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Austria Not the First Victim After All? With the succession of a new post-War generation in the early 1960s, Austrians began to scrutinize the nation's master narrative – that Austria was the first victim of the National-Socialists. Starting from the cultural scene this process developed its own dynamic in connection with the death of the Communist resistance fighter Ernst Kirchweger in 1965. The politicization of the student generation above all and the emergence of a new type of critical journalism contributed significantly to a long-term change in the circumstances for developing an awareness of history. These changes were visible in both scandals and new habitats of memory. |
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The new construction of the master narrative concerned above all the events of March 1938. The photographs – they show the pogrom-like violence against the Jewish inhabitants of Vienna immediately after the "Anschluss" – testify that it was the Jews, not the Austrians, who were the victims. Jews had to clean the streets as the Austrians laughed derisively on the side. This humiliation was now interpreted as the specifically Austrian share of the National-Socialist extermination policy. The occurrences became a symbol for their culpable involvement and collaboration with the Germans. |
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The motif of the Jew cleaning the street served Gerhard Haderer as the model for his "Profil" caricature on the "Anschluss" pogrom. Austrian Jews – including Sigmund Freud – have to clean the streets under the mocking gaze of the passers-by. |
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