On the last day of May 2009, just two weeks after the end of my junior year of college (undergraduate), I traveled abroad for my one-month study abroad program. I landed in Heathrow International Airport in London where I would spend the first two days of my trip before continuing on to Munich airport and then a bus ride to Salzburg, Austria. The program I enrolled in gathered the students in London first for nothing other then sight-seeing. Two days in busy London was unbelievable as well as overwhelming. Between the traffic, it's directions, the loads of people, the Tube, and other visual stimulus, I seemed unable to become coherent. I will always be glad that I was with other students during these two days otherwise I would still be in London, forever attempting to get back to my hotel.
More importantly are the pieces of information that I would soon discover about Austria and its relationship with the war (the Second World War). As I traveled the two hours from Munich, Germany to Salzburg, Austria, I noticed the traditional (and often, stereotypical) farm houses that lay next to the Autobahn and roads. These houses represented traditions that may not have always been unified under one German speaking government.
While living in Salzburg for one month, the belief that the Austrian government was a willing participant in Nazism and welcomed the Anschluss with open-arms was reinforced. In Salzburg, for example, the "Stumbling Stones" often go unnoticed, memorials to soldiers killed during the war are out of view of tourists, and other plaques in memory of those victims of Nazism are few and far between. The impression a visitor receives is that the city, as well as the rest of the country, would rather forget the supposed forced occupation and mass murder of the country's Jewish population. The Jewish population of the Salzburg never recovered after the war. One survivor returned to the city and rebuilt the Synagogue - in a different location then the original, which was destroyed during the war. The Synagogue is out of tourist's view. The hostel I was staying in for the month was a ten minute walk from this synagogue and I never knew it. Today, there are only about 100 Jewish people living in Salzburg. It was not until 2007, that formal recognition was given to forced Jewish laborers and other forced laborers renovated the Staatsbrücke (city bridge; a major bridge in the city for cars and pedestrians) during the war. The city government was forced to place a plaque on the bridge in 2007, after more renovations, because of pressure from certain members of the community. Without their pressure, the memorial plaque would never have happened. The story of the Staatsbrücke proves Salzburg's inability to come to terms with its past. The city is still very much conservative Roman Catholic.
No historian can state that the whole of Austrian society were willing supporters of Nazism. That would support the concept of collective guilt which is incorrect and inappropriate. Yet, the Austrian government has a duty to the Jewish and other Austrian victims of the Holocaust by recognizing and remembering that such events occurred in Austria. Believing in the idea that the country of Austria as a whole was a victim of Nazism pushes all blame to Germany as the sole villain which is also incorrect. The Austrian government today needs to denounce the actions of Nazi-supporting Austrian officials from during the war as well as the Holocaust and persecution of Jewish populations. Without this, cities like Salzburg will never be able to overcome their conservatism, perceptions of history, and accept the destruction of their Jewish community which has been preventing the city from remembering their lost community.
Helpful sources:
For more information on AIFS Study Abroad, check out their website:
http://www.aifsabroad.com/
Brief history of Salzburg's Jewish population:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Salzburg.html
Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Salzburg:
http://www.ikg-salzburg.at/
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