Memorial sculpture for the Thalgau book burning on 21 December 1938

The sculpture by artist Peter Wiener was unveiled in 2013 in the Thalgauer community and school library. It commemorates the Thalgauer book burning, which was organized by local Nazis as part of the “Winter Solstice Celebration” on December 21, 1938. According to eyewitnesses, in addition to numerous books from the community and school library, a church flag was also burned. The Thalgauer book burning, initiated by a local teacher, was one of many lesser-known book destruction actions carried out on Austrian soil after the “Anschluss.” Such events, although on a smaller scale, were just as meticulously organized and took place in Linz, Villach, Lofer, Steyr, and Attnang-Puchheim as well. The book burning today perhaps most strongly embedded in collective memory is that at the Salzburg Residenzplatz on April 30, 1938. Currently, the sculpture along with a commemorative plaque is located in the municipal archive, but according to the municipal administration, it is intended to find a place in the local museum and thus become accessible to the public.