Austria
Austria is a parliamentary republic with five major parties. These are:
the Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs (SPÖ, Social Democratic
Party), which until early 1997 was led by Chancellor Franz Vranitzky; the
Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP, Austrian People's Party); the
Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ, Freedom Party of Austria);
Die Grünen (Greens); and the Liberales Forum (LiF, Liberal Forum).
Victor Klima of the SPÖ, formerly the finance minister of the governing
coalition, took over as chancellor at the beginning of 1997.
At present, Austria is governed by an SPÖ/ÖVP coalition, established
after the December 1995 general election. Economic policies and, in particular,
the question of the budget deficit have long been an issue of conflict between
the parties. However, since the election, they have agreed on the terms
of an austerity programme.
Austria's first direct election of MEPs to the European Parliament took
place in October 1996. The SPÖ suffered serious electoral setbacks,
in contrast with both the ÖVP and the FPÖ, which increased their
share of the vote. One of the principal reasons behind the FPÖ's success
is its anti-European stance; the electorate is ambivalent about European
integration, and the election result indicates that discontented voters
in Austria are capable of switching their allegiance from left to right
and voting in protest when there are no governmental consequences. In gaining
27.6 per cent of the vote the FPÖ broke through the projected 25 per
cent "natural ceiling" that had until then been assumed for the
European far right.
Jörg Haider's FPÖ emerged as the strongest party in the provinces
of Salzburg and Carinthia, and a similar trend emerged in the elections
to the municipal assembly of Vienna, which is the country's most important
local council. In these elections the SPÖ lost the majority it had
held without interruption since 1918 (except during 1934-45). Compared with
the performance of Austria's two biggest parties, the FPÖ increased
its share of the vote from 22.5 per cent to 28 per cent. In spite of the
FPÖ's success in recent elections, the SPÖ has explicitly distanced
itself from the FPÖ, as has, to a certain degree, the ÖVP.
In terms of economic trends, Austria did well in 1996. However, as in 1995,
a marked trend of bankruptcies continued. The average rate of inflation
for 1996 was around 2 per cent; the rate of unemployment was around 6.5
per cent, relatively low compared with other European countries. The political
agenda remained dominated by the issue of reducing the budget deficit and
the ensuing policies of cost reduction in health and welfare.
Jews have lived in Vienna and its environs since the tenth century, and
it was not until the modern period that they were dispersed geographically.
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the confiscation of property,
economic restrictions, expulsions and, finally, persecutions became so commonplace
that Austria became known among Jews as "the bloodstained land".
From the end of the eighteenth century, with the growing centralization
of government and empire, the position of the Jews in Austria became increasingly
linked with the history of the empire as a whole. Under the rule of Joseph
II (1780-90) and the influence of his Toleranzpatent , assimilation
was encouraged, and Jews were even admitted into the army.
Towards the latter part of the nineteenth century antisemitism developed
in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Catholic religious antisemitism found expression
through Karl Lueger and his Christian Social Party, and pan-German nationalist
antisemitism became integrated into the policies of Georg von Schönerer
and his party.
In the 1930s the Christian Social Party's amalgamation of religious, economic,
cultural and racial prejudice, together with its reluctance to introduce
discriminatory measures against Jews, was at a disadvantage against Hitler's
racial "antisemitism of reason" and the Nuremberg Laws. Yet the
stated objectives of these two politically disparate strands of antisemitism
were not fundamentally dissimilar. In 1938, Austria was incorporated into
the German Third Reich, and the Nazi racial policies were applied.
The Austrian Second Republic, founded in 1945, repudiated national socialism,
including its racial policies. Antisemitism was redefined officially as
a relic of a hated regime. However, the negative connotations associated
with the term "antisemitism" did not eliminate the problem of
anti-Jewish prejudice after the war. Nonetheless, open public expressions
of hostility towards Jews were seen to transgress, at least implicitly,
recognized normative expectations of post-Auschwitz Austrian political debate,
and as such were considered largely unrelated to the wider political culture.
The "Waldheim affair" in 1986 represented a watershed in the post-war
"Jewish question", because it witnessed the willingness of a major
political party (ÖVP) to appeal to antisemitic prejudice-coded in an
appropriate post-Auschwitz idiom-for political ends, and indicated the potential
for its success. A 1991 poll showed that even after five years of Waldheim's
international isolation, a significant percentage of Austrians still held
"the Jews" accountable for the "Waldheim affair". The
same opinion survey revealed an alarming resilience of certain anti-Jewish
stereotypes in contemporary Austria. Waldheim's retirement from public office
(1992) removed the principal point around which hostility towards Jews had
crystallized. Yet any contemporary allusion to the World Jewish Congress
(Waldheim's strongest critic in the 1980s) usually still elicits a venomous
response from the tabloid press and some conservative politicians. In the
early 1990s, with the rise of Haider's FPÖ, Ausländer ("foreigners")
became the principal focus of both discursive and political intolerance.
