Many Individual Cases = One Pattern

Mauthausen Committee Austria

THE FPÖ AND RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM

Many individual cases = one pattern Individual case 6 In the federal state parliament, the IndividualFPÖ case 41 Carinthia is the only partyIndividual that rejectsFPÖ thecase treasurer 91 from Zams, Patrick Ober- prantacher, is attaching a quote to a erection of a memorialThe for publicthe victims became of aware that Jürgen-Mi- picture of his federal party chairman the Nazis at the formerchael Gestapo Kleppich, headquar FPÖ- district councilor in ters in Klagenfurt. Vienna-LeopoldstadtHeinz-Christian and Attaché Strache, at the which was used Austrian Embassy byin theIsrael, Nazi had propaganda spread on minister Joseph Individual caseFacebook 169 a pictureGoebbels: of his grandfather “Now, people in rise up, and let the storm break loose!” Markus Gudenus, NaziFPÖ uniformDistrict Counciwith swastika- and a picture lor in Vienna-Wieden,of himself demanded wearing on aFa T-shirt- of the extre cebook the deathme penalty right-wing for a mentally “identitarians”. ill- After massi- man who in FrankfurtIndividualve protests, am Main the case hadForeign pus 110Ministry ordered hed an eight-year-oldKleppichMichael boy backZech, under to functionary Austria.. a train of the FPÖ list “AUF”- at the Austri- and thus killed him.an Armed The man Forces, is originally was sentenced to two and a half years prison - from Eritrea. Theby FPÖ the DistrictVienna distancedCourt of Feldkirch for National Socialist reacti- itself from Gudenus‘vation, demand incitement, by saying dangerous threats and torture of prisoners. that it represents aOut “private of these, opinion”. ten months are unconditional imprisonment. Among others, the sergeant had told antisemitic “jokes”, and at his assistance deployment in Burgenland, he called the refuge es “pigs”. In addition, he threatened refugees and abused them by kicking and punching them in the face. The armed forces suspended Zech from the service and filed a complaint against him. Later he quitted the army. www.mkoe.at

Updated third edition Status: August 2, 2019 1 On two occasions, the Mauthausen Committee Austria had already researched the extreme right-wing activities of FPÖ politicians and presented them in a chronological way. The documentation “Nothing but individual cases?” had been published before the parliamentary elections in fall 2017. It received a strong response. Since then, the term “individual cases” had become commonplace for describing the continuous anti-democratic activities of the FPÖ. The attempt of an FPÖ Member of Parliament to disparage the documentation as “fake and based on lies” failed after the Mauthausen Committee took legal acti- on, and the politician had to explicitly revoke his statement.

The sequel followed with the publication of “Individual cases and repeat offenders” in June 2018. It proved that the FPÖ even as a governing party did not become more moderate. For the period since the beginning of 2013, i.e. for five and a half years, the documentation thus comprised a total of 106 extreme right-wing activities.

In May 2019, the so called “Ibiza affair” caused a sudden end for the ÖVP-FPÖ-led coalition government. However, already in the weeks and months before that, the individual cases had burdened the coalition increasingly. After the end of the coalition, ÖVP Federal Party Chairman Sebastian Kurz complained that they had “drained a lot of my strength”.

With this third documentation, the Mauthausen Committee investigates the most recent individual cases - dating from June 2018 until the end of July 2019. On one hand, it aims to show the pattern behind the cases. The fact that the FPÖ is constantly coming up with new extreme right-wing activities despite their negative public perception suggests that the party is deeply imprinted by this mindset.

On the other hand, it aims to clarify an important question: Is it possible that there will be any improvement in the foreseeable future? Could the FPÖ in the near future develop itself into a party that does not con- tinuously violate the democratic and anti-fascist values of the Austrian Federal Constitution? In other words: Could it be capable of governing? Or does it give reason to assume that the FPÖ as a ruling party would continue to cause serious damage with its right-wing extremism? Its last attempt to participate in the government did already fail in May, in fact because of the individual cases (see above).

The following account is based on extensive research. Nevertheless, it does not claim to be comprehensive

2 June 2018: July 2018: Individual case 107 Individual case 110 With the consent of the FPÖ Mayor of Michael Zech, functionary of the FPÖ list Wels, Andreas Rabl, the FPÖ Municipal “AUF” at the Austrian Armed Forces, was Councilor Ralph Schäfer became Facti- sentenced to two and a half years prison on Chairman of the FPÖ of Wels. Schäfer by the District Court of Feldkirch for Na- had attracted attention through National tional Socialist reactivation, incitement, Socialist reactivation and by founding a dangerous threats and torture of priso- “vigilante group” (see individual case 30). ners. Out of these, ten months are unconditional imprisonment. Among others, Individual case 108 the sergeant had told antisemitic “jokes”, Upper Austrian FPÖ Provincial Councilor, and at his assistance deployment in Bur- Elmar Podgorschek, (see individual case genland, he called the refugees “pigs”. In 81) gave a speech at the extreme right par- addition, he threatened refugees and abu- ty AfD Thuringia. He gave advises on how sed them by kicking and punching them to take over the power and massively atta- in the face. The armed forces suspen- cked the institutions of democracy. As this ded Zech from the service and filed a was made public, Podgorschek got con- complaint against him. Later he quitted fronted with fierce criticism and resignati- the army. on demands. However, the FPÖ and ÖVP made sure that he remained in office.

Individual case 109 It was made public that the fraternity Individual case 111 “Germania zu Ried” had performed a The Lower Austrian FPÖ Provincial secret concert together with the German Councilor Gottfried Waldhäusl de neo-Nazi songwriter “Fylgien”. Insiders manded that the recipients of kosher - who wanted to register for the event, had meat have to register themselves. to send an e-mail to an address with Wolf- This plan to constrain Jewish life evo gang Kitzmüller as a contact. Kitzmüller ked strong criticism, among others - is the husband of the FPÖ Third Presi- from the Jewish community. The dent of the National Council Anneliese President of the Jewish Community, Kitzmüller and a fraternity brother in the Oskar Deutsch, spoke of an “adverse “Germania zu Ried”. The Upper Austrian Aryan Act”. The ÖVP Lower Austria FPÖ Provincial Councilor, Elmar Podgor- reacted to the criticism and prevented schek, (see individual cases 81 and 108) is the registration. also a member of this fraternity. He consi- dered the secret concert with the neo-Na- zi songwriter as no reason enough for him to terminate his membership.

3 Individual case 112 August 2018: Robert Kiesinger, speaker at the FPÖ Individual case 115 educational institute (see individual case FPÖ Member of Parliament Christian Hö- 99), incited on Facebook in Nazi manner bart (see individual case 13) claimed in the against the “mixture of races”. news portal “Heute” that he caught three young asylum seekers who were shop- Individual case 113 lifting in Guntramsdorf and had handed Deputy FPÖ Local Party Chairman them over to the police. According to the of Bruck an der Großglocknerstraße, state police department Lower Austria, Andreas Giezinger, insulted the mem- Höbart had indeed called the police, but bers of the French national football team there was no case of shoplifting. on Facebook as “Congo monkeys”. Gie- zinger already attracted attention a few Individual case 116 weeks earlier, when he threatened on FPÖ City Councilor Bruno Weber from Facebook all those with violence who Amstetten commented on Facebook on an would not share his opinion on the EU. ÖBB advertising poster: “2 alleged faggots After the intervention on the part of the with baby and one even a nigger. Disgus- provincial FPÖ, he resigned from his poli- ting...”. This anti-gay and racist posting evo- tical positions and quitted the party. ked fierce criticism nationwide as well as resignation demands. While the FPÖ Lo- wer Austria distanced itself from the case, Individual case 114 the FPÖ Amstetten defended Weber‘s FPÖ Deputy Head of the Provinci statement. The FPÖ politician resigned al Government of Upper Austria, as Chamber Councilor of the Chamber of - Manfred Haimbuchner, and the FPÖ Labor Lower Austria, but remained City Mayor of Wels, Andreas Rabl, invited Councilor. In November 2018, the criminal the Italian Interior Minister Matteo case for incitement was concluded with Salvini from the extreme right Lega diversion: Weber has to participate in the party for spending his holidays in project “Dialog statt Hass” (dialogue ins- Wels. Among other things, Salvini tead of hate) by the association “Neustart”. advocates a census of the Roma and Sinti living in Italy - a racist plan that September 2018: is reminiscent of Nazi ideology. The Individual case 117 hotel owners in Wels criticized the The FPÖ defamed a young asylum seeker, in their opinion harmful effects of who was visited at his apprenticeship pla- the “tourism marketing” by the FPÖ ce by Federal President Alexander Van der politicians. Bellen and the Provincial Councilor from the “Grüne” party, Rudi Anschober, as “terror sympathizer”. A few days later, the

4 accusation turned out to be completely Individual case 120 wrong. In order to avoid legal consequen- Bernd Babitsch, Deputy City Party Chair- ces, the FPÖ Upper Austria had to publish man of the FPÖ Pinkafeld and close par- a corrective statement. In January 2019, ty colleague of FPÖ Transport Minister the federal FPÖ was fined 12,000 euros for Norbert Hofer, defended the neo-Nazi defamation. The party lodged an appeal. In propaganda that was propagated by the end, the open procedures were conclu- the FPÖ Vöcklamarkt (see individual ded by a settlement. case 119). Babitsch wrote on Facebook: “So, where is the problem? Any reliable Individual case 118 breeding of animals makes it necessary The Federal Government (the coalition of not to mix anything”. After the newspa- ÖVP and FPÖ) proposed the Federal Presi- per “Standard” reported about the ra- dent to appoint Hubert Keyl as Judge of the cist posting, it evoked strong criticism. Federal Administrative Court. This court Babitsch resigned his political functions is also responsible for appeals in asylum and quitted the FPÖ. procedures. The proposed staffing evoked protests. Hubert Keyl, a former employee Individual case 121 of FPÖ Member of Parliament Martin Graf, The Ring of Freedom Youth (the became publicly known in 2010 for being youth wing of the FPÖ) Upper Austria involved in a fight in front of a red-light bar. distributed a School Diary that cont His wife Elisabeth apparently ran to call the ained incitements against immigrants - convicted neo-Nazi Gottfried Küssel for and distort history. In the past, Austria help. In the FPÖ-related weekly newspaper was “peaceful, clean and prosperous”. “Zur Zeit”, Keyl had insulted the Catholic Now, because of the immigration “it is Nazi opponent Franz Jägerstätter, who had in a state of emergency” and has to be been executed, as a “traitor”. In addition, a “returned” to the Austrians, claimed photo showed Keyl while making the ext- the Freedom Youth. The racist diary reme right-wing “Kühnengruß”, a variation evoked hundreds of indignant com of the Hitler salute. Finally, he withdrew ments on Facebook and Twitter. - his application for the Federal Administra- tive Court. Shortly after, Keyl became department head in the FPÖ-led Ministry of Transport - without any call for tender. October 2018: Individual case 122 Individual case 119 Walter Seledec, Deputy Leader of the FPÖ The FPÖ Vöcklamarkt adopted neo-Nazi parliamentary group in Vienna-Döbling, propaganda on its Facebook page. The text published a comment in the FPÖ-related under the photo of a woman with a blond weekly newspaper “Zur Zeit” by accusing braid reads: “Protect your race, it is the the Allies, who liberated Austria from the blood of your ancestors!” Nazi regime, of terrorism.

