Gedenkstätte für die Opfer der Gestapo Wien

The memorial to the victims of the Gestapo in Vienna stands in Salztorgasse 6, where the side entrance of the former Hotel Métropole once led to the police cells. After Austria joined Nazi Germany in 1938, this became the main Gestapo office for the region. Through this same door, prisoners were brought in for interrogation, torture and onward transport to prisons or camps. The building’s cellars served as a detention and torture centre where thousands were held and questioned under extreme duress. The site is marked today by a memorial created in 1985 by Leopold Grausam, using granite from the Mauthausen quarry where many prisoners were forced to labour. The bronze figure of a clenched fist breaking through stone symbolises defiance against oppression. Inscribed plaques include the red triangle for political prisoners and the yellow star for Jewish victims, while a later addition shows the pink and black triangles used for other persecuted groups. The memorial was unveiled by Mayor Helmut Zilk and resistance fighter Rosa Jochmann in 1985 and enlarged in 1999. Inside the nearby Leopold-Figl-Hof, a quiet memorial room recalls those held and interrogated here. A permanent exhibition explains the Gestapo’s operations and the fates of its victims, curated by the Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance. Local residents keep the room open each Thursday afternoon, offering guided tours and discussions about the building’s history. The site remains a place for remembrance and learning, linking past atrocities to present efforts against intolerance.