The commendable antisemite? Vienna’s mnemonic struggle with Karl Lueger

Abstract

For more than 10 years, a mnemonic conflict has raged in the Austrian capital of Vienna over a monument of the former mayor Karl Lueger. While activists demand the removal of the monument and the renaming of the square, the city of Vienna and numerous public intellectuals as well as renowned historians insist on a pure “contextualization” of the monument: It should remain standing, but also address Lueger’s antisemitism. The specific conflict can be understood as an example of an international debate on how to deal with problematic monuments and how institutions and state actors react to progressive grassroots movements. Especially the controversial slogan of “cancel culture” is repeatedly used within the debate as a reason not to remove the monument, as this would “erase” history. This article presents an analysis of this controversy and attempts to provide answers as to how the field of memory studies can position itself within it.