17th Dialogforum Mauthausen

A new memorial site is currently being developed on the grounds of the former Gusen concentration camp. This project not only involves the local community, but also brings together international and national stakeholders, institutions and experts.

The 17th Dialogforum invites you to explore this process of transformation in person as we look back at past developments spanning several decades, discuss the latest research findings and share initial conceptual ideas for future educational programming. Through lectures, workshops and guided tours, we hope to start a conversation about remembrance and research, and about shaping a place that will continue to be important for future generations.

As part of preparations for the future curatorial design and educational programming of the new memorial site, several research projects have been carried out in collaboration with partners from Austria and abroad. One key project is an investigation into the history of the experiences of different groups of prisoners at the Gusen concentration camp, entitled ‘Multiple Perspectives on the Gusen Concentration Camp’. This will fill gaps in existing research and create a collection of materials. Other projects are conducting fundamental research into specific aspects of post-war history, such as the legal prosecution of perpetrators or the long struggle to preserve remembrance at the site of the former Gusen concentration camp. All these projects will be presented and discussed during the 17th Dialogue Forum.

When: Friday 18 September – Saturday 19 September 2026
Where: Mauthausen Memorial, Visitor Centre, Erinnerungsstraße 1, 4310 Mauthausen

Register now: Anmeldung / Registration 17. Dialogforum Mauthausen – Formular ausfüllen

Programme

Friday, 18 September 2026

10.00 am Welcome; Presentation of the Gusen Redevelopment Project and the Research Projects by the Mauthausen Memorial Team (in German)

• Christian Dürr, Robert Vorberg: The Redevelopment of the Gusen Concentration Camp Memorial as a Participatory Process
• Andreas Salmhofer, Elisa Frei: Quantitative and Qualitative Research Projects on the Prisoner Population at Gusen Concentration Camp
• Gregor Holzinger, Katharina Kniefacz: Projects on the (Post-)War History of Gusen Concentration Camp
• Vida Bakondy: Visual Sources on the History of Gusen Concentration Camp
   

11.30 am Discussion: Challenges in the Redesign of Sites with a Troubled Past (in German)
Participants: Barbara Glück (Mauthausen Memorial), Jörg Skriebeleit (Flossenbürg Memorial), Paul-Moritz Rabe (Neuaubing Memorial Site), Marcus Meyer (Bunker Valentin Memorial Site)
Moderator: Gudrun Blohberger (Mauthausen Memorial)

12:30 pm Lunch Break

1.30 pm Workshops (taking place simultaneously) 

• Andrea Wahl: The Bewusstseinsregion (“Region of Consciousness”) and its Activities (in German)
• trafo.K: Participatory educational and curatorial formats (in German)
• Stephanie Kaiser: Remembering Gusen: Biographies of Victims in the “Room of Names” (in English)
   

3 pm Coffee Break

3.30 pm Guided tours (English options available)

• Gusen Memorial: three interdisciplinary guided tours with representatives from the architecture, curatorial and education Teams
• Mauthausen Memorial: general introductory tours of the site
   

5.30 pm End; Transfer to Linz 

8 pm Filmscreening at the Movimento Cinema Linz: Botschafter des Erinnerns/Ambassador of Remembrance (A 2024, director: Magdalena Żelasko) – Documentary on Gusen Survivor Stanisław Zalewski (*1925) with English Subtitles

Saturday, 19 September 2026

9.00 am Panel 1a – Possibilities and limitations of the history of the experiences of prisoner groups at Gusen concentration camp (Language of Presentation: German)

• Gerhard Baumgartner: The History of the Experiences of Roma and Sinti in Gusen
• Johann Kirchknopf: Victims of the Gusen Concentration Camp Persecuted for Being Homosexual
• Heidi and Bernd Gsell: Strength through Faith – Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Gusen Concentration Camp
   

9.00 am Panel 1b – The History of Experience from a National Perspective in the Context of Constantly Shifting Borders (Language of Presentation: English)

• Lucien Grillet: Experiences of French Prisoners at Gusen Concentration Camp
• Concha Díaz Berzosa: Experiences of Spanish Prisoners at Gusen Concentration Camp
• Monika Kokalj Kočevar: Experiences of Slovenian Prisoners at Gusen
• Greta Fedele: Experiences of Italian Prisoners at Gusen Concentration Camp 
   

10.30 am Coffee Break

11.00 am Panel 2a – Perspectives on Imprisonment and Guard Duty at Gusen Concentration Camp (Languages of Presentation: German)

• Lukas Nievoll: Politically Persecuted Austrians at Gusen Concentration Camp
• Christina Kandler: Individual Life Stories of Prisoners of Austrian Origin Persecuted as ‘Anti-Social’ and ‘Criminal’
• Bertrand Perz: ‘One day, I’ll tell you everything that goes on here!’ The Gusen Concentration Camp in a Guard’s Letters to his Wife
   

11:00 am Panel 2b – (Intersectional) Persecution and the Experiences of Prisoners of Ukrainian, Polish and Hungarian Descent in Gusen Concentration Camp (Language of Presentation: English)

• Tetjana Pastuschenko: Prisoners from Ukraine in Gusen I, II and III
• Jan Tarasiewicz: Polish Prisoners at Gusen: A Collective Biography
• Helena Huhak: Jewish-Hungarian Prisoners at Gusen

12:30 pm Lunch Break

1:30 pm Panel 3 – The Future of International Memorial Sites and the Struggle for Remembrance (Language of Presentation: English)

• Fernando Mendiola: “Monumento a los Caídos”: Reclaiming a Francoist Monument as an Antifascist Memorial Space
• Bele Marx & Gilles Mussard and Ancilla Umubyeyi: “When the Pillars Bear Grief”: A Memorial Project between Austria, France and Ruanda
• Cecilia Sosa: Memorial Projects in Argentina
   

3 pm End of Conference

Register now: Anmeldung / Registration 17. Dialogforum Mauthausen – Formular ausfüllen