The Dobl Transmitter (2001)

 

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The eagle holding an award plaque in its claws can be found at the Dobl Transmitter, a broadcasting station south of Graz with an eventful history. Starting in 1938, the Nazis built several such stations to increase the reach of their propaganda. The Dobl Transmitter was completed in 1941 and primarily served Southeastern Europe. After World War II, it was first operated by the BBC and handed over to the Austrian public broadcaster ORF in 1954, which continued to use it until the 1980s.

In 2001, the conservation efforts at the site were awarded the so-called GerambRose, named after folklorist Viktor Geramb (1884–1958) and given out by Heimatschutz in der Steiermark (Homeland Protection in Styria, renamed Verein BauKultur Steiermark since, Styrian Association for Building Culture), a preservation society cofounded by Geramb in 1909. In an awkward gesture, the plaque was placed where a swastika had been torn down, thus working as another camouflage of history.

Photo: David Kranzelbinder