Friday, March 11, 2011

MY LEGACY



I was a good leader of Vienna. However, in no small part of Hitler's, I have been defamed as a Jew-hater, which is completely against my principles and ideologies. However, to those who remain informed, I am still a local hero.
In Vienna, I have a square and a section of the Ringstraße named after me, and I have had many statues erected in my honour and memory. Morever, there is a monument to me in front of the University of Vienna.
Admittedly, it has been very difficult to decide what to do with monuments honoring historical figures whose reputation has been questioned as people reflect on the contributions and historical background to the Holocaust. With the Anschluss of Austria in 1938 street names carrying Jewish names or the names of pacifists were changed. After World War II, Austria started a full-scale program of de-Nazification (after all, the Nazis were quite evil people who were the true Jew-haters). Nazi street signs were torn down and their names changed back from Nazi to heroes of Austria. My monuments present a difficult case because they are genuinely legit, although Hitler caused my infamy and was inspired by my relatively relaxed Anti-Semitism.
Recently, there has been an issue with Eric Kandel, an Austrian-born Nobel prize winner. He completely denounced me and wanted to damage my reputation. Specifically, he wanted my name removed from the street which the University of Vienna is located on. He is Jewish, but again, my Anti-Semitism was of a kind that came from a benevolent man. He was offended that my name, associated with Anti-Semitism, appeared on the address of the University of Vienna.
I am sad to show this, but this is an example of the debasement of my legacy:

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