As in previous years, racism and xenophobia were manifest in Austria's
social and political life in 1996. As was the case during the 1995 general
election campaign, the FPÖ employed racist rhetoric in the run-up to
Vienna's muni-cipal elections. Playing on a myth that most crime in Austria
is committed by Ausländer who constitute a Mafia, the slogan
"Wien darf nicht Chicago werden" ("Vienna must not become
Chicago") was posted once again around the city.
The letter-bombing campaigns, a feature of Austrian political life since
1993, continued throughout 1996. In December, the step-mother of the then
interior minister, Caspar Einem (who is responsible for immigration and
refugees), received a letter-bomb. Although the bombs are increasingly sophisticated
in form and indistinguishable from ordinary letters (many carry "addressees"
on the back who are known to the receiver) there were no casualties in the
latest campaigns. As in previous campaigns, the Bajuwarische Befreiungsarmee
(see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS) claimed responsibility, and announced
its intention to continue the campaign. The perpetrators of the letter-bombs
have not yet been caught, and three people charged in 1995 in relation to
the campaign were acquitted through lack of evid-ence (though sentenced
for neo-Nazi activity).
According to the 1997 figures from the Bundesministerium für Inneres
(ministry of the interior), there were 290 offences with a far-right, anti-foreigner
or antisemitic motivation in 1996. Of these cases, 141 were solved. From
the total figures of reported offences the ministry records a 39 per cent
reduction in cases from the previous year, and a 10 per cent increase in
the number of police or court solution of these cases. The overall drop
was reflected in each type of offence; for example, there were considerably
less far-right graffiti and sticker actions in the year; and the number
of serious and violent incidents dropped. There were no murders. There were
fourteen cases of incitement, the same number as in 1995. The specifically
racist or anti-foreigner offences were spread geographically, and included
anonymous threats, attempted arson and harm to property.
The racist far right in Austria comprises not only small, militant political
parties (often "regional" divisions of German groups) but also
more diffusely organized cultural, educational, religious and sporting associations,
as well as former Nazi veterans' groups.
The Handbuch des österreichischen Rechts-extremismus (Handbook
of the Austrian Far Right), published by the Dokumentations-archiv des Österreichischen
Widerstandes (DÖW, Archive of the Austrian Resistance), lists over
fifty such organizations, though many of these consist of no more than a
mailing address, and memberships frequently overlap. The Austrian police
estimate that hard-core neo-Nazis number approximately 300-500. In recent
years, there has been a shift in membership of the far-right movements-as
members of the veteran groups age and the more traditional groups lose power,
the 20,000 Austrians who may have once been active on the margins of these
movements have found a new political home as they are integrated into the
FPÖ and mainstream politics.
The Aktionsgemeinschaft für Demokratische Politik (AFP, Action Society
for Democratic Politics) is registered as a political party but has very
few members. Instead, it functions primarily as an umbrella organization
fostering links between the various groups of the Austrian far right and
other groups, individuals and publications abroad. In 1996, its head, Konrad
Windisch, was sentenced for neo-Nazi agitation (see LEGAL MATTERS). The
publications of the AFP serve as a vehicle for the propagation of neo-Nazism
and Holocaust denial. Its broadsheet, Kommentare zum Zeitgeschehen (Current
Affairs Commentary), is particularly notorious. The AFP organizes an annual
"Political Academy", a meeting point for local and international
neo-Nazis. The 1996 meeting took place in Mauterndorf, Salzburg, where there
were approximately 100 people in attendance. Among the speakers were: Horst
Jakob Rosenkranz, the director of the far-right Kritische Demokraten (Critical
Democrats) and publisher of the monthly Fakten; Herbert Schaller, a lawyer
with a history of defending far rightists; and Günter Rehak, who writes
for far-right publications.
