May 8^th 2026 marks the 81^th anniversary of the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht and the end of World War II in Europe. 

The Mauthausen Committee Austria (MKÖ) is organising the Festival of Joy in commemoration of the victims of the Nazi-regime and to mark the joy of liberation from the fascist reign of terror.

The Festival of Joy 2026 will take place on May 8^th 2026 at 7:30 pm at Heldenplatz, Vienna, Austria. The main theme of this year’s Festival of Joy will be “nationalsocialist perpetrators”.

We are delighted to announce a special musical programme with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, including Ludwig van Beethoven's ‘Ode to Joy’.

Lucy Waldstein (USA), witness of the Shoa, Alexander Van der Bellen, Austria’s Federal President, and Willi Mernyi, MKÖ chairman, will hold their inspiring speeches at this year’s festival.

The highlight of the Festival of Joy 2026 will be a speech from LucyWaldstein (USA), witness of the Shoa.

Lucy Waldstein (née Fischer) was born in 1930 in Vienna. After the “Anschluss,” her family fled Austria overnight in July 1938, as her father, editor‑in‑chief of the Kronen Zeitung, had been warned of an imminent arrest. Lucy and her sister Inge were first placed in a boarding school in England, while their parents left for Trinidad. A year later, the girls followed them, traveling alone by passenger ship. After the outbreak of the war, the British authorities interned the family for 15 months as “enemy aliens.” In 1944, Lucy’s father died following a routine operation. Lucy later immigrated to the United States together with her sister and her mother.

Lucy later shared her story with students at a high school in New York and was interviewed by the Austrian Heritage Collection. Inge’s diary (1937–1944) became the basis for a play performed at several schools and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival; it is now preserved at the American National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.