This is a statue of Karl Lueger, mayor of Vienna at the turn of the century. "Under his administration," says the Encyclopedia Britannica, "Vienna became an efficient, modern metropolis." Thus the statue.
Unfortunately, Lueger was also something of an antisemite—apparently an inspiration for no less than Adolf Hitler. This is why SHAME is now spray painted all over his statue. The authorities have tried to stop it, but whenever they clean up the statue the spray painters just come back.
But according to our guide LR, everyone has finally agreed to a solution after years of bickering: They plan to leave the statue up but tilt it five degrees like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. LR said this was a typical Viennese compromise, meaning that it's basically sort of inscrutable. The idea, presumably, is that Lueger still gets his statue for all his good works, but the tilt makes it immediately obvious that something is off. That will prompt you to read the accompanying sign to find out what's up, and you'll learn about the antisemitism.
Kinda weird. On the other hand, I suppose it's better than just endlessly fighting over it like we do.
Lueger wasn't just an antisemite, but really the first major European politician to make it a cornerstone of his entire political platform. It was very ugly and, yes, a young, penniless art school reject Hitler later recalled Lueger's vitriolic speeches against Jews, the press, and other corrupt "elites" with great fondness. He was MAGA (Make Austria Great Again) before MAGA. Unlike Trump, however, Lueger could actually take some credit for improving Vienna's infrastructure (e.g. electric tram lines) and had a personal reputation for frugality and uncorruptability.
There's a famous story about Lueger where someone once asked him why, having only recently denounced the pernicious influence of Jews in Viennese society, he was seen having lunch with several prominent Jewish businessmen. "I decide who is a Jew," replied Lueger.
"says the Encyclopedia Britannica"
The one with the nice blue on the spine?
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/03/wikipedia-claims-yet-another-victim/
Kevin is showing his age. He refers to "the turn of the century" but clearly means 1900. That term should default to 2000 for most people these days.
Lueger didn't own slaves, so why do we care?
😉 by the way.
It's basically the same problem we have with most of the Founders and slavery. Vienna's solution is kind of neat, though I can't see it flying in the U.S.
The straightforward solution is not to have statues commemmorating individuals.