Memorial Plaque for the Victims of Nazi Justice at the State Court Salzburg

If one wishes to enter the Salzburg State Court via the Schanzlgasse, one passes by the memorial plaque for the victims of the NS judiciary. During the NS period, the courthouse played a central role in the killing machinery of the National Socialists. Over a hundred people were sentenced to death by the NS judiciary at this location; among the condemned were numerous communist and socialist resistance fighters, railway workers, and conscientious objectors. A public memorial site for those condemned to death was already planned in 1946 by the SPÖ municipal council; the current Rudolfsplatz in front of the courthouse was to be renamed "Liberation Square." However, Anton Neumayr, SPÖ mayor in the early post-war years, postponed the decision. A renaming never took place. It was only in 2017 that the then Federal Minister for Justice, Wolfgang Brandstetter, took the initiative and had a memorial plaque installed.