The Bajuwarische Befreiungsarmee (BBA, Bavarian Liberation Army) has become
active again in the last few years as a clandestine terrorist organization,
claiming responsibility for the many waves of letter-bombing (see RACISM
AND XENOPHOBIA). The group was founded after the defeat of the Third Reich,
although it was disbanded shortly afterwards. The 1990s have seen its renewed
activity, with a continuation of its ideological struggle for a single Teutonic
state and a racially homogeneous Austria.
The Volkstreue Außerparlamentarische Opposition (VAPO, Ethnically
Loyal Extra-Parliamentary Opposition) was in the 1980s one of the most active
and best known of the Austrian far-right groups. However, with many of its
key members currently in prison, the future of the party is uncertain. Its
founder and leader, Gottfried Küssel, was jailed in 1994, its deputy,
Hans-Jörg Schimanek, in March 1995 and two activists, Peter Binder
and Franz Radl (also brought to trial for involvement in the first letter-bombing
campaigns, see RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA), in December 1995. A further party
activist, Peter Preisl, was sentenced in 1996 (see LEGAL MATTERS).
The Kamaradschaft IV is a veterans' organization with a strong membership
of former Waffen-SS. It is regionally organized (including German divisions),
publishes Der Kamerad, an "independent journal of information
for soldiers", and holds regular meetings where far-right literature
and Nazi memor-abilia are on sale. The group holds a variety of memorial
and remembrance services to commemorate wartime events, as do smaller inner
circles within its ranks. In 1995, an annual meeting in the town of Ulrichsberg
received extensive media coverage following a keynote speech by the FPÖ
leader, Jörg Haider. As a result of his speech, court proceedings were
brought against Haider for his glorification of National Socialism (see
LEGAL MATTERS). The main speaker at the 1996 meeting was Otto Keimel, a
former ÖVP MP and head of the veterans' organization the Österreichischer
Kameradschaftsbund. In his address, Keimel criticized the Vernichtungskrieg-Verbrechen
der Wehrmacht 1941-1944 exhibition (see MAINSTREAM POLITICS), as Haider
had done the previous year, and said it was shameless to ask young people
whether their fathers and grandfathers had been criminals. Keimel's statements
reflect an attitude central to the ideology of the Österreichischer
Kameradschaftsbund and other groups of its ilk. The presence of politicians
and other public figures lends legitimacy to the organizers of the Ulrichsbergtreffen
(the Ulrichsberg meeting) and to the views that are regularly put forward
there.
The politics and agenda of the Österreichischer Turnerbund (ÖTB,
Austrian Gymnastics Association) were debated in the public forum throughout
the year. The ÖTB fashions itself as a sports club, but seems to be
one in name only: its programme is concerned "with cultural education
towards the knowledge of nationality". With 70,000 members, dozens
of regional branches, publications, summer-camp activities and so on, this
is one of the most active and "respectable" of the far-right groups,
whose leadership is openly nationalist.
In July 1996, the ÖTB held a week-long national Turnerfest (gymnastics
convocation) in Krems. The local Green party and other small organizations
held an alternative cultural political programme, the agenda of which brought
attention to the racist nature of the ÖTB. In one debate, the panel-Franz
Hölzl, Mayor of Krems (ÖVP), the SPÖ vice-mayor and Hans-Henning
Scharsach, the author of Haider's Clan . Wie Gewalt entsteht (Haider's
Clan: How Violence Develops)-discussed the motion "Is the ÖTB
a far-right movement: to what extent and why should the ÖTB receive
public money?" The town of Krems supports the ÖTB with Sch. 30,000
yearly ($3,000) and the convocation received a Sch. 100,000 ($10,000) subsidy
from the state and from Lower Austria. Hölzl was the member of the
panel who supported the ÖTB most forthrightly: he said he believed
ÖTB director Günter Atzmanninger's assertion that his organization
was not extremist and that members of the ÖTB have distanced themselves
from national socialist ideology.
At this annual meeting, Hans Werner Scheidl, a member of ÖTB-Gersthof
(Vienna), challenged the ÖTB adherence to the ideology of racial purity
(Rassenreinheit ) and questioned its affinity to German national
traditions. His comments were published in the ÖTB newspaper. In reply,
ÖTB Bundesdietwart (regional duty officer) Gerhard Kellner wrote in
the November issue of the group's paper, Bundesturnzeitung (National
Gymnastics Newspaper), that the ÖTB would continue to adhere to German
culture and to German national traditions.
