Memorial to those persecuted by the Nazi military justice system
The memorial for those persecuted by the Nazi military justice is an Austrian memorial for deserters of the Nazi regime and is located on Ballhausplatz in Vienna's 1st district, the inner city , opposite the Federal Chancellery and the official residence of the Federal President in the Hofburg .
The establishment was suggested by the former deserter Richard Wadani and the Personnel Committee Justice for Victims of Nazi Military Justice . A design by the German conceptual artist Olaf Nicolai based on a poem by the Scottish writer Ian Hamilton Finlay was implemented . On October 24, 2014, the memorial was opened to the public by Federal President Heinz Fischer .
The City of Vienna is the monument setter .
background
The National Socialist military justice imposed between 25,000 and 30,000 death sentences during the Second World War , most of them against deserters , self-mutilators , “ disruptors of military strength ” and conscientious objectors . More than half of these judgments were carried out, around 2,000 of which concerned Austrians.
Prominent Austrian deserters included HC Artmann , Friedrich Cerha , Dietmar Schönherr and Oskar Werner . Among the victims of Nazi Military Justice includes the conscientious objectors , whose best-known example Franz Jägerstätter by the Nazi regime through in August 1943 guillotine executed and the in 2007. Catholic Roman Church beatified was. The political right accuses deserters of cowardice before the enemy or denounces them as "comrade killers". In the 1300 cases of deserted Austrians examined by Walter Manoschek , only two homicides were committed.
Emergence
In 1990, a group led by the then Green District Councilor in Leopoldstadt , Friedrun Huemer , carried out an action for the deserters of the Wehrmacht in Vienna. The former deserter Richard Wadani , who founded the personal committee » Justice for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice «, which was established as an association in 2008, played a major role in the enforcement of the legal recognition of the deserters and in the decision for a memorial . Wadani achieved the breakthrough in 2009 when the then President of the National Council, Barbara Prammer, took up the matter and in October of the same year a bill was presented by the SPÖ , ÖVP and the Greens . On October 21, 2009, with the votes of the SPÖ, ÖVP and the Greens , the Austrian National Council decided to rehabilitate all victims of persecution by the Wehrmacht courts, and in 2010 the new red-green coalition in Vienna agreed in its government agreement on the erection of a memorial to commemorate the deserters.
The repeal of the judgments against deserters took place later in Austria than in the Federal Republic of Germany , where the repeal of the unjust judgments took place with the first amendment to the law for the repeal of national socialist judgments in the criminal justice system on July 23, 2002.
Immediately after the Rehabilitation Act was passed in 2009, the Personnel Committee Justice for Victims of Nazi Military Justice began lobbying for a memorial at a central location in Vienna. For this, the personal committee was able to win over a number of well-known personalities from politics , art and culture as well as Austrian civil society .
competition
The cost of the monument was budgeted at EUR 200,000, which was borne in full by the City of Vienna's Department of Culture. The organization of the tender and the realization of the monument was entrusted to the institution of art in public space Vienna. The competition was conducted as a one-step, invited process. The jury was chaired by the architect Martin Kohlbauer . a. to the artist Anna Jermolaeva, the curator Lilli Hollein , the art historian Dirk Luckow , the historian Peter Pirker and the historian Heidemarie Uhl . In addition to the winner Nicolai, seven other projects took part: the German-Uruguayan artist Luis Camnitzer , the French collective Claire Fontaine, the Slovak-Canadian Documenta participant Vera Frenkel , and from Austria the duo Helmut and Johanna Kandl, Ernst Logar, the winners of the Kardinal-König-Art Prize 2007, Nicole Six / Paul Petritsch, and Heimo Zobernig .
sculpture
The memorial represents an oversized, lying X, is cast in slightly bluish concrete and designed as a walk-in or climbable monument. The inscription cannot be deciphered from street level. "According to the project description, the X is a" sign of anonymization to which the individual is subject and which makes him a sign in a list, an X "in one act. On the other hand, the X is also a "statement of self-confident positioning". One should think of the black civil rights activist Malcolm X. ”Olaf Nicolai“ takes up the classic elements of a memorial, “ base ” and “ inscription ”, but arranges them in a completely different way than traditional war memorials. “The base is three-tiered, with the third level the inscription that can only be read from above. The inscription, consisting of the words "all" and "alone", is based on a poem by the Scottish artist Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925-2006), where the word "alone" is only reproduced once - at the intersection of the two lines whereas the word “all” 32 times. "The interplay of base and inscription stages the situation of the individual in and in relation to social order and power relations."
“The decision of the deserter to face himself alone, to face himself outside of a structure, of a community, requires a great deal of personal courage. I myself know situations from my biography where I have seen people make such decisions. "
The artist's intention thus corresponds to the commission: “The sculpture shows respect to those who make their own decision, who oppose external control and who act independently against the current system.” “The original idea of painting the monument blue, was discarded again, instead the paint was mixed into the concrete. According to KÖR, this is reminiscent of a "faded jeans blue", a color with which the artist associates the hero of the novel from Ulrich Plenzdorf's " The New Sorrows of Young W. " - a dropout who refuses. "
opening
The opening ceremony took place on October 24, 2014 on Ballhausplatz. The central speeches were given by David Ellensohn , club chairman of the Greens in Vienna, the deserter (and initiator of law and memorials) Richard Wadani , the writer Kathrin Röggla and Minister of Culture Josef Ostermayer (SPÖ) before Federal President Heinz Fischer made the opening:
"Everyone should know that it is honorable to follow one's conscience and to be on the right side when dealing with a brutal and inhuman dictatorship."
