The Monument of the Republic , also called the Republic Monument , in Vienna commemorates the proclamation of the Republic of German Austria on November 12, 1918 . It is located on the Dr.-Karl-Renner-Ring between the parliament building and Palais Epstein in front of the Grete-Rehor-Park.
The monument consists of busts of the three Social Democrats Jakob Reumann , Victor Adler and Ferdinand Hanusch , each resting on a pedestal. Behind it are three vertical rectangular granite cubes, on which in turn a fourth cuboid lies horizontally. In these the inscription "The memory of the establishment of the republic on 12 November 1918" is engraved, with the words "establishment of the republic"are written larger than the rest. The monument stands on a slightly elevated platform and is accessible via three steps. To the left and right of the steps are two lower cuboids, on which flowers are placed on November 12th each year. The busts were created by the sculptors Franz Seifert (Reumann), Anton Hanak (Adler) and Mario Petrucci (Hanusch, after a design by Carl Wollek ).
It was built under the socialist mayor Karl Seitz and unveiled on November 12, 1928, the tenth anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of German Austria. Because of its clear reference to social democracy (honored Victor Adler, founding father of social democracy, Ferdinand Hanusch, founder of the modern welfare state, and Jakob Reumann, Vienna's first "red" mayor) the monument was attacked by conservative and fascist circles. In the course of the elimination of democracy and the establishment of the Austro-fascist regime , it was initially with Crusader flags and a portrait of Engelbert Dollfußoverhanging and finally demolished in 1934, but not destroyed, but stored in the stadium hall. It was rebuilt on the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Republic in 1948. In 1961, the back of the monument or the lighting system was damaged in an explosives attack, the background of the attack has not been clarified until today, it is suspected a connection with the attacks of the Liberation Committee South Tyrol .
In 2009, the Cultural Commission of the City of Vienna decided unanimously to affix a text board - "as a sign that today's politics have learned from the divided memory of the founding of the Republic and the serious crises of democracy".