A joint event by Wiener Festwochen, ERSTE Foundation and the Institute for Human Sciences. In Cooperation with the Jewish Museum Vienna.
One important goal of the Wiener Festwochen is to use the program to open up perspectives on our society and to address central issues of our time. We are pleased that we were able to secure the Ukrainian human rights lawyer Oleksandra Matviichuk for the first event in our program, whose organization Center for Civil Liberties was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
This year’s speech is given under the title No Peace without Freedom, no Justice without Law.
Those who survived the Second World War mourned the dead, rebuilt what had been destroyed, and established institutions to ensure international security. The recurring refrain of ”Never again!” evoked the dramatic lessons of history. Yet today a war of aggression, destruction, and bloodshed is again raging in Europe, confronting us with the same question we asked ourselves eight decades ago: Are we willing to accept that military power dictates the rules of the game, or will we fight to protect people and their freedom through law?
Our answer to this question determines our future.
- Date: Tue, 9 May, 7p.m.
- Location: Judenplatz
- Language: English
- Please note: No seating
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Oleksandra Matviitchuk’s Speech to Europe takes up the lecture series on Judenplatz initiated by the ERSTE Foundation on the occasion of Europe Day.
Cover picture: Timothy Snyder, Judenplatz 1010, Eine Rede an Europa 2019 – A Speech to Europe 2019, Wiener Festwochen, 9 May 2019. Photo © Wiener Festwochen / Franz Kreis
