Distinguished for marked improvements to Vienna's municipal infrastructure, molding Vienna in the shape of Modernity, thrice elected mayor Dr. Karl Lueger is viewed with ambivalence in Austrian history. As a member of the Christian Social Party (a precursor to the Austrian People's Party) Lueger ascended to political eminence through a behind the opportunistic shroud of antisemitism, at this time virulent amongst Vienna's middle class. As leader of the Vereinigte Christen Lueger rallied votes from both the left and right wings until the Christian Social Party assumed majority control of Vienna's city council. He was elected to be mayor five times in his political career, but Franz Josef, seeing Lueger's politics as a threat to the city's welfare, refused to sanction the election three times. In 1897, upon endorsement by Pope Leo XIII, Karl Lueger finally assumed the position of mayor. In his reign he
Should the Viennese celebrate Lueger for ushering in the “modern” Vienna or condemn this him for the propagation of antisemitic rhetoric which Adolf Hitler himself used as a model? The political archetype of the double-edged sword is ubiquitous in history, and although there is no definitive answer to that question, the 2012 renaming of Dr.-Karl-Lueger-Ring on the Ringstraße to Universitätsring is perhaps a telling indication of today's sentiment.
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| Dr. Karl Lueger in 1897 |
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