Austria Begins Construction of Holocaust Memorial in Vienna

Chief cantor of the Vienna Jewish community Shmuel Barzilai prays during the groundbreaking ceremony of the memorial to the Jewish children, women and men of Austria who were murdered in the Shoah, in Vienna, Austria, June 22, 2020. Lisi Niesner/Reuters

VIENNA—Construction of Austria’s first public monument naming all the country’s Holocaust victims began on June 22, a further step by Adolf Hitler’s native land towards confronting an issue it has long struggled with.

For decades after World War II, Austria denied responsibility for crimes committed by the Nazis, arguing that it was the first victim, despite the enthusiasm with which many citizens had welcomed annexation by Hitler’s Germany in 1938.