1 January 2022

Research results on the instrumentalisation of fashion in Austria under the Nazi regime are exhibited as part of 'Vienna Falls in Line' until 24 April 2022 at Wien Museum MUSA

Educational contents of schools and universities vary from country to country depending on social movements which developed in older and younger history. In Austria, the research on political and social circumstances before, during and after the Nazi regime is practised not only in historical studies albeit especially the results of these basical archive searches deliver the material for other scientific fields like art sciences or social sciences such as media and communication. So while for example other countries might still be trying to solve structural inequalities caused by a definition of people after races, Austria has learned from history and has excluded the word 'race' or race definitions from official documents or statistics. Race - however it's defined - is not a criterion in Austria.

Crucial for building a consciousness of being a society of diverse and equal members is the mediation of an objective, critical view on historical structures such as the ones which led in the 1930s to inhumane behavior that was legalized by law and enforced with organizations and associations which decided over the right to work respectively the quality of work by evaluating additionally a person's mind setting in a political sense for being in line with the regime.

These aspects were researched among others by the curators Ingrid Holzschuh and Sabine Plakolm-Forsthuber for the exhibition 'Vienna Falls in Line. The Politics of Art under National Socialism.' Several of the research objects from the extensive archive of documents and collections of artworks are exhibited until 24 April 2022 at Wien Museum MUSA such as insights into the 'House of Fashion' (Haus der Mode) where education, professions, production, export and propaganda for Austrian clothing and textiles were planned and carried out.

Wien Museum Magazine published last year the article 'Wien als "Reichsmodestadt"' about the agenda of the 'House of Fashion' in the Nazi era and where the holdings of the fashion museum, library and the files and archive materials went after the liquidation. (Tip: The article is published in German; the Chrome browser translator to English works fine on the page.) The text of the article is taken from the 344-pages exhibition catalog 'Auf Linie. NS Kunstpolitik in Wien.', available in German language, published by Birkhäuser Verlag (details and preview of the catalog at https://www.wienmuseum.at/en/exhibitions/exhibition-archive/detail/auf-linie-ns-kunstpolitik-in-wien).

Images, from left: House of Fashion, Demonstration Dress (Coat Dress), 1942; Wien Museum. Photo: Paul Bauer; © Wien Museum. Middle: Fashion photography 'House of Fashion', ca. 1939-1942; Wien Museum. Photo: Paul Bauer; © Wien Museum. Right: Wien Museum MUSA 'Vienna Falls in Line. The Politics of Art under National Socialism' (14 October 2021 to 24 April 2022), exhibition view. Photo: Lisa Rastl; © Wien Museum.