The Heroes’ Monument for Fallen Soldiers of World War I, inaugurated in 1934, was one of the signature projects of the Austrian Ständestaat (corporate state). After 1945, the crypt of the Heroes’ Monument in the right wing of the Outer Castle Gate was also dedicated to the memory of the fallen Wehrmacht soldiers of World War II. In 1965, a memorial commemorating resistance to National Socialism was installed in the Weiheraum, part of the gate’s left wing. With its antagonistic memorial sites, the Heroes’ Monument symbolises the contradictions of Austria’s official post-war response to National Socialism, the Holocaust and war. In 2012, a process to redefine what is a central site of official Austrian memorial culture was initiated. This critical reflection on Austria’s own past led to the launch of the project “Redesigning the Austrian Heroes’ Monument” in 2014.

New Publication
Heidemarie Uhl, Richard Hufschmied, Dieter A. Binder (ed.),  Gedächtnisort der Republik. Das Österreichische Heldendenkmal im Äußeren Burgtor der Wiener Hofburg. Geschichte – Kontroversen – Perspektiven, Wien-Köln-Weimar: Böhlau Verlag 2021, 464 Seiten, 392 farbige und s/w Abb.