David Ellensohn emphasized: "Desertion is always an act of peace." Michael Häupl stated that it has finally been established that deserters are "part of the anti-fascist resistance". "It took almost 70 years", summarized the political scientist Walter Manoschek in his speech. “A shadow remains, only a few people affected can still experience this comprehensive rehabilitation today.” Before, in between and afterwards there were artistic elements - a dance performance by Mikael Marklund, excerpts from Friedrich Cerha's Spiegel VI (from the tape) and the song Sag No! , an excerpt from the ode to the deserter by Frederic Rzewski based on texts by Wolfgang Borchert and Kurt Tucholsky . The choir sang opposing voices .
At the inauguration ceremony for the monument, other deserters from the Wehrmacht were present as guests of honor, including Friedrich Cerha, Josef Stachl and Paul Vodicka , Defense and Sports Minister Gerald Klug and numerous representatives of the Federal Army in uniform, Mayor Michael Häupl and City Councilor for Culture Andreas Mailath-Pokorny for the the monument-donating city of Vienna and numerous prominent representatives of Austrian civil society , including the Holocaust survivor Rudolf Gelbard , the former chairman of the Greens and later Federal President , Alexander Van der Bellen , as well as the human rights activists Bruno Aigner , Nikolaus Kunrath and Christian Michelides .
resonance
The long duration of the recognition of this group of victims was generally felt to be painful. In his article in the Frankfurter Rundschau, Norbert Mappes-Niediek referred to the long delay in recognition: the title was given early, honored late .
criticism
The Austrian Comradeship Association protested against the planned erection of a memorial for deserters in Vienna at the expense of taxpayers, since desertion is a criminal offense in all constitutional states and a memorial therefore disavows the memory of fallen soldiers.
The FPÖ voted in the National Council against the legal recognition of the deserters as a group of victims and protested against the erection of a memorial at the Ballhausplatz location.
literature
- Alton, Juliane; Geldmacher, Thomas; Koch, Magnus; Metzler, Hannes (Ed.): "Awarded for fleeing the flags". The monument to the
Persecuted by the Nazi military justice in Vienna. Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag 2016. ISBN 978-3-8353-1823-6 ; Review on hsozkult
Web links
- Deserters monument , website with a comprehensive press review on the creation of the monument
- Chronology in an article in the newspaper Der Standard on October 20, 2014
- Vienna gets a deserters memorial , website of the personal committee »Justice for the Victims of Nazi Military Justice«
- Construction process of the monument in pictures , website of the press and information service of the City of Vienna
- cultural broadcasting archive , recording of the speeches on the occasion of the opening of the monument
- Interview with artist Olaf Nicolai: Thoughts on the memorial and why he chose the English text from a poem by Ian Hamilton Finkey. Read about in Art Magazin, the online presence of the art magazine Art from October 30, 2014 [1] .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Memorial opened for those persecuted by Nazi military justice ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Page on wien.gv.at, accessed on October 24, 2014
- ^ Vienna prominently recalls Wehrmacht deserters , article in Die Welt of October 23, 2014
- ↑ Christa Zöchling : The true war heroes: How prominent Austrians opposed the Nazi terror , profile , August 29, 2009
- ↑ Article "Difficult Escape, Cruel Hunt" , October 20, 2014 in the newspaper Der Standard
- ↑ Political scientist: Strache's statements about deserters "abstrus" , press article from September 15, 2009
- ^ Prammer for "complete rehabilitation" , article of the standard from September 1, 2009
- ↑ The Viennese deserters monument is opened , article in the Standard or APA dated October 23, 2014
- ↑ Vienna deserters monument planned on Ballhausplatz , article in Salzburger Nachrichten / APA of October 13, 2012
- ^ Deserters - "Perpetrators in a positive sense" , press article from February 14, 2014
- ↑ a b Norbert Mappes-Niediek : Early defense, late honor , Frankfurter Rundschau , October 25, 2014
- ↑ a b c Art in Public Space Vienna (KÖR): Olaf Nicolai: Memorial for those persecuted by Nazi military justice , viewed on February 23, 2017
- ↑ a b Die Presse : "Day of Satisfaction": deserters monument opened in Vienna , October 24, 2014
- ↑ Kathrin Röggla : "The deserter currently has a bad economy" , Der Standard , October 24, 2014
- ↑ cultural broadcasting archive , accessed on October 24, 2014
- ^ Controversy over the Vienna deserters monument , article on ORF.at from March 7, 2012, viewed on October 25, 2014
- ^ FPÖ protests against Nazi deserters memorial , press article from October 13, 2012
Coordinates: 48 ° 12 ′ 29 " N , 16 ° 21 ′ 48.2" E