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Abstract
Holocaust memorials are seismographs of historical consciousness. The topography of commemoration for the more than 66,000 victims of the Holocaust in the Austrian federal capital Vienna points up the development from exclusion of the Holocaust from Austrian memory to its incorporation: after 1945, the memory of the murdered was an empty space in the public arena. The official state doctrine of Austria as the ‘first victim’ of National Socialismis mirrored in the landscape of memorials: memorialization centered on resistance to the Nazi regime. The watershed came with the debate on Kurt Waldheim in 1986 when Austria was confrontation with its Austrian Nazi past. The establishment of the Holocaust Memorial on Judenplatz in 2000 symbolizes that the Holocaust had also gravitated to the center of the official culture of memory at the end of the twentieth century in Austria as well as professors at colleges and universities. The present paper will describe the stages in the process extending from the blanking out of Holocaust commemoration to its internalization.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
* Translated from German by Bill Templer
1 See Claus Leggewie, Der Kampf um die europäische Erinnerung. Ein Schlachtfeld wird besichtigt (Munich: Beck, 2011).
2 See Gabi Dolff-Bonekämper, “Wahr oder falsch: Denkmalpflege als Medium nationaler Identitätskonstruktionen,” in Otto Gerhard Oexle et al., (eds.), Bilder gedeuteter Geschichte: Das Mittelalter in der Kunst und Architektur der Moderne. Teilband 2 (Göttinger Gespräche zur Geschichtswissenschaft 21) (Göttingen: Wallstein, 2004), pp. 231–285.
3 See Oliver Marchart, “Das historisch-politische Gedächtnis. Für eine politische Theorie kollektiver Erinnerung,” in Ljiljana Radonic and Heidemarie Uhl, (eds.), Gedächtnis im 21. Jahrhundert. Zur Neuverhandlung eines kulturwissenschaftlichen Leitbegriffs (Bielefeld: transcript, 2016), pp. 47f.
4 The “gradient of relevance that structures the cultural store of knowledge and symbolic economy” is a constitutive feature of the collective memory; see Jan Assmann, “Kollektives Gedächtnis und kulturelle Identität,” in Jan Assmann and Tonio Hölscher, (eds.), Kultur und Gedächtnis (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1988), p. 14.
5 On Austria, see Heidemarie Uhl, “Vom ‘ersten Opfer’ zum Land der unbewältigten Vergangenheit: Österreich im Kontext der Transformationen des europäischen Gedächtnisses,” in Volkhard Knigge, Hans-Joachim Veen, Ulrich Mählert, and Franz-Josef Schlichting, (eds.), Arbeit am europäischen Gedächtnis. Diktaturerfahrungen und Demokratieentwicklung (Cologne: Böhlau, 2011) (Schriften der Stiftung Ettersberg, 17), pp. 27–46.
6 See Daniel Levy and Natan Sznaider, Erinnerung im globalen Zeitalter: Der Holocaust, 2nd ed. (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2007).
7 Thus far, there is no comprehensive study and description of the Holocaust memorials in Vienna. A brief overview is given in Evelyn Adunka, Die vierte Gemeinde. Die Geschichte der Wiener Juden von 1945 bis heute (Berlin and Vienna: Philo, 2000), pp. 525–539; on the Monument Against War and Fascism, see Ulrike Jenni, (ed.), Alfred Hrdlicka. Mahnmal gegen Krieg und Faschismus in Wien. 2 vols. (Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1993). There are extensive studies on the Monument Against War and Fascism and the Holocaust Memorial at the Judenplatz; see: Holger Thünemann, Holocaust-Rezeption und Geschichtskultur: Zentrale Holocaust-Denkmäler in der Kontroverse. Ein deutsch-österreichischer Vergleich (Idstein: Schulz-Kirchner, 2005) (Schriften zur Geschichtsdidaktik, 17); Cornelius Lehnguth, Waldheim und die Folgen. Der parteipolitische Umgang mit dem Nationalsozialismus in Österreich (Frankfurt am Main: Campus, 2013), pp. 179–190, 377–397 and the literature cited therein.
8 See Heidemarie Uhl, “Das ‘erste Opfer.’ Der österreichische Opfermythos und seine Transformationen in der Zweiten Republik,” Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft 30 (2001), pp. 19–34, http://goo.gl/NX6qr9 (all websites mentioned herein were accessed on September 20, 2016).
