Günter Bischof
Contemporary Austrian Studies
Introduction: A Surfeit of Memory?

The year 2005 produced a memory blitz in Austria of unprecedented proportions. The major commemorations celebrated were the fiftieth anniversary of the Austrian State Treaty and the end of the four-power occupation, the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II and the reestablishment of an independent republic, and the tenth anniversary of the Austrian accession to the European Union. A cornucopia of additional anniversaries were thrown into the hopper of the big year of commemorations: Bertha von Suttner’s Peace Nobel Prize 100 years ago, the Allied liberation sixty years ago, the establishment of the Austrian Army, the reopening of the State Opera and the national theater (the Burgtheater), and the beginning of Austrian state television, as well as the conclusion of the Austrian neutrality law and membership in the United Nations fifty years ago, and the less “round” anniversary of the beginning of Austrian soldiers serving in UN missions forty-five years ago. In the age-old tradition of Josephinian state paternalism, the federal chancellery gave marching orders to make 2005 not only a memory year (Gedenkjahr), but also a year of thoughtful reflection (Gedankenjahr).

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