VIENNA: After years of discussion, plans for a memorial honouring Vienna’s guest workers are finally taking shape. The monument is expected to be built near Vienna’s Central Station, close to the former Südbahnhof, where thousands of migrant workers arrived in search of jobs and a better future during the 1960s and 1970s.
Many of these workers came from what was then Yugoslavia and from Turkey. Their labour helped shape Vienna’s economy and society, yet their stories have often remained on the margins of Austria’s history. The planned memorial aims to give their contribution the recognition it deserves, according to News ORF.
The project, first discussed around three years ago, has since developed into a broader initiative combining remembrance, research and education. Savo Ristic of VHW Community Work, one of its initiators, believes that taking time to develop the project is important. In his view, the process of building a meaningful memorial matters as much as the monument itself.
As part of the initiative, a dedicated educational space will be established in Vienna’s 10th district, Favoriten. Run by Volkshilfe Wien, it will present the history of migration in Austria and explore the lives of people who came to the country to work and settle. The research will also include earlier migrant communities, such as Czech workers who laboured in the brickworks at Wienerberg during the previous century.
Several major Austrian companies, including Strabag, Wienerberger and Swietelsky, have expressed interest in supporting the historical research.
The monument is expected to cost a maximum of €250,000 and will be financed mainly through donations. The City of Vienna will contribute up to €30,000 towards the academic research. Culture Councillor Veronica Kaup-Hasler says the budget will help ensure a practical design without expensive technology or long term maintenance costs. The public art organisation KÖR will oversee its implementation.
For the organisers, however, the project means more than preserving memories. It is about helping the descendants of migrant workers feel recognised as an essential part of Austrian society. As Senol Grasl-Akkilic puts it, the goal is to move beyond divisions between “us” and “them” and create a shared history.__Photo courtesy News ORF
