Austria unveils first national Holocaust memorial as it confronts its past 'role as perpetrators'

A person stands at the Shoah Wall of Names Memorial in front of the engraved name of his grandfather who was a victim of the NS regime in Vienna, Austria. Photo / AP

Austria unveiled its first national memorial to those who died in the Holocaust in Vienna this week, hailing it as an important step in confronting "our role as perpetrators".

The memorial, which lists the names of all 64,440 Austrian Jews murdered by the Nazis, is the latest evidence of a major shift in Austria's perception of its World War II past.

For decades, Austria regarded itself as the first victim of the Nazis and considered the 1938 Anschluss with Germany as an occupation that was forced upon it. Successive governments refused to accept any Austrian guilt for the crimes of the Nazis.

But Alexander Schallenberg, the current Austrian chancellor, told a different story as he unveiled the new memorial.

"Too many people stood on Heroes' Square in March 1938 and celebrated," he said of the vast crowds that turned out to hail Hitler's triumphant arrival in the capital.

"Too many watched and took part as their fellow human beings were robbed, driven out and murdered. And we looked away for too long, until we became aware of our role as perpetrators."

Until now, Vienna's only memorial to Austrian victims has been inside the city's central synagogue.

"With this wall of names we pull their names and their history out of oblivion," Mr Schallenberg said. "We give them back their identity, their individuality and with that part of their humanity. And they once again have a place in their homeland."

A relative of victims of the NS regime visits the Shoah Wall of Names Memorial after the inauguration ceremony, in Vienna, Austria. Photo / AP

The opening of the memorial is the latest step in a new approach that saw Austria offer citizenship to the descendants of Austria Holocaust victims for the first time last year.

The change in attitude began under the government of former chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who was forced to resign amid a corruption scandal last month.

Remarkably, it was backed by his former coalition partners from the far-Right Freedom Party (FPO), which was founded by a former SS officer.

Austria was once notorious for the Nazi-era memorials and war graves that could still be found decades after the end of the war.

The Shoah Wall of Names Memorial carries the name of every Austrian Jew who fell victim to the NS regime in Vienna, Austria. Photo / AP

But recent years have seen efforts to change that. This summer the town of Imst said it would remove a memorial to three former Waffen-SS soldiers.

The memorial was built in 1970 in the mistaken belief the men were executed by US forces more than a week after the surrender of Austria.

But Vienna authorities have rejected calls to remove a statue of Karl Lueger, a former mayor whose anti-Semitic rhetoric is regarded as a forerunner of Nazism.

Lueger railed against Jews as "murderers of God" who were responsible for the "expropriation of the indigenous population". Hitler described him in Mein Kampf as "the finest German mayor in history".

But he is also credited with the transformation of Vienna into a modern city. He created the tram network and is responsible for many of the city's parks and gardens, as well as hospitals and clean drinking water.

Campaigners have been calling for his statue to be torn down, and last year it was defaced with graffiti of the word Schande, or "shame".

But the Viennese authorities have rejected calls to remove the statue as "cancel culture", and say they will install new art "contextualising" Lueger's history instead.

"We can't just remove from the public sphere everything that bothers us about the city's history, even if it is a guilt-laden and painful history," said Veronica Kaup-Hasler, the city councillor in charge of cultural affairs.