Österreichische Gedenkkultur zu Widerstand und Krieg. Denkmäler und Gedächtnisorte in Wien 1945 bis 1986 by Karl Klambauer

Abstract

230 AUSTRIAN STUDIES l6 (20 8) of a whole range of works in a host of languages must remain a subject for further scrutiny; and Stefan Winterstein's exploration of the importance for Artmann of a veritable pantheon of twentieth-century comic-book characters, including Donald Duck, various cartoon mice from Jerry and Speedy Gonzalez toArt Spiegelman's Maus, and the cast of the Austrianized 'Asterix-Mundart' series. These case-studies, illustrative of the importance of high and low cultural components inArtmann's intertextual strategies, are followed by personal rem iniscences (Jean-Paul Jacobs's 'Verf?hrung zur Poesie' and Peter Rosei's 'Frag mentarisches ?ber H. C. Artmann') and an eight-page 'Chronik' of Artmann's life. Clearly, books were forArtmann verymuch visual objects, at times objetsd'art even. It isparticularly fitting thatWann ordnest Du Deine B?cherV should contain over ?oo illustrations, including sumptuous reproductions of book-covers, page designs, Artmann's annotations and marginalia, ex libns labels, handwritten dedications and numerous snapshots of Artmann and friends in a variety of guises and poses, as well as photographs of the author's assembled volumes still standing resplendent in his original library.Artmann, a perfectionist in matters of book-design and visual impact, would have been delighted with the resultant volume. The editors and their various contributors are to be warmly congratulated on their achievement. King's College London John J.White ?sterreichische Gedenkkultur zuWiderstand und Kneg. Denkm?ler und Ged?chtnisorte inWien 1945 bis 1986. By Karl Klambauer. Innsbruck: StudienVerlag. 2006. 333 pp. 37,90. isbn 978-3-7065-4076-6. Karl Klambauer's book on Viennese memorials commemorating events of the Second (and, to a degree, the First) World War was rather negatively desc ribed in a recent online review by Martin Moll (published in H-Soz-u-Kult, 05.09.2007, http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/2007-3 174). Moll rightly takes issue with the rather overelaborate and repetitive prose characteristic of Klambauer's study. Indeed the style ispositively baroque. At one point, referring to a commemorative window inVienna's Votivkirche, Klambauer writes: 'Im Hinblick auf das "Mauthausen"-Fenster ist es nun, um es einmal gem??igt zu formulieren, ?u?erst erstaunlich oder zumindest bemerkenswert, die historische Existenz und Realit?t des nationalsozialistischen KZ Mauthausen als Repr?sentation einer ?sterreichischen Ruhmes- und Ehrengeschichte sehen zu k?nnen und auch anzuf?hren' (p. 216). However, Moll's other criticisms seem tome wide of the mark. Thus he takes Klambauer to task for focusing on 'wenig bekannte Ged?chtnisorte'. In his book, Klambauer examines Fritz Cremer's famous Memorial toNazi victims inVienna's Central Cemetery, and the 'Heimkehrer-Ged?chtnismal' on the Leopoldsberg, both unveiled in 1948. He also devotes much attention not just to thewell-known O5 memorial on the Stephansdom and the return of the famous bell in 1952 (the 'Pummerin'), but also to other memorializing aspects within the Stephansdom and theVotivkirche ? the former arguably Vienna's most visited building. No doubt there are other AUSTRIAN STUDIES l6 (20 8) 231 memorials Klambauer could have examined. But those he does choose to explore are hardly 'little known'. Besides, his focus is largely on those memorial sites and issues which preoccupied the Second Republic in the period 1950-70, not those which are the focus of attention today (such as Rachel Whiteread's Holocaust memorial on the Judenplatz, dedicated in 2000). Klambauer's book shows clearly how the wish to present Austria as a victim of recent history played a central role in a range of post-war memorial projects. This wish was shared by almost all those involved in such memorializing projects ? notably the political parties (?VP, KP?, SP?), the veterans' organizations, the surviving victims of Nazi oppression and the Catholic Church. However, at the same time, as Klambauer also demonstrates, each group had a different memory agenda, leading to tensions and 'memory conflicts'. The conservative political establishment tended towards a positive view of Austro-Fascism, for instance, understanding it as an attempted bulwark against Nazism; by contrast, the Communists and Social Democrats regarded Austro-Fascism as a form of victimization partly comparable to Nazism. The Communists focused on memory of Communist suffering, while...