When I traveled to Austria in August 2026 to see La Traviata at the Bregenz Festival, I came across an exhibition at the Vorarlberg Museum. I believe this experience belongs in my series on fascism and dictatorship. What struck me most was that the exhibition did not simply present history as something that happened in the past. Instead, it raised questions that still feel profoundly relevant today.
Perhaps that is what makes such questions so powerful: they invite us not only to look back, but also to look at ourselves, our societies, and the world we are living in now.
The questions I encountered at the Vorarlberg Museum stayed with me long after I left the exhibition. I would like to bring them into this series—not necessarily to provide answers, but to pause, reflect, and ask ourselves what they might mean for us today. I wanted to share them with you.
Photo: Füsun Kavrakoğlu, Rome, 2026.
What should we do with the remnants of Nazism? Should we dispose of them? Is it acceptable to sell them at a flea market or on the internet? At what point does memory become nostalgia, or even illegal neo-Nazi activity?
Ever since the opening of the House of Austrian History in 2018 people have often contacted them about objects with a connection to Nazism. Many of them want to ensure that objects from this defining phase in Austria’s recent history can now be used to critically examine the past. Regardless of whether inherited or obtained by some other route, objects trigger an emotional response in the present, which might range from fascination to shame to dissociation. These contradictory reactions provide an insight into contemporary society’s relationship with the Nazi past and with Austria’s responsibility for Nazi crimes.
Displaying objects that bear the symbols of Nazism is prohibited in Austria in most cases. As a result, such artefacts are rarely visible in public places. They are most likely to be found in museums or in the media. In private, a lot of people own things which they have acquired by chance or out of interest or which are related to their family history. Some people want to get rid of these objects while others collect them on purpose.
Today what is acceptable? What is questionable? What is prohibited and where are the grey areas? What motivates people to preserve, sell or destroy things?
In Austria there is still an active trade in them. Often objects are imported from Germany, where the ban is less strict. There only commercial trade is banned, not individual sales. In many other countries there are no legal regulations and objects which do not bear prohibited symbols can also be sold in Austria.
Buyers and sellers may have many different intentions: financial gain, fascination, enthusiasm for Nazism and general interest all play a role. What frameworks for buying and selling are acceptable? Why is so much of this activity possible in spite of legal restrictions?
In many cases, things with a Nazi connection are simply destroyed. Disposing of Nazi artefacts raises questions about the way we (Austrians) deal with the Nazi past: Does preserving these objects elevate them in some way? Does disposing of them reflect a sense of shame and suppression? Is evidence destroyed when objects are destroyed? Or is it high time to get rid of these many remnants of Nazism?
Who is actually allowed to own and collect such artefacts? Where is the line between documentation and a problematic fascination with Nazi ideology? Do these objects facilitate a critical discussion of the family’s involvement in the Nazi past?
Leave A Reply