Memorial Plaque for the Victims of Both World Wars

Hidden in the courtyard of a youth hostel in the Salzburger Andräviertel district, since 1950 a marble plaque commemorates over 100 million dead from both world wars. Initiated by the Salzburg Victims of War Association, which had its state leadership in the premises of today's youth hostel, the memorial was inaugurated on June 9, 1950, along with the colorful marble plaque, by Archbishop Andreas Rohracher. In his speech, he spoke of dedicating the plaque to the "heroes" of the world wars, thereby honoring soldiers and also war criminals. The Salzburger Nachrichten eventually correctly pointed out that the plaque was not a memorial to the fallen or a heroes' commemorative plaque. To this day, the commemorative plaque understands itself as an anti-war warning monument, distancing itself from war and hero worship and thus opposing narratives of several war memorials. Around the year 2000, the Salzburg Victims of War Association sold the premises to today's Hostel, thereby causing this important memorial for collective memory to fall into obscurity.