Since 1892, the Latinized names of all rectors of the University of Vienna were chiseled into a rectors’ plaque in the aula of the main building. In the National Socialist era, this ritual was not continued, and after 1945 two empty lines were left for rectors under National Socialism, Fritz Knoll und Eduard Pernkopf. On the initiative of exposed former National Socialists, this meaningful gap was filled in 1959 and these two names were engraved in the honorary plaque.
After the mention of the names of Knoll and Pernkopf on the rectors’ plaque was criticized several times during the 650th anniversary of the University of Vienna in 2015, the Rectorate commissioned the artists Bele Marx & Gilles Mussard with the transformation, which was presented in the aula on April 19, 2017.
