Memorial for the Victims of the NS Justice

Over the course of the year 1951, a "Memorial Site for the Victims of the NS-Justice" was established in the former execution room of the NS-justice in the Vienna State Court. The demand for such a memorial site was first expressed in the middle of 1949 by the KZ-Verband. The architect Wilhelm Schütte designed a plan for the layout of the room (and an adjacent room). This was carried out in the summer and autumn of 1951, although not all of Schütte's proposals were implemented. On 2 November 1951, the first commemorative ceremony for the executed took place here. Above the (former, now closed) entrance to the former execution room, a commemorative plaque was installed. The memorial site was first significantly changed in 1967 and has since been expanded several times with information about perpetrators and victims as well as dedications. In June 2024, Justice Minister Alma Zadić opened a new permanent exhibition with the title "You can hear them dying directly." This exhibition also addresses the fact that many survivors of NS-persecution were socially excluded and discriminated against in the Second Republic. In the State Court, the NS-justice beheaded approximately 1,200 women and men with the guillotine, including approximately 600 resistance fighters.