Gusen is a village in Upper Austria. During the Nazi era, over 70,000 people were imprisoned here in three camps. About half of them were tortured to death. The Nazis were especially focused on wiping out the Polish intelligentsia. That is why a disproportionate number of Polish musicians and composers suffered in Gusen. Over the years, they wrote songs, mostly in secret.
Many of the originals are available in the Kulisiewicz Collection at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Peter Androsch and a diverse team have developed artistic reflections on some of these pieces. The aim of this project is not to preserve the songs or exhibit them in an online museum. Rather, they want to remember the songs. Bring them back into our hearts and minds. This means approaching them with the deepest possible understanding and with our current way of thinking, feeling, acting, and creating.
GUSEN CONVOLUTE / Gusen Convolute Working Group - Photo: Oö. Krone, Horst Einöder
Exhibit
GUSEN CONVOLUTE
Songs from the Concentration Camp
Gusen Convolute Working Group (AT)
Credits
Arbeitsgemeinschaft Gusen Convolute, Alexander Kulisiewicz Collection, Arbeiterkammer Oberösterreich, Maria Berger, Bewusstseinsregion Mauthausen-Gusen-St. Georgen, CCP Studio, Prellinger Claus, Erste Stiftung, Andrea und Christoph Freudenthaler, Gedenkdienstkomitee Gusen, GWG Linz, Haus der Erinnerung St. Georgen, Rudolf A. Haunschmied, Thomas Kerbl, Kriegergut - Garten- und Landschaftsdesign, Maria Kronsteiner, Landeshauptstadt Linz, LAWOG, Markus Lindinger, Alexander Luger, Hans Mitterbauer, Heimatverein Katsdorf / Gemeinde Katsdorf, Helmut Mittendorfer, Oö. Landesregierung, Stadtgemeinde Perg, Rosenbauer International AG, Martin Siegel, Josef Siligan, Dorota Trepczyk, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives, Andrea und Erich Wahl, Ute Wetscher, Martin Winkler etc.
Please note: The program for the Ars Electronica Festival 2025 is still in progress.
We are currently preparing all the information for the website and plan to put the full program online in the coming days – stay tuned!