The Freundeskreis für Kultur- und Zeitgeschichte (Friends of Cultural
and Contemporary History), led by Professor Ottokar Schöfer, is a small
organization with links to the far right. In the past, the Holocaust-denier
David Irving (see United Kingdom) has spoken at its meetings. In 1996 the
group held a monthly lecture series on a variety of topics often concerning
the European Union (EU) and monetary union. Herbert Schaller (see above)
addressed a meeting in June.
Another small German nationalist organization that holds a "summer
school" is the Kulturwerk Österreich (Deutsches Kulturwerk Europäischen
Geistes, Österreich). Its 1996 five-day "cultural event"
was held in Gnesau (Carinthia) at the beginning of September. Speakers included
Ottokar Schöfer (see above), Imke Thomas and the head of the FPÖ
political academy, Andreas Mölzer.
The FPÖ has long had personal links with the Austrian far right.
In January 1996, Professor Wilhelm Brauneder, a former university dean,
was elected FPÖ representative of the three-member presidium that chairs
the Austrian parliament. Brauneder has a long association with the far right,
and as a student was active in the Ring Freiheitlicher Studenten (Circle
of Libertarian Students, the far-right student wing of the FPÖ and
"political school" for the majority of today's FPÖ leaders).
In recent years Brauneder has used the far-right publication Aula as a mouthpiece
for his views (see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA). Brauneder's election was supported
by the ÖVP. Strangely, he replaces another far-right FPÖ representative,
Herbert Haupt, who, owing to lack of impartiality, was advised not to stand
for re-election.
In August, there were calls from senior members of all political parties
for the resignation of Karl Schweitzer, the FPÖ national secretary.
This followed a legal investigation into the desecration of the Jewish cemetery
in Eisenstadt (1992) that concluded that the two men responsible, Wolfgang
Tomsits and Christian W. Anderle (see LEGAL MATTERS), were officials of
the FPÖ youth organization, Ring Freiheitlicher Jugend (RFJ, Circle
of Libertarian Youth), at the time of the desecration, and had been recruited
personally by Schweitzer. Schweitzer resigned in November, although the
FPÖ issued a statement that his resignation was in no way connected
to the cemetery desecration and subsequent events.
In October, the FPÖ appointed the Jewish writer Peter Sichrovsky as
its deputy leader in the European Parliament. His association with the far
right puzzled commentators internationally, and many attributed his appointment
to a move by Haider to avoid criticisms of racism. Sichrovsky, for his part,
maintained that this puzzlement rendered commentators antisemitic: rather
than accept him as a parliamentarian, they commented only on his religion.
The German exhibition Vernichtungs-krieg-Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941-1944
(War of Extermination-Crimes of the Wehrmacht 1941-1944) continued to travel
around Austria (see Germany). In 1996 it opened in Klagenfurt and Linz (it
had first been shown in Vienna and Innsbruck in 1995). In the two latter
cities, local politicians, businesses and the Catholic church refused to
give their support nominally or financially. The governor of Salzburg, where
the exhibition is scheduled to be shown in 1998, has announced that he will
have no involvement in the exhibition. Although those refusing to give patronage
to the exhibition have explained their lack of support in terms critical
of the "unscientific" nature of the exhibition, organizers have
claimed it is the content that is the problem. Critics state that implicit
in the exhibition is the suggestion that the war generation in Austria was
collectively responsible for the events of the Second World War. To many
Austrian politicians responsibility, as opposed to victimhood, has yet to
be accepted.
In November 1996, the Ring volkstreuer Verbände (Circle of Clubs Faithful
to the People), a far-right fraternity, organized a meeting in Vienna at
which the main speaker was the FPÖ politician Rainer Pawkowicz. The
Ring volkstreuer Verbände was formed in 1965 and has a German nationalist
focus. In recent years its activity has been limited, but its members are
well integrated into FPÖ political life.
Also on a local level, controversy continued in 1996 in the city of Wels.
The problem lies with a street named after the antisemitic priest Otto Kernstock,
author of the Nazi songbook. Despite the continued efforts of members of
the local Social Democratic Youth and the director of the DÖW, the
mayor of the city steadfastly refused to change the street's name. In December,
Social Democratic Youth demonstrated in the street, and posted up an alternative
name plaque of the anti-fascist activist and resistance fighter Rosa Jochmann.
The Social Democratic Youth threatened to have the mayor of Wels removed
by Partei-schiedsgerichtsverfahren (the appointment of a panel to
decide if the tenets of the party have been broken) if he did not comply
with their requests by the end of 1996.
