Memorial against war and fascism

The memorial against war and fascism (German: Mahnmal gegen Krieg und Faschismus) is a work by the Austrian sculptor Alfred Hrdlicka.

In the Austrian year of reflection 1988, the City of Vienna erected the "Memorial against War and Fascism" on the initiative of Mayor Helmut Zilk.

After the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria to the German Reich on 12 March 1938,[3] Jews were forced to clear the streets of pro-Austrian and anti-Nazi slogans in friction.

The bronze sculpture of a kneeling, street-washing Jew recalls this degradation and humiliation that preceded the merciless persecution and murder of Jewish citizens immediately after the Anschluss.

Orpheus enters Hades, a male figure rising in a block of marble, a memorial to the bomb victims and the sacrifices of those who resisted National Socialism at the risk of their lives.

On the one hand, some did not want to remember the role of the Austrians during National Socialism, others found the central location near the State Opera and the Albertina offensive.

Mayor Helmut Zilk, (the corresponding part of Albertinaplatz was named after him in 2009), as the owners representative of the City of Vienna, initially reacted with the argument of damage to property.

[7] As a reaction, Alfred Hrdlicka placed an iron barbed wire on the back of the statue to prevent further possession by persons.