5 Individual case 123 Individual case 126 In the preface of a book, the FPÖ Mayor of It was made public that the FPÖ Local Wels, Andreas Rabl, described his grand- Party Chairman of Henndorf am Waller- father Max Rabl as a Nazi opponent. The see, Josef Brandstätter, had belonged to a initiative against fascism of Wels however WhatsApp group, which shared Nazi-glo- revealed: Max Rabl was a committed Nati- rifying content. Among others, there was a onal Socialist who benefited professional- message referring to Hitler‘s birthday with ly from the “Anschluss” of Austria to Hit- the words “Today is a National Holiday. ler-Germany in 1938. The reasons for a brief Sieg Heil!” Brandstätter also has a perso- Gestapo arrest in 1939 are unclear. A news- nalized license plate with the number 88, a paper of that time had reported of “financial neo-Nazi code for “Heil Hitler”. Apparently irregularities”. he resigned from the FPÖ.

November 2018: Individual case 127 While Austria commemorated the perse- cution of the Jews during the November Individual case 124 Pogrom in 1938, FPÖ politicians comme- Alfred Reisinger, official of the FPÖ morated the Nazi pilot Walter Nowotny list “AUF” at the Austrian Armed at the Viennese central cemetery. The Na- Forces and FPÖ member in Vien- tional Socialists had worshiped Nowotny na-Floridsdorf, disseminated on as a war hero. His being an enthusiastic - Facebook an aggressive anti-Se supporter of Hitler until the end gave mitic conspiracy theory without reason to deny his grave the status of an comment. The text starts with the honor grave 15 years ago. The Viennese sentences “Humanity awakens!!! Sa- FPÖ Members of the Provincial Assem- tan‘s synagogue will now definitely bly Wolfgang Jung, Johann Herzog and be rendered innocuous. This is how Wolfgang Irschik participated at the com- it is - Salvation to us all!!!”. memoration for the Nazi idol, as well as Walter Seledec, Deputy Leader of the FPÖ Individual case 125 Parliamentary Group in Vienna-Döbling. It became public knowledge that There were also Neo-Nazis present. Konrad Markwart Weiß, press spokesman of FPÖ Vice Chancellor Individual case 128 Heinz-Christian Strache, wrote in The FPÖ shared a racist video on Face- the extreme right-wing magazine book that shows a person named “Ali” we- “Sezession” about the “disaster of aring a Fez (i.e. an oriental headdress) who 1945”. Apparently he refered to the wants to abuse the e-card (social insuran- downfall of the Nazi regime. ce card) of his cousin “Mustafa”. But in the future, the e-card will be equipped with a photo, so his attempt fails: “Bad luck, Ali.

6 This means now: Good bye, social abuse”. December 2018: This incitement triggered wide rejection. The FPÖ leadership claimed that a simp- Individual case 131 It was made public that FPÖ Municipal le employee in the party headquarters is Councilor Salvatore Angelo Raineri from solely responsible for the video. However, Kleinzell had claimed on Facebook that ORF journalist Armin Wolf pointed out the term “Nazi” is a 2000-year-old inven- that the FPÖ Upper Austria had been bro- tion of the Jews by saying that this term is adcasting a similar video since 2014. connected with Nazareth and means “holy persons, chosen by God”. FPÖ District Par- Individual case 129 ty Chairman Christian Hafenecker, who is The FPÖ Wien-Döbling commanded also the Secretary General of the party, con- that “no further Muslim migrants should sidered the posting inappropriate, but sati- be allowed as tenants in Döbling‘s public rical. In the end, Raineri received a warning. housing”. In addition, Klemens Resch, Leader of the FPÖ Parliamentary Group Individual case 132 in Vienna-Döbling, disseminated a con- FPÖ Provincial Councilor for Lower spiracy theory: He claimed that the SPÖ Austria, Gottfried Waldhäusl, called for would deliberately establish Muslim im- a “special treatment” for “asylum see migrants in order to secure their votes. kers unwilling to integrate”. The term- The human rights organization “SOS “Sonderbehandlung” that he used for Mitmensch” filed a complaint against the “special treatment” was used in the FPÖ Vienna on suspicion of incitement. Nazi era for the murder of undesirable A week later, the Viennese FPÖ leaders- humans. A few days before, Waldhäusl hip changed the demand and required a provided that refugee minors shall be “citizenship bonus for public housing”. locked up in a desolate lodging with a barbed wire fence and guard dog. After Individual case 130 the children‘s and youth advocacy gave The FPÖ Third President of the National a very negative assessment of the lod Council Anneliese Kitzmüller invited the ging, the adolescents were moved to a- folklore group “Lords of Darkness” into decent housing. the parliament. Members of this group displayed tattoos on Facebook that are reminiscent of swastikas. After the electo- Individual case 133 ral victory of Alexander Van der Bellen in The human rights organization “SOS Mit- the presidential election, the Chairman mensch” filed a complaint against Martin of the “Lords of Darkness” group, Marcel Pfeiffer, who was the editor-in-chief of Delija, posted that he will get himself a the FPÖ-related magazine “Aula” until its gun. Anneliese Kitzmüller is a member suspension in June 2018 (see individual ca- of the sororities “Iduna zu Linz” and ses 65 and 106). The exposition of the facts “Sigrid zu Wien”. that underpinned the complaint compri-

7 sed 300 pages. According to that, the maga- legal constructions, part of which are an- zine “Aula” had been systematically used cient and conceived of completely diffe- for National Socialist reactivation over a rent situations, that prevent us from doing period of ten years. Martin Pfeiffer is the the necessary things.” After which Federal FPÖ Deputy District Chairman in Graz-St. President Alexander Van der Bellen sta- Leonhard. He writes for the extreme right- ted that shaking the foundations of the wing magazine “Info-Direkt” (see indivi- European Convention on Human Rights dual cases 71, 81 and 103). would be like “terminating the basic con- sensus of the Second Republic”. ÖVP Ju- Individual case 134 stice Minister Josef Moser emphasized David Chloupek, FPÖ Treasurer and Subs- that the Convention on Human Rights titute Municipal Councilor in Natternbach, has stood the test of time and is the basis insulted on Facebook the politician Alev Ko- of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. run from the “Grüne” party in an extremely aggressive and misogynist manner. In addi- Individual case 137 tion, he wished her to be the subject of a gang The extreme right-wing “Identitarians” rape. When this became public knowledge, held their annual conference in Linz. he quitted the FPÖ and resigned from his Apart from Vienna and Graz, Linz is one position as Substitute Councilor. of their strongholds. The Identitarians are closely connected with the extreme right-wing fraternity “Arminia Czerno January 2019: witz”. The FPÖ leadership of Linz draws- Individual case 135 its members from this fraternity: The The FPÖ City Party Chairman of Pregar- long-standing FPÖ Vice-Mayor and ten, Michael Prückl, got into an argument FPÖ City Party Chairman Detlef Wim with a teenage boy in road traffic and beat mer belongs to the fraternity as well as- him with the fist in the face. When this his successor Markus Hein and the new became public knowledge, he quitted the FPÖ City Councilor Michael Raml. FPÖ. But Prückl has already attracted attention several times: Among others, in 2015, he had shared content of a Holocaust denier on his Facebook page. Also in 2015, February 2019: he allegedly liked a Hitler speech. At that Individual case 138 time, the FPÖ politician claimed that his FPÖ Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Facebook page had been hacked. Strache withdrew his complaint against political adviser Rudolf Fußi. Fußi had Individual case 136 posted a photo on Twitter, which showed FPÖ Interior Minister, Herbert Kickl, at- Strache in 2015 sitting with two Identita- tacked again the European Convention rians at a table. One of them was Patrick on Human Rights (see individual case 28): Lenart, a leading activist. Strache claimed According to him, there are “some strange that the photo was a fake, but his claim had

8 been disproved in court. At that time, the in Stuhlfelden”. As the FPÖ Salzburg ex- FPÖ Vice Chancellor also admitted the plained, Tiefenbacher had mistakenly ty- distribution of videos of the extreme right- ped “SS” instead of “ss” on the keyboard. wing Identitarians.

