Austria: racism and fascism (1)
01 January 1991
Austria: racism and fascism
artdoc August=1994
Nazis murder homeless man
The murder of a homeless man in Innsbruck on 27 February by two
supporters of the neo-nazi Mentarische Opposition Volkstreue
Ausserparla (VAPO) has led to criticisms of the ruling Christian
Democrats' attitude toward the homeless. Demonstrators marking
the man's death have called for the resignation of leading OVP
parliamentary figure Rudi Warzilek who has argued that arrests
and the work-house would benefit the homeless. A private police
force has been contracted to drive the homeless out of the parks
`to prevent German, British, Dutch and US tourists from being
disturbed by the poverty'. The OVP and the far-Right Freedom
party are demanding a law on vagrancy - such a law existed during
the Hapsburg monarchy and the Third Reich. Under the proposed new
law, the homeless could be punished for endangering the success
and profitability of the tourist industry. The homeless man died
after being attacked by youths, aged 14 and 15, who hit him over
the head with a plank of wood. According to the police, he had
the `back of his head kicked away' (Tatblatt 16.3.94, Searchlight
May 1994).
Conservatives do deal with FPO
The Conservative Austrian People's Party has done a deal with the
far-Right Freedom party in Carinthia, prompting speculation that
the right-wing of the People's Party might seek a coalition with
the far-Right after next autumn's general election. Jorg Haider
has agreed to support the conservative candidate, Christoph
Zernatto, in elections for the governorship of Carinthia, in
return for similar support in the future (Jewish Chronicle
22.4.94).
FPO and the Austrian resistance
A solicitor for the Freedom party has written to the
`Documentation archives of the Austrian Resistance' (DOW)
offering the FPO's research services at the centre. Not
surprisingly, the DOW has refused the offer, pointing out that
only members of those groups active in the resistance movement
work at the centre and that the FPO's policies are hardly
compatible with those of the archives. The FPO have, on several
occasions in the past, declared that the archives are `Communist
run' and its methods of research `pseudo-scientific' (Tatblatt
16.3.94).
Funding right-wing publication
The government of the Steiermark region are continuing to fund
a right-wing magazine, Aula, whilst cutting grants to Jewish
groups and associations of resistance veterans. The editing
director of Aula, Herwig Nachtmann, is a high-ranking member of
the neo-nazi National Democratic Party. Its contributors include
far-Right extremists as well as right-wing Conservatives. Aula
has a strong anti-immigration theme and warns against the threat
coloured immigrants pose to the `genetic health of the Germanic
race' (Tatblatt 11.5.94).
Right-wing police association circulates anti-Jewish material
The magazine Tatblatt has focused on the problem of right-wing
extremists in the Austrian police and army. A group calling
itself `Emergency Association of Police Officers and Soldiers'
is circulating materials which blame Jewish and Left influence
for organised crime (Tatblatt 16.2.94).
IRR European Race Audit no 9, July 1994. Contact: Liz Fekete
Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke Street, London WC1X 9HS
Tel: 071 837 0041