In the years between 1960 and 1980, certain honours were awarded by the Mozarteum University Salzburg which, in hindsight, are highly problematic. These relate to people whose possible involvement in Austrian Fascism or Nazi (cultural) politics was not critically examined.
To honour someone with an award is also to create a contemporary document. Such awards always reflect the positions, politics and networks of those who bestow them.
Through neglecting to critically question the honours that were awarded between the 1960s and 1980s until very recently, the Mozarteum University Salzburg failed to actively combat the forgetting and suppression of historical events.
The position of the senate and rectorate is that the past behaviour of the university and its office-holders, which cannot be considered in isolation from the honours which were awarded to problematic individuals, should be researched, dealt with and explained. In this way, the Mozarteum University Salzburg has chosen to acknowledge and account for its past.
At the same time, the Mozarteum University Salzburg is keen to avoid focusing on the perpetrators. Instead, the university has initiated and advanced a comprehensive process of accountability and acknowledgement of the victims of tyranny and those harmed by the organs and members of the Mozarteum.
13th January 2025
