Judenplatz Holocaust Memorial — Attraction in Vienna

I give this three stars not becaus of the monument and what it stands for, but because of the irreverent setting and way that it is treated in a city that has never admitted to their own dark deeds and their role in one of the worst human atrocities ever committed.

The monument itself is thoughtful and well executed though the inscription on the front is generously vague in blaming "Nazis". Another example of Austria failing to own up to their past and editing history to blame everything on Germany (if you want a great example of that go to the war museum and see the difference between the WW I and WW II exhibits.)

What truly bothered me about this memorial was that instead of being a sacred place for reflection and contemplation it was just another monument in a park to be ignored and treated as part of the background. Within feet of it were outside cafes and people chatting about daily banal activities clueless to the magnitude of the structure next to them and what it stands for. It seems like this memorial was more of a box to check by the Austrians to give the veneer of repentance while not actually respecting it or using it as the opportunity to educate the present about the ills of the past. I ended up walking away angry and disappointed and wanting to leave Vienna...

MEMORIAL TO THE AUSTRIAN JEWISH VICTIMS OF THE SHOAH This memorial commemorates the 65,000 Viennese Jews who were murdered during the Nazi regime. It was created on the initiative of Simon Wiesenthal (1908-2005). The reinforced concrete cube by the British artist Rachel Whiteread (b. 1963) represents an introverted, non-accessible library. Countless editions of the apparently same book stand for the large number of victims and their life stories. The Judenplatz is a place of Jewish memory and present. It was the center of Vienna's first Jewish community in the Middle Ages and was home to one of the largest synagogues in Europe. Important rabbinical leaders taught here. 1421, the entire Jewish community was expelled or murdered. The foundations of the destroyed synagogue are located below the memorial. They were discovered in 1995 and can be visited in Museum Judenplatz. There you can also get insights into the history of the medieval Jewish community and the emergence of...

To me, this is the most compelling memorial in Vienna. Judenplatz was the heart of the old (that is Medieval) Jewish district in Vienna, but the monument is to the 65k who were murdered in WW2. Austrians have an uneasy relationship with their own history post-1918, and this is one of relatively few monuments to the Anschluss period, when they were joined with Hitler's Germany. The monument takes the form of a library whose books are stacked with their spines hidden, so that they may not be read; and the library doors are without handles, so that they may not be opened. The wealth of knowledge (that of the Jews) was annihilated with them and will never be written. Its foundation is a plinth on which a dedication is made to those killed, and the names of the concentration camps from all across Europe...