Memorial Plaque Headquarters of the Gestapo

Between 1938 and 1945, the Klagenfurt Castle served as the headquarters of the Secret State Police (Gestapo) for the Kärnten region. It was a place of interrogation, torture, and detention for thousands of people who, due to their worldview, ethnic affiliation, or resistance activities, were arrested by the Gestapo and for many victims it was a transit station to concentration camps or to the courts of the Nazi justice system.

In May 2015, after years of demands for a memorial, a commemorative plaque was installed on the inner wall next to the western entrance to the castle courtyard. The black, round plaque emerged as the winning project from an art competition organized by the state of Kärnten and was designed by Melitta Moschik. The bilingual plaque in German and Slovenian, with a diameter of 150 centimeters, symbolizes both a target and a prohibition sign.