Counter-Monument Practices in Vienna, Austria
Multidirectional Memory and Transnationality in Contemporary Struggles Against Antisemitism, Racism and Anti-Romaism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3986/fv.45.2.04Keywords:
multidirectional memory, transnationality, counter-memory, monuments, antiracism, anti-Romaism, antisemitismAbstract
This article researches multidirectional memory and transnationality in recent examples of counter-monument practices in Austria’s capital city, Vienna, specifically in regard to fights against antisemitism, racist discrimination and anti-Romaism. How have multidirectional strategies shaped counter-mnemonic struggle? Additionally, to what extent are they influenced by transnationality? Three examples of counter-monument practices are discussed in parallel: (1) The protests against the “Lueger monument,” commemorating an antisemitic former mayor of Vienna; (2) the illegally installed Marcus Omofuma Stone, commemorating the racist police murder of a Nigerian asylum seeker in 1999; and, (3) the ongoing struggle to commemorate the Porajmos, the genocide of the Roma under Nazi rule, with a monument in Vienna. Seemingly unrelated to one another, each case constitutes a struggle between national, hegemonic, commemorative narratives, on the one hand, and agents of civil society that challenge these narratives, on the other. While none of the three examples constitutes an obvious case of multidirectional memory making, each of these struggles to counter racist, discriminatory pasts did generate a platform to speak about more than just one memory, also such that transcend national boundaries.
Downloads
References
Acton, Thomas. “Beginnings and Growth of Transnational Movements of Roma to Achieve Civil Rights after the Holocaust.” RomArchive, accessed August 12, 2023. https://www.romarchive.eu/en/roma-civil-rights-movement/beginnings-and-growth-transnational-movements-roma/.
Amnesty International. “Amnesty International Report 2003 – Austria.” Refworld, May 28, 2003. https://www.refworld.org/docid/3edb47cd4.html.
Amnesty International. “Austria: Incidents of Police Brutality Continue.” March 24, 2000. https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/eur13/007/2000/en/.
Assmann, Aleida. “A Wake-up Call in the Heart of the City: Interventions Concerning the Karl Lueger Monument in Vienna.” In Open Call: Handbuch zur Umgestaltung des Lueger-Denkmals, edited by Jasmina Hirschl and Lilly Panholze, 61–65. Vienna:
Arbeitskreis zur Umgestaltung des Lueger-Denkmals in ein Mahnmal gegen Antisemitismus und Rassismus, 2011.
Beck, Evelyn Torton, Elazar Benyoëtz, Riane Eisler, Zvi Jagendorf, Eric Kandel, Kurt Rosenkranz, Lore Segal, Fred Terna, and Georg Stefan Troller. “Offener Brief an Bürgermeister Ludwig.” Internationale Liga gegen Rassismus und Antisemitismus in Österreich, June 27, 2022. https://lueger.licra.at/.
Borggräfe, Henning, and Akim Jah, eds. Deportations in the Nazi Era: Sources and Research. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2023.
Bratić, Ljubomir. “On Past and Present Populism.” In Open Call: Handbuch zur Umgestaltung des Lueger-Denkmals, edited by Jasmina Hirschl and Lilly Panholze, 129–37. Vienna: Arbeitskreis zur Umgestaltung des Lueger-Denkmals in ein Mahnmal gegen Antisemitismus und Rassismus, 2011.
Edore, Patrick. “The Marcus Omofuma Memorial in Vienna (2003).” Black Central Europe, accessed June 23, 2023. https://blackcentraleurope.com/sources/1989-today/the-marcus-omofuma-memorial-in-vienna-2003/.
European Union. “A Union of Equality: EU Roma Strategic Framework for Equality, Inclusion and Participation; Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council.” October 7, 2020. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0620.
Foucault, Michel. Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1977.
Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte von Marginalisierten und MigrantInnen. 1000 Jahre Haft: Operation Spring und institutioneller Rassismus; Resümee einer antirassistischen Gruppe. Vienna: Verein für Antirassistische Öffentlichkeitsarbeit, 2005.
Hamann, Brigitte. Hitler’s Vienna: A Dictator’s Apprenticeship. London: Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2010.
Hintermann, Christiane. “Migrationsgeschichte im öffentlichen Raum: Die Konstruktion eines Gedächtnisortes am Beispiel des Marcus Omofuma-Steins in Wien.” In Migration und Integration: Wissenschaftliche Perspektiven aus Österreich, edited by Jennifer Carvill Schellenbacher, Julia Dahlvik, Heinz Fassmann, and Christoph Reinprecht, 241–56. Göttingen: V&R unipress, 2016.
