War Memorial

During World War I (1914–1918), the market town and municipality of St. Johann im Pongau mourned the loss of 118 fallen soldiers. To commemorate them, a bronze war memorial was erected in 1924, created by the sculptor Georg Leisek from Vienna. The plaque bearing the inscription “To the Heroes of the German Homeland” and the misuse of the term “homeland” point to a German nationalist sentiment that was already dominant at the time. In the municipal elections of April 1922, the Greater German People’s Party (GDVP) received the most votes in the market town and provided the mayor. In 1936, the Salzburg State Parliament unanimously approved the merger of the two municipalities of St. Johann Markt and St. Johann Land.

After World War II (1939–1945), the memorial was expanded to commemorate the 122 soldiers killed in action and the 80 missing in action from that war. In 1950, the sculptor Viktor Thoma, who lived in St. Johann im Pongau, designed the new bronze plaque. It was installed on the right side, and the existing plaque was moved to the left side.

Husbands, fathers, sons, brothers, … instead of heroes

Both world wars were wars of aggression. In World War II, the National Socialist regime waged a racist war of conquest and extermination. The language of war propaganda lives on in the inscriptions “To the Heroes of the German Homeland” and “To the Heroes of the Homeland.”

The soldiers, as active participants in these wars of aggression, are revered as “heroes,” and their deaths are glorified as sacrifices for their homeland. It is understandable that their loved ones mourned their husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons. It is also clear that not all of the fallen went to war voluntarily. However, the glorification of these senseless deaths as “heroic deeds” is utterly inappropriate; it was so at the time this monument was erected, and it is all the more so today.

To shape the future, we must confront our history.

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Text: Traudi Chalupny, Anton Maier, Robert Obermair, Annemarie Zierlinger
Translation: Florian Pichler

Mitarbeit bei der Recherche und dem Verfassen der Texte: Hildegard Fraueneder (Kunsthistorikerin der Universität Mozarteum), Sandra Eberhard-Mack mit den Schülerinnen und Schülern der VIII A Klasse des BORG St. Johann/Pg., Historische Abteilung des Innenministeriums, Geschichtswerkstatt St. Johann/Pg.

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Quellen:

Kohlberger, Albert: Chronik von St. Johann im Pongau, 1983
Mooslechner, Michael: Das Kriegsgefangenenlager STALAG XVIII C „Markt Pongau“, 2011
Moser, Gerhard: St. Johann im Pongau 1855 – 1955 und darüber hinaus, 2017
Richter, Hedwig: Demokratie, eine deutsche Affäre, Verlag C. H. Beck, 2020
Stadtarchiv St. Johann/Pg.