“Zero Hour Zero”—2008 into 2009. For months now, the people of Linz have been feverishly anticipating when the clock on the church tower eventually signals the arrival of January 1, 2009, starting the year of the city’s designation as Cultural Metropolis. Linz, situated in Upper Austria and the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, both share the honors for one year to become cultural host cities for all of Europe.
At one time, Linz had been the hotbed of European cultural politics—when the city was the capital for the “Oberdonau Gau” (Upper Danube Region). Hitler had attended grade school there, and raised it to the status of “The Fuehrer’s Cultural Capital”. The plan had been to amass one of the greatest collections of paintings in the world, to be displayed in Hitler’s former living quarters. But fortunately, things developed otherwise.
Is it the task of a European cultural Mecca to erase or hide negative images from that era? Not so. Because Linz had long ago dealt with the shadows of her ignoble past and looked at them critically, there is nothing to hide, but much to show off. The city had managed long ago to overcome and shed her image of an industrial base and has established a reputation for cultural diversity and an invigorating life style.