Hirschl, Jasmina, and Lilly Panholze, eds. Open Call: Handbuch zur Umgestaltung des Lueger-Denkmals. Vienna: Arbeitskreis zur Umgestaltung des Lueger-Denkmals in ein Mahnmal gegen Antisemitismus und Rassismus, 2011.
Hoare, Liam. “New Art Installation Inflames Row over Vienna’s Statue of Antisemite.” The Jewish Chronicle, October 27, 2022. https://www.thejc.com/news/world/new-art-installation-inflames-row-over-vienna%27s-statue-of-antisemite-7JnpqoOV23Q4FwrPihjWty.
Majtényi, György. “The Memory and Historiography of Porrajmos: Making a Transnational National Site of Memory.” Shoah: Intervention. Methods. Documentation. 8, no. 1 (2021): 86–103. https://doi.org/10.23777/SN.0121/ART_GMAJ01.
Parlament Österreich. “168. Sitzung des Nationalrates der Republik Österreich: XX. Gesetzgebungsperiode Montag, 10. Mai 1999.” Accessed July 3, 2023. https://www.parlament.gv.at/dokument/XX/NRSITZ/168/fnameorig_114325.html.
Pirker, Peter, Johannes Kramer, and Mathias Lichtenwagner. “Transnational Memory Spaces in the Making: World War II and Holocaust Remembrance in Vienna.” International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society 32, no. 4 (December 2019): 439–58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10767-019-09331-w.
Polzer-Srienz, Mirjam. “The Representation of Small Ethnic Groups by State Bodies: The Case of Austria and Slovenia.” In (Hidden) Minorities: Language and Ethnic Identity between Central Europe and the Balkans, edited by Christian Promitzer, Klaus-Jurgen Hermanik, and Eduard Staudinger, 59–74. Vienna: Lit, 2009.
Roma_2020. “Zentrales Mahnmal in Wien: Bald ein Denkmal für die Roma und Sinti in Wien?” April 8, 2022. https://www.burgenland-roma.at/index.php/politik-und-gesellschaft/zentrales-mahnmal-in-wien.
Rothberg, Michael. Multidirectional Memory: Remembering the Holocaust in the Age of Decolonization. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009.
Schneider, Rolf. “Die Furcht vor Haider ist berechtigt.” Die Welt, April 2, 2000. https://www.welt.de/103582524.
Schult, Tanja. “Wien braucht dieses Lueger-Denkmal nicht!” Der Standard, June 20, 2023. https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000175312/und-ewig-gr252223t-der-lueger.
Six, Nicole, and Paul Petritsch. “Lueger Temporary.” Accessed March 23, 2023. https://www.luegertemporär.at/en/.
Der Standard. “Gedenkstein für Marcus Omofuma.” October 13, 2003. https://www.derstandard.at/story/1446536/gedenkstein-fuer-marcus-omofuma.
Tello, Verónica. Counter-Memorial Aesthetics: Refugee Histories and the Politics of Contemporary Art. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.
Truger, Ulrike. “Denkmalschutz für Marcus Omofuma Stein.” Bildhauerin Ulrike Truger. Accessed March 10, 2023. https://www.ulriketruger.at/omofuma-stein.
Truger, Ulrike. “Omofuma Stein.” Bildhauerin Ulrike Truger. Accessed July 3, 2023. https://www.ulriketruger.at/omofuma-stein.
Tumbas, Jasmina. “Countering Persecution, Misconceptions, and Nationalism: Roma Identity and Contemporary Activist Art.” In Shifting Corporealities in Contemporary Performance: Danger, Im/Mobility and Politics, edited by Marina Gržinić and Aneta Stojnić, 103–27. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.
Uhl, Heidemarie. “Out of True: Monuments and Reflective Memorial Culture.” In Open Call: Handbuch zur Umgestaltung des Lueger-Denkmals, edited by Jasmina Hirschl and Lilly Panholze, 45–55. Vienna: Arbeitskreis zur Umgestaltung des Lueger-Denkmals in ein Mahnmal gegen Antisemitismus und Rassismus, 2011.
Urbaner, Roman. “Der Blinde Fleck: O Koro Than.” dROMa 56, no. 2–3 (Summer/Fall 2019): 10–13.
Wien ORF. “50.000 bei ‘Black Lives Matter’-Demo.” June 4, 2020. https://wien.orf.at/stories/3051825/.
Young, James Edward. The Texture of Memory: Holocaust Memorials and Meaning. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Authors
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit their self to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
More in: Submission chapter
