austria 2007

 

Most antisemitism in Austria is expressed in print and in public utterances by members of the extreme right. There appeared to be a decline in such expressions as well as in other manifestations of antisemitism in 2007. The far right Austrian Freedom Party has expanded its links with neo-Nazis and some party members have begun distancing themselves from the more extreme statements of fellow politicians.

 

the jewish community

Austria has a Jewish population of 10,000 out of a total population of 8 million. Most registered members of the community are affiliated to the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien (IKG − Jewish Community Vienna). The community, largely located in Vienna, is made up of several groups, the most numerous being returnee Austrians and their families, as well as former refugees from Eastern Europe. A Jewish primary school and high school, as well as several Jewish publications, such as the monthly Die Gemeinde and Aufbau and the quarterly David, serve the needs of the community.

 

extremist parties and groups

FPÖ Activity and Links

The Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) has expanded its links with neo-Nazis and some party members have begun distancing themselves from the more extreme statements of fellow politicians. For example, Corinthian MP Karlheinz Klement described people who opposed trivializing the crimes of the SS and the Wehrmacht as traitors of the fatherland. In contrast he called neo-Nazis “young right-wing persons” and defended their right of freedom of expression. During the party convention in early June, FPÖ Chairman Heinz-Christian Strache said that the Austrian social system drew foreigners like moths to a flame, and compared them to harmful insects.

In mid-January photos of Strache, probably circulated by neo-Nazis, showed him taking part in paramilitary exercises in Carinthia at the end of the 1980s. Strache attempted to excuse the incident as a harmless youthful escapade. Another photograph showed Strache at a meeting with British Holocaust denier David Irving in November 1989 that was subsequently dispersed by the police.

In the face of pressure by the media and political rivals from other parties to distance himself from National Socialism and condemn Nazi crimes, Strache compared the expulsion of Germans at the end of the war from Sudetendeutsche to the Holocaust, in an interview to the daily newspaper Der Standard (Jan. 27-28): “Every crime against humanity, targeted mass murder in the concentration camps as well as the expulsions – and my family were expelled from the Sudetenland – is to be fiercely condemned.” A few days later he accused the Austrian media of acting like the Nazi periodical Der Stürmer – an attack that he retracted after severe criticism.

The Ring Freiheitlicher Jugend (RFJ − FPÖ Youth), of which Strache has been made an honorary life member, also dissociated itself from past positions and statements of the FPÖ. Nevertheless, this organization, too, has links to neo-Nazi groups, especially the Bund Freier Jugend (BFJ). In early 2007 RFJ Tyrol protested the closure of the neo-Nazi club Triple Seven 21 in Innsbruck. In a press release issued in late April, RJF Deutschlandsberg (Styria) demanded the abolition of the NS-Verbotsgesetzes (Nazi prohibition law) and the release of three volkstreue (persons true to their “people”) activists of the BFJ, whom they referred to as “political prisoners” who had “expressed their opinions freely” and were “democratically aware” (see below). It should be noted that the campaign against the Nazi prohibition law is a major part of the activity of right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis, although agitation decreased considerably in 2007 compared to the previous year. Johann Gudenus, chairman of FPÖ Youth, for instance, questioned the law in September, claiming it was “inconsistent with the right of freedom of expression.”

In October FPÖ politicians Barbara Rosenkranz and Manfred Haimbuchner participated in the 10th anniversary celebration of the weekly, state-funded extreme right-wing newspaper Zur Zeit, (see, for example, ASW 2005, 2006), published by FPÖ MEP Andreas Mölzer. During the event, right-wing extremist Herbert Schaller (see ASW 2006) stated that there was no evidence for the existence of gas chambers in the Nazi death camps. British Holocaust denier David Irving (who was expelled from Austria toward the end of 2006 after being jailed for one year for his views) conveyed a video message comparing the contemporary Austrian authorities to the Nazis.

The monthly Die Aula, whose views are close to those of the FPÖ, published an article by “a renowned… historian" David Irving about his experiences as a “political prisoner” in Austria.” Irving also described the Nazi prohibition law as “a leftover of the dark occupation which is misused… to repress disagreeable opinions.”

The extreme right Kulturwerk Österreich, led by former FPÖ member Otto Scrinzi, organized Kärntner Kulturtage (Corinthian culture days), from September 13 to 16 in Sirnitz, Corinthia. The guest of honor was neo-Nazi and former NPD ideologist Jürgen Schwab, considered one of the masterminds of German and Austrian right-wing extremism and the subject of reports of the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution due to his militant rejection of parliamentarianism. Schwab called for an axis between “Germany,” Russia and Iran against the US and Israel.

