Austrian capital to build memorial to the homosexual victims of Nazism

News server iRozhlas.cz reports that a memorial will be built in Vienna, Austria to the victims of Nazism who were homosexual. The city has chosen the winning project in a competition for a memorial to be built in the center of the Austrian capital next year.

The construction of such a memorial has been under discussion in Vienna for many years. British artist Marc Quinn will create the artwork.

The memorial will be formed by two pairs of hands caressing each other: A woman’s hand cradling a woman’s hand and a man’s hand crading a man’s hand. The memorial will stand in a park on Karlsplatz in the city center.

The project will be financed not just by the City of Vienna, but also by the Austrian National Endowment. Overall the cost of the project should not exceed EUR 300 000.

Negotiations about the construction have taken a long time – the first plans for it appeared a decade ago. “This memorial will symbolize the condemnation of all forms of homophobia and remind people that it is our duty to fight for the human rights of each person whenever any indication appears that those rights are endangered,” said the Viennese City Councilor in charge of cultural affairs, Veronica Kaup-Hasler, adding that during the Nazi era, the persecution of homosexuals was frequently invisible to the broader public in the Nazi era and has not been much spoken of to this day.

Last month on social media a video was posted of Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen unfolding the rainbow flag in support of the LGBT community on a balcony at the Office of the President. A similar memorial to the homosexual victims of Nazism has been standing since 2008 in Berlin, Germany.