Memorial Plate Rennweg 10: The „Schindler-Villa“ Innsbruck

In 1927, the Jewish café owner and brandy manufacturer Hugo Schindler built a villa at Rennweg 10 in Innsbruck. In 1938, the villa was "arisiert" (Arised), and the city's Sparkasse (savings bank) purchased it at a favorable price upon order from Franz Hofer. The Gauleiter for Tyrol and Vorarlberg occupied the villa in the summer of 1938, and bought it a year later. After a lengthy restitution procedure, the villa came back into his possession in 1949. His wife Edith and his son Kurt sold it in 1956. In 1990, the Austrian Academy of Sciences purchased the villa, and in 2013, it transferred the property to the University of Innsbruck. Veronika Sexl, rector of the University of Innsbruck, entrusted Dirk Rupnow, dean of the Philosophical-Historical Faculty, with the organization of the installation of a memorial plaque, which provides information about the history of the building. On November 8, 2024, the plaque was unveiled. Present were Meriel Schindler, niece of Hugo Schindler, the mayor of Innsbruck Johannes Anzengruber, the chairman of the State Memorial Foundation Herwig van Staa, and the president of the Israelite Cultural Community for Tyrol and Vorarlberg Siegfried Gitterle.