Individual case 139 Individual case 142 The human rights organization “SOS It was made public that the Ring Mitmensch” disclosed that Harald Vi- of Freedom Youth (the youth wing limsky, FPÖ Secretary General and top of the FPÖ) had co-opted André party candidate for the EU election, Taschner as a consultant for social had used taxpayers‘ money to place five media for the federal board. In 2011, full-page advertisements in the magazi- Taschner was excluded by the FPÖ ne “Info-Direkt”. “Info-Direkt” dissemi- Styria from the party because of his nates racist, anti-Semitic and conspiracist neo-Nazi contacts. Michael Raml, - content. The magazine that Vilimsky sup- acting Federal Chairman of the Free ported also promotes the Identitarians. dom Youth and FPÖ City Counci- The Documentation Centre of Austrian lor in Linz, nevertheless considers Resistance classifies it as “extreme right- Taschner to be “absolutely a man of wing with neo-Nazi background”. integrity”.

March 2019: Individual case 143 Individual case 140 It was made public that the FPÖ FPÖ Interior Minister Herbert Kickl called Members of Parliament Edith Mühl- for renaming the initial reception centers berghuber and Peter Gerstner are for asylum seekers in Traiskirchen and part of the closed Facebook group Thalham in “Departure centers”. This cyni- “Deutsches Reich” (German Reich). cal act evoked strong criticism. Following The group was founded by the “ci- the dismissal of Interior Minister Kickl in tizen of the Reich” Karl Dettmer May 2019, the Platform “Menschen Wür- and distributes Nazi-glorifying and de Österreich” removed the “Departure anti-Semitic content. The mem- center” sign in Traiskirchen. Kickl‘s short- bers also deny the Holocaust: “Not term successor Eckart Ratz revoked the a single Jew has been killed by a gas name change. chamber.” The two MPs quitted the Facebook group. The FPÖ claimed Individual case 141 that they were added to the group without being asked. However, Christian Tiefenbacher, FPÖ candidate Mühlberghuber was also a friend for the post of Mayor in Niedernsill, wrote with the group founder Dettmer on on Facebook that a surprise visit by FPÖ Facebook, which could not have hap- Provincial Party Chairman Marlene Sva- pened without her consent. zek was finalized with a “sauSSage meal

9 many years an activist of the Identitarians Individual case 144 in Vienna. Géza Molnár, Deputy Provincial The Styrian SPÖ Member of the Party Chairman of the FPÖ Burgenland, Provincial Assembly, Michaela Gru- had participated in a meeting of the Identi- besa, criticized sexist postings on tarians and declared their ideology as being the Facebook page of the Ring of “completely harmless”. Johannes Schüller, - Freedom Youth, which showed “wo deputy editor-in-chief of the FPÖ-related men in dirndl dresses with plunging newspaper “Wochenblick”, had co-foun- necklines”. Thereupon, the FPÖ ded the Identitarians in Germany. Member of the Provincial Assembly Helga Kügerl responded with a ra- April 2019: cist statement hinting at the Croati- Individual case 146 an migrant background of Grubesa: - It was made public that in January 2019, “I won‘t let even a Yugoslav wo the Heeresabwehramt (one of the two man degrade the Dirndl, the Styrian intelligence services of the Austrian Ar- traditional costume.” med Forces) had withdrawn the restriction notices of soldiers who are activists or supporters of the extreme right-wing Individual case 145 Identitarians. This would have affected 56 When it was known to the public that the militiamen, seven professional soldiers and extreme right-wing mass murderer Bren- seven servicemen in compulsory military ton Tarrant had financially supported the service. After outraged reactions on the Austrian Identitarians, the FPÖ claimed part of the opposition parties, FPÖ Defense not to have any connection to the latter. Minister Mario Kunasek introduced the re- FPÖ Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian striction notices again. He claimed that the Strache: “The Freedom Party has nothing withdrawal was done without his instruc- to do with the ‚Identitarians‘.” This claim is tions. According to Member of Parliament demonstrably untrue (see individual cases Peter Pilz from the party “Liste Jetzt”, Kuna- 25, 36, 38, 40, 83, 85, 91, 137, 138, and 139). sek clearly had the responsibility: “The intel- Also the website “stopptdierechten.at” ligence service did not want to do that.” points out numerous connections exten- ding all the way into the FPÖ parliamen- Individual case 147 tary club. Some examples: Siegfried Wa- The FPÖ Third President of the National schnig, parliamentary employee of FPÖ Council Anneliese Kitzmüller (see indivi- Member of Parliament Axel Kassegger, dual case 130) appointed Dimitrij Grieb as was treasurer of an Identitarians associati- her office manager. This decision triggered on in Graz and speaker at demonstrations wide rejection. Grieb had been sentenced of the Identitarians. Bernadette Conrads, to a conditional fine because he had insul- parliamentary assistant of the FPÖ Mem- ted the Life Ball organizer Gery Keszler in ber of Parliament Christian Pewny, was for the FPÖ-related weekly newspaper “Zur

10 Zeit” by calling him a “professional fagot”. and international criticism: In the poem, Grieb is also spokesman of the fraternity he compared people with rats and wrote “Moldavia”. He had once complained on of “sewerage background”. ÖVP Chan- the fraternity website that “astonishingly cellor Sebastian Kurz demanded that the rigorous judicial procedures” make it no FPÖ Upper Austria shall distance itself longer possible to question “historical dog- from this text. Schilcher resigned and mas” of the 20th century. In 2014, Grieb quitted the FPÖ. appeared to be the author of a protocol of the extreme right-wing “Junge Lands- Individual case 151 mannschaft Ostdeutschland” (Young Ho- In an interview with Harald Vilimsky, meland Association of East Germany). FPÖ Secretary General and top party candidate for the EU election, ORF journalist Individual case 148 Armin Wolf (see individual case 128) il- Andreas Pable, candidate of the FPÖ list lustrated the similarity of a cartoon of the “AUF” at the magistrate of Wels and em- Freedom Youth Styria with the caricature ployee of the municipal police station, of a Jew in the Nazi hate sheet “Stürmer”. was trading swastika badges on a flea The cartoon shows how a native family market. After a report in the newspaper in green traditional dresses is threatened “Standard”, Pable was dismissed. by sinister immigrants with long noses, beards and hunchbacks. Vilimsky reacted Individual case 149 with outrage to the comparison and an- FPÖ Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian nounced towards Wolf: “This will be follo- Strache shared on his Facebook page an wed by consequences.” anti-Muslim contribution of the neo-Na- zi website “Zaronews” and wrote: “No, I Individual case 152 will not allow myself to be silenced!” On The non-executive Councilor of the the “Zaronews” website, the Holocaust FPÖ Vienna, Ursula Stenzel, compared is referred to as the “biggest lie in world the ORF journalist Armin Wolf with history” and Hitler as the “savior”. FPÖ the Hanging Judges of the Nazi regime: Member of Parliament Peter Gerstner He could “appear before the People‘s (see individual case 143) shared the Court”. The reason for this statement is same contribution from the neo-Nazi the critical interview that Wolf conduc- website as Strache did. Gerstner wrote: ted with FPÖ‘s leading candidate for the “The Muslims believe that they are above EU election, Harald Vilimsky (see indi- the law.” vidual case 151). Stenzel‘s comparison triggered wide rejection. Former Federal Individual case 150 President Heinz Fischer (see individual FPÖ Vice Mayor of Braunau, Christian case 60) stated: “Anyone who has learned Schilcher, published a racist poem in the anything from history will not accept FPÖ city newspaper and evoked strong this, but condemn it.“

11 Individual case 153 Individual case 156 It was made public that Erol Prager, functi- It was made public that the FPÖ City onary of the FPÖ list “AUF” at the Viennese Councilor of Leonding and candidate for Professional Rescue Organization, had the post of Mayor, Peter Hametner, is the over a year and a half shared Nazi symbols contact person of the fraternity “Donau- and Hitler pictures on Facebook. Among hort zu Aschach”. The song of the fraterni- other things, he had posted a picture of an ty is the “Treuelied” (song of faithfulness) old woman with biscuits in swastika shape of the SS. In addition, the fraternity threa- and commented: “Grandma‘s biscuits are tens with “German blows”. International the best!” The Viennese Professional Res- umbrella organizations of concentration cue Organization suspended Prager from camp survivors are evidencing both facts. the service. Also a report was made. FPÖ Secretary General Christian Hafenecker Individual case 157 claimed that Prager is no longer part of the The FPÖ Upper Austria nominated AUF. But the AUF website and the “youni- the FPÖ affiliated painter Manfred on” trade union showed the opposite. “Odin” Wiesinger as a member of the regional advisory council on the arts. Individual case 154 Wiesinger had published in extreme FPÖ Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian right-wing media such as “Info-Di- Strache used the extreme right-wing pro- rekt” and “Aula”, had named a picture paganda term “population replacement”. series “Endsieg” (Final Victory) and Despite strong and international criti- had insulted the Rector of the Aca- cism, Strache sticked to it: This is a “term of demy of Fine Arts, Eva Blimlinger, in reality”, which the FPÖ has “always used”. an extremely misogyny manner. The Martin Sellner, spokesman for the extre- nomination evoked widespread criti- - me right-wing Identitarians commented cism. However, ÖVP Head of the Pro happily on Twitter on Strache‘s choice of vincial government Thomas Stelzer words: Now we have an “open and free” explained that the FPÖ had a right to talk about the “population replacement”. do so. Only after Wiesinger threatened his critics in an interview, spoke of May 2019: the “Auschwitz lie” and the FPÖ was Individual case 155 burdened by the “Ibiza video”, Stelzer The FPÖ Deputy Local Party Chairman of enforced Wiesinger‘s resignation and also the resignation of FPÖ Provincial St. Martin im Innkreis, Annemarie Scheibl- - hofer, disseminated extreme right-wing Councilor Elmar Podgorschek (see in and anti-Semitic content on Facebook and dividual cases 81, 108 and 109). via the Russian network vk.com, among others content in which she denied the Individual case 158 Holocaust. After this was known to the pu- According to a couple from Salzburg, blic, she resigned. three FPÖ politicians from Ebensee - Mu-

12 nicipal Executive Sebastian Heissl, Parli- Individual case 161 amentary Group Chairman Anton Mair The FPÖ Lower Austria nominated it‘s and Municipal Councilor Harald Müller District Party Chairman of Tulln, Andreas - had expressed a disparaging view on the Bors, for the FPÖ candidate list for the “commemoration industry” at a concent- parliamentary elections. In November ration camp commemoration ceremony. 2014, a photo was published showing Bors The couple therefore showed dismay in a and two other men while making the Hit- letter to SPÖ mayor of Ebensee, Markus ler salute. Therefore, in November 2017, Siller. After the letter was made public, Bors was forced to renounce a position in the FPÖ Upper Austria denied the dispa- the Federal Council (see individual cases raging statements of the FPÖ politicians. 14 and 69).

