Heldenplatz revolves around the return of a Jewish professor, Josef Schuster, to his country, Austria. He emigrated to Oxford in 1938 because of Nazism and returns to Vienna fifty years later, but ends up committing suicide when he realizes that the situation is worse than before and that anti-Semitism is more alive than ever, his compatriots continue to act like those who acclaimed Hitler . The account of what happened to Professor Schuster and the grim description of the Austrian situation in 1988 are provided by his family, a college classmate and his wife, and the deceased's housekeeper.
The work refers to the events of March 15, 1938, when an enthusiastic crowd cheered, in Vienna's Heroes' Square (Heldenplatz), for Adolf Hitler and the annexation of Austria to Germany. Bernhard's work caused a great scandal, even before its premiere. Many Austrians, including politicians, ...read more