9 On the Waldheim Report submitted to Federal Chancellor Franz Vranitzky in February 1988, see International Commission of Historians, The Waldheim Report, authorized English translation of the unpublished German report, trans. William Templer (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, 1993).
10 On the period 1986–1988 as “hinge years,” a temporal watershed in Austrian memory, see Cornelius Lehnguth, Waldheim und die Folgen, p. 201.
11 See Evelyn Adunka, Die vierte Gemeinde, p. 34. On the synagogues of Vienna, see Pierre Genée, Wiener Synagogen (Vienna: Löcker Verlag, 2014); Bob Martens and Herbert Peter, Die zerstörten Synagogen Wiens. Virtuelle Stadtrundgänge (Vienna: Mandelbaum, 2010); Wiener Synagogen. Ein Memory (Vienna: Jüdisches Museum Wien, 2016).
12 See Adunka, Die vierte Gemeinde, pp. 33–34, and the report by the Executive Committee of the Jewish Community Vienna: “Bericht des Präsidiums der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde Wien über die Tätigkeit in den Jahren 1945 bis 1948” (Vienna, 1948), p. 41.
13 Ibid.
14 The Hebrew inscription cites a verse from the prayer “Avinu Malkeinu” recited on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: “Avinu malkeinu aseh le-ma’an harugim al-shem kodshekha,” (“Our Father, our King, act for the sake of those who were murdered for Your Holy Name”), followed by the years 1938 to 1945 in Hebrew (תרצח – חשה), and “In commemoration of the Jewish/men, women and children, who/in the fateful / years 1938–1945 lost their lives.”
15 “Illustration of the plaque,” in Herbert Exenberger and Heinz Arnberger, (eds.), Gedenken und Mahnen in Wien 1934–1945. Gedenkstätten zu Widerstand und Verfolgung, Exil, Befreiung. Eine Dokumentation (Vienna: Deuticke, 1998), p. 65. The plaque was purportedly removed during renovations of the synagogue.
16 Bericht des Präsidiums der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde Wien über die Tätigkeit in den Jahren 1945 bis 1948 (Vienna, 1948), p. 41.
17 See Jonny Moser, Demographie der jüdischen Bevölkerung Österreichs 1938–1945 (Vienna: Dokumentationsarchiv des Österreichischen Widerstandes, 1999), pp. 16, 55–56; Dieter J. Hecht, Eleonore Lappin-Eppel, and Michaela Raggam-Blesch, Topographie der Shoah. Gedächtnisorte des zerstörten jüdischen Wien (Vienna: Mandelbaum, 2015), p. 549; Adunka, Die vierte Gemeinde, pp. 17–18, 36, 39.
18 See Jonny Moser, Demographie der jüdischen Bevölkerung Österreichs 1938–1945 (Vienna: Dokumentationsarchiv des Österreichischen Widerstandes, 1999), pp. 16, 55–56; Dieter J. Hecht, Eleonore Lappin-Eppel, and Michaela Raggam-Blesch, Topographie der Shoah. Gedächtnisorte des zerstörten jüdischen Wien (Vienna: Mandelbaum, 2015), p. 549; Adunka, Die vierte Gemeinde, pp. 17–18, 36, 39.
19 The first Law for Victim Welfare of July 17, 1945 extended only to Austrian resistance fighters; it was not until the 1947 addendum that welfare measures were also included for “persons who had passively come to harm.” See Brigitte Bailer, Wiedergutmachung kein Thema. Österreich und die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus (Vienna: Löcker Verlag, 1993), pp. 44–45.
20 Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, p. 276.
21 Memorial addresses were given by Isidor Oehler and Ernst Feldsberg, president of the Chevra Kadisha; see Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, pp. 274, 278.
22 Quoted in Karl Klambauer, Österreichische Gedenkkultur zu Widerstand und Krieg. Denkmäler und Gedächtnisorte in Wien 1945–1986 (Innsbruck: Studien Verlag, 2006), p. 26.
23 As a rule, the monuments and memorial plaques established by the city of Vienna, the Austrian Socialist Party, and closely allied organizations refer to the years 1934–1945 in order to include the February 1934 Uprising. The memory of their heroic struggle against Austro-fascism was at the very center of the Social Democratic culture of commemoration in the Second Republic. By contrast, monuments of the Austrian Communist Party (KPÖ) and the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) are dedicated to the years 1938–1945.
