Austrian Service Abroad (formerly Austrian Association for Service Abroad) is a non-profit initiative, founded in 1998 by Andreas Maislinger. The organization provides positions for an alternative Austrian national service all over the world. The regular nine month alternative national service (Zivildienst) is substituted by a 12-month service at one of its partner organisations abroad. There are great variations in the requirements. Austrian Service Abroad is an institution which provides young male Austrians with an alternative to the compulsory military service. Its main focuses are social work and Holocaust Memorial Service.

Types of service

Austrian Service Abroad offers three different types of Zivildienst-substitutes:

• Austrian Holocaust Memorial Service (Österreichischer Gedenkdienst)
• Austrian Social Service (Österreichischer Sozialdienst)
• Austrian Peace Service (Österreichischer Friedensdienst)

Partners

The US is currently the country with the largest number of places offered for Holocaust Memorial Service. Well known Holocaust Museums and Memorial Institutions like the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation in Los Angeles receive Holocaust Memorial Servants every year. As for Social Service, the focus lies on the developing world. Nevertheless, Austrian Service Abroad also sends Social Servants to the Gay Men's Health Crisis center in New York, where the young Austrians help HIV infected people to cope with their disease. At present, Austrian Service Abroad sends young Austrians to the following partner institutions:

Argentina

*Buenos Aires - Center for homeless children and adolescents

Australia

*Melbourne - Jewish Museum of Australia

*Melbourne - Jewish Holocaust Museum and Research Centre

Belarus

*Minsk - Belarusian Children's Hospice

*Minsk - Dietski Dom No. 6 (Children's Home No. 6)

*Minsk - Kindergarten for Children with Special Needs

Bosnia and Herzegovina

*Sarajevo - Phoenix Initiative

Brazil

*Alagoinhas - Associacao Lar Sao Benedito

*Lauro de Freitas - Community Centre Christ Liberator

*Rio de Janeiro - Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)

Bulgaria

*Sofia - Schalom - Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria

Canada

*Montreal - Holocaust Memorial Centre

*Montreal - Kleinmann Family Foundation

Chile

* Santiago - CTD Galvarino - Sename (planned)

China

*Harbin - Harbin Jewish Research Center (planned)

*Nanjing

*Qiqihar - China SOS Children's Village Association

*Shanghai - Center of Jewish Studies

Costa Rica

*La Gamba - Tropical Field Station La Gamba

Czech Republic

*Prague - Federation of Jewish Communities

France

*Oradour - Centre de la Mémoire d'Oradour

*Paris - La Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Déportation

Gabon

*Lambaréné - Medical Research Unit, Albert Schweitzer Hospital

Germany

*Berlin - Jewish Museum Berlin

*Cölbe - Terra Tech

*Moringen - Concentration Camp Memorial at Torhaus Moringen

Guatemala

*Santa Rosita - ASOL Casa Hogar

Hungary

*Budapest - European Roma Rights Centre

India

*Auroville - Auroville Action Group (AVAG)

*Dharamsala - Nishtha Rural Health, Education and Environment Centre

*Dharamsala - Tibetan Children´s Village:*Dharmshala - Tibetan Welfare Office

*Kochi - Mata Amritanandamayi Mission

Israel

*Jerusalem - St. Vincent-Ein Kerem

*Jerusalem - The Alternative Information Centre

*Jerusalem - Yad Vashem

Italy

*Como - Istituto di Storia Contemporanea "Pier Amato Perretta"(ISC)

*Milan - Centro di Documentazione Ebraica Contemporanea

*Prato - Museo della Deportazione

Japan

*Hiroshima - Peace Culture Foundation

Nicaragua

*Granada - Casa de los Tres Mundos

The Netherlands

*Amsterdam - UNITED for Intercultural Action

Pakistan

*Lahore - SOS SOS Children's Village Association

*Lahore - proLoka Pakistan

Peru

*Lima - The information and education centre for the prevention of drug abuse (CEDRO)

Poland

*Kraków - Center for Jewish Culture

*Kraków - PAH Polska Akcja Humanitarna

*Oświęcim - Auschwitz Jewish Center

Uganda

*Fort Portal - Mountains of the Moon University

United Kingdom

*London - Royal London Society for the Blind

*London - The National Yad Vashem Charitable Trust

*London - Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library

USA

*Detroit - Holocaust Memorial Center

*Houston - Holocaust Museum Houston

*Los Angeles - Simon Wiesenthal Center

*Los Angeles - Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust

*Los Angeles - USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education

*New York - Gay Men's Health Crisis

*New York - Museum of Jewish Heritage

*Reno - Center for Holocaust, Genocide & Peace Studies

*Richmond - Virginia Holocaust Museum

*San Francisco - Holocaust Center of Northern California

*St. Petersburg - The Florida Holocaust Museum

Austrian Servant Abroad of the Year

2005 Dr. Andreas Daniel Matt, SOS Children's Villages Lahore, Pakistan

2006 Martin Wallner, Center of Jewish Studies Shanghai, China

2007 Daniel James Schuster, Yad Vashem Jerusalem, Isreal

2008 René J. Laglstorfer, Centre de la mémoire d'Oradour, France

Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award

In 2006 Austrian Service Abroad initiated the Austrian Holocaust Memorial Award (AHMA). Winners:

2006: Prof. Pan Guang, Shanghai, PR China.

2007: Alberto Dines, Sao Paulo, Brazil

2008: Robert Hébras, Oradour-sur-Glane, France

External links

• Austrian Service Abroad
• http://www.gedenkdienst.org
• http://www.sozialdienst.at (German)
• http://www.friedensdienst.at (German)