On February 9, 2012, the ceremony took place of transferring a unique edition by Peter Sixl (Austria) “Soviet Citizens who Died in Austria during the Second World War, and Their Burial Places. The Book of Memory ” printed in Graz (Austria) in 2010, to the funds of the Russian National Library.
On February 9, 2012, the ceremony took place of transferring a unique edition by Peter Sixl (Austria) “Soviet Citizens who Died in Austria during the Second World War, and Their Burial Places. The Book of Memory ” printed in Graz (Austria) in 2010, to the funds of the Russian National Library.
908 pages contain information about 60 thousand Soviet citizens who died during the Second World War in Austria (prisoners of war, inmates of concentration camps, forced workers, and soldiers of the Red Army), as well as about the location of their graves that are still considered to be unknown (photos of monuments and tombs discovered in the Austrian cities and towns).
“The Book of Memory” was created by Peter Sixl and Veronika Bacher for 12 years. The materials were collected and systematized with the assistance of the Russian and Austrian archival services, within the framework of the study of Viennese Ludwig Boltzmann Institute on the effects of war, and with the support of the Russian-Austrian Commission of Historians. The complete text of “The Book of Memory” is available on the Internet.
The first copy of “The Book of Memory” was handed by Maria Fekter, Austrian Minister of the Interior, to Sergei Naryshkin, Head of the Presidential Administration. Earlier presentations of the book were held at the Russian Embassy in Vienna, Moscow Kremlin, and the St.Petersburg Association for International Cooperation.
Russian-Austrian Commission of Historians (ÖRHK) was established in 2007 by the initiative of the Foreign Ministers of Russia and Austria, Sergey Lavrov and Ursula Plassnik. Its aim was the development of Austrian-Russian (or Austrian-Soviet) relations in the XX century in the spirit of scientific openness and objectivity. The Commission is designed to facilitate access of the researchers from both countries to archival documents and library collections. The joint research is rendered by the experts of both countries over the important historical facts and the subsequent publication of the results of scientific conferences in the open access.
News Source: St.Petersburg Committee for External Relations