Kino Kaorle starts into the next edition at Otto-Wagner-Areal! For our first screening at the new location, we’ve chosen the documentary Spiegelgrund. It is a film about the victims and family members who were affected by the children's euthanasia program at the "medical" department Am Spiegelgrund during the Nazi era. The film weaves together their memories of the years 1940 through 1945 with the lasting effects these crimes continue to have to this day.

It is important to us that we are showing this film here at the Otto Wagner Areal. We do not want to view this place in isolation from its history; rather, we want to create a space where we can remember together, listen to one another, and engage in conversation about the connection between the past and the present.

As part of the programme, the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) is offering a 90-minute guided tour of the Otto Wagner Areal before the screening. The DÖW is a central institution for the research and documentation of National Socialism, resistance, political persecution, and far-right extremism in Austria. The tour starts at 5:00 pm and offers the opportunity to learn more about the history of the site before the film begins at 7:00 pm.

Following the screening of Spiegelgrund, there will be a Q&A and panel discussion with Nici Mairhofer from the DÖW. The discussion offers an opportunity to ask questions, share reflections on the film, and explore the broader historical and contemporary contexts of its themes.

Spiegelgrund (2000) – 71 min. (German w/ english subtitles)

A film by Angelika Schuster und Tristan Sindelgruber