Tragic loss: contemporary historian Heidemarie Uhl died

2023-08-14 14:51:30

Heinz Faßmann: OeAW loses exceptional researcher and highly valued colleague

Vienna (OTS) – The Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) mourns the loss of an outstanding researcher and highly esteemed colleague. Heidemarie Uhl, renowned historian and researcher who has been closely associated with the OeAW for many years, died on August 11, 2023 at the age of 66 after a short illness. Her death leaves a painful void in the scientific community at the Academy and far beyond.

OeAW President Heinz Faßmann is dismayed by the loss: “With the death of Heidemarie Uhl, we not only lose an extraordinary researcher, but also a warm-hearted colleague. Everyone who knew Heidemarie Uhl appreciated her outstanding scientific competence as well as her positive charisma and her commitment to dialogue. I wish her family a lot of strength during this difficult time.”

Heidemarie Uhl’s research has focused on the topics of memory culture and memory politics. The focus of her work was in particular on the Second World War. She made a significant contribution to critically reflecting on Austria’s role in National Socialism and keeping the memory of the crimes of the Holocaust alive in the public debate. In doing so, she has repeatedly devoted herself to aspects of the history of the Shoah that have so far received little attention in science and the public, most recently in the open-air exhibition “The Viennese Model of Radicalization. Austria and the Shoah” at Vienna’s Heldenplatz, where Vienna was discussed as an experimental field for anti-Semitism from 1938 onwards.

Heidemarie Uhl researched at the Institute for Cultural Studies and Theater History of the Academy of Sciences and taught at the Universities of Vienna and Graz. Visiting professorships have taken her to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and to Stanford University in the USA. She was a member of numerous bodies in Austria and abroad, such as the Austrian Delegation to the IHRA International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance or the Advisory Board for the Erection of Memorials and Memorials of the City of Vienna. The founding of the House of Austrian History was due not least to her commitment.

Heidemarie Uhl was an impressive scientist and an impressive person. The academy will miss her.