President of Austrian National Council Visits Givat Haviva
July 19, 2007
Givat Haviva was the final port of call for the President of the National Council of the Republic of Austria, Barbara Prammer, during a recent and very busy official visit to Israel.
Elected Speaker of the Austrian National Council in October of last year, Prammer – also a past Federal Minister in charge of women’s issues – met with Israeli counterpart Dalia Itzik, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and President elect at the time Shimon Peres amongst many others during her stay. Accompanied by a delegation of Austrian parliamentarians and other dignitaries, the Speaker of the Austrian parliament was received by Haggai Halevi, Executive Director of Givat Haviva and Gavri Bargil, the Secretary General of the Kibbutz movement.
The delegation visited the archives of Moreshet, and the Mordechai Anielewicz Holocaust Study and Research Center. The delegation also met with staff of the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace, made an introductory excursion to the "Green line" area as well as paid a call to the Wadi Ara village of Kfar Kara. At Kfar Kara, Prammer, the Austrian Ambassador in Israel Dr. Kurt Hengl and other delegation members met with and tasted the cooking of a participant in the Noa/Nuah Center for Women and Gender Studies empowerment course for Jewish and Arab women running small businesses mostly from their homes.
Standing between the packed archive shelves of Moreshet, Speaker Prammer was visibly moved when viewing and gently handling a recently renovated painting and handwritten diary, the artwork and personal account of Holocaust victims. Prammer also toured the Heroines of the Holocaust exhibition now showing in the Moreshet Gallery, an English language version of the exhibition presently on display in the Austrian parliament.
Delegation member Hannah Lessing, Secretary General of the Austrian National Fund responsible for reparation to Holocaust survivors and descendants, stood alongside the Speaker as the artifacts from the camps – renovated with funds provided by both the National Fund and other Austrian government agencies – were viewed.
Both Speaker Prammer and Ms. Lessing commented on how important it had been for them to see for themselves the diary, restored painting and other items in the Moreshet collection that had been rescued and restored with funding from Austria and pledged their continued support wherever possible for the extremely valuable work being done by the Moreshet staff at Givat Haviva.
The diverse projects and programs involving high-school pupils, student councils and teachers organized by the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace were of great interest to Speaker Prammer and members of the Austrian delegation who asked many questions of the Jewish and Arab educators of the Center.
“As the President of the National Fund for the Victims of the Holocaust I see it as my personal duty to ensure that the younger generation is educated in the spirit of tolerance and democracy, to learn from the mistakes of the past so that we can achieve a better future,” said Speaker Prammer following her visit to the Givat Haviva campus.
“The promotion of education towards peace, co-existence, democracy and human dignity is vital to ensure a peaceful co-existence between Arab and Jewish communities. The work of the Jewish-Arab Center for Peace at Givat Haviva is impressive and Austria is proud to support these programs,” commented Speaker Prammer, adding that she hoped that all of the participants remain committed to their goals, even in difficult times.
“The women empowerment programs, which I consider extremely important, have achieved very important results that will hopefully convince many more Arab and Jewish women to follow the same path,” she concluded.