Art, history and memory: Dispute over the new castle is once again ignored!

On March 15, 2025, an appeal by prominent personalities such as the writer Doron Rabinovic, the architect Gabu Heindl and the director of the Jewish Museum Vienna, Barbara Staudinger, provided excitement. The demands aim to rethink the location of the House of History of Austria (HGÖ) in the new castle. On the occasion of this discussion, the artist Anna Paul emphasized that with the opening of the HGÖ in 2018, an active and critical examination of history was established. The concern is that moving to the museum quarters could endanger the possibility of interpretation of history at Heldenplatz, which is described as a threatening “empty space”. This was reported by the Ö1 mid-lunch journal.

A central point of the debate concerns the oldan of the new castle, of which Adolf Hitler gave his notorious speech in 1938. Previous efforts to establish this as a memorial failed. Nevertheless, the HGÖ deals with the historical context. From April 22nd, three artistic approaches will be presented in cooperation with the Linz University of Art to initiate a new discourse on the Altan. According to the office of Cultural Minister Andreas Babler (SPÖ), the previous government has already made the decision to move, but they wanted to examine all options again. However, the discussion about the future of the HGÖ is still in full swing, and the support for staying in the new castle remains noticeable. As wikipedia.org , the new castle is not only historically significant, but also the scene of important public events, including Hitler's speech, which the national propaganda shaped sustainably. It was used as a backdrop for many crucial moments in Austrian history and remains a place with deeply symbolic importance.