In a joint press conference with contemporary historian Dirk Rupnow, Co-President Benjamin Kaufmann recommended a reinstallation in a museum context. In addition, a renaming of the Lueger-Platz was demanded.
Reference was also made to the open letter from well-known Holocaust survivors published at the weekend. Nine people, including Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel and the writer Georg Stefan Troller, call on Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) to act.
Initiative wants to see statue in museum
“It pains us that Karl Lueger, one of the most pronounced anti-Semites of the 19th and early 20th centuries, is still honored in the heart of Vienna. We believe the square needs to be renamed and the memorial removed. The city’s inaction on this matter (…) is shameful and the proposed ‘contextualization’ is insufficient (…),” the letter reads.
Other signatories include author Lore Segal, painter Fred Terna, psychologist Evelyn Torton Beck, writer Zvi Jagendorf, sociologist Riane Eisler, founder of the Vienna Jewish Film Festival Kurt Rosenkranz, and poet Elazar Benyoetz.
LICRA President Kaufmann emphasized that a simple removal is not enough. He was convinced that the elimination had nothing to do with “erasing history”. The statue should be brought to a place where it is accessible – but without appearing in public space. The installation was recommended in the Wien Museum or in the House of History.
“Monuments are honors”
The creation of a facility for “toxic monuments” is also conceivable. There are already international examples of this, reported Kaufmann. In any case, there is a clear opposition to contextualization. The Lueger monument should not become a “reinterpreted memorial”. Dirk Rupnow from the Innsbruck Institute for Contemporary History also confirmed: “Monuments are honours.”
In any case, space must first be created, it was emphasized today. A new design can then be actively initiated. This might happen in an artistic form, one suggests.
Greens also want the monument removed
The Viennese Greens also called for the sculpture to be dismantled on Monday. In a broadcast, they also referred to the regular protest rallies at the site. “Because of his anti-Semitism and populism, Lueger has had its day as a role model in democratic Vienna in the 21st century. It has nothing to do with a lack of historical awareness – quite the opposite,” said culture spokeswoman Ursula Berner with conviction.
The Greens are calling for the statue to be dismantled and the square to be renamed, for example following the historian Erika Weinzierl – the pioneer once morest anti-Semitism in Austria, as they emphasized. If that is not possible, at least the name should be changed to a neutral place name such as “Am Stubentor”.
City so far once morest distance
The city has so far opposed the removal of the monument to the former mayor and self-confessed anti-Semite Lueger (1844-1910). Rather, the aim is an “artistic contextualization”. A scientific committee is to determine the content-related criteria for the invited competition. The 20 meter high monument with a four meter high bronze figure of Lueger at the Stubentor was erected in 1926 and has been the subject of debate for years.
The controversial building has been spray-painted with the words “shame” since last year. SPÖ City Councilor for Culture Veronica Kaup-Hasler invited around 40 participants to a round table in May 2021 to bring together the different positions and stakeholders.
Incidentally, the former mayor lost “his” street back in 2012. At that time, the Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Ring was renamed the Universitätsring.