24 See Erich Fein, Die Steine reden. Gedenkstätten des österreichischen Freiheitskampfes. Mahnmale für die Opfer des Faschismus (Vienna: Europa-Verlag, 1975); Herbert Exenberger, Antifaschistischer Stadtführer (Vienna: Druckhaus Vorwärts, 1985); Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, passim.
25 Hecht, Lappin-Eppel, and Raggam-Blesch, Topographie der Shoah, pp. 37–41.
26 Gustav Adolf Canaval, “Paulus und das geistige KZ,” Salzburger Nachrichten, March 27 and 28, 1954.
27 See Gerhard Botz, “Die österreichischen NSDAP–Mitglieder. Probleme einer quantitativen Analyse aufgrund der NSDAP Zentralkartei im Berlin Document Center,” in Reinhard Mann, (ed.), Die Nationalsozialisten. Analysen faschistischer Bewegungen (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1980) (Historisch-Sozialwissenschaftliche Forschungen. Quantitative sozialwissenschaftliche Analysen von historischen und prozeß-produzierten Daten, 9), pp. 98–136, especially p. 118.
28 Heidemarie Uhl, “Kriegerdenkmäler,” in Emil Brix, Ernst Bruckmüller, and Hannes Stekl, (eds.), Memoria Austriae I. Menschen – Mythen – Zeiten (Vienna: Böhlau, 2004), pp. 545–559.
29 See Reinhold Gärtner and Sieglinde Rosenberger, Kriegerdenkmäler. Vergangenheit in der Gegenwart (Innsbruck: Österreichischer Studien-Verlag, 1991).
30 See Ruth Beckermann, Die Mazzesinsel – Juden in der Wiener Leopoldstadt 1918–38 (Vienna: Löcker, 1984).
31 Fein, Die Steine reden, p. 50
32 “Gedenkfeier für neun ermordete Juden,” Volksstimme, April 13, 1954 (DÖW-Schnittarchiv, copy from the files of the archive Volksstimme).
33 Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, pp. 276f.
34 Ibid.; along with the names of the victims, their age was added; photo of the memorial stone: http://goo.gl/g1JMgf.
35 “Förstergasse: Niemals vergessen!” Die Gemeinde 28 (April, 1960), p. 12.
36 Ibid.
37 See “Geschichte einer Gedenktafel,” Der Neue Mahnruf9 (1971),p. 4; photo of the memorial plaque: http://goo.gl/1IIlaH. However, the report in the periodical of the KZ–Verband (Concentration Camp Alliance), closely allied with Communist Party, is heavily colored by the intention to emphasize the integral aims of their own politics of history.
38 “Unvergessene Opfer,” Die Gemeinde148/149 (April, 1970),p. 7.
39 See Adunka, Die vierte Gemeinde, p. 533; the suggestion for this came from “S. Unterberg from Brooklyn.” The plaque is visible on the right in a photo of the building: http://goo.gl/YMlWyL.
40 Ibid. On the fate of the properties where numerous destroyed synagogues were located, see Bob Martens and Katharina Kohlmaier, “Was geschah mit den Grundstücken, auf denen sich Synagogen in Wien befanden?” DAVID. Jüdische Kulturzeitschrift 77 (June 2008), http://david.juden.at/2008/77/6_martens.htm.
41 See Walter Hacker, “War das notwendig?” in Warnung an Österreich. Neonazismus: Die Vergangenheit bedroht die Zukunft (Vienna: Europa Verlag, 1966), pp. 15–18.
42 See Bailer, Wiedergutmachung kein Thema, pp. 45–52.
43 The inauguration of the site formed part of the large-scale festivities for the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Second Republic on April 27, 1945. In the opposite wing of the Castle Gate is the Austrian Heroes’ Memorial, created in the corporate state dictatorship for the military victims of World War I and, in the 1950s, subsequently dedicated to the Austrian Wehrmacht soldiers killed in battle in World War II. The contradiction between the thesis of Austria as “first victim” and state memorialization of the Austrian soldiers who served in the Wehrmacht was not to lead to discussions and drove a tendency toward distancing by official Austria until around the year 2000. See Dieter A. Binder and Heidemarie Uhl, (eds.), 20 Jahre Militärhistorische Denkmalkommission 1994–2014. Eine Bilanz, (Vienna: Military Historical Memorial Commission of the Federal Ministry of Defense and Sport, 2014). See photo of the Dedication Room interior: http://goo.gl/9GkRkR.
