The Austrian Service Abroad is a non-profit initiative, founded 1998 by Dr. Andreas Maislinger, that provides positions for Austrian Servants Abroad all over the world. The regular nine months lasting Zivildienst (alternative service) is substituted by a 12-months work at one of our partner organisations. There are great variations in requirements.
The Austrian Service Abroad is an institution of the Republic of Austria which provides young male Austrians with an alternative to the compulsory military service.
The Austrian Service Abroad is worldwide working with partner organizations in three main-areas:
Austrian Holocaust-Memorial Service (Österreichischer Gedenkdienst*)
Austrian Social Service (Österreichischer Sozialdienst)
Austrian Peace Service (Österreichischer Friedensdienst)
The US is currently the most important country regarding the Austrian Holocaust Memoarial Service (AHMS). Well known Holocaust Museums and Memorial Institutions like for example the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation in Los Angeles are already receiving representatives of the AHMS annually. In 2007 the Auschwitz Jewish Center (Poland), which is affiliated with the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City, became a new partner organization of the association. But there is even more to come. The Austrian Service Abroad also cooperates with its first partner organization in the field of social work in the US. At the Gay Men's Health Crisis center in New York, Austrian social workers help HIV infected people in dealing with their disease. *The term "Gedenkdienst" was invented by Dr. Maislinger who founded an organisation with the same name in 1992. Auslandsdienst.at-dictionary germany-english