1934: Removal of the Monument to the Republic

On November 12, 1928,  the municipality of Vienna unveiled a monument as a commemoration for the establishment of the Austrian Republic. For the Christian-conservative and German-nationalist camps, this monument was the expression of an intolerable political and social order (it comprised busts of Social Democrats Viktor Adler, Jakob Reumann and Ferdinand Hanusch, and was located on the “Ring des 12. November”, referring to the day on which the Republic was declared). On February 14, 1934, the Austrofascist regime, which had already forbidden celebrating the Day of the Republic in 1933, shrouded the Monument to the Republic with the red-white-red flag, complete with crutch crosses, the symbol of the regime. Then, on the night from February 19 to 20, 1934, the three busts were removed. Pictures of Engelbert Dollfuss, Ernst Rüdiger Starhemberg and Emil Fey, as well as a national flag and the flag of the Austrian Homeland Protection (Heimatschutz) were first mounted on and above the marble blocks of the monument prior to its dismantling. Vienna’s Federal Commissioner, Richard Schmitz wanted to eliminate the “provocative monument of the Social Democratic Party”. Contrary to initial plans, the monument was not used as a “patriotic memorial”, but was stored away in the stadium hall. On November 12, 1948, the municipality of Vienna succeeded at re-erecting the Monument to the Republic.