Obj. ID: 55779
Jewish Funerary Art Holocaust Memorial Plaque at the Gates of the Jewish Cemetery in Steyr, Austria, 1989
To the main object: Jewish Cemetery in Steyr, Austria
Memorial Name
No official name
Who/What is Commemorated?
Jewish victims of the Holocaust from Steyr.
Description:
A granite plaque with the Star of David and a German inscription is affixed to the gatehouse of the Jewish cemetery, on the right side of the gate.
Inscription:
Hier befindet sich der
Friedhof unserer jüd
ischen Mitbürgerinnen
und Mitbürger, er erin
nert an ihre jahrhun
dertelange Ansiedlung
in Steyr bis zur Vertrei
bung und Ermordung
in Konzentrationsla
gern durch das men
schenverachtende NS
Regime. Ein Massengrab
von ungarischen Ju
den die unsagbare lei
densgeschichte der
jüdischen Bevolker
ung nie zu vergessen
9. November 1989
Translation: Here is the cemetery of our Jewish fellow citizens, it commemorates their centuries-long settlement in Steyr until their expulsion and murder in concentration camps by the inhumane Nazi regime. A mass grave of Hungarian Jews, never to forget the unspeakable suffering of the Jewish population. November 9, 1989.
Commissioned by
Mauthausen Komitee Steyr, The City of Steyr
2 image(s)
sub-set tree: 
According to the website of the Mauthausen Komitee Steyr (https://mkoe-steyr.at/juedisches-steyr/):
"
On November 9, 1989, the mayor of Steyr, Heinrich Schwarz, unveiled a memorial plaque on the outer wall of the Jewish cemetery in Steyr. It was the first public memorial to the Jewish population of Steyr. It reads:
"Here is the cemetery of our Jewish fellow citizens. It commemorates their centuries-long settlement in Steyr until their expulsion and murder in concentration camps by the inhumane Nazi regime. A mass grave of Hungarian Jews who were murdered on the way to Mauthausen in 1945 reminds us never to forget the unspeakable suffering of the Jewish population."
In the greeting message of the President of the Israelite Community of Linz, DI George Wozasek, it was stated:
"This memorial plaque is important for two main reasons. Firstly, the monstrous atrocities of the National Socialist dictatorship should not be forgotten. [...] The plaque should serve as a memorial for the coming generation. [...] Perhaps even more important is the fact that this action was carried out by non-Jewish young citizens who showed a great deal of idealism and sacrificed their free time to achieve the aforementioned goals."[3]
The text was created by the Mauthausen Committee Steyr in consultation with the Israelite Community Linz. The memorial plaque was financed by the city of Steyr, although Steyr officials initially had great difficulty with this and were rather reserved and even opposed to the whole thing. A few days after the unveiling, young neo-Nazis daubed the plaque with a swastika and wrote "Heil Hitler" on the cemetery wall. There were many statements about this in the local newspapers."
Ramsmaier, Karl, Der jüdische Friedhof Steyr (Steyr, Mauthausen Komitee Steyr, 2018), p. 11.
Ramsmaier, Karl, "Die Geschichte der
Juden in Steyr," Mauthausen Komitee Steyr (July 2009), https://mkoe-steyr.at/juedisches-steyr/.