Welcome to GIBS Lucia and Viola Heilmann

The visit to GIBS was a great honor and gave 5b and the participants of the Elective National Socialism an insight into a life story so remarkable that we can only vaguely imagine what it must have been like for a 10-year-old girl to be hidden in a workshop in Vienna for more than four years. Lucia Heilman was born in Vienna on June 25, 1929. With the help of Reinhold Duschka, she and her mother survived the Shoah by hiding in various places in Vienna.

Together with her daughter Viola Heilman, 95-year-old Lucia Heilman clearly remembers the bombings, the fear, the segregation and the joy of liberation. She vividly recalls her first encounter with a Russian soldier in the streets of Vienna, who did not march in goose-steps. Viola Heilman, on the other hand, gave us an idea of how long it took for World War II survivors to be able to talk about their traumatic experiences and how Austria did or did not proceed with denazification. The GIBS students asked many questions and were deeply moved by this unique experience.