{"id":81484,"date":"2025-03-25T12:08:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T11:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=81484"},"modified":"2025-09-07T18:58:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T17:58:51","slug":"controlled-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/controlled-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Controlled Freedom exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedomsmall.jpg\" alt=\"Flak tower and fence\" class=\"wp-image-81479\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedomsmall.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedomsmall-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The Wien Museum explores life in Vienna immediately after WWII and how cultural influences introduced by the Allies helped Austria (re)build its identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An absolutely fascinating dip into the post-war aftermath<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Documents an era of transition and a process of transformation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Around 560 objects on display<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Quite moving at times<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Runs Apr 10 &#8211; Sept 7, 2025<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/wien-museum-karlsplatz\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"66174\">Wien Museum Karlsplatz<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/events\/exhibitions\/#history\">Other history &amp; culture exhibitions<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Allied Forces in Vienna<\/h2>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"384\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedom1.jpg\" alt=\"Large Yank sign outside a building\" class=\"wp-image-81481\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedom1.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedom1-300x230.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(The USIS &#8211; United States Information Service, Christmas parties for Viennese children. Film screening at the &#8220;Yank Theater&#8221;, 1946 \u00a9 \u00d6NB &#8211; Austrian National Library, Vienna)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wander the pristine streets of Vienna&#8217;s centre, and you barely find a brick out of place. The old town has grown plump and content on a diet of democracy, wealth, and social cohesiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Look closer, though, and some buildings seem newer than they ought to be. Or a hastily-erected apartment block from the 1950s interrupts a row of historical houses like a filling in an actor&#8217;s smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such discoveries reveal that Vienna is partly a phoenix risen from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/culture\/wwii-vienna\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"69411\">ashes of WWII<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It feels almost impossible to imagine now, but aerial bombing, ground fighting, and arson left the city pockmarked with craters and rubble in 1945. Watch the movie <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/songsfilms\/third-man-locations\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"31222\">The Third Man<\/a> for a flavour of the times.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedom3.jpg\" alt=\"Sign for an international patrol in post-WWII Vienna\" class=\"wp-image-81483\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedom3.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedom3-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedom3-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedom3-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(&#8220;International Patrol&#8221; sign, Vienna Police Museum, Federal Ministry of the Interior, III-S-3 Department of Historical Affairs; photo: TimTom, Wien Museum)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The end of the conflict saw Austria returned to a country in its own right, albeit under Allied occupation. The Russians &#8220;liberated&#8221; Vienna in April 1945, and the remaining Allies arrived in September to take joint control over the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Austria and Vienna became a country and city severed from German hegemony and National Socialism. But also a country and city desperately short of food, income and self-respect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As such, the scars of war went far beyond physical damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reconstruction efforts therefore extended to more than cranes and concrete, as the <em>Controlled Freedom<\/em> exhibition at the Wien Museum&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/wien-museum-karlsplatz\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"66174\">main site on Karlsplatz<\/a> demonstrates. The exhibition appears 80 years after the liberation of Vienna in 1945.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As well as helping to rebuild the economic and political landscape, the Allies also immediately encouraged numerous cultural activities.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/controlledfreedom4.jpg\" alt=\"Exhibition view with uniforms and map\" class=\"wp-image-82099\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/controlledfreedom4.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/controlledfreedom4-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Exhibition view; press photo by Klaus Pichler)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Controlled Freedom<\/em> takes us through this post-WWII era and the wave of cultural offerings the British, French, Americans and Russians brought to the city to help develop a democratic Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The aim was not to guide Austria and Vienna to one culture or another but to reawaken a national consciousness and sense of independent identity. Albeit, some of that international culture arrived with a significant slice of partisanship, not to say propaganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Theatre, cinema, radio, books, concerts, exhibitions, periodicals, cultural exchanges and more all served as inspiration and relief for the domestic population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given the deprivations of the late 1940s, a renewed emphasis on culture could seem almost irreverent. &#8220;Bread not books&#8221; might feel like a better mantra. But as Winston Churchill himself said in 1938:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>The arts are essential to any complete national life<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"320\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedom2.jpg\" alt=\"Queue outside a cinema\" class=\"wp-image-81482\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedom2.