War memorials

I saw two very unusual war memorials in Salzburg. Austria, of course, was on the losing side of both world wars in the twentieth century, so perhaps they are not eager to be reminded of that part of their history. In the first, they fought to defend the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with their allies in Germany. In the second, Austria fought with Nazi Germany.

This contemporary memorial is on the eastern end of the Mirabell Palace grounds. A single plaque quite a distance from the monument says in German that it commemorates 250 victims of "euthanasia" in 1941 in Salzburg. This was apparently one of several sites where Hitler had ordered the use of carbon monoxide to exterminate undesireables in hospitals. The only inscriptions on the memorial are the dates 1941 and 1991.

One of the strangest exhibits in the Rainer Museum up at the Hohensalzburg Fortress is devoted to the soldiers from Salzburg who fought in WWI. This is the poster explaining it.

All of the signage in this exhibit was strictly in German, unlike the other signs at the fortress, which were in German, English, and Italian. I wondered if the museum directors did not want international visitors to learn too much about their role in that war. The exhibit takes up several large rooms in the museum, showing uniforms, documents, and other artifacts.

One room was dedicated to a large plaque naming the Salzburg soldiers who died in that war, with wreaths and candles.

This exhibit reminded me of the Confederate Cemeteries in the U.S. The families appropriately want to mourn the dead, but this was the wrong side of the war. It also seemed peculiar to place this exhibit at the Fortress, so popular with international visitors. I saw no mention of WWII in Salzburg.

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