June 2019: Individual case 162 Individual case 159 The FPÖ-related weekly magazine “Zur After the EU elections, a new right-wing Zeit” disparaged the president of the Je- extremist faction with parties such as wish Community, Oskar Deutsch, as “Ay- the German AfD and the Italian Lega de- atollah”. The Jewish Community accused veloped in the EU Parliament under the the magazine “Zur Zeit” to secretly influ- name “Identity and Democracy”. Also the ence the legislation. The background of FPÖ joined this faction and thus demons- the anti-Semitic attack: the Jewish Com- trated its political position. munity had protested against the assignment of FPÖ Member of Parliament Individual case 160 Martin Graf to the Board of Trustees of the National Fund for the Victims of In representation of the Third Presi- National Socialism (see individual case dent of the National Council Anne 160). Following a demand of the human liese Kitzmüller, the FPÖ assigned - rights organization “SOS Mitmensch”, the Member of Parliament Martin Defense Minister Thomas Starlinger re- Graf to the Board of Trustees of the acted: He stopped the advertisements of National Fund for the Victims of Na- his ministry in the magazine “Zur Zeit” tional Socialism. This assignment and in other extreme right-wing media. evoked widespread criticism. Graf is These advertisements had been appro- a member of the extreme right-wing ved by his predecessor, former FPÖ fraternity “Olympia”, which is time Defense Minister Mario Kunasek. and time again inviting neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers. The Jewish Com- munity stepped down from his Board July 2019 of Trustees position for the period of Individual case 163 Graf‘s assignment. The news magazine “profil” reported that right-wing extremist media had received a total of at least 116,000 euros in taxpayers‘

13 money from FPÖ ministers of the dissol- of Turkish-Kurdish origin - became the ved federal government and from politici- target of insults and threats. After a “fact ans from the FPÖ Upper Austria. The lea- check”, the “district newspapers” repor- ding person behind it was FPÖ Transport ted that the landlord is leasing his place Minister Norbert Hofer, the now Federal in the summer, but also the leaseholder is Party Chairman. With these public adver- welcoming all guests. Thus, Böhm‘s accu- tisements, they promoted the dissemina- sations proofed to be wrong. tion of racist, anti-Semitic and conspiracist content. Among the beneficiary media were “Wochenblick”, “Alles Roger?”, “Zur Individual case 166 Zeit”, “unzensuriert.at” and “Info-Direkt”. Karl Dieter Trucker, FPÖ Local Party According to the news magazine “profil”, Chairman of Bergheim, fired several the actual funding amount could be even shots from the balcony of his apart- higher because, for example, the FPÖ-led - ment. The police unit “Cobra” arres city of Wels has so far refused to forward ted Trucker and confiscated several any information on this subject. weapons at his place. According to the APA, the FPÖ politician had acted Individual case 164 in anger over the dismissal of Herbert The FPÖ Provincial Party Chairman of Kickl as Interior Minister. Trucker al- Styria, Mario Kunasek, and FPÖ Member legedly imagined to shoot at Federal of Parliament Hannes Amesbauer de- President Alexander Van der Bellen manded “education camps” for strongly and ÖVP Federal Party Chairman Se- - conspicuous and potentially violent bastian Kurz. The FPÖ expelled Tru young people. Amesbauer especially sees cker from the party. The prosecution students from migrant families as a proof Salzburg is investigating on suspi- blem. However, as a teenager, he would cion of danger to physical safety. have been a candidate for an “education camp” as well because he was then convicted of painting swastika graffiti. When Individual case 167 he was already FPÖ politician, he cont- The FPÖ Member of the Provincial As- ributed texts to the extreme right-wing, sembly Salzburg, Ernst Lassacher, shared now discontinued magazine “Aula” (see a picture on Facebook that showed a ra- individual cases 65, 106 and 133). pid-fire rifle with the following text: “The more you learn about the state, the more Individual case 165 you understand why our politicians do Alexander Böhm, FPÖ Local Party Chair- not want to allow citizens to have arms.” man of Kaprun, claimed on Facebook that Thereupon, Daniela Gutschi, ÖVP Lea- in a pizzeria in Kaprun, Austrian guests der of the Salzburg Provincial Assembly, were no longer served, “only Arabs”. As a warned of a climate of violence and extre- result, the landlord - an Austrian citizen me right-wing attacks.

14 Individual case 168 The FPÖ expelled its City Party Chair- man of Hallein, Oliver Mitterlechner, from the party. Mitterlechner had publicly criticized that there were too few consequences for potentially violent and extreme right-wing functionaries in the FPÖ: “It is high time to clean up in this party.” As a reaction to Mitterlechner‘s expulsion, two other FPÖ Municipal Councilors of Hallein quitted the party.

Individual case 169 Markus Gudenus, FPÖ District Councilor in Vienna-Wieden, demanded on Face- book the death penalty for a mentally ill man who in Frankfurt am Main had pus- hed an eight-year-old boy under a train and thus killed him. The man is originally from Eritrea. The FPÖ Vienna distanced itself from Gudenus‘ demand by saying that it represents a “private opinion”.

Many individual cases = one pattern

Which pattern becomes clear through these individual cases?

16 »» The amount of extreme right-wing activities of FPÖ politicians has increased considerably. Ne- ver before have there been so many new cases. The Mauthausen committee was able to pro- perly document a total of 106 individual cases in the period of about five and a half years, from the beginning of 2013 to the end of May 2018. In the period since then, which is approximately one year, there have been already 63! Only in July 2019, in the last month that was documen- ted, 7 individual cases were registered.

»» The new individual cases also occur at all le- vels of the FPÖ. Heinz-Christian Strache, Nor- bert Hofer, Herbert Kickl, Mario Kunasek, Harald Vilimsky, Manfred Haimbuchner and Anneliese Kitzmüller are as well the actors of relevant activities as are many low and middle ranking offici- als of the party.

»» Anti-Semitism in the FPÖ, which existence had been denied in the past years, arises openly time and again. FPÖ-related media disse- minate anti-Semitic content and are funded with taxpayers‘ money. An FPÖ politician even claims that the term “Nazi” is an invention of the Jews. While still holding the position of Vice Chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache shared a post on a website that described the Holocaust as the “greatest lie in world history”.

17 »» The FPÖ is inciting aggressively against refugees and minorities. The party does not even shy away from completely baseless defamations of individuals.

»» Cynical contempt for mankind and potential violence are common features of the individual cases. An FPÖ Provincial Councilor arranged that young asylum seeker were locked behind barbed wire. An FPÖ functionary tormented refugees. Another one wished a politician from the “Grüne” party to be the subject of a gang rape. Again another one fired bullets from the balcony of his apartment while imagining to shoot at the Federal President and the former Chancellor. These are only a few frightening examples.

»» The FPÖ shows a close proximity to Nazi ideology. Many new individual cases demonstrate a National Socialist or neo-Nazi connection.

»» The anti-democratic activities in the FPÖ only have consequences once they are made public and if the party leadership is afraid of disadvan- tages. However, they prefer to deny or downplay the situations if possible.

»» Extreme right-wing activities are no obstacle to climb the career ladder in the FPÖ. In Wels, a person who was active in National Socia- list reactivation, became Parliamentary Group Chairman of the FPÖ. In Lower Austria, an FPÖ

18 politician, who was photographed while doing the Hitler salute, runs for the National Council. The Freedom Youth has co-opted a former FPÖ official in their federal board, who was expelled from the party because of his neo-Nazi contacts.

»» Among the federal states, Upper Austria is by a wide margin clearly at the top. Of the 63 new individual cases, 21 - which is a third! - show a direct connection to politicians of the FPÖ Upper Austria. Through the FPÖ, right-wing extremism in Upper Austria reaches as far as the provincial government. It is incomprehensible that the ÖVP Head of the Provincial Government, Thomas Stel- zer, sticks to a “working agreement” with a party that is inciting even in schools against immigrants and disseminating neo-Nazi propaganda such as “Protect Your Race!”. With regard to the size of the state, Salzburg is also remarkably well repre- sented with seven new individual cases.

The historian Margit Reiter teaches at the University of Vienna and is an expert on the history of the FPÖ. She stated:

“The individual cases reveal the ideological core.”

19 Could the FPÖ be capable of governing?

»» The FPÖ continues to work closely with right-wing extremists in Austria. Many and especially leading FPÖ politicians belong to extreme right-wing fraternities. Despite all attempts to deny, they keep very good contact with the Identitarians.

»» The FPÖ continues to work closely with right-wing extremists abroad. Only recently, in June 2019, the FPÖ founded together with parties such as the AfD and the Lega a new extreme right-wing faction in the EU Parliament. Thus, the party demonstrates its political position also internationally.

»» There is no sign that the FPÖ seriously wants to terminate its close ties with right-wing extremists in Austria and abroad.

»» There is not even a hint of a development of the FPÖ in the direction of being a more moderate party and thus being able to govern the country. Rather, one has to assume that the party will continue with its extreme right-wing activities. In the event that the FPÖ would participate again in the government, it would again cause serious damage to the democracy and to Austria‘s reputa- tion in the world.

20 ÖVP Federal Party Chairman Sebastian Kurz, who was the Federal Chancellor of the ÖVP-FPÖ-led coalition government for 17 months, came to the following conclusion:

“If I would have thought that the Freedom Party would be capable of governing, there would have been no need to terminate the coalition.”

