Jean Améry Commemorative Plaque
Eglmoosgasse 9
Eglmoosgasse 9
Jean Améry was born on 31 October 1912 as Hans Mayer, son of a Viennese businessman. His father died as a Tyrolean Sharpshooter (Kaiserjäger) in WWI and therefore his mother moved with her son to the Salzkammergut after the war. His mother and her sister rented the inn Gasthof zur Stadt Prag. Today, the house is still run as a B&B. Améry set a literary monument to the house with the work Gasthof zur Stadt Graz.
At the turn of the year 1938/1939, Améry fled from Vienna to Belgium, where he was arrested by the Geheime Staatspolizei (the Gestapo) in 1943. He survived two concentration camps, and described the hell of Auschwitz in his most famous work, At the Mind’s Limits (Jenseits von Schuld und Sühne, 1966). Since the sixties, he has been known as an essayist and cultural critic. Other works by Améry include: On Aging: Revolt and Resignation (Über das Altern. Revolte und Resignation, 1968), The Respectable Antisemitism (Der ehrbare Antisemitismus, 1969) and Lefeu or Demolition (Lefeu oder der Abbruch, 1974).
Reference to Ischl
After starting school in Vienna, Améry came to the elementary school in Ischl in May 1921 - where he was taught together with 86 (!) other pupils in one class. He described his childhood experiences pointedly and aptly in his work Ischl, A symbol (Ischl, ein Symbol): “The monarchy collapsed in 1918. The Jews remained in Ischl. ... In the evening, one occasionally went to the spa theater. The summer stage was led by a great Strindberg actor named Joseph Jarno and his wife Hansi Niese, a famour operetta artist. ... Still in the late twenties, this art institute, which would have been worthy of a Schnitzler novel, became a cinema. ... Buster Keaton triumphed over Strindberg. The older spa guests were honestly offended. It's not what it used to be, they say profoundly.”
The Jean Améry commemorative plaque was ceremoniously unveiled on 29 May 2015.
The plaque was removed and stored in 2024 as the house is to be rebuilt.
