04:59Austria: Vienna museum exhibition raises difficult questions around Nazi-memorabilia
Vienna’s House of Austrian History put on display a controversial collection of objects Nazi-era, as footage shot on Wednesday shows.
The exhibition called 'Disposing of Hitler: From the Cellar to the Museum' addresses the years of Austrian history after Hitler’s so-called ‘Anschluss Ostereichs’, the Annexation of Austria, including Austria’s WWII legacy, and raises the question of how objects from the Nazi era should be handled.
On exhibition boards, the museum provides insights into its growing collection with the help of 14 selected objects and reveals which criteria are used to decide on possible donations. Visitors are asked for their opinion at “decision-making tables” where they vote on how they would deal with Nazi memorabilia in their possession.
“With this exhibition, we also want to show that the decision on what to do with these objects, with these objects from National Socialism, is not only our decision as a museum, but each person who finds those objects at home or at the flea market or anywhere else is actually challenged on how to handle these things, and there are different motivations for how people land at their decisions,” said Director of House of Austrian History Monica Sommer.
In most cases, it is forbidden in Austria to show objects with Nazi symbols in a private context.
04:59Vienna’s House of Austrian History put on display a controversial collection of objects Nazi-era, as footage shot on Wednesday shows.
The exhibition called 'Disposing of Hitler: From the Cellar to the Museum' addresses the years of Austrian history after Hitler’s so-called ‘Anschluss Ostereichs’, the Annexation of Austria, including Austria’s WWII legacy, and raises the question of how objects from the Nazi era should be handled.
On exhibition boards, the museum provides insights into its growing collection with the help of 14 selected objects and reveals which criteria are used to decide on possible donations. Visitors are asked for their opinion at “decision-making tables” where they vote on how they would deal with Nazi memorabilia in their possession.
“With this exhibition, we also want to show that the decision on what to do with these objects, with these objects from National Socialism, is not only our decision as a museum, but each person who finds those objects at home or at the flea market or anywhere else is actually challenged on how to handle these things, and there are different motivations for how people land at their decisions,” said Director of House of Austrian History Monica Sommer.
In most cases, it is forbidden in Austria to show objects with Nazi symbols in a private context.