Category: media reactions

Friday
May 20th 2011
14:05
"On Dealing with Trauma Victims". Guest: Klaus Ottomeyer. Moderator: Rainer Rosenberg. Calls free of charge from all over Austria on 0800 22 69 79
Rainer Rosenberg's guest is Klaus Ottomeyer, Professor of Social Psychology in Klagenfurt and Head of the independent research and counseling center for trauma victims "Aspis".

He accepted the Bruno Kreisky Prize for services to human rights for Aspis in the Vienna Musikverein in the evening – together with four other prizewinners.

When dealing with traumatized people, says the social psychologist, we use two different standards: Victims of abuse and family violence, but also of major events such as natural disasters, receive professional and comprehensive therapeutic support in Europe, if they want it.

The often severely traumatized refugees and politically persecuted people, on the other hand, are grossly neglected and often even traumatized again.

In a new book, Klaus Ottomeyer formulates therapeutic and interpersonal standards for dealing with traumatized people, regardless of the place and type of traumatization.

http://oe1.orf.at/programm/275015

Photo © APA

Three associations dedicated to caring for survivors of torture and war, as well as the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, are being honored this year with the Bruno Kreisky Prize for services to human rights. The other award winners are the psychosocial center ESRA, the association ASPIS and the association HEMAYAT.

The prizes will be handed over on Friday at the Musikverein in Vienna. The world-renowned pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim receives the Bruno Kreisky Prize for his commitment to reconciliation in the Middle East conflict. Barenboim therefore founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, consisting of young Israeli and Arab musicians, together with the literary scholar Edward Said, who was born in Palestine.
The ESRA psychosocial center is being honored for its social responsibility towards the survivors of National Socialist persecution. For the past 17 years, the center has been able to advise, accompany and treat traumatized people free of charge.
ASPIS, an independent institution at the University of Klagenfurt, has also taken up the cause of psychotherapeutic and psychosocial help for traumatized people, especially for victims of torture and survivors of Nazi terror.
The HEMAYAT association, founded in Vienna in 1995, has established itself as a center for medical, psychological and psychotherapeutic care for survivors of torture and war. "Hemayat" comes from the Arabic language area and means "care" and "protection".

The Bruno Kreisky Prize for services to human rights is awarded at irregular intervals by a foundation that was established on the occasion of the 65th birthday of the then Austrian Chancellor in 1976 and endowed with 700,000 euros.

Source: APA
http://www.kleinezeitung.at/nachrichten/politik/2746418/kreisky-preis-fuer-barenboim-opfer-vereine.story

News from Thursday, May 19th, 2011

The pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim is honored with the Bruno Kreisky Prize for services to human rights. Barenboim receives the award for his commitment to reconciliation in the Middle East conflict.

Together with the literary scholar Edward Said, who was born in Palestine, Barenboim founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, consisting of young Israeli and Arab musicians. Barenboim himself was born in Buenos Aires in 1942 to a Jewish family who had fled the pogroms in Tsarist Russia. Furthermore, three associations are honored that are dedicated to the care of torture and war survivors.

The Bruno Kreisky Prize for services to human rights is awarded at irregular intervals by a foundation that was established on the occasion of the 65th birthday of the then Austrian Chancellor in 1976 and endowed with 700,000 euros. Previous winners include Nelson Mandela (South Africa), Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil), the Nigerian environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and the Israeli publicist and peace activist Uri Avnery.

http://www.3sat.de/page/?source=/kulturzeit/news/154374/index.html

May 19, 2011 | 08:20 | vienna | |
http://www.salzburg.com/
SALZBURG NEWS

Three associations dedicated to caring for survivors of torture and war, as well as the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, are being honored this year with the Bruno Kreisky Prize for services to human rights.
The other award winners are the psychosocial center ESRA, the association ASPIS and the association HEMAYAT.

The prizes will be handed over on Friday at the Musikverein in Vienna. The world-renowned pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim receives the Bruno Kreisky Prize for his commitment to reconciliation in the Middle East conflict. Barenboim therefore founded the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, consisting of young Israeli and Arab musicians, together with the literary scholar Edward Said, who was born in Palestine.
The ESRA psychosocial center is being honored for its social responsibility towards the survivors of National Socialist persecution. For the past 17 years, the center has been able to advise, accompany and treat traumatized people free of charge.
ASPIS, an independent institution at the University of Klagenfurt, has also taken up the cause of psychotherapeutic and psychosocial help for traumatized people, especially for victims of torture and survivors of Nazi terror.
The HEMAYAT association, founded in Vienna in 1995, has established itself as a center for medical, psychological and psychotherapeutic care for survivors of torture and war. "Hemayat" comes from the Arabic language area and means "care" and "protection".
The Bruno Kreisky Prize for services to human rights is awarded at irregular intervals by a foundation that was established on the occasion of the 65th birthday of the then Austrian Chancellor in 1976 and endowed with 700,000 euros.

