Jubilation on Vienna’s Heldenplatz

From Adolf Hitler to the Pope

It is hard to find another square in Vienna that stands for both the great and tragic moments in Austrian history in the way Heldenplatz does. And for the contradictions regarding its memory.

On March 15, 1938 Adolf Hitler announces the Austrian Anschluss with the German Reich before a cheering crowd.

The Austrian skier Karl Schranz, following his exclusion from the 1972 Winter Olympics which is seen as unjust by the whole of Austria, is also received with frenetic celebration on Heldenplatz. Schranz, visualising Hitler on the balcony, is not keen on the idea but bends to the will of the public. And even a Pope visits the history-loaded location; John Paul II performs three beatifications here on his 3rd visit to Vienna.