44 See Rafael Kropiunigg, Eine österreichische Affäre. Der Fall Borodajkewycz (Vienna: Czernin, 2015); Gérard Kasimir, “Spätes Ende für, wissenschaftlich’ vorgetragenen Rassismus. Die Borodajkewycz-Affäre 1965,” in Michael Gehler and Hubert Sickinger, (eds.), Politische Affären und Skandale in Österreich. Von Mayerling bis Waldheim (Innsbruck: Studienverlag 2007), pp. 486–501.
45 “Renaissance, Mai 1965,” quoted in Adunka, Die vierte Gemeinde, pp. 535f.
46 The poem is not found in the description of the memorial in Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, pp. 60–61. See the poem in the original online: http://goo.gl/w12oQz. It is the terse voice of a memorial stone telling the living who come after they died for freedom and for justice that they “offered their present to the future.”
47 See Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, pp. 48 –60.
48 The New Jewish Cemetery (Central Cemetery, Gate 4) was used from 1916 on after the previous Jewish section (Central Cemetery, Gate 1) became too small. See Patricia Steines, Hunderttausend Steine. Grabstellen großer Österreicher jüdischer Konfession auf dem Wiener Zentralfriedhof Tor I und Tor IV (Vienna: Falter Verlag, 1993).
49 See Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, pp. 278–279.
50 “Die Tätigkeit der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde Wien in den Jahren 1952 bis 1954” (Vienna, 1954), p. 33, quoted in Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, p. 273.
51 Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, pp. 273f. Heinrich Sussmann (1904–1986) also created the five stained glass windows in the commemorative area of the Austrian National Exhibition (opened in 1978 and dismantled in 2013) at the Auschwitz–Birkenau State Museum, with the following themes: “Heavens impregnated by smoke and flame,” “Jew praying in flames,” “Gas chamber,” “Mortal distress,” and “The bitter end.” See Nationalfonds der Republik Österreich für Opfer des Nationalsozialismus, (ed.), Österreichische Gedenkstätte 1978–2013. Staatliches Museum Auschwitz-Birkenau (Vienna, 2015), pp. 199–201; these Auschwitz stained glass windows are reproduced online in Magdalena Egger, “‘Endsieger blieb dennoch ich’: Heinrich Sussmanns künstlerische Auseinandersetzung mit Auschwitz,” MA thesis, University of Vienna, Vienna, 2015, see pp. 137–138, 175–176 (Illus. pp. 16–17, 89–91) and discussed there on pp. 86–87..
52 These four stained glass windows, 160-by-360 centimeters, are reproduced online in Egger, “Endsieger blieb dennoch ich,” pp. 173–174 (Illus. pp. 85–88) and are discussed on p. 85.
53 See Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, pp. 273f.
54 “1934–1945/To the victims/of fascism / for Austria’s/freedom/and independence/In memory of the dead/A warning to the living / Never Forget” (“Den Opfern/des Faschismus/für Österreichs /Freiheit/und Unabhängigkeit/Den Toten zum Gedenken / den Lebenden zur Mahnung/Niemals vergessen”), quoted in Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, p. 227; for a monument photo, see http://goo.gl/PTPBmZ.
55 See the memorial: http://goo.gl/VcIXXD.
56 See Heidemarie Uhl, “Von ‘Endlösung’ zu ‘Holocaust.’ Die TV-Ausstrahlung von ‘Holocaust’ und die Transformationen des österreichischen Gedächtnisses,” Historical Social Research 30:4 (2005), pp. 29–52.
57 Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, pp. 69–70; see also “Kreuz mit Erde aus dem KZ Mauthausen sowie Erde und Asche aus Auschwitz,” nachkriegsjustiz.at, http://goo.gl/r6RxZg.
58 Inscription: “In the years 1941–1942/from the former Aspang Railroad Station/ten thousand Austrian Jews/were transported to extermination camps/and never returned./Never forget.” (Original: “In den Jahren 1939–1942/wurden vom ehemaligen Aspangbahnhof/zehntausende österreichische Juden/in Vernichtungslager transportiert/und kehrten nicht mehr zurück./Niemals vergessen.”) Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, p. 118; see a photo of the monument: http://goo.gl/3CCHpN.