However, it can be hoped, that this insight will outlast the parliamentary elections.

21 The 106 individual cases from the beginning of 2013 until the end of May 2018

(from the documentations “Nothing but individual cases?”and “Individual cases and repeat offenders”)

22 February 2013: January 2014: Individual case 1 Individual case 4 FPÖ municipal councilor Fabian Wetter The previously convicted Michael from Franking is posting a photo on Face- Gruber from Aurolzmünster who had book, which shows the German Federal been sentenced because of National Chancellor Angela Merkel with the Star Socialist reactivation and dangerous of David and the insulting remark “traitor threat, and who resigned from the FPÖ a to the country”. As soon as this is known year ago, is part of the list of candidates of to the public, he resigns from the FPÖ. Freedom Party employees for the Cham- ber of Labour elections in Upper Austria. Individual case 2 The regional chairman of the Freedom In 2002, FPÖ municipal executive board Party employees, Manfred Pühringer, member Michael Gruber from Aurolz- calls this an “error”. münster had insulted the director of the Documentation Centre of Austrian Re- Individual case 5 sistance (DÖW) with using the word The regional chairman of the Freedom “Judenschwein” (Jewpig) and threatened Party employees in Upper Austria, to kill him. For this reason, Gruber has Manfred Pühringer, is posting an insult on been sentenced because of National So- Facebook directed to a municipal counci- cialist reactivation and dangerous threat lor of the SPÖ with Bosnian Serb roots to a conditional prison term of 18 month. (who had shortly before been a victim of When this gets known to the public, he an assassination), by calling him “hand resigns from the FPÖ. granates Yugo”. February 2014: April 2013: Individual case 6 In the federal state parliament, the FPÖ Individual case 3 Carinthia is the only party that rejects The FPÖ parliamentary group chair- the erection of a memorial for the victims man from Linz, Sebastian Ortner, of the Nazis at the former Gestapo had to resign, because several ext- headquarters in Klagenfurt. reme right-wing activities became public knowledge: in the past, he had among others practiced the assassi- Individual case 7 The weekly paper “Zur Zeit”, which is nation of political opponents at “pa- edited by the right-wing populist EU ramilitary sports” with the neo-Nazi member of parliament Andreas Mölzer Gottfried Küssel. and redacted by the Freedom Party member of the national parliament Wendelin Mölzer, is mocking the social democratic

23 resistance fighter Richard Bernaschek, September 2014: who had been murdered by the SS, with stating that he had been “overtaken by Individual case 12 The deputy federal party chairman Jo- the grim reaper” in Mauthausen. hann Gudenus expresses in a meeting of right-wing conservative and extreme March 2014: right-wing politicians in Moscow a war- Individual case 8 ning against a “lobby of homosexuals”, The German daily newspaper “Süd- which may be extremely powerful with deutsche Zeitung” reveals that during a having its own newspapers and TV sta- panel discussion right-wing populist EU tions. The goal of this lobby would be to member of parliament Andreas Mölzer reach the equality of homosexuals. “It is compared the European Union with the hard to imagine where this all is going “Third Reich” and called it a “Negro cong- lead,” says Gudenus. lomerate”. April 2014: Individual case 9 November 2014: When it gets known to the public that the Individual case 13 right-wing populist EU member of parli- FPÖ member of parliament Chris- ament Andreas Mölzer also attacked the tian Höbart insulted refugees on Austrian national soccer team member Facebook by calling them “soil- and David Alaba with racist statements, he is cavemen.” forced to resign. Individual case 14 June 2014: The “Bezirksblätter Niederöster Individual case 10 reich” (regional newspapers Lower The FPÖ municipal councilor and local Austria) published a photo showing party chairman for Groß-Enzersdorf, Ru- Andreas Bors, FPÖ district chairman dolf Fischer, disseminates racist propag- from Tulln, and two other men ma- anda on Facebook. He is posting: “Human king the Hitler salute. After Bors clai- beings are like bananas … nobody wants med that it was in connection with the black!” “fan chants for Rapid”, the soccer club reacted with outrage: “No such Individual case 11 gestures are used when cheering on The provincial party secretary of the FPÖ the players.” Lower Austria and member of the national parliament Christian Hafenecker dis- misses those who criticise racist propaganda as being “moralizers”.

24 Individual case 15 March 2015: FPÖ municipal councilor Kurt Lind- Individual case 19 lgruber from Steyr incited in Nazi FPÖ Member of the national parliament manner, claiming that those gover- Barbara Rosenkranz is listed among the ning are “parasites and spongers” speakers of the extreme right German supported by the “leftist pen pushers magazine “Zuerst!”. Among the speakers, of the regime”. He openly threatened there is also the Russian right-wing ex- opponents with forced labor on the tremist Alexander Dugin, as well as the “potato field.” The FPÖ parliamen- German revisionist of history Walter tary group chairman Helmut Zöttl Post, who denies the war guilt of Hitler’s distanced himself, however, there Germany. was no word of consequences for Lindlgruber. Individual case 20 The deputy federal party chairman of January 2015: the FPÖ Johann Gudenus denies of having agreed to take part at a European Individual case 16 neo Nazi meeting in St. Petersburg. Only The local FPÖ party chairman of Bad Aus- when the APA publishes his own letter as see, Hans Wunner, has to resign when it gets a proof, he claims of having had “memory known to the public that he is also actively gaps” and says that shortly after his accep- working for the neo-Nazi “European Acti- tance he had cancelled the commitment. on” of Holocaust denier Bernhard Schaub.

Individual case 17 April 2015: The FPÖ regional party chairman for Vo- rarlberg, Dieter Egger, created an uproar Individual case 21 The FPÖ city party chairman of Eisen- with an anti-Semitic statement: It should stadt, Géza Molnár, is insulting the ÖVP be clear to the director of the Jewish Mu- because of a Public Viewing for the Eu- seum in Hohenems, Hanno Loewy, “that rovisions Song Contest by stating that decisions are made in the town hall and not the party would have a “degenerate soul“, in the Jewish quarter”. because it is making “a penetrating para- de of queers to a major event in the city of Individual case 18 Haydn“. During its city council elections, the FPÖ Heidenreichstein is agitating against asylum seekers, claiming that they had “abused a prostitute” so that she had to be “brought to the hospital”. According to the county police commander, this claim is “simply wrong”.

25 May 2015: Individual case 22 July 2015: The FPÖ municipal councilor Gerald Individual case 26 - Hraball from Gloggnitz insulted refu The FPÖ delegate to the county parlia- - gees on Facebook by calling them “hu ment of Tyrol, Hildegard Schwaiger, is - man material”, which would be “com forced to resign when it gets known to pletely useless and problematic for the public that she is the administrator - Europe”. The provincial party secre of the racist Facebook-Group “Stop the - tary of the FPÖ Lower Austria, Christi asylum flood - also in Tyrol”. an Hafenecker, first did not want to see this as a Nazi phrase. But shortly after that Hraball left the party. August 2015: Individual case 27 June 2015: The FPÖ municipal councilor, Markus Individual case 23 Ripfl, from Orth an der Donau is insulting the SPÖ, ÖVP and the Green Party The FPÖ deputy district leader of Vien- on Facebook as being a “trio of betrayers na-Ottakring, Christian Hein, is thanking of the nation“. In the Nazi era, the term the violent neo Nazi gang “Unsterblich” „betrayer of the nation“ (Volksverräter) on Facebook for having supported his so- was used for enemies of the regime. Ripfl ccer team. had already attracted attention by using right-wing extremist symbols, such as the Individual case 24 Kühnen salute (a variation of the Hitler The FPÖ federal party chairman salute) and the Celtic cross. Heinz-Christian Strache uses the amok drive in Graz of a mentally ill person for agitation: “The perpetrator is from Bos- Individual case 28 Secretary General of the FPÖ, Herbert nia. A religiously motivated attack cannot Kickl, criticised the European Conven- be excluded.” This attempt to use a per- tion on Human Rights, and stated that it son’s afflictions to score political points would create a “gateway for illegal mass sparked several outraged reactions. immigration” and should be changed or replaced for that reason. Minister of Ju- Individual case 25 stice, Wolfgang Brandstetter, replied that The Ring of Freedom Youth (the youth whoever questions the European Con- wing of the FPÖ) Burgenland is organi- vention on Human Rights is acting outsi- sing an event together with the extreme de the constitutional arch and would be a right “Identitarians” in Eisenstadt. The “gravedigger of the Western World”. federal state chairman of the Freedom Youth, Werner Wassicek, emphasises that he is looking forward to invite “the ‘Identitarians’ to a red-blue Burgenland”.

26 October 2015: September 2015: Individual case 32 Individual case 29 The chairwoman of the FPÖ parliamen- The FPÖ local party chairman from tary group Sabina Kracher is writing on Lambach, Johann Gibitz, explained Facebook about refugees: “To many pa- - that he is about to boycott the pro rasites are actually killing the host!” Even - ducts of an Upper Austrian food pro though city party chairman of the FPÖ, ducer, because the wife of the mana- Wolfgang Mayer, has no problems with ger is giving free German lectures to this comparison, Kracher resigns a few refugees. days later.

Individual case 30 Individual case 33 FPÖ member of the national parliament FPÖ municipal councilor candidate Susanne Winter likes an anti-Semitic Ralph Schäfer from Wels gets known to posting on Facebook, which is directed the public as the founder of a “vigilant against „rich Zionist Jews“. With public group”. With this self-declared “vigilant criticism getting stronger and stron- group”, he would like to combat “burglar ger, the FPÖ excludes Winter from its gangs from abroad”. It also gets known to party. Nevertheless, she remains in the the public that Schäfer glorified Hitler’s National Council. deputy Rudolf Heß as “martyr” and thus had to stand trial because of National So- cialist reactivation. The process ended in an alternative measure. November 2015: Individual case 34 Individual case 31 The FPÖ substitution municipal On the FPÖ affiliated website „unzen- councilor Michael Grünwald from suriert.at“, an anonymous neo Nazi is Feldkirchen an der Donau wrote on insulting the director of the Jewish Mu- Facebook: “Fat wedding of Turks in seum Vienna, Danielle Spera, and the Au an der Donau! Who will bring a historian Oliver Rathkolb with the Nazi little car bomb?” The FPÖ substituti- term “Volksschädlinge” (parasites to the on municipal councilor Martin Hartl nation). The website operators do not likes the posting. After public criti- even remove this posting after the Aus- cism by the SPÖ mayor, Grünwald trian daily newspaper “Kurier” reported and Hartl resign. about it.