At the hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the Kremser Alpenverein
(Krems Alpine Society), a local branch of the Österreicher Alpenverein
(ÖAV), controversy broke out over the history of the group. The ÖAV
president, Peter Grauss, made a statement about the wartime history of the
organization and its adherence to the Arierparagraph (preventing
Jewish membership of the club). He said: "We deeply regret what members
and officials of the ÖAV committed in these disastrous times of the
century." This apology and admittance of the past was not greeted with
enthusiasm by the local chapter of the organization. Any reference to the
Arierparagraph was censored from a commemorative history produced
by the chapter and published in November.
In line with the drop in the number of far-right offences recorded by
the ministry of the inter-ior in 1996 (see RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA), there
was also a considerable drop in the number of antisemitic incidents. There
were only eight recorded offences in 1996, a reduction from the total of
twenty-five antisemitic manifestations reported in 1995. Two of the 1996
offences were cemetery desecrations (see below). Four of the eight cases
were solved by the police or in court. The lowest number of offences falling
under the Verbotsgesetze (see LEGAL MATTERS) since 1992 was calculated in
1996 with only 203 cases; the figure peaked in 1995 with 313 cases. Of these
203 cases, 14 related to offences of "trivialization of National Socialist
crimes".
In May, fifty tombstones were smashed in the Jewish cemetery in Rechnitz
(Burgenland). Two youths confessed to the crime to police in June, although
a trial has not yet taken place. In November, vandals desecrated graves
in the Jewish cemetery of Hollabrunn (Lower Austria). The identity of the
vandals has not yet been discovered.
As reported in previous years, the use of electronic mail and computer
bulletin board systems has enabled neo-Nazis to establish an ever-growing
international network. This network remains relatively inaccessible to law-enforcement
agencies, especially since its various operators increasingly use the US
Pretty Good Privacy coding system (PGP), which has proved impenetrable even
to the US secret services. Much of the material emanates from the US neo-Nazi
party Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei/Auslands- und Aufbauorganisation
(NSDAP/AO, German National Socialist Workers' Party/Overseas Section, see
United States of America), which also issues its magazine, Endsieg ,
on computer disk.
Between February and June, Austrian neo-Nazi groups operated a computer
mailbox, Dissident BBS. The network is closely linked to the German Thule
Netz (see Germany). Thule Netz's main contact in Austria was Franz Radl
of VAPO (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS). During Radl's 1995 trial
it emerged that one of the computers used by Dissident BBS has a comprehensive
database with information about people opposed to the Austrian far right,
including the names and addresses of some of the targets of the BBA's letter-bomb
campaign. The operator of Dissident BBS is based in Vienna and uses the
cover-name Arisk. To ensure minimum interference by the Austrian authorities,
the mailboxes are designated with neutral titles such as "Free Citizens'
Network" and "Freedom of Thought Mailbox".
In February, Peter Kurt Weiß and a computer expert, Franz Swoboda,
started the Bürgerforum Österreich (Citizen Forum Austria) home
page on the Internet. Weiß has a long history of far-right activism:
in 1993 he founded the Demokratische Liberale Partei; the Bürgerschutz
Österreich in 1994; and he is an FPÖ member of parliament. In
1996 he was also active in supporting the anti-EU party, Die Neutralen (Neutrals).
Its home page included racist and antisemitic literature. One such publication
was Talmud ohne Maske (The Talmud Unmasked), which describes Judaism
as a religion of murder and paedophilia. The page also contained Holocaust-denial
material that referred to the Holocaust as the "6 million lie".
Charges were filed against Swoboda and Weiß for violation of the NS-Verbotsgesetz
(see LEGAL MATTERS). The home page was taken off the net by its server/provider
(Vianet) when details of its contents were made known to the company. It
is ap-parently still available through US servers.
The increase in the reporting of hate-crime and antisemitic incidents, the
debate about tolerance and against racism, and outspokenness against the
radical politics of Jörg Haider and his supporters continued through
1996.
However, the "Staberl" column in the tabloid daily Neue Kronen
Zeitung continued to offend. In January, the author of the column, Richard
Nimmerrichter, suggested that "Jewish holidays are foreign holidays".
As a result of this comment, the press council took out an injunction against
him for violating the duties of his profession.
Aula , the far-right publication produced by the Freiheitlicher Akademikerverband,
has been published in Graz since 1951. In previous years the paper received
financial support from the local government, and it has long-standing links
with the FPÖ. Following a scandal concerning an article printed in
May 1995 that was seen to trivialize the Holocaust, financial support was
withdrawn. The paper's editor, Herwig Nachtmann, was tried and found guilty
of this crime; an appeal was heard in May 1996 (see LEGAL MATTERS).
