Landscape Architecture during Austrofascism. Development of the profession in Austria between 1934 and 1938.

During Austro-Fascism and National Socialism in Austria, landscape architects as well picked up the fascistic ideologies of Heimat, Blut-und-Boden, and Nature, and thus supported the political system effectively. Their role and the role of the landscape architecture profession in general are, so far, hardly investigated. The aim of our research is to increase general knowledge of the profession history and to give important conclusions about the approach and understanding of design and planning during the 1930s and 1940s. Within this research project we put the focus on the question which influence political and ideological processes during Austro-Fascism had on the professional discussion and on the development of the profession itself. The research concentrated on four Austrian professional journals which ranged from a conservative and nationalistic editorial attitude to a liberal one. In addition we analyzed secondary literature on cultural politics, architecture and art during Austro-Fascism and literature on landscape architecture in Germany during the 1930s. So far, we could not prove the hypothesis that - already in the early 1930s - Austrian landscape architects publicized fascistic ideologies and the German Garden and ostracized the Modern Garden. One reason might be that - out of programmatic reasons - the Austro-Fascistic regime did not ban or prosecute any cultural style. However the cultural policy tried to control art and culture and to exploit them as propaganda. This policy and the common antisemitism in the early 1930s restricted the life and the cultural activities of Jewish, liberal, and social democratic artists. We continue our studies on the topic within the following research project “Landscape Architecture in Austria between 1912 and 1945”. This project, financed by the FWF Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, starts in June 2008 and will last for two years. We will put a more detailed look on the development of landscape architecture profession in Austria in structure, form, and content during the first half of the 20th century. Furthermore we will analyze the changes in professional training, in the structure of the associations, and the work and tasks of garden and landscape architects.