Monument against War and Fascism in VIenna
Monument against War and Fascism in VIenna

THE HISTORY OF THE MONUMENT AGAINST WAR AND FASCISM IN VIENNA

Historical reminding of the period of Austrian history between 1938 and 1945 within the Third Reich is be not-so-familiar site in Vienna, located just 100 meters from the famous Vienna State Opera (Staatsoper) and next to the Albertina art gallery. The whole world knows it as the Monument against Fascism in Vienna (Mahnmal Gegen Krieg und Faschismus).

The Pilipphof building Vienna
The Pilipphof building was built in 1882-1884 to the North of the Opera House
Philliphof vor 1900, Albertinaplatz Wien, ehemals Augustinerstraße 8
The Pilipphof and the Albertinaplatz Square around 1900
Albertina monument in Vienna
A slightly different angle with the famous Albertina balcony to the left
The square and the Philliphof building
The square and the Philliphof building (on the left) in the 1930s

It took almost fifty years for Austrian authorities to initiate a memorial to the civil victims of the Second World War in the very heart of Vienna. The creative call for a new monument was announced only in 1988. Albertinaplatz Square, near Vienna State Opera, was determined as a site for the future ‘Monument against Fascism’. The place was infamous for Philipphof – a former family dwelling, destroyed during the war. On March 12, 1945 hundreds of its inhabitants were buried alive under the construction after an Allied air bombing strike. The remaining ruins of the Philipphod residential house were eliminated after the War in 1947 to reveal a part of the future open square. The monument against Fascism in Vienna was ceremonially unveiled on November 24, 1988. This Vienna War memorial consists of a separate thematic composition with its meaning and respect.

Albertinaplatz Square in 1975
Albertinaplatz Square in 1975 with still an empty place on the site of the former Philliphof
Monument against War and Fascism unveiled in 1988
The panorama of the Memorial site from the balcony of the Albertina Gallery during my September 2017 visit to Vienna
Vienna momument against fascism
This stone plate on the pavement pays honor to all victims of Fascism

“Tor der Gewalt”, which is generally translated as “Gates of Violence” or “Gates of Power” or sometimes – “Gates of War” is the first compositional part of this Vienna war memorial. A stone scene of images of war was created of a piece of granite rock, taken from the infamous Mauthausen quarry, next to the Mauthausen concentration camp near Linz in Austria. The camp was the biggest among others on the territory of pre-war Austria and had been taking advantage of thousands of prisoners, starting from Anschluss in 1938.

“Gates of Violence” is to be divisible into two separate parts. The one on the left side honors victims of repressive actions and persecutions under the Nazi regime between 1938 and 1945, along with victims of prisons and concentration camps. The right part of the “Gates of Violence” monument honors all casualties of the Second World War, both civil and military. Statues consist of stone images with one particular famous – a figure of a woman upside down, giving birth to a child. It symbolizes the after-war lost generation, who have not seen the horrors of war.

The Monument against Fascism in the center of Vienna
From this angle, you may grasp all the elements of the Memorial
Monument to honor the victims of the fascism in Vienna
The Gates of Violence on the other occasion four years later during sunny weather still resemblance the pain of millions of people
Mahnmal Gegen Krieg und Faschismus
The architectural composition of each part leaves you with a depressing yet important impression
Mahnmal Gegen Krieg und Faschismus in Vienna
The right section of the Gates

Stepping over the “Gates of Violence”, we see the on-ground bronze statue, depicting an old Jew, who had to suffer humiliation. Just after the Anschluss in March 1938, anti-Semitic actions had become a common scene and, sometimes, Jews were forced to wash streets on their knees, sweeping anti-Nazi mottos. The back of a statue is covered with barbed wire – one of the symbols of imprisonment within concentration camps. This element has been added after a while – people used the bronze statue as a place to sit.

Monument statue to Old Jew, washing streets in Austria
The on-ground bronze statue of the Jew symbolizes the humiliation and racial intolerance which brought Europe to the genocide
The old Jew statue Vienna
The figure of the old man is not only depicted close to the ground but also covered with barbed wire thus symbolizing the concentration and death camps
Jews forced to clean the pavement in Vienna on March 13, 1938
Viennese Jews were forced to clean the pavement on the day of the Anschluss on March 13, 1938

The next composition within Vienna Monument against Fascism is known as “Orpheus Enters the Underground World”. Stone man figure transfixed in white marble. The statue honors both people, who resisted the Nazi regime and civil casualties of the airstrike bombing, in particular in Vienna, particularly those, who died under the ruins of the Philipphof house.

Orpheus enters the Underground world Vienna war statue
‘Orpheus Enters the Underground World’ marble statue honors the civil casualties
Monument against fascism in Vienna
The same perspective during my return to the site in September 2021
Orpheus Statue VIenna momument against fascism
Even more severe perspective with the head of the man separated from the body stacked in marble

The stone of the Republic“, stands next to Orpheus and symbolizes the will for freedom and independence. It was covered with the names of Austrians who proclaimed the necessity of the Austrian Republic Renaissance and the text of the Declaration of Independence of Austria on April 27, 1945.

The stone of Republic in Vienna. Monument against fascism
“The Stone of the Republic” from the ground perspective
The stone of Republic Vienna
the text of the Declaration of Independence of Austria