Right-wing publications that continued to receive local government support
in Graz during 1996 included Neue Ordnung . Although far-right activists
often publish articles in the magazine, so do German nationalists and various
conservative thinkers. Discourse in the January issue included discussion
of the Vernichtungskrieg-Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941-1944 exhibition
(see MAINSTREAM POLITICS).
The Graz-based far-right organization Alpenländischer Kulturverband
Südmark requested local government support in the sum of Sch. 100,000
($9,100) in 1996. However, in December, the governor of Graz, Waltraud Klasnic,
turned down the request despite protests from the FPÖ.
In October 1996, the FPÖ student group, the RFJ (see MAINSTREAM POLITICS),
published a cartoon in its newsletter, Der Ring , displaying foreign
students in a manner reminiscent of antisemitic cartoons of the 1930s. The
managing director of the RFJ's newsletter, Martin Graf, is an FPÖ member
of parliament. The Österreichische Hochschüler Innenschaft (ÖHI,
Austrian Association of University Students) is considering taking legal
action against the organization.
In March, the FPÖ published a brochure entitled Protokoll einer
Vernaderung-Am Beispiel der Waffen SS-Diskussion (Account of Slander-The
Example of the Waffen-SS Discussion). The brochure defended Haider's controversial
1995 speech (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS).
Various far-right activities are punishable under Austrian criminal law;
open support of National Socialism and advocacy of Nazi objectives are prohibited
by legislation dating from 1947 (NS-Verbotsgesetz, Wiederbetätigung-Verbotsgesetz).
Amendments to the laws approved in February 1992 widened the scope of prohibited
activity to include denial of the Holocaust or "trivialization"
of Nazi genocide. At the same time, the Austrian parliament reduced the
minimum sentence from five years to one, reasoning that the lighter the
minimum sentence the greater the likelihood of successful prosecutions.
This appears to have been effective.
The Austrian criminal code also punishes incitement to commit acts of persecution
or discrimination against an individual on the basis of his or her race,
religion or national origin. The same law also prohibits a person from ridiculing
members of one of the aforementioned groups in a contemptuous fashion, or
from insulting them in a manner that offends their human dignity. In the
past, the law against incitement has been invoked to protect Jews or other
minorities against physical attacks, and its latter provisions against crude
forms of antisemitic material. However, the wording has proved to be somewhat
vague and malleable in the courtroom.
In 1996 charges were filed on two separate occasions against the FPÖ
leader, Jörg Haider. The first case, brought by a number of Aus-trian
writers and intellectuals in January, accused Haider of neo-Nazi activity
after he praised members of the Waffen-SS at a 1995 meeting of the Kamaradschaft
IV (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS) and later on a national television
interview. Following an investigation by the public prosecutor's offices
in Klagenfurt and Vienna, the Austrian ministry of justice announced in
March that it was to drop the proceedings because of insufficient grounds.
Further charges were brought against Haider in August 1996 by Austrian state
prosecutors for allegedly defaming the character of Caspar Einem, the interior
minister. The remarks were made by Haider during his party's convention.
If found guilty, Haider could face up to one year in prison. Members of
parliament are usually guaranteed immunity from prosecution, but a special
parliamentary committee revoked Haider's immunity in March 1995.
The cases brought against Franz Swoboda and Peter Kurt Weiß on two
counts of violating the NS-Verbotsgesetz on their Internet home page are
ongoing (see PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA). Charges were orginally filed by the
DÖW in February (Vienna) and July (Salzburg). The case against Swoboda
was closed by the Viennese state prosecutor, Georg Karesch, in February,
but reopened in May on the re-commendation of the Viennese district court,
following independent investigations. Investigations by the Salzburg district
court against Weiß continue.
In November, Swoboda's flat was searched and he was taken into police custody
for questioning in connection with the letter-bomb attacks, but he was later
released due to lack of evidence (see RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA).
Following a complaint filed by the DÖW in October 1995, in March 1996
Herbert Schweiger, a seventy-two-year-old prominent Austrian far-right activist
and former leader in the SS storm troopers, was charged with violating the
NS-Verbotsgesetz (under the offence of national socialist conspiracy). He
was taken into custody. The charges refer to the content of his book Evolution
und Wissen. Neuordnung der Politik (Evolution and Knowledge: The New
Order of Politics, 1995). In the book, Schweiger advocates racial segregation,
stemming from his belief that contact between different races is tantamount
to the erosion of Austria's "indigenous people". The book was
immediately withdrawn from sale and banned. Schweiger was released on bail
of Sch. 500,000, although his trial has been delayed until spring 1997 owing
to his ill health. Schweiger holds a previous conviction for violation of
the Wie-derbetätigung-Verbotsgesetz in 1990.
