Monument against war and fascism

The Memorial against War and Fascism on Vienna's Albertinaplatz (since 2009 Helmut-Zilk-Platz) is a walk-through sculpture ensemble by the sculptor Alfred Hrdlicka, erected in 1988 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Anschluss of Austria to Hitler's Germany. The site was deliberately chosen: in the bombing raid of 12 March 1945 hundreds of people were buried alive here in an air-raid shelter and could never be recovered. The ensemble comprises several granite blocks, the Street-Washing Jew, the Gate of Violence and the Stone of the Republic added in 1991, inscribed with the Austrian Declaration of Independence of 1945. The kneeling figure of the street-washing Jew has been the focus of bitter debate - until 2020 it stood freely uncovered, then the city added a bronze inscription to discourage tourist posing. Opposite stand the Albertina and the rear of the State Opera.