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/controlledfreedom2-300x192.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(Lothar R\u00fcbelt, In front of the Kreuzkino in Vienna&#8217;s Wollzeile, 1947; people are queuing to see a cowboy film \u00a9 \u00d6NB &#8211; Austrian National Library, Vienna)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the focus is on culture, <em>Controlled Freedom<\/em> contains a huge amount of political and historical context. As a result, the overall experience offers insights into a place and time almost inconceivable today (hopefully).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A place where a former Nazi might live next door to a concentration camp survivor and a Russian colonel. A city riven with hunger, uncertainty, and an inconsistent rule of law. A time when women feared sexual violence from the same soldiers that freed them from National Socialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The displays begin with projections of the post-WWII cityscape to leave you in no doubt as to the precarious situation of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then we have objects and paraphernalia that bring life to the era and themes. Interviews with contemporary witnesses, photos &amp; film clips, movie, theatrical, concert &amp; exhibition posters, CARE parcels, ration cards, cigarette packets, nylon tights, flyers&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not to mention a few details that strike close to your heart. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A blouse made from parachute silk<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>An entrance sign for the Russian zone<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"328\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/controlledfreedom5.jpg\" alt=\"Russian zone sign\" class=\"wp-image-82100\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/controlledfreedom5.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/controlledfreedom5-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-small-font-size\">(\u201cRussian Zone\u201d sign, 1945-1955, \u00a9 Vienna Police Museum, Federal Ministry of the Interior, III-S-3 &#8211; Department of Historical Affairs, photo: TimTom, Wien Museum)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The four uniforms of the &#8220;4 in a jeep&#8221; joint Allied patrols (put together for probably the first time ever)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A poster advertising a performance of <em>Much Ado About Nothing<\/em> (the irony)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>And a little piece of iconic Austrian history, too: a page from a first draft of the independence treaty that would be signed in 1955.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The paragraph outlining Austria&#8217;s shared responsibility for what passed in that nightmarish period of fascism in Europe is crossed out on the page. It never appeared in the final version&#8230;but the consequences of that decision are a story for another day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"tickets\">Dates, tickets &amp; tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Immerse yourself in the times and culture of post-WWII Vienna from April 10th to September 7th, 2025. The Wien Museum permanent exhibition is free, but the top-floor centerpiece special exhibitions require a ticket: available direct from the museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A couple of tips:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Wien Museum&#8217;s musa gallery also covers the post-war era in its special exhibition, which runs for some of the same time as <em>Controlled Freedom<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/viennese-realism\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"81183\">Truth as Attitude<\/a> (until August 17th, 2025) presents the work of the Viennese Realists, who highlighted sociopolitical and sociocultural issues through their art<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/third-man-museum\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"60290\">Third Man museum<\/a> has an extensive historical section on the rebuilding years<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>And if you want to explore the physical legacy of WWII, see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/culture\/wwii-vienna\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"69411\">my location guide<\/a> or take a short <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiqets.com\/en\/vienna-attractions-c60335\/tickets-for-world-war-II-and-holocaust-vienna-guided-walking-tour-p976190\/?partner=visitingvienna&amp;tq_campaign=LG_WienMuseum\" rel=\"sponsored\">guided walking tour<\/a>*<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to get there<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Karlsplatz has its own subway station (U1, U2 and U4 lines) but for more details, check the tips on my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/wien-museum-karlsplatz\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"66174\">main Wien Museum page<\/a>. Once inside the museum, go up to the top floor for the exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Karlsplatz 8, 1040 Wien<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1NMqkks0X31kXFcGlJhOYbfticeDu8Nk4\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Wien Museum explores post-WWII Vienna and the cultural influences introduced by the Allies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-81484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-museums","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81484"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85627,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81484\/revisions\/85627"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}