Rebuilding Is Not Going Back: The Vienna State Opera and Resilience

Vienna, 5 November 1955. Ten years after the bombing that struck the building in 1945, the Vienna State Opera reopens with Beethoven’s “Fidelio”, conducted by Karl Böhm. It is the first live broadcast by Austrian television. For ten years the city had not been without music: performances had moved to other theatres, such as the Volksoper and the Theater an der Wien, while the reconstruction work went on.

For Viennese people that evening was a symbolic act: the reopening came after the Austrian State Treaty and was felt as a celebration of the country’s independence. It was not a return to the past: it was a restart, made patiently, one piece at a time.

What does psychology say about how people start again after a loss? In 2004 George Bonanno, in the journal American Psychologist, reviewed the research on the subject. His conclusion is that many people, after a loss or a potentially traumatic event, keep having positive emotional experiences and show only minor, temporary disruptions in their ability to function. According to the author, resilience is more common than is often believed, it is a different trajectory from “recovery”, and it can follow multiple, sometimes unexpected, pathways.

A few cautions. This is a literature review, not an experiment, and it deals with individual reactions to loss, not with cities, theatres or communities: the parallel with Vienna is ours. I read the abstract and not the full paper. And “common resilience” does not mean “easy”: for some people the path is much longer and deserves professional help.

What can we do with it? These are our own common-sense ideas, not findings of the study. Starting again does not mean going back to how things were: it can be enough to reopen one small space, such as a walk, a phone call, a regular appointment. If one place is still closed, look for another where you can find a little beauty or company, as Viennese people did with their temporary theatres. And if the weight is heavy or lasts a long time, talk to your doctor or a psychologist.

And you, what was the first “door” you reopened after a difficult time? Tell us in the comments: I am curious to read your answers.

Sources

• Bonanno, G. A. (2004), “Loss, Trauma, and Human Resilience: Have We Underestimated the Human Capacity to Thrive After Extremely Aversive Events?”, American Psychologist 59(1), 20-28. DOI 10.1037/0003-066X.59.1.20
• “Vienna State Opera”, English Wikipedia entry, and “Wiener Staatsoper”, Italian Wikipedia entry (accessed 2 November 2026)