25T80 Vienna: her name was Evelyn

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E79, V27.

It’s one thing to mourn the loss of family, and to know where they are laid to rest, all in the city where I was born. Echoes of the extended double-stage grief have lessened in frequency and intensity over the years. It’s another thing to mourn the loss of a friend, one whom I had just begun to know and one whose final resting place is on the other side of the world. This grief is renewed when I return again to Vienna’s Central Cemetery.

Section 26 of the cemetery is a not only a place to pay respects to all who rest here, but also to recognize their sacrifice as all in this section made their wish to donate their bodies to science after their last breath.

Evelyn Brezina (1977-2024) was a disability rights advocate, saw the world from a unique perspective, and lived her life with purpose and with joy. Having seen her online presence, I met her in person briefly in the summer of 2023. She died unexpectedly in January 2024.

Fast forward to the present on a breezy cloudy day, I walked across the length of the cemetery towards its eastern wall. Rows of graves and trees clear with an open field and the appearance of an octagonal structure. I look for wall board number 110, and locate the name plate. As the only one person present on this afternoon, I’m sat on a bench for some time, with only the wind and rustling of trees for company.

“See you next time.”

Section number 26, Vienna central cemetery.
Dem Andenken jener Menschen, die ihren Körper nach dem Tode in den Dienst der Wissenschaft und medizinischen Aus- und Weiterbildung gestellt haben. // In memory of those people who, after death, placed their bodies at the service of science and medical education and training.
There are several boards and walls, each with several hundreds of names.
At centre here is the nameplate for Evelyn Brezina.

I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 14 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.

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