Ceremonial opening of two stations in Neubau on October 30, 2009
The opening of the station to remember Hudia Fiderer was an important event for Mr. Leo Fiderer, her son, who had come from the USA at an old age, and for his cousin Regine Bloch who had travelled from France.
Mr. Fiderer talked about the difficult life he and his mother had led in the small apartment on the top floor of the house.
District Chairman Thomas Blimlinger said that coming to terms with the Jewish history through the Stones of Remembrance in the district was very important to him personally, and that the other initiatives were also supported in Neubau. One of these initiatives was a memorial plaque that being placed at the secondary school at Kandlgasse 39 for 97 students who had been expelled from the school in 1938. Current pupils in the secondary school from class 4A were in attendance at the event and read a text (below) before placing flowers on the memorial stone.
Mr. Fiderer closed the ceremony by saying the kaddish, the Jewish funeral prayer, for his mother.
A second station on Neubaugasse 23 was then opened in the presence of large number of people. Mr. Tomas Monath, who grew up in Brazil, came to Vienna with his wife, his daughter, and her husband and child.
Mr Monath recounted how his grandparents had managed to flee to Belgium but had both ended up being deported to Auschwitz: his grandmother from a Belgian camp and his grandfather from a French camp. The kaddish was spoken for them, too.