© SN/SW

http://www.salzburg.com/nwas/?article=DMappe%2Fzdd8b*4wkjgpb8pdii*9c&img=&text=DText%2F-cx9n53%24-bn0r62hf23ksga&mode=&section=&channel=homepage&sort=%3Cp%3E

Thursday
May 19, 2011
21:00
"For you do not kill the spirit, you brothers and sisters".
dr Barbara Preitler - "Hemayat", one of the winners of the Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Prize 2011 in conversation with Michael Kerbler
The support center for torture and war survivors, Hemayat, received the Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Prize this year together with the Carinthian refugee aid organization ASPIS, the psychosocial center ESRA and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra founded by Daniel Barenboim. By the way: The word "Hemayat" comes from the Arabic language area and means "care" and "protection".

Barbara Preitler

in conversation with Michael Kerbler

Refugees in a police detention center in Vienna

The idea of founding a “Bruno Kreisky Prize for Services to Human Rights” came up before the former Federal Chancellor's 65th birthday. At that time, Bruno Kreisky refrained from gifts. A reason for the then Mayor of Vienna, Leopold Gratz, and the President of the Austrian Trade Union Federation, Anton Benya, to suggest a foundation and a human rights prize that should bear Kreisky's name.

At that time – in the mid-1970s – human rights violations in the dictatorships of Central and South America, the suppression of civil rights and freedoms in the communist states and in the apartheid system in southern Africa were the focus of attention. It is therefore not surprising that the first prizewinners included prominent personalities as well as organizations that worked for political prisoners and against politically motivated persecution. Cardinal Raúl Silva Henríquez of Chile, Issam Sartawi of Palestine, Arie Lova Eliav of Israel and Archbishop Miguel Obando y Bravo of Nicaragua were among the first recipients, along with Amnesty International and others.

The fact that Bruno Kreisky stood up for the politically persecuted is also rooted in his biography. He was imprisoned for 15 months by the Dollfuss regime in 1935 and for a further five months by the National Socialists in 1938 and finally driven into exile in Sweden, from where he only returned in 1951.

This year's winners include individuals and organizations who have made a valuable contribution to the care of refugees. In his last laudatory speech, which Bruno Kreisky was only able to send to the award winners in writing in 1986, he addressed the oppressors: "Anyone who has lived a relatively long life and has been able to measure many ups and downs knows that the gagged spirit rises. Let me close with the word of promise that has inspired many of us all our lives: For you do not kill the Spirit, you brothers and sisters.”
 
http://oe1.orf.at/programm/274927

The Carinthian association Aspis is one of the winners of the Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Prize, which is endowed with a total of 700,000 euros.
Aspis specializes in helping victims of torture and traumatized people.

Several clubs awarded

The prize for services to human rights was awarded to the "West Eastern Divan Orchestra" on Friday evening at the Musikverein in Vienna. The orchestra consists of young Israeli and Arab musicians and stands for the coexistence of the different parts of the population in the Middle East.
In addition to Aspis, the Esra psychosocial center and the Hemayat association also received awards for caring for survivors of torture and war.

The Bruno Kreisky Prize

The Bruno Kreisky Prize for services to human rights is awarded at irregular intervals by a foundation that was established on the occasion of the 65th birthday of the then Austrian Chancellor in 1976 and endowed with 700,000 euros.

The longtime leader of the SPÖ and head of government has himself suffered from human rights violations. He had been imprisoned by the Austrofascist regime for 15 months in 1935 and for five months by the Nazis in 1938.
He was also driven into exile in Sweden, from which he only returned in 1951.

Aspis takes care of refugees from Chechnya

Aspis, an independent institution at the University of Klagenfurt, provides psychotherapeutic and psychosocial help for traumatized people. In particular, today's victims of torture and survivors of Nazi terror. In Carinthia, Aspis primarily looks after refugees from Chechnya.

In Carinthia, you don't get a cent subsidy and you're often insulted, Maria Lind von Aspis regretted in her acceptance speech: "And today we're being honored for exactly this work - that makes us proud."

kaernten.ORF.at; 16.6.10
In Carinthia there are more and more asylum seekers from Chechnya, incidents are increasing. The ASPIS association takes care of many traumatized people. Aggression often comes from old traditions and the strict code of honor.

Association takes care of Chechens

http://kaernten.orf.at/stories/516905/, 20.06.2011