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Austria Now News – Vienna
Vienna will honour the generation of “guest workers” (Gastarbeiter) who came to Austria from the 1960s onwards with a monument in public space in the 10th district, Favoriten, expected to be completed by 2030 at the latest, as announced by the city’s culture councillor Veronica Kaup-Hasler of the Social Democratic Party (SPÖ), according to the newspaper Heute.
These workers built roads, laid railway tracks and constructed buildings, worked in factories, hospitals and the cleaning sector, and made a decisive contribution to the development of the Austrian capital.
A site linked to the memory of arrival
The area around the main station, the Hauptbahnhof, is currently being examined as a possible location, while the exact site has not yet been determined. The choice is no coincidence, as the former Südbahnhof was the first point of arrival in Vienna for many guest workers, where they met relatives and friends and looked for work. The design of the monument has not yet been determined either and will be decided through an art competition.
Costs and funding
The cost is estimated at between €150,000 and €250,000. The city’s cultural affairs department, MA 7, is funding the competition procedure, while the construction costs are to be raised mainly through donations, including campaigns in which individuals can take part with small amounts. The initiators also hope for support from large companies and the social partners, including the trade union federation ÖGB and the Economic Chamber (Wirtschaftskammer).
Timeline
A scientific advisory board will begin its work in 2027, and the art competition will be organised through KÖR (Art in Public Space) in 2028, with the jury’s decision due in 2029, after which implementation will begin. Volkshilfe Wien and the Vienna Employee Promotion Fund waff are involved in the project.
The initiative goes back to Savo Ristić and Senol Grasl-Akkilic, who have been campaigning for years for public recognition of this generation. “Our history is visible and invisible at the same time,” said Grasl-Akkilic, explaining that the achievements of the guest workers can be seen in streets, railways and buildings, but their story has often not been documented in writing.
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Sources
Heute – Bis zu 250.000 Euro – Wien bekommt Gastarbeiter-Denkmal – 02.11.2026 – https://www.heute.at/s/bis-zu-250000-euro-wien-bekommt-gastarbeiter-denkmal-120275625
