Criticism of the taboo: Austria discusses Vienna's Heldenplatz and the "Hitler Balcony"

This Sunday, Austria celebrated the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Second Republic with a state ceremony at the Vienna Hofburg. Two weeks after the liberation of Vienna from Nazi rule, the provisional government of Karl Renner proclaimed Austria's independence as a democratic republic on April 27, 1945. The so-called Anschluss to the "Third Reich" was declared "null and void."

The declaration made no mention of co-responsibility for the Second World War and the Holocaust; on the contrary: Austria was "the first free country to fall victim to Hitler's aggression," the document stated . This codified the "victim thesis," whose internationally legitimate foundation had already been provided by the Moscow Declaration of 1943. The young republic settled into this comfortable lie for decades. It was not until the Waldheim Affair in 1986 that it began to falter, and in 1991, Chancellor Vranitzky became the first official to acknowledge Austria's complicity.

Today, practically nothing remains of the myth of the first victim. The reassessment of history has been steady and thorough. Yet the republic continues to struggle with its past after the collapse of the Habsburg monarchy. This is evident, for example, in the various names given to the Dollfuss-Schuschnigg regime from 1933 to 1938 or in the years-long dispute over Hitler's birthplace in Braunau, which was summarily demolished a few years ago.

There was also a long debate about what to do with the statue of Karl Lueger in the center of Vienna. The mayor from 1897 to 1910 shaped the capital, but was also a fervent anti-Semite, thus paving the way for Hitler's ideology. Two years ago, after a competition, it was decided to tilt the monument by 3.5 degrees . Implementation was planned for last year, but has been delayed.

The Republic, however, still seems perplexed when it comes to dealing with its most historic square in the heart of Vienna, Heldenplatz. Surrounded on two sides by the Hofburg Palace and featuring two equestrian monuments, the imperial past is omnipresent here. Leading into Ballhausplatz, where the Chancellery and the Presidential Chancellery are located, it also forms the country's political center and is therefore a frequent site of large demonstrations.

Beyond that, the use of Heldenplatz, to which Thomas Bernhard dedicated his most famous play in 1988, is rather mundane. It's also a large parking lot and a dog park. Nothing, however, reminds us of the turning point in Austrian history for which Heldenplatz also stands: Here, on March 15, 1938, around 250,000 enthusiastic people cheered Adolf Hitler as he announced the "Anschluss" of Austria to the German Reich from the so-called balcony of the New Castle. The terrace above the building's main entrance is therefore also known as the "Hitler Balcony."

The new government, in office since the beginning of March, has now announced its intention to make a statement. Under the title "Impetus for Contemporary Remembrance Work," its program states that the use of the square should be examined. With this, the coalition is resuming a years-long debate in which ideas about the square's redesign diverge widely.

The House of Austrian History, the country's contemporary history museum, also contributed to this. It opened in 2018, also after decades of controversy – provisionally and in too small a space – in the Neue Burg. Since its inception, it has strived to contextualize the "Hitler Balcony," in particular, as the rooms leading onto the balcony are part of the exhibition space. It would also like to make the terrace accessible to visitors.

However, the balcony is not the responsibility of the House of History, but of the Burghauptmannschaft (castle administration), which keeps it closed for security reasons. Only in very exceptional cases were victims of the Nazi regime allowed to enter the area. Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel was allowed to give a speech from the balcony in 1992. Apart from that, this "icon of Austrian co-responsibility," as the contemporary historian Heidemarie Uhl, who died in 2023, put it, remains a taboo place.

Monika Sommer, director of the House of History, speaks of a shameful historical-political gap. The recent past is thus being forgotten, she argues. This is typical of Austria's art of repression. However, this almost sacred inviolability poses an even greater risk of exaggeration and appropriation. This became apparent two years ago, for example, when the FPÖ youth party staged the "Hitler Balcony" in a video featuring right-wing extremist imagery, triggering a scandal.

The House of History aims to counteract this and, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of independence, together with the University of Art and Design Linz, invited artists to develop ideas for a memorial on the balcony of the New Castle. Three projects were recently presented: One envisions placing a massive boulder of granite from the quarry of the former Mauthausen concentration camp on the terrace, another a glass ceiling over the area that would prevent people from standing fully upright. A third proposes a "turn" of the balcony inward and a water feature. Feasibility should not play a role in the designs; implementation is neither planned nor realistic. The idea is to provide food for thought, says Sommer.

However, it remains unclear how much time is left to contextualize the site, at least within the museum's premises. The last government decided that the House of History should move to a new building in the Museumsquartier. There, it would gain more exhibition space – however, the construction alone would cost around 40 million euros, not including operation. A feasibility study also notes that there is a lack of space for offices and collection storage. Whether the move will bring the desired enhancement of the museum's content is therefore questionable.

It is clear that the current location is more prominent and of central historical importance—actually an ideal setting for engaging with the contemporary history of the Republic. This is why opposition to the move has been voiced. A committee of prominent figures, including actor Cornelius Obonya, writer Doron Rabinovici, and the director of the Jewish Museum, Barbara Staudinger, argues that this would "lead to the political orphanhood of one of Austria's most important places of remembrance."

In the newspaper "Der Standard," historian Markus Wurzer of the University of Graz also argues against relocating the House of History. Now that the generation of Holocaust survivors is being lost, sites tainted by Nazi history are becoming the crucial sites for the political struggles over interpretation. The "Hitler Balcony" is anchored in the collective visual memory like no other place, and the arrival of the Contemporary History Museum was therefore a stroke of luck. While it requires more space, it will be located in the Hofburg, the historian writes.

How the government will respond to the appeals remains to be seen. Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler, who has been in charge for a few weeks, stated that he has a great deal of understanding for these voices "given the historic nature of the site." The project documents are currently being reviewed.