Reflecting the past is an essential prerequisite for the commitment against anti-Semitism, racism, and violence. Oblivion has to be countered with determination. This is why recalling the crimes of the Nazi era is a both ethical and political obligation. The memorial is intended to mark a place of recollection as a symbol and appeal not to forget and to visualize the past in a time in which the survivors’ testimony is coming to an end.
In November 2016, the jury of the competition selected PRINZpod’s project as winner by a majority of votes.

Statement of the jury:
PRINZpod’s design poignantly represents the atrocities perpetrated at the Aspang Railway Station, the deportation of 47,035 Jews from all over Austria into the unknown and death, in an abstracted and yet very direct manner. It is clearly readable and not only defines the location but also refers to the given context and the extant memorial stone. Its reduced character, which not only concerns the material, ensures an unequivocal access to the relevant contents and arouses powerful emotions. “Speechless in the face of the extent of the deportations from the Aspang Railway Station and the meticulousness with which they were carried out” (PRINZpod), the artists succeeded in finding a three-dimensional symbol that captures the horror of being deported—a journey into nothingness.