Wed., 07/08/2024 from 19:00 o'clock

Opening: Hidden in the rock. The mountain, the salt and the art

The salvage and eventual happy rescue of the art treasures in the Altaussee salt mine: a topic that has not only occupied filmmakers from Austria to Hollywood in recent years, but also scientists from numerous disciplines. Provenance researchers, historians, cultural historians... pretty much every aspect of this story has been investigated. What was still available in the archives has largely been sifted through, contemporary witnesses, as long as they were still alive, have been interviewed. And yet the events of the winter and spring of 1945 in Aussee are still shrouded in a veil. That was my first impression when I began researching the subject for my book "Mission Michelangelo" a few years ago - and it is an impression that has not left me to this day. Researching historical details is the job of researchers, but for a journalist it's about creating a clear view of a story and how it was and is told in Austria. In Ausseerland, it was not only the madness of National Socialism that culminated in a final dramatic act. Here, silence, lies and repression created a landscape of myths in which everyone created their own truth about Altaussee. In my talk, I would like to explain why this was the case and why it still seems so difficult to face the facts openly today.

Further information on this event can be found on the Kulturhauptstadt homepage!