59 As so designated in a short report in the DÖW-Mitteilungen, 62 (1983) (DÖW Schnittarchiv).
60 See “‘Platz der Opfer der Deportation.’ Zahlreiche Veranstaltungen zum 50. Jahrestag des Kriegsendes,” Wiener Zeitung, May 10, 1995, p. 4 (DÖW-Schnittarchiv); the stone can be seen here: http://goo.gl/tByllY.
61 The only information on the biography of Peter Buxbaum is contained in Herbert Exenberger’s review of Erich Klein, Denkwürdiges Wien. Gehen&Sehen. 3 RoutenzuMahnmalen, Gedenkstätten und Orten der Erinnerung der Ersten und ZweitenRepublik (Vienna: Falter Verlag, 2004), in DÖW-Mitteilungen, 167 (July 2004), pp. 10f, http://goo.gl/M4ISt9. Exenberger refutes Klein’s assertion that the memorial was “supposedly erected by railway workers who had carried out the deportations.” Ibid, p. 11. I am grateful to Heinz Arnberger and Winfried Garscha, DÖW, for this reference.
62 Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, p. 86; see the plaque: http://goo.gl/bf4JVw.
63 On the concept of “second guilt,” see Ralph Giordano, Die zweite Schuld oder von der Last, Deutscher zu sein (Hamburg: Rasch und Röhring, 1987).
64 See Uhl, “Vom ‘ersten Opfer’ zum Land der unbewältigten Vergangenheit,” pp. 27–46.
65 See “35. Sitzung NR XVIII. GP – Stenographisches Protokoll,” p. 15, http://goo.gl/MbxXRE; see also: “Austrian acknowledgement of guilt for Holocaust welcomed by survivors,” JTA, July 10, 1991, http://goo.gl/86TqrL.
66 See Aleida Assmann and Ute Frevert, Geschichtsvergessenheit – Geschichtsversessenheit. Vom Umgang mit deutschen Vergangenheiten nach 1945 (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1999).
67 Jay Winter, “The Generation of Memory: Reflections on the ‘Memory Boom’ in Contemporary Historical Studies,” Bulletin of the German Historical Institute 27 (2006), pp. 69–92.
68 See Dan Diner, “‘Rupture in Civilization’: On the Genesis and Meaning of a Concept in Understanding,” in Moshe Zimmermann, (ed.), On Germans and Jews under the Nazi Regime: Essays by Three Generations of Historians; A Festschrift in Honor of Otto Dov Kulka (Jerusalem: Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2006), pp. 33–49.
69 See Tony Judt, “The Past Is Another Country: Myth and Memory in Postwar Europe,” in István Deák, Jan T. Gross, and Tony Judt, (eds.), The Politics of Retribution in Europe. World War II and Its Aftermath (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), pp. 293–324.
70 See Heidemarie Uhl, “Gedächtnisraum Graz. Zeitgeschichtliche Erinnerungszeichen im öffentlichen Raum von 1945 bis zur Gegenwart,” in Sabine Hödl and Eleonore Lappin, (eds.), Erinnerung als Gegenwart. Jüdische Gedenkkulturen (Berlin: Philo Fine Arts, 2000), pp. 211–232.
71 In 1993, the Jewish Museum of Vienna was opened to the public at its present location, the Palais Eskeles on Dorotheergasse. On the history of its founding and genesis, see Gerald Lamprecht, “Die österreichischen jüdischen Museen im zeitgeschichtlichen Kontext,” in Dirk Rupnow and Heidemarie Uhl, (eds.), Zeitgeschichte ausstellen in Österreich. Museen – Gedenkstätten – Ausstellungen (Vienna: Böhlau, 2011), pp. 213–236; see also Ruth Ellen Gruber, Virtually Jewish: Reinventing Jewish Culture in Europe (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), pp. 174f. Alluding to the intense and often bitter Waldheim debate, Gruber notes, “Its establishment was very much a political as well as a cultural move … .The museum was thus born as an overt means of demonstrating a progressive attitude that sought to acknowledge and make up for a dirty past,” Ibid., p. 175.
