Meet a Gedenkdienst Volunteer

This year the Gedenkdienst celebrated its 30th anniversary. Since 1992, Gedenkdienst volunteers have been sent to countries where the Nazis and their collaborators committed crimes, where the persecuted fled to, or where the survivors of persecution and annihilation still live today. The Gedenkdienst is a politically independent, secular organization that deals with the causes and consequences of the NS-regime and its crimes. Through a varied historical-political and educational program with study trips, workshops and lectures, the association Gedenksdienst also contributes to the discourse on the National Socialist-past in Austria.

One of the places offered for Gedenkdienst volunteers is the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) in Washington DC. In fact, Luise Pesendorfer is currently serving her Gedenkdienst at the USHMM in the Division of the Senior Historian. Her tasks include translating various documents from German to English, compiling summaries for German archives or researching documents and working on posts for the museum’s social media channels. Over the course of her time at USHMM, Pensendorfer reports having learned even more about the complex history of the Holocaust and appreciates the opportunity to see it from a different point of view. Her work contributes to ensuring that we will never forget what happened.