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Mirak-Weissbach Foundation featured in Wiesbadener Kurier

The Wiesbadener Kurier is the leading daily newspaper in Wiesbaden, capital city of the federal state of Hessen. On January 31, 2015 in its New Year’s Eve edition, the paper carried a report on the Mirak-Weissbach Foundation, as part of an ongoing series on foundations in the region. Entitled, “Help for Armenian Orphans,” the article written by Eva Wodarz-Eichner begins by noting that very few Germans know about Armenia, its location, its long history as the oldest Christian nation, its language and music culture. “All the more amazing,” she writes, “that a foundation exists in Wiesbaden, which takes care of Armenian orphans and their education, especially in the cultural realm.”
Yet, considering the background of the foundation, she writes, it is not so amazing; Muriel Mirak-Weissbach, who established it with her husband Michael Weissbach, is herself the daughter of two Armenian orphans who survived the 1915 genocide and migrated to America. There John Mirak, her father, set up two Armenian foundations, directed today by her older brother.
The article reports on the projects that the new foundation in Wiesbaden supports, from the donation of a Blüthner grand piano to the newly built music school in earthquake-devastated Gyumri, to the collection of musical instruments for other music schools, and financial support for music students. Among the social projects mentioned is “Mer Doon,” a home for orphaned girls between 18 and 24 years of age. A color photograph shows the arrival of the piano at the Octet music school in Gyumri in September 2013.