On December 11, 2017, author Erich Hackl (b. 1954, Steyr, Austria) was awarded The Human Rights Award of Upper Austria (“Menschenrechtspreis” des Landes Oberösterreich), which carries a cash prize of 4000 Euro and has been awarded annually since 1996 at the anniversary of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

The honorable Governor Mag. Thomas Stelzer commented in his speech:
“Author Erich Hackl has put his work at the service of remembering a time when a regime undermined human rights and decided on life and death. … Confronting readers with detailed and meticulous research into the dark side of Austrian history, Erich Hackl [makes] an active anti-fascist contribution to the maintenance of humanity and justice of a humanistic society.
…
“Awareness of the importance of human rights has grown in recent years worldwide — but also the number of ‘fragile democracies’ is increasing. Demanding human rights is a permanent task. Wherever in this world a government believes that it can erode fundamental rights, it must result in a decisive response from the community of democratic states.”

We congratulate Erich Hackl on the Menschenrechtspreis des Landes Oberösterreich. An interview with the author will be posted soon.