Martha Gammer received Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria

July 9th, 2025

On July 9, 2025, our long-time chairwoman and co-founder of the Gusen Memorial Committee (GMC), Vice-President Martha Gammer, was awarded the Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria by the Austrian Minister of the Interior, Gerhard Karner, at Palais Modena in Vienna.

GMC Vice-President Martha Gammer received this Austrian decoration in recognition of her decades of service to the remembrance work of the former Gusen concentration camp complex and her service to the GMC as president for many years.

With other GMC founding members she is successfully dedicated to the memory of the former Gusen concentration camp complex since 1985 and organized and moderated countless international commemorations at the Gusen Memorial in Langenstein since 1995.

Contacts to survivors opened her heart to care for the cruel and totally forgotten Gusen death camps in Austria. Her diverse language skills were a key function in bringing the international “Gusen family” with members from all parts of the world together.

She also personally cared for many years for countless survivors of the former Gusen death camps and enabled them with the GMC to participate in the international commemorations in Gusen over decades.

The ceremonial laudation was delivered by the current GMC chairman, Mr. Reinhard Kaspar, in the presence of Federal Minister Gerhard Karner, family members, the Director of the Mauthausen Memorial, Mrs. Barbara Glück, and Prof. Rudolf Haunschmied who is the closest colleague in the remembrance work of Mrs. Gammer from the very beginning.

We congratulate our long-standing chairwoman and current vice-president on this official recognition by the Republic of Austria of her life's work in the remembrance of the once forgotten Gusen concentration camp complex and for leading the GMC over many years.

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