Ute Bock (27 June 1942 – 19 January 2018) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n educator who was known for her projects helping asylum seekers.

Biography

Bock was born in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...

. After high school graduation, she applied for a job at the municipality of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and could start working as an educator. From 1962 until 1969, she worked in a school in Vienna. Afterwards, she started working for the youth care center Zohmanngasse in the Viennese district Favoriten and in 1976, she was appointed as its director. In the early 1990s, the youth welfare office increasingly sent youth with migration backgrounds to Ute Bock's center, also because they had already been turned away by other schools. This is when Bock started being involved in activism and humanitarian help for asylum seekers. In 1999, during a

raid Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male college ...

on her centre, about 30 young Africans were arrested for drug trafficking under the controversial "Operation Spring". Ute Bock herself was charged with banditry and drug trafficking, too. This led to her being temporarily suspended from duty. Later the charges were dropped, though she was forbidden to accommodate other African asylum seekers in her center. She then organised private residential communities, which she self-funded and supervised. In 2000 she retired, but continued working on her project. 2002 she founded her own NGO ''Flüchtlingsprojekt Ute Boc''k ("refugee project Ute Bock"). Over 350 asylum seekers find accommodation in Ute Bock's organised apartments. Another 1,000 homeless asylum seekers have their mailing address at her NGO's address. She made legal advice available to her clients. The NGO relies on donations. In Vienna, the campaign ''Bock auf Bier'' was started, in which a small percentage of the price of a

beer Beer is one of the oldest and the most widely consumed type of alcoholic drink in the world, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from ce ...

was given to Bock's housing projects for asylum seekers. ''Bock auf Bier'' is a slang expression for ''Wanting a beer'', but ''Bock Beer'' stands for a specially strong beer In 2012, president

Heinz Fischer Heinz Fischer Order of Prince Henry, GColIH Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, OMRI Royal Order of the Seraphim, RSerafO Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, GCollSE (; born 9 October 1938) is a former Austrian politician. He took off ...

awarded her the

Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (german: Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria. It is divided into 15 classes and is the highest award in the A ...

, Austria's highest national honorary award. In December 2013 she suffered from a stroke and was unable to be as active as she had been before, which led her NGO into financial difficulties. Several flats could not be paid anymore and some asylum seekers had to change accommodation. In order for donations to be revived, she started working again in 2014. In 2018, she died in Vienna, aged 75.

Movies

Two films have been made about Ute Bock: * The documentary ''Bock for President'' was released in 2019. It was shown for the first time as a preview in cooperation between Stadtkino and the

Vienna International Film Festival The Vienna International Film Festival, or Viennale, is a film festival taking place every October since 1960 in Vienna, Austria. The average number of visitors is about 75,000. Traditional cinema venues are ''Gartenbaukino'', ''Urania'', ''Metro ...

during the 2009 student protests in Austria in the then occupied lecture hall of the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

. The official premiere took place as part of the Vienna International Film festival at the Künstlerhaus cinema on November 1, in the Austrian cinemas the film was shown on January 15, 2010. * In November 2010, the feature film '' Die verrückte Welt der Ute Bock'' (The crazy world of Ute Bock) was released. It was directed by Houchang Allahyari and starred

Josef Hader Josef may refer to *Josef (given name) *Josef (surname) Josef is the surname of the following people: * Jens Josef (born 1967), German composer of classical music, a flutist and academic teacher * Michelle Josef (born 1954), Canadian musician and tr ...

, Karl Markovics,

Viktor Gernot The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

, Andreas Vitasek, Julia Stemberger,

Dolores Schmidinger Dolores, Spanish for "pain; grief", most commonly refers to: * Our Lady of Sorrows or La Virgen María de los Dolores * Dolores (given name) Dolores may also refer to: Film * ''Dolores'' (2017 film), an American documentary by Peter Bratt * ...

, Peter Kern and

Alexander Pschill Alexander Pschill (born 13 June 1970)"Official website (see: ''Lebenslauf'')"
''Alexan ...

. The film depicts Bock's work as well as stories of people she meets, both refugees as well as police.

Awards

Bock won several awards for her social implication: *1999: Ute Bock Award for Moral Courage Zivilcourage *2000:

UNHCR The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrat ...

-Refugee-Award *2002:

Bruno Kreisky Award The Bruno Kreisky Prize for Human Rights is a biennial award created in October 1976 on the occasion of the 65th birthday of Bruno Kreisky. The laureates are rewarded for their achievements in the field of human rights. The prize was divided in 199 ...

*2003: Karl Renner Prize and Greinecker Seniorenpreis *2005: One of the five Austrian women, who were selected for the project Peace Women Across the Globe 2007 *2007: International Human Award1. Weltmenschpreis 2007
/ref> *2012:

Publications

* with Cornelia Krebs (ed.): ''Ute Bock. Die Geschichte einer Flüchtlingshelferin.'' Vienna: Molden, 2010, .

References

External links

Ute Bock's website

Bock auf Kultur Benefizveranstaltungen

Bock Ma's Benefizfestival
des Kulturverein Sozialforum Freiwerk für den Verein von Ute Bock
fraubock.tv
Videopodcast rund um die Person und den Verein Ute Bock
''Kein Bock auf Mama''
Interview mit Ute Bock im Magazin ''Bob''
Die Kino-Dokumentation über Ute Bock
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bock, Ute 1942 births 2018 deaths Austrian educators Austrian women educators Austrian human rights activists Women human rights activists Marietta and Friedrich Torberg Medal recipients People from Linz