27 Individual case 38 The liberal third president of the provincial assembly of Styria, Ger- Individual case 35 hard Kurzmann, participated at an anti-refugees demonstration of the The FPÖ local party chairman from extreme right-wing “identitarians” Taxenbach, Bernd Buchner, insul- - in Graz. Immediately after the de ted the constitutional state on Fa- monstration “identitarians” attacked cebook, because it is preventing a counter-demonstrators. mentally ill amok driver from killing himself. “So, give him the desi- Individual case 39 red string…” When this became pu- The FPÖ municipal councilor from blic knowledge, the FPÖ provincial Linz, Susanne Walcher, accused young- party chairman Andreas Schöppl Muslims on Facebook of having a ten defended his friend from the party dency to child abuse, and her group for his “unfortunate wording”. colleague Markus Krazl accused them- of having a tendency to sex with ani Individual case 36 mals. The parties SPÖ, ÖVP and Grüne- The FPÖ city party chairman from condemned the incitement propag Graz, Mario Eustacchio, participated anda. After a few days, Krazl resigned at a demonstration against refugees “for professional and familiar reasons”. from the extreme right-wing “iden- Walcher remained in the municipal titarians” in Spielfeld. Also, neo- council. Nazis known to the authorities were among the protesters. February 2016: Individual case 40 FPÖ member of the national parliament Wolfgang Zanger is one of the speakers at January 2016: a demonstration against refugees of the Individual case 37 extreme right-wing “Identitarians” in Ju- FPÖ member of parliament Gerhard- denburg. Deimek disseminated racist incite ment propaganda together with his Individual case 41 approving comment on the internet,- FPÖ treasurer from Zams, Patrick Ober- including the insult of calling Mus prantacher, is attaching a quote to a lim immigrants “permanently horny picture of his federal party chairman barbarians.” Heinz-Christian Strache, which was used by the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels: “Now, people rise up, and let the storm break loose!”

28 April 2016: ce of the EP parliamentary group “Euro- pe of Nations and Freedom” (of which Individual case 42 the FPÖ is a part, together with the other The FPÖ municipal councilor Markus parties) as an occasion. Ripfl from Orth an der Donau, who is also the chairman of the FPÖ student ring at the University of Vienna and Member of the extreme right student fraternity “Olympia”, is the person responsible for the invitation of Hungarian neo Nazis. August 2016: The event of the “Olympia” is called “Re- Individual case 46 volution in Hungary – a role model for FPÖ municipal councilor Wolfgang Austria?” Zistler from Schwechat wrote on Facebook that for him it is “an honor Individual case 43 to be also called Nazi.” With this he referred to an accusation against the The Viennese FPÖ city councilor Anton FPÖ presidential candidate Norbert Mahdalik equates the followers of his Hofer. In addition, Zistler demanded party to the persecuted and victims of the - that a judge who decided against Ho Nazi regime. fer shall “immediately be removed from her position.” June 2016: Individual case 44 The FPÖ Vienna refuses to name a school September 2016: after the Nazi victim Friedrich Zawrel. As a child, Zawrel had survived the killing Individual case 47 machinery of the Nazis in the euthanas- Elmar Podgorschek, FPÖ member of the ia institution “Am Spiegelgrund”. Muni- Upper Austrian country council, agitates cipal councillor Dietrich Kops and FPÖ on Facebook against refugees. Among municipal councilor Werner Grebner others, he claims that the country‘s crime are insulting the deceased by calling him rate is exploding. The police disagrees: a “criminal”. the number of crimes had declined. Pod- gorschek does not want to accept this fact Individual case 45 and states that in his view “civil war is pre-programmed”. With the motto “Patriotic Spring”, the FPÖ invites representatives of several extreme right-wing parties from other countries of the EU – among them Ma- rine Le Pen from the French Front Nati- onal – into the FPÖ’s parliamentary club, taking the 1st anniversary of the existen-

29 October 2016: December 2016: Individual case 48 Individual case 51 At a folk festival, municipal councilor An FPÖ delegation travels to Moscow to Andreas Lehner from Kremsmünster, conclude a “working agreement” with the insults the owner of a kebab stand in a party of Russian President Vladimir Pu- racist way and smashes a window of the tin. The delegation includes among others booth. Afterwards, he hurts an interve- FPÖ federal party chairman Heinz-Chris- ning police officer. When this gets known tian Strache, the third president of the Na- to the public, Lehner resigns and makes tional Council Norbert Hofer, the deputy his FPÖ membership dormant. Later, he federal party chairman of the FPÖ Johann was sentenced to a conditional imprison- Gudenus and Stefan Magnet. In the past, ment of six months. Magnet was an activist of the extreme right-wing “Bund Freier Jugend” (Associ- ation of Freedomite Youth). Individual case 49 FPÖ Secretary General Herbert Kickl January 2017: speaks at the extreme right-wing con- Individual case 52 gress “Defenders of Europe” in Linz, FPÖ municipal councilor Andreas Freis which is target of broad international from Aschach an der Steyr is insulting protests. Organisers of the congress are on Facebook the new Federal President the extreme right-wing fraternity “Armi- Alexander Van der Bellen and his wife in nia Czernowitz”, whose most prominent an extremely aggressive manner. With re- members are the deputy major of Linz gards to the Green Party, Freis writes that from the FPÖ party, and Detlef Wimmer, he would have loved to “strangle those idi- the FPÖ party leader of the city. ots”. He suggests that a female journalist should be raped. When this gets known to the public, Freis resigns and makes his November 2016: FPÖ membership dormant. Individual case 50 Manfred Haimbuchner, the FPÖ deputy March 2017: federal state chairman of Upper Austria, Individual case 53 honours the NSDAP politician and SS FPÖ member of the national parliament brigade leader Anton Reinthaller in a spe- Roman Haider enforces the termination ech. In 1950, Reinthaller was sentenced of a lecture given by the extremism expert to three years imprisonment for hight- Thomas Rammerstorfer at a secondary reason, and in 1956, he became the first school in Linz, of which also Haider‘s son federal party chairman of the FPÖ. is a student. Rammerstorfer had menti- oned the FPÖ in the context of right-wing fraternities. The director of the school re-

30 ports of massive threats by the liberal politician. Later on, the Province School Board May 2017: comes to the conclusion that the termina- Individual case 57 tion was actually not admissible. The FPÖ Lower Austria accused the ÖVP in a mailing of “blood disgrace”. Individual case 54 In the time of the Nazis, the term “blood disgrace” was also used with The FPÖ Upper Austria has set up a “re- the same meaning as “race disgrace”. porting office” on its website: It calls As a protest, the SPÖ moved out of upon students to denounce teachers who the provincial assembly, and the Grü- express themselves critically about the ne party also protested. FPÖ. April 2017: Individual case 55 Franz Schardinger, member of the FPÖ June 2017: district party leadership of Imst, congratu- Individual case 58 lates Adolf Hitler on his birthday: “Happy FPÖ federal party chief Heinz-Christian Birthday, Adolf!” After the Green Member Strache calls for a restriction of human of the national parliament, Harald Wal- rights in order to combat terror effec- ser, informed the public about it, the FPÖ tively. Strache refers to a statement by excluded Schardinger. How the people conservative British Prime Minister inside the party are really thinking about Theresa May. this matter, has been revealed by Annelie- se K. on Facebook: “Franz we accept and we love you, FPÖ Imst...” Franz Schardin- July 2017: ger has already attracted attention by pos- Individual case 59 ting torture and murder fantasies. It gets known to the public that FPÖ member of the national parliament Jo- Individual case 56 hannes Hübner gave a speech at the 2016 The FPÖ city councilor of Linz, Markus annual convention of the extreme right- Hein, announced a new edition of the wing “Gesellschaft für Freie Publizistik” extreme right-wing congress “Defenders (Society for Open Journalism). Hübner, of Europe” at the end of September in the who is also the foreign policy spokesman Redoutensäle in Linz. Like his city party of his party, said about the creator of the chairman Detlef Wimmer, Hein is also a Austrian constitution: “Hans Kelsen - ac- member of the extreme right-wing fra- tually Hans Kohn, but he called himself ternity “Arminia Czernowitz”. Later, the Kelsen.” This anti-Semitic reference goes Congress will be postponed to March back to the leading Nazi legal practitio- 2018, probably due to the National Elec- ner Carl Schmitt. After massive protests, tions in October. Hübner declined another candidature.

31 August 2017: September 2017: Individual case 60 Individual case 63 The media is reporting all over Austria On Facebook, the FPÖ Vomp publishes that in 2016, FPÖ municipal councilor a list of elementary school children with candidate Manfred Sedovnik from St. foreign-sounding names. After outraged Andrä am Zicksee had been sentenced to reactions, the Tyrolean FPÖ regional par- pay a fine of 4500 Euro because of Natio- ty chairman Markus Abwerzger explains nal Socialist reactivation. He had deman- that the posting had been cancelled. Ho- ded on Facebook to reopen the concent- wever, Abwerzger uses the word “scan- ration camp Mauthausen and to send the dal” with reference to the high propor- then Federal President Heinz Fischer the- tion of migrants in some school classes, re. Sedovnik also became conspicuous by and not to the fact that his party is pillo- posting murder fantasies. rying children.

