“Burdened” Sites—Vanished Symbols
The National Socialist German Reich strove to position itself as the legitimate successor to the Holy Roman Empire, which the Habsburgs had dominated for centuries. The Hofburg in Vienna played a central role in this. Adolf Hitler’s speech on the terrace of the Neue Burg remains the symbol of the Anschluss (“Annexation”) of Austria. Nazi propaganda later inserted itself into the terrace with two visible symbols of memory of 15 March 1938. Today, these only survive in photographs and written sources. On the suggestion of Fritz Dworschak, who took over the Art Historical Museum when the Nazis seized power, a plaque was mounted on the balustrade of the terrace in 1942 with an excerpt from Hitler’s “Anschluss” speech. A photo taken during the German chess championships in the Wiener Hofburg in 1943 shows another symbol: a round plaque had been inserted into the floor of the terrace with an image of the Reichsadler (“Imperial Eagle”) with Adolf Hitler’s initials and the date 1938. The outlines of this commemorative symbol are still clearly visible today.
In 1939 a bust of Hitler was put on display in the staircase, as in all other public buildings. It was probably placed in the mezzanine (the middle floor, directly in front of what is today the entrance to the House of Austrian History). The sculptor of the carved marble portrait was probably Wilhelm Frass, who had also designed the figure of the Dead Warrior in the crypt of the Austrian Heroes’ Monument in 1934. In 2012 it was discovered that he had also hidden a National Socialist pamphlet inside the sculpture in the crypt. The bust was replaced in 1942 with a marble plaque containing a bronze medallion designed by Ferdinand Opitz with a profile portrait of Hitler and the inscription “Long live the Führer”. The marble bust was moved to another prominent place in the Hofburg: it was displayed in the ballroom stairway.
In addition to putting up symbols of domination in the interior and exterior of the Hofburg, and affixing plaques commemorating Hitler’s Heldenplatz speech on the terrace, the Nazis planned to further complete their appropriation of the former royal residence complex with an information and signage system. The plan called for inscriptions and plaques about the history of the various wings of the Hofburg and for maps of the site to be displayed in the form of frescoes on the walls. We do not know if these plans were actually carried out. The presentation of the concept to the Gauleiter (Nazi district governor) of Vienna, Baldur von Schirach, was given in the Hofburg in 1941. The event also included discussion of a planned ceremony to honour Adolf Hitler in the Hofburg.