72 As specious, “superficial arguments” for refusal, mention was made inter alia of “fear of antisemitic defacing by graffiti, worries about questions of who had liability … ; concern that the value of the property might decline if put up for sale, should a memorial plaque be mounted on the premises.” Allgemeine jüdische Wochenzeitung, July 29, 1988, quoted in Adunka, Die vierte Gemeinde, p. 534.
73 Adunka, Die vierte Gemeinde, p. 534; see the plaque: http://goo.gl/PTS317.
74 Thünemann, Holocaust-Rezeption und Geschichtskultur, p. 179.
75 James E. Young, Formen des Erinnerns. Gedenkstätten des Holocaust (Vienna: Passagen, 1997), p. 157.
76 Lehnguth, Waldheim und die Folgen, p. 377.
77 See Lehnguth, Waldheim und die Folgen, pp. 187f. See also the video featuring the monument: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15cmPy1VIOk.
78 See summary in Lehnguth, Waldheim und die Folgen, pp. 187–191; by amalgamating different groups of victims and blurring the distinction between perpetrators and victims, the “deeds of the Nazis were played down, trivialized,” see Ruth Wodak, Florian Menz, Richard Mitten, and Frank Stern, Die Sprachen der Vergangenheiten. Öffentliches Gedenken in österreichischen und deutschen Medien (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1994); Thünemann, Holocaust-Rezeption und Geschichtskultur (p. 181) speaks about an “accessible teleological historical myth”: “From the midst of destruction and deprivation of rights … there springs forth, almost in the guise of apotheosis, an independent and ultimately free Austria.”
79 Ruth Beckermann, Unzugehörig. Österreicher und Juden nach 1945 (Vienna: Löcker, 1989), pp. 14f.
80 Lehnguth, Waldheim und die Folgen, p. 191.
81 See http://goo.gl/j9gHF9. The total film clip that ran in the installation, framing the bronze prone figure on two screens, was one minute, 24 seconds long. On the project more broadly, see “The missing image. Vienna 1938,” Film Fonds Vienna et al. 2015, http://goo.gl/IvELuj.
82 Simon Wiesenthal, “65.000 jüdische Opfer des Nationalsozialismus haben noch keine Denkmal in Österreich,” Der Ausweg. Jüdische Zeitschrift für Aufklärung und Abwehr 16 (1994), p. 4.
83 See Lehnguth, Waldheim und die Folgen, p. 377; Thünemann, Holocaust-Rezeption und Geschichtskultur, pp. 182–184. After there were calls to demolish the memorial at Albertina Square, Wiesenthal voiced his opposition.
84 Wiesenthal, “65.000 jüdische Opfer.”
85 Simon Wiesenthal, “Zur Geschichte der Juden in Österreich,” in Stadt Wien and Kunsthalle Wien, (eds.), Judenplatz Wien 1996. Wettbewerb Mahnmal für die jüdischen Opfer des Naziregimes in Österreich 1938–1945 (Vienna: Folio, 1996), pp. 11–12.
86 “Wiesenthal forciert Bau eines Holocaust-Denkmals,” Der Standard, Dec. 21, 1994; Simon Wiesenthal, “65.000 jüdische Opfer.”
87 The project was initiated by Yad Vashem and funded by the Ministry of Science. From 1992 to 2001, the biographical data and circumstances of death of some 62,000 Austrian Holocaust victims were compiled; currently approximately 64,000 persons can be retrieved in the Holocaust Victim Databank of the DÖW. See http://goo.gl/kfJ1Fq.
88 See Thünemann, Holocaust-Rezeption und Geschichtskultur, pp. 185f.
89 Ibid., p. 187.
90 Simon Wiesenthal, in a letter to Ignatz Bubis, then chair of the Central Council of the Jews in Germany, July 4, 1995, quoted in Thünemann, Holocaust-Rezeption und Geschichtskultur, p. 191.
