Dear Sir or Madam, Since it came into re-existence, I have attended the performances of the Jewish Theater of Austria under the directorship of Warren Rosenzweig, first in Graz, then in Vienna with great interest and equal enthusiasm. Due to the lack of a permanent site of its own, the performances usually take place in the “Forum Stadtpark”. Vienna, now the official address of the Jewish Theater of Austria, could be, with the Nestroyhof, so much more than just the official city of its residence – it would be the ideal place, its home. The Jewish theater was forced out of the Nestroyhof by the Nazi dictatorship. Doesn’t democratic Austria today have the moral obligation to give it back to Jewish cultural life? After all, one can simply not picture Austria without its Jewish culture. Not as recompense for past injustice. This, unfortunately, cannot be done. But simply as a gesture of respect.
I am appealing to you: Let us, in humbleness and with joy, give back to the Jewish theater its original site!
Angelika Peaston-Startinig Conference interpreter and translator, Graz