Individual case 61 Individual case 64 The Ring of Freedom Youth (the youth Federal party chairman of the FPÖ, wing of the FPÖ) Carinthia is protesting Heinz-Christian Strache, is dissemina- against the newly elected “Mister Carin- ting a video on Facebook that shows seve- thia”, explicitly because of his origin and ral children from a migrant background appearance. The background of the racist together with their parents in front of an attack: Parsa Djawadiraad is an Austrian elementary school, without pixelated fa- citizen and completely integrated, but ces. He is commenting it with “Typical!”. comes originally from Iran. Thus, he is also stirring up public opinion against children because of their origin. Individual case 62 It becomes publicly known that FPÖ mu- Individual case 65 nicipal councilor candidate Walter Wolf- The human rights organisation “SOS gang from Bruckneudorf has also been Mitmensch” criticises that the FPÖ con- active in the neo-Nazi splinter group tinuously supports the FPÖ affiliated “People’s Party”. On Facebook, he had cal- magazine “Aula” with large advertise- led for the “unification” of Austria with ments. Among others, they placed adver- Germany and disseminated an image of tisements with federal party chairman an SS soldier together with the saying Heinz-Christian Strache and the regional “Our grandfathers were no criminals!”. party chairman for Upper Austria, Man- The FPÖ deputy federal state chairman fred Haimbuchner. At the same time, of Burgenland, Johann Tschürtz, com- the “Aula” repeatedly contains extreme mented these activities of the FPÖ politi- right-wing, racist and antisemitic articles. cian: “As long as he does not have a crimi- The FPÖ affiliated magazine insulted for nal conviction, I don’t care.” example survivors of the Mauthausen

32 concentration camp as “menace” and on Human Rights”. However, his attempt “criminals” – which it had to revoke after to discredit the European Convention on a court ruling in April 2017. The “Aula” Human Rights is failing quickly: all sur- also expresses sympathy for the German veyed experts on international law point neo-Nazi party NPD. The NPD politician out that the Convention is clearly ban- Karl Richter was even allowed to write ning the death penalty in its additional for the “Aula” an article with the insinua- protocols. tion: what the Jews want is “surreptiti- ously obtaining sovereignty”. Individual case 68 Martin Hochstöger, member of the FPÖ Tyrolean Party Committee, has put up a Individual case 66 plaque in a room behind his pharmacy, It becomes publicly known that which commemorates the “Return of the FPÖ municipal councilor candidate Ostmark into the Reich”. Moreover, in Friedrich Ugrinovits from Draßburg a showcase he exhibited an SS skull and is since decades engaging in extreme other National Socialist devotional ob- right-wing and antisemitc activities. jects. After this becomes publicly known, Among others, he insulted resear- Hochstöger steps down from his positi- ches who wanted to visit the Jewish on in the Party Committee. The Public Museum Eisenstadt with the term Attorney’s Office Innsbruck is investiga- “Saujuden” (pig-Jews). Two times ting the matter. Hochstöger gets expelled he was found guilty of incitement, from the FPÖ. most recently in 2013 with a conditional detention order for ten months. In the FPÖ, everybody claims to not November 2017 have had any knowledge of these Individual case 69 long-standing activities of the mu- The FPÖ Lower Austria wanted to dele- nicipal councillor candidate – among gate the Tulln district party chairman them the local section chairman Andreas Bors to the Federal Council. The from Draßburg, René Tschögl. media pointed out that in November 2014, a photo has been published Individual case 67 showing Bors and two other men making the Hitler salute (see Individual case 14). The third president of the National Bors therefore renounced the Federal Council Norbert Hofer from the FPÖ Council mandate but spoke of an “into- claims that the European Convention on lerable media campaign”. Human Rights allows the implementa- tion of the death penalty. Thus, it would need to be evaluated and, if necessary, to be replaced by an “Austrian Convention

33 Individual case 70 a pig and a pig‘s head. Two weeks after The top candidate of the FPÖ Lower Austria the “Standard” report, Heinz-Christian for the provincial assembly election, Udo Strache became vice-chancellor and Landbauer, mocked the ÖVP head of the Mario Kunasek became defense minister. provincial government Johanna Mikl- Leitner with calling her “Muslim Mama”. Individual case 73 Reason: According to the education plan, Alexander Höferl became head of the state kindergartens should deal with communications in the cabinet of different cultures. Landbauer perceived the former FPÖ secretary general and this as “forced Islamization”. new interior minister Herbert Kickl. Before that, Höferl was chief editor Individual case 71 and co-owner of the FPÖ-close web site “unzensuriert.at”. The Federal- The Linz FPÖ city council faction orga- Office for the Protection of the Con- nized an event in the Old City Hall stitution and the Fight against Terro together with the magazine “Info-Di- rism had classified “unzensuriert.at”- rekt”. This magazine disseminates racist, as “partly extremely xenophobic” and anti-Semitic and conspiracist content. had attested “anti-Semitic tendencies” The Documentation Centre of Aust- to the website. rian Resistance classifies it as “extreme right-wing with neo-Nazi backgrounds”. Before the event in the Old City Hall, the responsible SPÖ city councilor had Individual case 74 reacted to wide protests and cancelled an The deputy FPÖ federal party chairman Info-Direkt “readers meeting”, which was Johann Gudenus demanded that refu- planned in a municipal people‘s house. gees should no longer be accommodated individually, but in mass accommoda- tions on the outskirts of Vienna. Thus, December 2017: the refugees will have to see, “that it is not Individual case 72 as cozy in Austria, as everyone believes,” said Gudenus, who shortly after became The newspaper “Standard” reported executive FPÖ leader of the parliamen- that the FPÖ federal party chairman tary group in the National Council. Heinz-Christian Strache and the Styrian FPÖ provincial party chairman Mario Kunasek had been in personal contact Individual case 75 with Thomas Kirschner, the chairman of FPÖ municipal councilor Bernhard the neo-Nazi splinter group “Party of the Blochberger from Krumbach sent the title People” in December 2015. Strache told page of a Nazi women‘s magazine from Kirschner to “keep up the good work.” 1943 as his Facebook Christmas gree- In May 2016, Kirschner was arrested for ting. Since decades, Blochberger engages defiling a Graz mosque with blood from himself in extreme right-wing activities.

34 Among others, he was a member of the Individual case 78 Lower Austrian state leadership of the FPÖ defense minister Mario Kuna- “National Democratic Party”. This party sek claimed in an interview with was officially dissolved in 1988 because the “Kronenzeitung” that he did not of National Socialist reactivation. publish an article in the magazine “Aula”, and that only one of his press releases had been printed. The hu- January 2018: man rights organization “SOS Mit- Individual case 76 mensch” proved that this claim was FPÖ municipal councilor Markus Ripfl not true. The “Aula” disseminates ex- - from Orth an der Donau, who is also a treme right-wing, racist and anti-Se member of the extreme right-wing frater- mitic content. It also shows sympa- nity “Olympia”, “liked” a song of the thy for the neo-Nazi NPD party in neo-Nazi band “Division Germania” on Germany (see individual case 65). Youtube on New Year‘s Eve. In the past, Ripfl gained attention several times by his extreme right-wing activities (see indivi- Individual case 79 dual cases 27 and 42). He was expelled from FPÖ interior minister Herbert Kickl the FPÖ because of “imminent danger”, declared his wish to keep refugees although he claims that an unknown “concentrated” in mass quarters. This person has “liked” the neo-Nazi song with statement was perceived as a reference to his password. Party secretary Christian the Nazi concentration camps and lead to Hafenecker emphasized that the FPÖ broad criticism. does not constantly want to get bad press. Individual case 80 Individual case 77 The public became aware that Udo Land- bauer, the top candidate of the FPÖ Lower The FPÖ mayor from Wels, Andreas Austria for the provincial assembly elec- Rabl, was in need to explain, after it tion, had collected donations for the became public knowledge that the extreme right-wing association “Junge former municipal authorities’ emplo- Patrioten” (Young Patriots) in 2010. yee Peter See has been the third on the Furthermore, the Viennese weekly news- FPÖ list for the 2014 staff representa- paper “Falter” reported that the song book tion election, and that he had been an of the fraternity “Germania zu Wiener FPÖ member from 2013 to July 2017. Neustadt” contains anti-Semitic texts, See was dismissed in December 2017 also ridiculing the Holocaust. Landbauer after a photo had appeared showing is chairman of this fraternity. The Federal him with a swastika banner. Rabl had Government initiated proceedings to stated that See was never an FPÖ dissolve the fraternity. After the provin - member and had concealed See‘s can- cial assembly election Landbauer resigned didacy and years of membership.

35 from his political functions and suspended Individual case 84 his membership in the FPÖ. But he does Miriam Rydl, board member of the FPÖ not exclude his return to the party. Tulln, insulted refugees who had left their families behind with calling them February 2018: “Untermenschen” (subhuman beings) Individual case 81 on Facebook. Rydl told the Media that The newspaper “Standard” reported she did not know that this was a Nazi that the Upper Austrian FPÖ provincial term. On top of it, the FPÖ politician councilor Elmar Podgorschek belongs is also a member of a Facebook group, to the fraternity “Germania zu Ried”. In that is mocking Holocaust survivors. a commemorative publication in 2000, Rydl claimed that she also did not know this fraternity had honored the fraternity anything about those contents and that brother and SS mass murderer Friedrich she probably had been added to the group Kranebitter. In addition, Podgorschek without being asked. had placed a half-page advertisement in the magazine “Info-Direkt”, paid with tax Individual case 85 money. “Info-Direkt” disseminates racist, It became public knowledge that anti-Semitic and conspiracist content. Reinhard Rebhandl, candidate of the The Documentation Centre of the Aust- FPÖ Salzburg for the provincial as rian Resistance classifies it as “extreme sembly election, belongs since deca-- right-wing with neo-Nazi backgrounds”. des to the extreme right-wing scene. Already in 1984, he was a “young com- Individual case 82 rade” in the “National Democratic Party”, which was officially dissolved Martin Glier, press spokesman of FPÖ in 1988 because of National Socialist vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, reactivation. Rebhandl is a member used the Nazi term “Blutzeuge” (blood of the fraternity “Gothia Salzburg”, witness) on Twitter. He countered the which participated in a demonstra- criticism that followed with referring tion against refugees of the extreme to the neo-Nazi online-encyclopedia right-wing “identitarians”. In 2010, as “Metapedia”. chairman of the ÖTB gymnastics club Golling, Rebhandl had carried a flag Individual case 83 with the words “racial purity” for his Despite massive protests, Heinrich Sickl gymnastics club. was delegated fort the FPÖ into the Graz municipal council. Sickl is co-editor of the magazine “Aula”, which disseminates extreme right-wing, racist and anti-Semitic Individual case 86 content. He also took part in demonstra- The Viennese weekly newspaper “Falter” tions of the extreme right-wing “identita- reported that also the songbook of the rians” and offered them rooms for rent. fraternity “Bruna Sudetia” contains anti-Se-

