Getting rid of Hitler. From the cellar to the archive

What should be done with the remnants of National Socialism? Should they be disposed of? Is it acceptable to sell them at a car boot sale or online? What constitutes remembrance, what glorification, and what revival of Nazi ideology?

Last year, the Haus der Geschichte Österreich (hdgö) staged a successful exhibition on these questions, choosing the catchy title ‘Disposing of Hitler: From the Cellar to the Museum’. Upon purchasing their admission ticket, visitors were given a decision card and asked to use it to answer the above questions regarding an object that many of us might have in our cellars. To explore the theme in greater depth, the exhibition selected 14 objects with Nazi connections that had been handed over to the hdgö in response to calls for donations.

The Innsbruck City Archives/City Museum is now presenting a local version of this exhibition. We are supplementing the Viennese exhibition with objects from our own holdings as well as from partner archives and collections in Innsbruck. We have therefore altered the subtitle slightly for our exhibition, as archives have different responsibilities to those of a museum.