Kindertransport refugee has Austrian citizenship returned on her 100th birthday
88 years after Kristallnacht, Gabriele Keenaghan, who fled Nazi-occupied Vienna as a child, was joined by her daughters and granddaughter for an emotional ceremony
A Holocaust refugee who escaped Nazi-occupied Austria as a child has had her Austrian citizenship returned on her 100th birthday, 88 years after Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogroms that changed her life forever.
Gabriele Keenaghan, who fled Vienna on the Kindertransport in 1939, was accompanied by her daughters and granddaughter at the Association of Jewish Refugees’ (AJR) annual Kristallnacht commemoration at Belsize Square Synagogue in London.
In a particularly poignant moment on her 100th birthday, Austrian Ambassador Bernhard Wrabetz presented Keenaghan with confirmation of the return of her Austrian citizenship.
Born in Vienna on 10 November 1926, Gabriele Keenaghan grew up unaware of her father’s Jewish heritage. Following the Nazi annexation of Austria, she was forced to leave her convent school. Kristallnacht in November 1938 was the last time she saw her father, who was subsequently deported and is believed to have been murdered during the Holocaust.
In August this year, Keenaghan returned to Vienna with several generations of her family as part of her centenary celebrations, where she hoped to revisit Westbahnhof railway station, where she had said goodbye to her grandmother before escaping Nazi-occupied Austria nearly nine decades earlier.
She went on to build a life in Britain, raising a family and becoming a headteacher in the Northeast. She was later awarded the British Empire Medal for services to Holocaust education.
Speaking about the legal return of her citizenship, Gabriele Keenaghan said: “I’m deeply blessed to still be sharing my story after all these years and grateful to call myself an Austrian once again. Nothing can fully restore what was taken from myself and other Jews of the Holocaust, but the return of my Austrian citizenship is a welcomed gesture of reclamation. The AJR and Ambassador Wrabetz have been exceptionally supportive in commemorating this milestone with its multitude of emotions, both the sombre and the joyful. This birthday is special for many reasons.”
Olivia Tawse, Gabriele’s granddaughter commented: “It’s incredibly moving to be here with my grandmother on her 100th birthday as she regains the citizenship of the country she was forced to flee as a child. Having accompanied her back to Vienna earlier this year, we’ve seen just how deeply those memories remain with her. Although nothing can undo what happened, to share this moment across three generations is incredibly special.”
Austrian Ambassador Bernhard Wrabetz said: “To return Austrian citizenship to Gabriele Keenaghan on her 100th birthday is an extraordinary moment and an honour for me.”
He added that whilst “restoring the citizenship that was so brutally robbed from her during the darkest period of Austrian history will never compensate for the pain and loss” that she had to live through, it is a gesture that is “symbolic of Austria’s commitment to reconciliation and remembrance.”
Michael Newman, chief executive of the Association of Jewish Refugees said: “For Gabriele to have her Austrian citizenship returned on her 100th birthday, 88 years to the day after Kristallnacht, is an extraordinarily poignant moment.
“It is especially moving that her children and granddaughter are here to share this moment with her. While nothing can undo the injustices of the past, this is a meaningful act of recognition and reconciliation, and we are honoured to celebrate it with Gabriele and her family, and to have recorded her experiences as part of our My Story book.”
- Read Gabriele’s life story here.