In the dispute around Austrian remembrance set off by the Waldheim debate, Alfred Hrdlicka's »Memorial against War and Fascism« became a controversial symbol against the suppression of the NS-past. Only in the wake of the unveiling in October 1988, the figure of the street-cleaning Jew was critically examined and became the starting point of Simon Wiesenthal's suggestion to the City of Vienna to erect a dignified memorial for the Jewish NS-victims.