The notes of the Wiener Symphonikers on the day of the capitulation of the Reich – neighboring Austria – Blog
April 25 in Austria is called May 8 and both dates bring us back to the end of Nazism in Europe. Just as April 25 in Italy is the Liberation Day (it is a conventional date, because the various regions of Italy were liberated at different times), so May 8 reminds the Austrians of the capitulation of the Third Reich.
Not for everyone in Austria that date has the same meaning. For the young people of the FPÖ, the party of the extreme sovereign, for example, is a right of mourning, because it marks the end of madness and the beginning of the “occupation” by the winners of the Second World War. But the FPÖ does not represent the whole of Austria and the nostalgics of the Reich are a minority within it.
Austria, which now largely recognizes itself in the values of anti-fascism, democracy and freedom, will find itself celebrating May 8 in Heldenplatz, the great Heroes’ Square, in the center of Vienna, a designated place for great historical events , which are also great crowd gatherings. The invitation to participate is made by Mauthausen Komitee Österreich. It is an event that is repeated every year (except the last two, due to Covid) and which is now known as “Fest der Freude”, “Celebration of joy”.
This year’s guest of honor will be Erika Freeman, who will deliver the day’s celebratory speech. In 1940 she was 12 and she was forced to flee Vienna because she came from a Jewish family, finding asylum in the United States, where she attended Columbia University, majoring in psychology and psychotherapy. She has often returned to her old homeland and she will do so on May 8, at the ripe old age of 94, to bear her testimony as a Jew persecuted by Nazism. On the occasion, the President of the Republic, Alexander Van der Bellen, will also take the floor.
The party will begin at 7.30 pm, with the screening of a short film on the “political resistance” to Nazism. This will be followed by a performance by singer-songwriter Konstantin Wecker, alone and together with the Wiener Symphoniker orchestra, conducted by Mark Mast. Many songs on the program, including the “Mauthausen Kantate” by Mikis Teodorakis and Iakovos Kambanellis, The white rose, Shame on Europe, May this May never end.
The Symphonikers alone will then make their voices heard, this time led by Lahav Shani’s wand. They will offer the public pieces by Sergei Rachmaninov, Krzysztof Penderecki, Richard Strauss and Antonin Dvorak. The concert will end as every year with the Ode to Joy, from the 9th Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven.
IN THE PICTURE, an overview of a previous edition of the “Feast of Joy” in the Heldenplatz in Vienna. On stage, the Wiener Symphoniker orchestra.
__________________________
Neighboring Austria is also on Facebook. Like the page https://www.facebook.com/austriavicina.