Graz · AT
Dark History — Graz Under National Socialism
A walk of remembrance through the 'City of the People's Uprising'.
De quoi parle cette balade ?
Welcome to a difficult but necessary walk through the historic centre of Graz. This is a journey of remembrance, not entertainment. After the Anschluss of March 1938, the regime singled out Graz as the 'Stadt der Volkserhebung', the 'City of the People's Uprising', honouring its early and fervent National Socialism. Over roughly 2.8 kilometres, we trace what that meant on these streets: staged propaganda and mass rallies, the persecution of the Jewish community and the burning of the synagogue on Kristallnacht, the apparatus of Nazi rule and Gestapo terror, the Allied bombing of the city, and the forced labour that dug its air-raid shelters. We move from the Eisernes Tor up to the Schlossberg, pausing where memorials and Stolpersteine ask us for quiet respect. We close by reflecting on liberation in 1945 and on the Graz of today, a declared City of Human Rights.
Ce que vous verrez
-
1
Marian Column at Am Eisernen Tor
Monument
A gilded Baroque column to the Virgin Mary marks the southern gateway into Graz's old town. In 1938 the National Socialist regime sheathed it in a towering propaganda obelisk to crown the city it had named 'City of the People's Uprising'.
Lire toute l'histoire → -
2
Franciscan Church (Franziskanerkirche)
Church
A medieval friary church whose narrow Gothic chancel was gutted by an Allied bomb in the last winter of the war. Its tall tower still rises over the old town as a quiet witness to the destruction of 1945.
Lire toute l'histoire → -
3
Hauptplatz (Main Square & Rathaus)
square
The medieval heart of Graz, framed by the grand Rathaus and the bronze Archduke Johann Fountain. In 1938 this square became a stage for Nazi mass rallies and was renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz.
Lire toute l'histoire → -
4
Herrengasse & Landhaus
street
The grand artery of the old town, lined with arcaded shops and the Renaissance Landhaus, the seat of Styrian power. It also runs through the heart of what was once Graz's Jewish quarter, whose community was shattered in 1938.
Lire toute l'histoire → -
5
Grazer Burg
historic_building
A late-Gothic ducal residence begun for Friedrich III in 1438, today the seat of the Styrian provincial government. Under National Socialism the same halls of power housed the apparatus of Gauleiter Siegfried Uiberreither.
Lire toute l'histoire → -
6
Gestapo Headquarters (Paulustorgasse)
Memorial
The building beside the Paulustor that housed the Graz Gestapo from 1938 to 1945, where thousands were interrogated and tortured. Today only a small plaque in the inner courtyard of the police detention centre marks what happened here.
Lire toute l'histoire → -
7
Schlossberg Air-Raid Tunnels (Schlossbergstollen)
historic_site
A network of more than six kilometres of tunnels driven into the hill above you, dug from 1943 onward by prisoners of war and forced labourers to shelter Graz from Allied bombs. Today people glide through the rock in a glass lift, but the stone remembers the hands that hewed it.
Lire toute l'histoire → -
8
Uhrturm & Schlossberg Summit
landmark
The beloved clock tower crowning the Schlossberg, where the people of Graz once paid a ransom to save it from demolition. From the summit, the whole rebuilt city spreads out beneath you.
Lire toute l'histoire →