Klara Valentina Fritz

I’m a doctoral candidate and university assistent (predoc) at the Chair of Public History at the Faculty Center for Transdisciplinary Historical and Cultural Studies of the University of Vienna.

I studied interdisciplinary social sciences with a focus on history and sociology (BA) and urban studies (MA) at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and Barnard College, Columbia University, New York. Prior to beginning my doctoral studies, I worked in a research capacity as a policy analyst at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris on the topic of cities and sustainable development. I also worked on the organisation and analysis of the participation process for the expansion of the Gusen Memorial at the culture and urbanism agency art:phalanx.

Research Interests: Public History, memory and commemoration practices, memorials and sites of memory, space

Current research project: Memory Practices in War Cemeteries in the Republic of Austria: a study of “Gruppe 97” in Vienna’s central cemetery

The largest war cemetery of World War II in Austria, which contains the remains of 7300 war dead, is located in Vienna's central cemetery. Since 1939, this independent part of the cemetery has primarily served as a final resting place for soldiers of World War II. The focus of my dissertation project is an examination of both individual and collective patterns and rituals of commemoration in this space.

The site's continued function as a living memorial is evident in recent developments, including the recent reburials that took place in early 2025. Despite the advancement in research on places of remembrance related to the Second World War in Austria, particularly concerning memorials, there remains little research on war cemeteries. Despite the public presence and vibrant social discourse on places of remembrance and commemoration in Austria, there are only a few empirical findings on the commemoration practices that take place at these locations.

The theoretical approach of this dissertation project emphasizes the spatial dimensions of individual and collective memorial rituals. The suppression of certain individual acts of commemoration, in turn, reveals tensions between individual and collective patterns and practices of commemoration, thereby transforming this space into a political arena where the construction of national patterns of commemoration is negotiated.

The project employs a transdisciplinary methodological approach. The methodology encompasses a diachronic analysis of the practices at the site, encompassing the design development of the war cemetery and the evolution of individual and collective commemorative rituals and narratives. Social science methods such as ethnographic observation and interviews will be employed to understand the utilization of the site. The project is embedded in the MELPAUMENE research project.