Construction of Austrian Holocaust victims' memorial begins

Chief cantor of the Vienna Jewish community Shmuel Barzilai prays during the groundbreaking ceremony of the memorial to the Jewish children, women and men of Austria who were murdered in the Shoah, in Vienna, Austria, June 22, 2020. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner

VIENNA (Reuters) - Construction of Austria's first public monument naming all the country's Holocaust victims began on Monday, a further step by Adolf Hitler's native land towards confronting an issue it has long struggled with.

For decades after World War Two, Austria denied responsibility for crimes committed by the Nazis, arguing that it was their first victim despite the enthusiasm with which many citizens had welcomed annexation by Hitler's Germany in 1938.