About the project:

With the “Anschluss” in March 1938, the Austrian police became an integral part of the National Socialist terror system. They were significantly involved in war crimes and the Holocaust. Examples of resistance within the police force also raise the question of individual options for action. Under the direction of Barbara Stelzl-Marx, the Institute of History at the University of Graz, in cooperation with the Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance, the Mauthausen Memorial, and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research on the Consequences of War, will conduct a two-year research project funded by the Federal Ministry of the Interior starting in 2022 “Die Polizei in Österreich: Brüche und Kontinuitäten 1938–1945“

The project made an initial contribution to the scientific examination of the history of the Second Republic’s most important executive body. Knowledge about the significance, function, and development history of Nazi organizations with police functions, the abuse of police powers within the framework of a totalitarian unjust state, and their concrete relevance to Austria—or rather to Austrians—was of great importance. The project also focused on the judicial punishment and reappraisal of Nazi crimes in the postwar period.

Research findings:

The project resulted in the publication of the comprehensive anthology “Exekutive der Gewalt” (edited by Barbara Stelzl-Marx, Andreas Kranebitter, and Gregor Holzinger) and the exhibition catalog “Hitlers Exekutive”. The exhibition, curated by Martina Zerovnik, opened on March 12 at the Federal Ministry of the Interior in Vienna and has been touring the federal states since June 2024. The first stop on the tour was the Eisenstadt Provincial Police Headquarters, followed by the GrazMuseum in October 2024 and the Carinthian Provincial Museum in Klagenfurt in March 2025.

In addition to numerous media reports, the results of the research project were also highlighted in the ORF III documentary zeit.geschichte “Hitlers Executive – Die österreichische Polizei und der Nationalsozialismus“

“The fact that four centers of expertise for research into National Socialism, namely the University of Graz, Documentation Centre of Austrian Resistance, the Mauthausen Memorial, and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Research into the Consequences of War, collaborated on this project lends it credibility and depth,” emphasizes the ORF Topos article dated June 4, 2024.

Stops on the traveling exhibition
“Hitlers Exekutive – Die österreichische Polizei und der Nationalsozialismus“

March 12 – May 22, 2024:
Palais Modena, Sala Terrena, Vienna

June 20 – September 13, 2024:
LPD Burgenland, Eisenstadt

October 2, 2024 – March 5, 2025:
Graz Museum

March 13 – May 4, 2025:
kärnten.museum, Klagenfurt

May 15 – July 25, 2025:
Salzburg Museum

October 3, 2025 – February 22, 2026:
Haus der Geschichte im Museum Niederösterreich,
St. Pölten

March to June 2026
Lern- und Gedenkstätte Schloss Hartheim

2026
Vienna
Vorarlberg