The debate over the Lueger statue at Vienna’s Stubenring remains tense. The statue of former mayor Karl Lueger was re-erected without prior notice on Tuesday morning, accompanied by around 20 police officers. This measure has prompted Vienna’s Greens, who consider the statue’s tilted position insufficient to convey the intended contextualization.
Ursula Berner, culture spokesperson for the Vienna Greens, criticized the police protection granted to a politician considered anti-Semitic. “In its current state, the tilt – and thus the intended contextualization – of the Lueger statue is barely noticeable. What was clearly visible, however, was the police protection,” Berner said.
The statue has been the target of paint attacks several times in recent years and was last restored in a stonemason’s workshop in Lower Austria. The city of Vienna has given the statue a slight tilt of 3.5 degrees to achieve a critical contextualization. Critics, however, consider this solution insufficient and warn of its societal implications.
Berner sees the re-erection of the statue as a problematic signal given increasing anti-Semitic tensions. “Especially in light of the resurgence of anti-Semitic tendencies in various forms, the re-erection of the Lueger statue sends the wrong signal,” she said. The Greens are therefore calling for a comprehensive educational and mediation program to make his role visible in society.
The Greens’ demands also include renaming the square where the statue stands. “We need an attractive, low-threshold, and permanent accompanying program that finally makes Lueger visible in his society-dividing and democracy-threatening role,” Berner added.
Karl Lueger was mayor of Vienna from 1897 to 1910 and remains controversial due to his anti-Semitic policies. Adolf Hitler later referred to him as a political role model, further fueling the debate over the statue.
Source: www.sueddeutsche.de