Also in March, legal proceedings were instituted against Sascha Erich Kaspar
for membership of the neo-Nazi group VAPO (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS).
In 1994 Kaspar had been taken into custody in connection with involvement
in the letter-bomb campaigns, but released because of lack of evidence.
The proceedings in 1996 were for violations of the NS-Wiederbetätigung
due to his role in the leadership of the Wiener-Neu-stadt VAPO group. Although
Kaspar pleaded guilty, he showed remorse and stated that he had since joined
a Catholic seminary, planning to become a priest. Owing to the calling of
new witnesses the hearing was delayed, first until May 1996 and then to
December. However, when the case reopened in December only five members
of the original jury remained; eight is the minimum necessary for a case
to reopen.
The twenty-four-year old VAPO member Peter Preisl was sentenced to three
years' imprisonment in March when he was found guilty of being a member
(though not a leader) of VAPO. The case first arose against him when he
was suspected of perjury during the court proceedings against one-time VAPO
leader Gottfried Küssel in 1994.
In March 1996, the case brought against the Vienna Jewish community and
Karl Pfeiffer, former editor of the community organ Die Gemeinde ,
by the Austrian political scientist Werner Pfeifenberger was dropped. The
charge of defamation had been filed by Pfeifenberger following a review
in Die Gemeinde of the FPÖ yearbook that contained a chapter
by Pfeifenberger. The Die Gemeinde review suggested that the book
had a "neo-Nazi" tone. Pfeifenberger dropped his case on the recommendation
of the judge, who felt that, given the evidence, he would be unable to win.
In May 1996, the Austrian minister of justice, Nikolaus Michalek, expressed
outrage at the conduct of Judge Hans-Peter Januschke during the trial of
a teacher charged with Holo-caust denial. Although the teacher was later
acquitted, Judge Januschke was charged with harassment of the witnesses
and prejudicial practice. Januschke was eventually acquitted.
Also in May, the editor of Aula, Herwig Nachtmann, won an appeal to reduce
his August 1995 sentence. The original sentence for trivialization of the
Holocaust was reduced from ten months to eight (suspended), and the fine
reduced from Sch. 240,000 to Sch. 192,000 ($17,500). Nachtmann's lawyer
remains unsatisfied with the verdict and has threatened to take the case
to the European Court in Strasbourg.
Another long-running trial that concluded in 1996 was that of Emil Lachout,
a former religious studies school teacher. In June 1996, the judge pronounced
the defendant psychologically unstable, thus impairing his ability to take
part in the trial. Charges against Lachout had been filed in 1994 for violation
of the Verbotsgesetze following his publication in 1987 of a fabricated
document, supposedly written by the allied military police in October 1948,
that suggested that no genocide by gassing took place in a number of concentration
camps, including the Austrian camp of Mauthausen. Since that time Lachout
has been active in international Holocaust-denial circles. It remains unclear
whether the closing of the trial means that no verdict against the defendant
will be issued, or whether he will be allowed to continue to publicize his
unlawful views. The Green party has put a number of questions to the minister
of justice in relation to the consequences of the trial's closure.
Another case involving a teacher was concluded in June 1996, five years
after the initial charge. Herfried Wagner of Leoben (Styria) was found guilty
of incitement to racial hatred in June 1996. Wagner, charged with making
racist comments in class, was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and
fined Sch. 45,000 ($4,100).
In July, proceedings began against Wolfgang Tomsits and Christian W. Anderle,
suspected of the desecration of the Jewish cemetery in Eisenstadt (1992).
Both were functionaries of the RJF and Anderle was an FPÖ candidate
(see MAINSTREAM POLITICS). A jury found Tomsits guilty in December and he
was sentenced to four years' imprisonment under the NS-Verbotsgestz. The
sentence took into account his neo-Nazi activity, including the publication
of a neo-Nazi pamphlet, Albus. He is not expected to appeal. Anderle, who
is assumed to be the main assailant, remains at large. At the time of the
charges he was rumoured to be in Latin America.
