THE RECONSTRUCTION OF THE AUSTRIAN THEATER after 1945 had initially to face the traumatic fact that the Staatsoper and the Burgtheater, previously the centers of its tradition, could no longer be used for performances. The great venues of Austrian drama had been destroyed by bombs. Performances were held in “Ronacher,” a former popular entertainment hall. This destruction of the national theaters meant the destruction of cultural and political self-respect. “Mit dem Stephansdom hat Wien seinen Glauben, mit der Burg seinen Stolz, mit der Oper die Freude verloren” (Along with St Stephen’s, Austria lost its faith; with the Burg, its pride; and with the Opera, its enjoyment), wrote the editor Rudolf Kalmar. The bombs had struck a central medium of Austrian self-presentation. A culture which had always considered “theater” a political category had to manage for over ten years without a national stage.

In this traumatic situation, all efforts were devoted to constructing a continuity that could conceal this break. When the Burgtheater and the Opera reopened on 15 October and 2 November 1955 respectively, it became clear that the renewal of the Austrian stage was not to include any reflection on how and why it had been destroyed. Not only did the restored state theaters open their doors, but on 26 October 1955, later proclaimed a national holiday, the State Treaty was signed. What was being celebrated was not liberation from Nazi rule, nor the establishment of democratic structures, but the quasi-natural return of Old Austria. “Als das Burgtheater zu spielen begann, hat sozusagen das Herz Österreichs wieder den ersten Schlag getan und den ganzen Kreislauf der Empfindungen bewegt, der uns wieder das richtige Bewußtsein von uns selbst und den Glauben an unsere Zukunft gegeben hat” (When the Burgtheater resumed its performances, Austria's heart began to beat anew, sending emotions through our veins, restoring our proper self-awareness and our faith in our future), wrote Friedrich Schreyvogl, who had vigorously promoted Austria's absorption into Nazi Germany and was from 1954 to 1961 deputy director of the Burgtheater. As the ruins of the state theaters were rebuilt, the self-image of an injured theatrical nation was given cosmetic treatment. In relation to the theater, as elsewhere, the past evoked not the period of collaboration with National Socialism, but a fantasy of theatrical culture under the Habsburgs.