91 Quoted in Thünemann, Holocaust-Rezeption und Geschichtskultur, p. 250.
92 Hans Hollein, “Zum Wettbewerb,” in Judenplatz Wien 1996, pp. 11f. Some possible alternative locations that were discussed were Morzin Square, Albertina Square, and Heroes’ Square (Heldenplatz); the Jewish studies scholar Kurt Schubert suggested the site of the former Aspang Railroad Station, from where the deportation trains had left in 1939 and 1941/1942. Heldenplatz was given serious consideration, on the one hand as a central locus of the political representation of the nation and on the other because of its negative aura of contamination as a result of Hitler’s speech from the balcony of the New Castle proclaiming the Anschluss on March 15, 1938; see Thünemann, Holocaust-Rezeption und Geschichtskultur, pp. 203–205. In a letter sent to the members of the Cultural Executive of the Vienna Jewish Community in April 1997, Simon Wiesenthal expressed his decided rejection of Heldenplatz as a potential site: in his view, because of its connection with Hitler, any memorial on that square would have to represent other persecuted groups as well. Rachel Whiteread also opposed a potential relocation of the monument from the Judenplatz; ibid., p. 207.
93 See Claus Leggewie and Erik Meyer, “Ein Ort an den man gerne geht,” Das Holocaust-Mahnmal und die deutsche Geschichtspolitik nach 1989 (Munich: Carl Hanser Verlag, 2005), p. 91. In order for artists to participate in the competition they had to have been active in the Federal Republic of Germany for a period of at least six months. In addition, per the recommendation of a selection committee, 12 internationally known artists were invited to participate. 528 proposals were received up to the deadline on October 28, 1994, ibid., pp. 91, 96.
94 Hollein, “Zum Wettbewerb,” p. 11. Invitations were extended to the artists Clegg and Guttmann, Peter Eisenman, Valie Export, Zvi Hecker, Ilya Kabakov, Karl Prantl and Peter Waldbauer, Zbyněk Sekal, Eduard Ebner, Rachel Whiteread, and Heimo Zobernig.
95 “Verfahrensregeln und Aufgabenstellung zum Wettbewerb (gekürzte Fassung),” in Judenplatz Wien 1996, pp. 30–32. The decision to forego any figural representation was “based on the traditional and religious values of the Jews” (“Protokoll 2, Proponentenkomitee,” p. 1, a Supporters’ Committee created by Wiesenthal), and was also explained by the controversial debates that raged regarding the Hrdlicka Monument.
96 “Verfahrensregeln und Aufgabenstellung zum Wettbewerb (gekürzte Fassung),” in Judenplatz Wien 1996, p. 51.
97 See the memorial here: http://goo.gl/o7xqOD.
98 Stadt Wien, Presse-und Informationsdienst, (ed.), Wenn Steine sprechen … Archäologie des Judenplatzes (Vienna, 1997), p. 32.
99 Ibid., p. 48.
100 See Klaus Lohrmann, “Die Wiener Gesera,” in Gerhard Milchram, (ed.), Museum Judenplatz zum mittelalterlichen Judentum (Vienna: Jüdisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Pichler Verlag), pp. 110–115.
101 Thünemann, Holocaust-Rezeption und Geschichtskultur, p. 194; Lehnguth, Waldheim und die Folgen, pp. 394–398.
102 Thünemann, Holocaust-Rezeption und Geschichtskultur, p. 194.
103 “Marboe will Mahnmal, das nicht polarisiert,” Der Standard, November 25, 1996, quoted in Thünemann, Holocaust-Rezeption und Geschichtskultur, p. 197.
104 Lehnguth, Waldheim und die Folgen, pp. 387f.
105 See APA428 5 KI 0317 II, September 28, 1998. “Projekt Judenplatz: Grundstein 3 – Alte Steine als Fundament. Häupl: Bruch mit der Geschichte des Antisemitismus.”
106 The inscription is visible here: http://goo.gl/EFHaRl.
107 See http://goo.gl/IunVVq.
109 A Grätzl is a subarea of a district in Vienna, in effect the smallest urban unit, and may consist of just a few streets or residential blocks; see http://goo.gl/udDSSa.
110 See http://steinedererinnerung.net/; see Elisabeth Ben David-Hindler, Vally Steiner, Daliah Hindler, and Zahava Hindler, (eds.), 10 Jahre Steine, die bewegen. Verein Steine der Erinnerung (Vienna: Verein Steine der Erinnerung an die jüdischen Opfer des Holocaust, 2015).
111 See “Servitengasse 1938. Searching for local traces,” at: http://www.servitengasse1938.at/index.php. After the second district, Alsergrund, the ninth district, had the highest percentage of Jews living in Vienna. Nonetheless, today there are relatively few sites where these people are remembered. The project Servitengasse 1938 is an initiative supported by Alsergrund district, created by citizens who wish to engage actively in the work of remembrance. See Birgit Johler and Maria Fritsche, (eds.), 1938. Adresse: Servitengasse. Eine Nachbarschaft auf Spurensuche (Vienna: Mandelbaum, 2007).