Konrad Windisch, head of the AFP and managing director of the journal Kommentare
zum Zeitgeschehen (see PARTIES, ORGANIZATIONS, MOVEMENTS), was sentenced
to one year on probation in October for neo-Nazi agitation, a violation
of the Wiederbetätigung-Verbotsgesetz. The court proceedings followed
an investigation by Dr Jagschitz, who analysed the text of Kommentare
and pronounced that articles in the journal "had an uncritical
acceptance of national socialist ideology". Windisch is expected to
appeal against the sentence.
In 1995, the DÖW embarked on a research project that aims to establish
an information base of all Austrian Holocaust victims. The DÖW is still
working on the project.
The ministry of education and cultural affairs distributed an educational
CD-ROM to Austrian schools about the nature of contemporary racism in Europe.
The ministry of the interior also launched several initiatives aimed at
reducing the incidence of far-right offences and preventing youths from
becoming involved in far-right activities.
On 1 June 1995, the Austrian parliament passed a law to establish a fund
for the victims of national socialism. The law explicitly recognizes that
this is not intended as Widergut-machung (compensation). It stresses
that one of its functions is to signal to those who had to flee from Austria
that they do belong in Aus-tria. All who were victims of the Nazi regime
or had to flee the country to avoid persecution, and who were Austrian citizens
on 13 March 1938, or who are children of citizens, can claim. By March 1996,
the fund had collected the details of 17,000 claimants.
A further welcome development was the continued success of the German exhibition
Vernichtungskrieg-Verbrechen der Wehr-macht 1941-1944 . In 1995,
the exhibition was successfully shown in Vienna and Innsbruck. In 1996,
it was shown in Klagenfurt and Linz, also to a large and appreciative audience.
But it should be noted that the exhibition met substantial opposition, including
on the local political level (see MAINSTREAM POLITICS). The exhibition is
due to return to Germany in 1997.
Jewish community leaders praised the Austrian government's auction of the
"Mauerbach collection" in October. The collection, which comprised
artworks originally owned by Austrian Jews and subsequently seized by the
Nazis, had been in the government's hands since the war and, since the 1950s,
had been in storage in the fourteenth-century Mauerbach monastery outside
Vienna. Little effort was made to find families or relatives of the original
owners of the works. In 1994 the American magazine Art News published
a story about the treasures and pressure mounted on the government. Less
than 400 works were matched with their owners. In 1995 the collection was
handed over to the Jewish community to auction. It raised more than Sch.
153 million ($14.4 million). Most of the proceeds will be used by the Austrian
Jewish community for social projects. The event was hailed as a historic
effort by the government to acknowledge Austria's past and begin to make
amends.
Throughout the year there was contro-versy over the planned building of
a Holocaust memorial in the centre of Vienna, on Judenplatz. The memorial,
a competition-winning design, was due to be unveiled on the 58th anniversary
of Kristallnacht (November 1996). It is designed by the British artist
Rachel Whiteread. Although Simon Wiesenthal was the original driving force
behind the memorial, it was backed by Michael Häupl, the mayor of Vienna
(SPÖ), and the city was expected to provide $1.1 million to build the
structure, a giant closed concrete book-case. From the start, the design
has been perceived as problematic by the Jewish community; however, when
the foundations were being laid and the ruins of a synagogue destroyed by
fire in 1421 were discovered (along with bones of the victims), the controversy
grew. Häupl originally ordered that archaeological excavations were
to be speedy, to ensure the anniversary finish date, but opposition to the
project has moun-ted and the November unveiling did not take place. As the
monument may prevent further archaeological exploration and the site of
the synagogue will be lost, the monument's construction had been indefinitely
postponed by the end of the year.
In Austria 1996 was a paradoxical year. On the one hand, there was a
reduction in the number of far-right, anti-foreigner and antisemitic offences
reported, and this reduction was matched by a substantial rise in the solution
of cases. There was also the lowest number of recorded offences punishable
under the Verbotsgesetze since the promulgation of the 1992 amendments (see
LEGAL MATTERS). Many of the leaders of far-right and neo-Nazi groups are
in prison and prosecution of members of these groups continued in 1996.
On the other hand, the continued use of racism in political rhetoric, particularly
by the FPÖ, and the FPÖ breakthrough of the 25 per cent electoral
ceiling gives cause for concern. Implications are that the FPÖ's electoral
gain has been not only at the expense of the left, but also as a result
of a shift from extremist and neo-Nazi groups. While it could be predicted
that this shift would cause an increase in antisemitism, this has not been
the case.
© JPR 1997