A statue of an antisemitic politician who is said to have inspired Adolf Hitler is to be tilted 3.5 degrees to the right.

The monument to Karl Lueger, situated in Dr. Karl Lueger Plaza in the center of Vienna, has long been a subject of fierce debate in the Austrian capital.

Lueger, who was elected mayor of the Austrian capital in 1897 and governed the city until his death in 1910, is known to have exploited anti-Jewish feeling in his bid for office, emphasizing Christian and Germanic supremacy.

He was much admired by fellow Austrian Hitler, who later wrote of Lueger’s charisma and popular appeal in his 1925 political manifesto “Mein Kampf.”

In recent years, the Viennese authorities have been grappling with Lueger’s legacy. In 2012, a section of the Ringstrasse, the city’s central boulevard, that had borne Lueger’s name since 1934, was renamed Universitätsring.

However, after much debate, the city has decided to keep its bronze statue of Lueger — albeit with one slight alteration: The monument will be tilted 3.5 degrees to the right.

The move was announced in a string of tweets from the city’s official Twitter account May 31.

Debate over the future of the statue, which was erected in 1926, has been raging for years. The statue has been repeatedly defaced, and in 2020 demonstrators held a “vigil of shame” to prevent the authorities from removing graffiti that had been daubed on it.

Last year, a round table of representatives from the worlds of art, science, politics, administration and civil society decided that some “artistic contextualization” would be added to the statue.

A specially appointed jury subsequently opted for a proposal by Viennese artist Klemens Wihlidal.

In a press release issued by Public Art Vienna, Wihlidal said he did not want to change the monument, but the “view and perspective on it.”

He said a “minimal intervention” would see it shifted 3.5 degrees to the right, altering the observer’s point of view.

“With this, I would like to cause an irritation, or even more, a moment of insecurity, which may only become perceptible upon a second look,” he added.

He said the effect would be reminiscent of a “sinking ship” and “evokes the feeling of transience and impermanence, as if one had to watch the monument about to topple over or at least expect that it won’t stand for much longer.”

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【至高无上】zhìgāo wúshàng supremacy being greatest in importance or achievement

【设法解决】shèfǎ jiějué grapple with deal with a problem

一座据说曾激励过阿道夫•希特勒的反犹主义政治家的雕像将被向右倾斜3.5度。

位于维也纳市中心卡尔•鲁格广场的鲁格纪念雕像长期以来一直是奥地利首都激烈争论的话题。

鲁格1897年当选为奥地利首都维也纳的市长，担任该职务直至1910年去世，众所周知，他在竞选中利用了反犹情绪，强调基督教和日耳曼人的优越性。

他深受他的奥地利同胞希特勒钦佩，希特勒后来在其1925年的政治宣言《我的奋斗》中提到了鲁格的魅力和受民众欢迎程度。

近年来，维也纳当局一直努力解决鲁格的历史遗留问题。城市中央大道–环城路的一段自1934年以来一直以他的名字命名，2012年已被更名为大学环路。

然而，经过反复讨论，该市决定保留鲁格的铜像 —— 尽管有一个微小的改动： 纪念雕像将向右倾斜3.5度。

5月31日，该市的官方推特账户在一系列推文中宣布了此举。

关于这座建于1926年的雕像，争论已经持续了多年。雕像多次被污损，2020年，示威者举行了 “耻辱守夜”活动，阻止当局清除上面的涂鸦。

去年，由来自艺术届、科学届、各党派、官方和民间代表组成的圆桌会议决定，将对雕像做一些 “表达立场的艺术处理”。

一个特别指定的专家团随后选择了维也纳艺术家克莱门斯•维利达尔的方案。

在维也纳公共艺术局发布的一份新闻稿中，维利达尔说他不想改变雕像本身，而是想改变“对它的看法和观点”。

他说，通过“最小的干预”人们可以看到它向右倾斜了3.5度，给了观者一个全新视角。他补充说：“这种处理会引起不适，甚至让观众感到不安，当然可能在第二次观看时人们才会察觉。”

他说，这种效果让人联想到一艘“正在沉没的船”，“唤起短暂和无常的感觉，仿佛人们看着雕像即将倾倒，或者至少感觉它不能存在很久”。(SD-Agencies)