything was gilded, shone and was in abundance. When we sing stars, we collect for people who have no excess at all, who have nothing, who lack everything. That’s why it’s so important that we go star singing,” says Anna Binder.
“It was a very exciting day and I am so proud of the girls, they did so well and sang really beautifully. Meeting the star singers from other federal states in the Hofburg was impressive. The robes and stars are so beautifully different and I think the robes from Ottensheim were the most colorful,” says Franziska Lehner, who is responsible for the star singer campaign in Ottensheim.
The star with the signatures of Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and his wife Doris Schmidauer will certainly have a special place in Ottensheim.
Video: Star singers in the Hofburg
connection with human rights
When visiting the groups, van der Bellen linked the star singer anniversary with the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, celebrated in November. Both are “signs of hope”. The star singers would also work for the worldwide implementation of human rights.
The Federal President particularly emphasized that the children and young people involved in the campaign reached out to all people – “regardless of their faith, origin, social status or whether they have lived in Austria for a long time or only a short time.” He is grateful to them for this – as well as to the donors for their “important support for a better world”.
The money from the house collection carried out during the star singing goes to aid projects in other continents. This means that help is being provided elsewhere, such as in the Philippines, Guatemala or Tanzania, together with local initiatives, says Van der Bellen. A total of 520 million euros in aid funds have been raised since the first star singer campaign in 1954, reported the federal chairwoman of the Catholic Young Group, Teresa Millesi, who is responsible for the Epiphany campaign, during the already traditional visit to the presidential office.