On the eve of Austrian Memorial Day for victims of National Socialism (May 5), the daily newspaper Kurier (May 4) asked FPÖ Members of Parliament for their views on the occasion. Upper Austrian representative Alois Gradauer said a line should be drawn under such days. FPÖ Regional Director Lutz Weinzinger sought to offset remembrance of the victims of the Nazi regime with that of “German” victims of war and advocated a corresponding revision of history in which Nazis were no longer the only ones cast as criminals. Party head Strache called for remembrance of “all victims of every war.” He declared that the suffering of concentration camp victims did not touch him in the same way as those who had to flee the “Tito partisans.”

FPÖ Saalfeld chairman Wolfgang Grießer resigned from the party in January because of his opposition to its neo-Nazi links.

 

Neo-Nazis

Although largely in hiding since his release from prison in 1999, Gottfried Küssel, founder in the 1980s and leader of the neo-Nazi organization Volkstreue Außerparlamentarische Opposition (VAPO) (see, for example, ASW 2000/1), the Austrian branch of the NSDAP/AO, and a close comrade of Gerd Honsik (see below), continued to visit the graves of NS “heroes” (such as Walter Nowotny and Otto Skorzeny), participate in memorial events for them and attend meetings of student fraternities (Burschenschaften). On September 8, Küssel appeared at the Fest der Völker (People’s celebration) in Jena, where he attacked “liberal capitalism.” More than 1500 neo-Nazis from all over Europe came to the event at the invitation of the Nationaldemokratischen Partei Deutschlands (NPD). Entertainment was provided by racist skinhead bands such as Brutal Attack and Sleipnir.

As such events and demonstrations are normally not permitted in Austria, neo-Nazis often go to neighboring countries, Or they join legal initiatives such as the Überparteiliche Bürgerinitiative (Non-partisan citizens’ initiative) of some 700 people, held on September 13 against the construction of a mosque in Vienna XX (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrJrD_7ikqM). The 50 neo-Nazis shouted slogans such as “Foreigners, out!” and “This is the National Resistance.” Representatives of the Nationale Volkspartei (NVP) led by Karl Goschescheck and the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für demokratische Politik (AFP) were also present. The FPÖ was harshly criticized for encouraging people to participate in the demonstration. Chairman Strache warned of further “huge demonstrations” against the religious rights of Muslims “all around the country.” Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer and the president of the IKG Ariel Muzicant, who noted the participation of neo-Nazis, were immediately defamed by FPÖ politicians.

Some 200 old Nazis and young neo-Nazis marched to the Wiener Zentralfriedhof (central cemetery) on November 11 to mark the anniversary of the death (in 1944) of the “hero” Nazi bomber Walter Nowotny. Among them was a delegation from the Nationalen Volkspartei of Karl Goschescheck/Thierry (see below).

Neo-Nazis branded a rally held at the end of September in Vienna against trade relations between Austrian enterprises and the Iranian regime as “a demonstration of Jews.” Heimatschutz-Forum of the neo-Nazi Bund Freier Jugend (BJF) advised supporting left-wing, anti-imperialistic enemies of Israel.

In mid-October BFJ’s mother organization AFP held their annual “42 Political Academy” in Perg, Upper Austria. The meeting was kept secret due to public criticism in the past and ongoing investigations into the leadership of the AFP and the BFJ. Only 70 right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis attended and there were no prominent speakers, as in previous years.

In late summer 2007 the long-planned alliance between the Nationale Volkspartei (NVP), Die Nationalen (The nationals) and Initiative für alle Linksnationalen in Österreich (Initiative for all left-wing nationalists in Austria) came about. Die Nationalen was founded by Karl Goschescheck, aka Karl Thierry, whose activities extend beyond Austria. Goscheschek lives partly in Strasbourg and is one of the leading activists of the Alsace-Lorraine separatist movement Nationalforums Elsaß-Lothringen Unabhängige Landespartei. He also operates the Internet projects Alldeutsche Zeitung und Encyclopaedia Germanica.

The ideology of the Initiative, a neo-Nazi group started by Marco Maier from Vorarlberg, contains similarities to NS ideology and the NSDAP party platform. The text on its website speaks of a “left-nationalist form of state,” including commitment to the “ethnic community” (Volksgemeinschaft”) and “nationalist/folk socialism.” It also states that, like the Nuremberg Laws, “only people who have verifiable German offspring back to the fourth generation can become citizens.”