112 See “№ 21 Herklotzgasse and the Jewish spaces in a Vienna Grätzel,” http://hkg21.arbeitplus.at/; Michael Kofler, Judith Pühringer, and Georg Traska, (eds.), “Das Dreieck meiner Kindheit.” Eine jüdische Vorstadtgemeinde in Wien (Vienna: Mandelbaum, 2008).
113 See Ursula Stern, “Servitengasse 1938,” http://goo.gl/nq8pbm; Julia Schulz, “Gedenksymbol Servitengasse. Schlüssel gegen das Vergessen,” http://goo.gl/1B1fWa; see also Tina Walzer, “Wiener jüdische und nichtjüdische Initiativen als Schritt in die Zukunft,” DAVID. Jüdische Kulturzeitschrift 85 (June 2010), http://goo.gl/ZpIa3M.
114 Black concrete beams were chosen as a central design element for the memory site; they symbolize the collapsed, burst, and burnt roof truss of the Turner Temple. Colorful floor mosaics, with images of fruits, as mentioned in the Torah, “forge a bridge between the past and today’s optimism.” See http://www.koer.or.at/turnertempel/#kunstwerk; see also Iris Andraschek, Hubert Lobnig, Maria Auböck, and János Kárász, (eds.), Turnertempel – Erinnerungsort. Suche nach einer reflexiven Archäologie (Vienna: KÖR Kunst im öffentlichen Raum, 2012).
115 See Roland Granser, “Gedenktafel an das Rothschild-Spital enthüllt,” meinbezirk.at, September 22, 2010, http://goo.gl/zq8LcT; on the hospital, see Michael Heindl and Ruth Koblizek, (eds.), 125 Jahre Rothschild-Spital (Donnerskirchen: Dagobert Verlagsgesellschaft, 1998).
116 See Exenberger and Arnberger, Gedenken und Mahnen, pp. 77, 86; Herbert Exenberger and Heinz Arnberger, (eds.), Gedenken und Mahnen in Wien 1934–1945. Gedenkstätten zu Widerstand und Verfolgung, Exil, Befreiung. Ergänzungen I (Vienna: Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstands, 2001), p. 31.
117 See http://wien.orf.at/news/stories/2807683/; the memorial stone erected in 1983 will be retained.
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Heidemarie Uhl
Heidemarie Uhl (born 1956) is a senior researcher at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna and lecturer at the University of Vienna and the University of Graz. She holds a Ph.D. in Contemporary History from the University of Graz. She was a guest professor at Strasbourg University, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Strasbourg University, AUB Andrassy University Budapest and Stanford University. Uhl is a member of the Austrian Delegation to the IHRA International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and member of the scientific board of the Haus der Geschichte Österreich (vice chairperson), the Militärhistorische Denkmalkommission at the Austrian Ministry of Defence (vice chairperson) and the Fachkommission der Stiftung Brandenburgische Gedenkstätten. She is member of the editorial board of Zeitgeschichte and of Contemporary Austrian Studies. She is currently directing the project Neugestaltung des Österreichischen Heldendenkmals in Vienna (Reconceptualisation of the Austrian Hero’s Monument). Her current publications are Gedächtnis im 21. Jahrhundert. Zur Neuverhandlung eines kulturwissenschaftlichen Leitbegriffs (Ljiljana Radonić and Heidemarie Uhl (eds.), Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2016); Habsburg neu denken. Vielfalt und Ambivalenz in Zentraleuropa. 30 kulturwissenschaftliche Stichworte (Johannes Feichtinger and Heidemarie Uhl (eds.), Wien-Köln-Weimar: Böhlau, 2016) and 41 Tage. Kriegsende 1945. Verdichtung der Gewalt. Eine Ausstellung zu den letzten Wochen des NS-Terrors in Österreich. Mit Fotografien von Stefan Oláh (Dieter A. Binder, Georg Hoffmann, Monika Sommer and Heidemarie Uhl, Wien: Mandelbaum, 2016, http://www.mandelbaum.at/books/767/7704“\o”).