Vienna Removes Anti-Semitic Mayor’s Name
Sign up for Antisemitism Decoded, the Forward’s guide through the news and noise about Jewish safety, brought to you biweekly by investigative journalist Arno Rosenfeld.
Vienna city councillors removed the name of a notoriously anti-Semitic mayor from a section of the elegant Ring boulevard that encircles the heart of the city.
City Councilor Andreas Mailath Pokorny on Wednesday formally exchanged the street sign “Dr. Karl-Lueger-Ring” for one named Universitaetsring (University Ring) in honor of the university located there, the Associated Press reported.
Lueger was mayor from 1897 until his death in 1910.
His anti-Semitic policies and his use of economic anti-Semitism to win popular support were a big influence on Adolf Hitler, who lived in Vienna at the time.
Austrian Jewish leaders had praised the decision when it was announced in April.
