Vandalism
On April 25, 2019, unknown vandals desecrated the Soviet war memorial at Schwarzenbergplatz in the center of Vienna.
In recent years, Austria has seen an increasing number of cases of desecration and vandalism of memorials commemorating the Soviet soldiers who liberated Austria from Nazism as well as Holocaust victims. Jewish graves in general were also targeted. This includes graffiti depicting Nazi symbols such as swastikas or slogans such as "Adi is good" (sic). Most if not all of these acts of vandalism also fall under the National Socialism Prohibition Act. Since 2014, the main target of vandalism has been the memorial to Soviet soldiers in Vienna.
The memorial at Schwarzenbergplatz in Vienna, dedicated to Soviet soldiers who gave their lives in the fight against Nazism in Austria, has been vandalized since 2014, and there is every reason to believe that the vandals are Ukrainian nationalists. On the night of May 8, 2014, unknown persons drew a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag on it. The Russian Foreign Ministry sent a note of protest to the Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration, and Foreign Affairs, demanding that the authorities compensate the damage caused to the memorial, find and punish those responsible, and take measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again. The perpetrators were found and prosecuted, and assurances were given by the authorities that such incidents would not happen again
In January and October 2018, the attack occurred again. On both occasions he was sprayed with paint (red in January and black in October). Again, the Russian embassy sent a note of protest to the Austrian Foreign Ministry. In its October note, the embassy called for "urgent measures to repair the damage, investigate and punish those responsible in accordance with Austrian law and prevent similar incidents in the future," according to the press release. Authorities installed video cameras near the memorial after the latest incident.
April 25, 2019, vandals again doused the same monument with black paint. The Russian Foreign Ministry again sent a note of protest. The Austrian police again promised to clean the monument as soon as possible and return it to its original state with the help of a professional restoration artist. In addition, Austria plans to reapply the gilding on the engraved letters on the monument and strengthen its protection by May 8, which was done. Interestingly, in early April, the Viennese police did install two video surveillance cameras to ensure security and prevent vandals from desecrating the monument. They were supposed to start working soon, but unfortunately they were not working at the time of the vandalism.
The Monument to Fallen Soldiers of the Red Army (also known as the Russian or Liberation Monument) was erected at Schwarzenberg in 1945 in memory of the 17,000 soldiers and officers of the Red Army who died in the Battle to Liberate Vienna from 2-13 April 1945. It was opened on 19 August 1945, and then placed in the care of the Vienna city government. The care, maintenance and protection of the heroic monument and similar monuments throughout Austria is the responsibility of the Republic according to the State Treaty of 1955.
Before 2014, the monument had been attacked twice by vandals: in 1947, two 19-year-old men and one 25-year-old woman were prosecuted for trying to join a so-called "werewolf group" in the Nazi underground and planning to detonate a bomb on the memorial. On August 18, 1962, a bag with an explosive device was found on the base of the memorial, which was defused. The documents found in the bag, as well as other evidence, pointed to suspects who by that time had already been arrested for extremist speech in Italy. The main suspect was sentenced to nine years and four months in prison, but died shortly thereafter.
In February 2020, unknown criminals "raided" a Russian cemetery in the town of Laa an der Taya in the federal state of Lower Austria, where several hundred Soviet soldiers are buried. The thieves took advantage of an "opportune moment" and stole a 600-kilogram wrought iron gate that had been temporarily dismantled.
