Director of the Mauthausen Memorial Federal Institution Appointed
22.12.2016
On 1 January 2017, responsibility for the organisation and upkeep of the Mauthausen memorial complex passes to the Mauthausen Memorial Federal Institution. On 22 December 2016, DDr. Barbara Glück was appointed director of the federal institution, with Mag. Jochen Wollner and Mag. Gudrun Blohberger receiving appointments as deputy directors.
On 1 January 2017, responsibility for the organisation and upkeep of the Mauthausen memorial complex will pass from the Federal Ministry of the Interior to the Mauthausen Memorial Federal Institution. On 22 December 2016, Dr. Franz Einzinger, divisional head of Section I (Presidium) at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, and Hermann Feiner, divisional head of Section IV (Service and Controlling), swore in the director of the new federal institution, DDr. Barbara Glück, along with her deputies, Mag. Jochen Wollner and Mag. Gudrun Blohberger.
‘The underlying concept for the Mauthausen Memorial is built on three pillars – one educational, one archival and one administrative’, said Feiner at the swearing-in of the new director. ‘The concept was developed in collaboration with DDr. Barbara Glück and Mag. Jochen Wollner and I am therefore particularly pleased to congratulate them and Mag. Gudrun Blohberger on their new roles as, respectively, director and deputy directors of the federal institution.’
‘When the new structure, as laid down in the Memorials Act (Gedenkstättengesetz – GStG), comes into effect, this will be the first time that the duty borne by the Austrian government to maintain the former concentration camp as a memorial has been placed on a secure footing’, said Einzinger. ‘This can be seen especially in the makeup of the Board of Trustees – it brings together representatives of different ministries as well as private organisations and interest groups.’
DDr. Barbara Glück has been head of the Department for Memorials and War Graves Commission at the Ministry of the Interior since December 2005, as well as head of the Mauthausen Memorial. From 2000 to 2002 she worked for the Viennese Education Authority and as a political strategist. She was then aide and strategic advisor to the federal ministers Liese Prokop, Dr. Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Maria Rauch-Kallat.
Mauthausen Memorial
The ‘KZ-Gedenkstätte Mauthausen/Mauthausen Memorial’ is enshrined in the Memorials Act (GStG) as a federal institution under public law. It is tasked with preserving the memory of the atrocities committed by the Nazis at the former Mauthausen concentration camp and its subcamps. The Mauthausen Memorial receives the majority of its funding from the Ministry of the Interior. The federal institution is a non-profit organisation.
The Management Team is one of the governing bodies of the Mauthausen Memorial Federal Institution alongside the Board of Trustees, the Scientific Advisory Board and the International Advisory Board. The Board of Trustees is made up of 15 members – its chairperson is Hermann Feiner, divisional head of Section IV. The Ministry of the Interior occupies four of the 15 seats on the Board of Trustees.