1939: The New Federal State Parliament (Landhaus) and the Landhausplatz in Innsbruck

Innsbruck’s current Landhaus was originally built for the Nazi administration. After the consolidation of the states of Tyrol and Vorarlberg into the Tyrol-Vorarlberg Gau or administrative district (excluding East-Tyrol), the administration rooms in the (old) Landhaus had become too small. An area of low houses with winding streets was to be replaced as a newly designed square named “Gauforum” was to emerge – the epitome of the “healthy traditions of autochthonous people in the example of architecture”. It was not only the completed “Gauforum”, but also the method of construction that was to flaunt the party's power. The inhabitants of the old houses in the city centre had to give way to the “Gauforum”. The plan was to use that space to house the central offices of the Nazi party and administrative institutions. One of its two axes was the connection between “Gauhaus” and the “House of the German Mountaineers” planned to the south. Central administration offices were to be located to the West of these buildings. However, only the “Gauhaus” could be completed; the various other plans for the expansion of Innsbruck were not realised before the liberation in 1945. Today, the former “Gauhaus” serves as the seat of the state government and its secondary agencies.

So as not to leave the Nazi’s architectural claim to power unchallenged in the city centre and also in order to win over the Tyrolean population, the French military administration of Tyrol and Vorarlberg built a freedom monument on the square in front of the current Landhaus between 1946 and 1948. The names of murdered members of the local resistance are mounted on the sides of the monument. The monument itself refers directly to the former “Gauhaus”. Due to its size and striking design, it overrides the Nazi architecture and its goal of dominating the square.

Since 2000, the Landhausplatz (“Eduard-Walnöfer-Platz”, “Eduard-Walnöfer-Square”) has developed into a central location in the Tyrolean memory landscape with numerous monuments, including several related to National Socialism. As part of the redesign of the square in 2011, the “Freedom Monument” was made more accessible and the names of further resistance fighters were added.