The neo-Nazi newspaper Die Umwelt (The environment) marked the 70th anniversary of the annexation of Austria, with an article by editor Hemma Tiffner called “1938 – the Happy Year.” Tiffner claims that it was not “Hitler and the Germans but the warmongering Freemason statesmen of the Allies and Jewish high finance that planned and provoked the war.” The DÖW filed charges against the paper with the public prosecution in Vienna.

 

Far Left Wing

The isolation of anti-Israel far left groups, such as Sedunia (renamed Dar al Janub) and Antiimperialistische Koordination (AIK), has begun to erode in recent years, and even sympathizers of the mainstream Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ) have been abandoning their reservations about these groups. The AIK disguises its support for Hamas by claiming it seeks to aid the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. Sedunia/Dar al Janub is subsidized by the City of Vienna and the Austrian government.

 

antisemitic activity

Sixty-two antisemitic incidents were registered by the Forum against Antisemitism (FGA; associated with the Jewish Faith Community in Vienna) in 2007, including one physical assault (2006: 1), two acts of vandalism against Jewish property (2006: 3) and 12 reports of threats and obscenities (2006: 17); the rest consisted of hate mail and propaganda.

On December 20, for example, a memorial to local World War II victims (Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah’s Witnesses, invalids, forced laborers and others) was vandalized in Villach, south Austria. The memorial, which was unveiled in 1999, has been desecrated many times in the past. The police opened an investigation.

 

Propaganda

There is much antisemitism on Austrian Internet sites. On kreuz.net, a group of Catholic fundamentalists attack Jews and Judaism, feminists and other dissenters from their “pure doctrine.” Some articles, such as those authored by Leo G. Schüchter and Friedrich Romig, find their way to extreme right-wing sites (such as Eisenkrone). In one article, Schüchter refers to the Holocaust “as a kind of salvation myth,” competing with Christian doctrine. Hence remembrance of those crimes against humanity was inappropriate for “real Christians.” In several postings on kreuz.net the Holocaust is denied openly.

The pro-FPÖ weekly Zur Zeit published an article (48/2007), entitled “Ariels Anmaßungen” (Ariel’s presumptiousness), focusing on an interview given to the daily newspaper Die Presse by the president of the IKG, Ariel Muzicant. Referring to Muzicant’s criticism of Austria’s policy toward immigrants, the article said: [a Jew wants to] “eliminate... the German character of the Alpine Republic.” Also: “Apparently several decades ago there were men of the same origin as Muzicant who had similar plans against the German people.” Another article published in September 2007 claimed that Europe was ruled by an “anti-Christ, Jewish esprit” and that the Jews had become “sacrosanct” by the Holocaust.

In early October self-declared “chief rabbi” Moishe A. Friedman, an American citizen living in Vienna, paid another visit to Iran (see ASW 2006), where in an interview to the Iranian press agency, he called for the obliteration of Zionism and termed the Holocaust a Zionist invention.

 

Legal Activity

Ten people were sentenced in 2007 (2006: 24) under the Nazi prohibition law. In late August neo-Nazi and Holocaust denier Wolfgang Fröhlich was once again remanded in custody (see ASW 2005). In the early summer he had launched a petition (Arbeitsgemeinschaft SOS Stalinismus!), appealing to “all decent Austrians” to support him in working for the abolition of paragraph 3h of the "Stalinist" Nazi prohibition law. He claimed 30,000 people had already signed it. Paragraph 3h deals with the matter of punishment in the event of denial, approval, relativization or belittlement of the Holocaust.

After 15 years spent as a fugitive from justice, neo-Nazi Gerd Honsik was arrested in August in the Andalusian town of Torremolinos, under a European warrant, and extradited to Austria. Austrian and German neo-Nazis immediately launched protest campaigns on the Internet against the Spanish ministry of justice. In Spain Honsik had extended his international network of contacts – mainly to Iran and to Arab countries – and looked after former Wehrmacht officer and Holocaust denier Otto Ernst Remer. He published several books, as well as an antisemitic paper HALT, and operated a website. In December Honsik’s sentence to 18 months imprisonment was confirmed by an Austrian court.

BFJ members Stefan Mairinger, René Hönig and Michael Scharfmüller were released in late September after six months in prison. Prior to their release neo-Nazis had protested against their imprisonment and the investigations against them.

Alen Furjan, the 24-year-old Croatian who seriously vandalized the Lauder Chabad School in Vienna II in November 2006 (see ASW 2006) was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment in February. Furjan, who claimed to be “Adolf Hitler” on his arrest and expressed open antisemitism, showed no signs of remorse. Jewish organizations protested the lenient sentence.