36 mitic texts, which are also ridiculing the Innsbruck investigates against him and Holocaust. The chairman of this extreme against Brigitte Gröber, the executive city right-wing fraternity, Herwig Götschober, party chairperson of the FPÖ Imst. Both is FPÖ district councilor in Vienna-Leo- suspended their duties and their FPÖ poldstadt and press officer in the cabinet membership. of the FPÖ minister of transport Norbert Hofer. The public prosecution started an Individual case 89 investigation against the song book and The former FPÖ provincial party seized several boxes with unknown mate- chairman of Upper Austria, Lutz Wein- rial in the fraternity house of the “Bruna zinger, caused a stir: In an interview he Sudetia”. Götschober declared that he will claimed that fraternity members were take leave as a press reporter until the end “persecuted by the Nazis like the Jews at of the investigation. However, after only the beginning”. Weinzinger defended a three weeks, he took up again his work in Holocaust mocking song text with clai- the Ministry of Transport. ming that it was only “meant ironically”. His successor Manfred Haimbuchner, March 2018: who Weinzinger calls a “fatherly friend”, Individual case 87 rejected a statement on Weinzinger’s The FPÖ vice mayor of Graz, Mario remarks. Eustacchio, held a speech at the extreme right-wing congress “Defenders of Individual case 90 Europe” in Aistersheim. According to the The public became aware that Wolfgang extreme rightwing magazine “Info-Di- Preiszler, FPÖ municipal councilor in rekt”, Eustacchio criticized the human Guntramsdorf and high-ranking police rights in his speech. Media reports about officer in Vienna, had spread extreme right- it were followed by massive protests in wing and racist content on Facebook. The Graz, a city that understands itself as a Viennese police initiated an inspection city for human rights. Eustacchio claimed according to the employment law. that he did not make the statement about human rights. Individual case 91 Individual case 88 The public became aware that Jürgen-Mi- The FPÖ district party chairman of Imst, chael Kleppich, FPÖ district councilor in Wolfgang Neururer, was pressed with Vienna-Leopoldstadt and Attaché at the charges because he had sent images of Austrian Embassy in Israel, had spread Adolf Hitler with WhatsApp to other on Facebook a picture of his grandfather FPÖ members. The text to one of the in Nazi uniform with swastika and a pictures reads “Adolf, please show up! picture of himself wearing a T-shirt of the Germany needs you!” Neururer claims extreme right-wing “identitarians”. After that he had forwarded those pictures as a massive protests, the Foreign Ministry “warning”. The public prosecutor‘s office ordered Kleppich back to Austria.

37 Individual case 92 paper “Standard” Praxmarer claimed that he cannot remember how it happened The FPÖ member of the municipal that the “Like” button appeared. executive board Andreas Zauner and FPÖ municipal councilor Dani - el Boxrucker from Suben were pres Individual case 95 - sed with charges because by using The FPÖ-close website “unzensuriert.at” WhatsApp they have sent images reported that the singer Conchita Wurst of Adolf Hitler along with extreme has come out with being HIV-positive. A right-wing slogans. The houses of the comment directed against HIV-infected two FPÖ politicians were searched. individuals was followed by a number They resigned from the FPÖ. Three of anti-gay and racist hate posts on the weeks later, they also resigned from website. The operators of “unzensuriert. their municipal duties. at” also did not delete those hate posts when the newspaper “Standard” pointed out their legal obligation to do so.

April 2018: Individual case 96 Individual case 93 Kevin Guttmann, an employee of Johann Several FPÖ politicians attacked the Tschürtz, the FPÖ deputy head of the Viennese physician and SPÖ politician provincial government of Burgenland, Mireille Ngosso with racist postings. published a short video on Instagram. Reason: Ngosso was a refugee from the It shows dark-skinned runners of Congo and became deputy district leader the Vienna City Marathon, with the of the first district of Vienna. For example, comment “Having their day off today?” Wolfgang Reinold, FPÖ leader of the After the strong criticism that followed parliamentary group in Vienna-Meidling, this racist statement, Tschürtz admo- posted on Facebook pictures of monkeys nished his co-worker. under an article about the SPÖ politician. After media reports and a request Individual case 97 from the FPÖ provincial party secretary The executive FPÖ leader of the parlia- Michael Stumpf, Reinold deleted his mentary group Johann Gudenus used hate posting. an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory of the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán. Individual case 94 In an interview with the newspaper “Die Arndt Praxmarer, an employee in the Presse” Gudenus explained that there cabinet of FPÖ transport minister Norbert are “verified rumors” that the Jewish US Hofer, “liked” on Facebook a restaurant billionaire George Soros is involved in in Germany, whose host is a well-known “supporting migratory flows to Europe”. neo-Nazi who celebrates the birthday of This statement led to wide protests. Adolf Hitler. At the request of the news-

38 Individual case 98 Individual case 101 FPÖ vice-chancellor Heinz-Christian It became public knowledge that Markus Strache defended the anti-Semitic cons- Hüttenmeyer, provincial chairman of the piracy theory, according to which the “Freiheitliche Jugend Salzburg” (Liberal Jewish US billionaire George Soros is Youth of Salzburg) and FPÖ local party involved in “supporting migratory flows chairman of Lofer, wrote in 2009 at the to Europe”. Strache claimed that these age of 15 on Facebook: “For us National are “facts”. After the SPÖ federal party Socialists, the declared belief in an ideo- chairman Christian Kern sharply criti- logy must never turn into a phrase …” This cized this statement, the FPÖ vice-chan- sentence originates from Nazi author cellor resorted to an old anti-Semitic Hansjörg Männel. Hüttenmeyer resi- accusation: He claimed that Kern tries to gned from his political duties. “poison the well”. Individual case 102 Individual case 99 The FPÖ Upper Austria criticized The public became aware that Robert two major cinema chains, because Kiesinger, consultant at the FPÖ-educati- they refused to show a spot of the onal institute, had sent the cover page of a “Liberal Youth” about the shortage of Nazi calendar from 1943 as his Facebook skilled workers. The “Hollywood Mega- Easter greeting. The cover page shows plex” rejected the criticism: The spot the “life rune”, a forbidden Nazi symbol. gave the impression that foreign skilled Kiesinger had already attracted attention workers would operate as car burglars with propaganda against Muslims. in Austria.

Individual case 103 Mai 2018: It became public knowledge that the FPÖ vice mayor from Linz, Detlef Wimmer, Individual case 100 and the FPÖ city councilor from Linz, FPÖ secretary general and EU par- Markus Hein, have placed advertisements liamentarian Harald Vilimsky held a in the media “Info-Direkt” and “Wochen- speech at the invitation of the French blick” with using tax-money. “Info-Di- Front National at a meeting of several rekt” disseminates racist, anti-Semitic extreme right-wing parties in Nice. In and conspiracist content. The Documen- 2015, the FPÖ joined forces with these tation Centre of the Austrian Resistance parties to form the EU group “Europe classified it as “extreme right-wing with of Nations and Freedom”. Vilimsky is neo-Nazi backgrounds” (see also the indi- deputy group chairman. vidual cases 71 and 81). Ulrich Püschel, the office manager of the FPÖ city councilor Hein, is co-owner of “Info-Direkt”. Like Hein and Wimmer, Püschel belongs

39 to the extreme right-wing fraternity Individual case 106 “Arminia Czernowitz”. The Press Council The liberal third president of the provin- had denounced the “Wochenblick” cial assembly of Styria, Gerhard Kurz- among other things because of its incite- mann, wrote in the “Aula” about the ment against refugees. “linguistic disloyalty of the German elites”. Also an FPÖ advertisement Individual case 104 with vice chancellor and federal party The leader of the FPÖ parliamentary chairman Heinz-Christian Strache group Walter Rosenkranz claimed in appeared in the journal. The same issue the ORF feature “Im Zentrum”, that his included racist insults against Aust- party distanced itself from the maga- ria‘s participant in the Eurovision Song zine “Aula”. The human rights orga- Contest, César Sampson, by calling him nization “SOS Mitmensch” proved a “quota darky”. As this became public that the FPÖ is still closely connected knowledge, followed by strong criticism, with the “Aula”. The magazine belongs Strache wanted to apologize to Sampson. to several Liberal Academic Associa- According to the FPÖ leadership, the tions with FPÖ politicians in leading name “Aula” should disappear. The positions. Among them the members Liberal Academics Associations shall give of parliament Axel Kassegger and up their ownership of the “Aula”. But the Wendelin Mölzer. The “Aula” dissemi- Liberal Academics Associations Styria nates extreme right-wing, racist and refused to do so. Norbert Hofer, FPÖ anti-Semitic content. It also shows transport minister and deputy federal sympathy for the neo-Nazi party NPD party chairman, threatened Kurzmann in Germany (see individual case 65). and other “Aula” writers with the loss of their political positions. Shortly after that, Heinz-Christian Strache revoked this threat. The “Aula” disseminates Individual case 105 extreme right-wing, racist and anti-Se- FPÖ municipal councilor Kerstin Witz- mitic content. It also shows sympathy for mann-Köhler from Bad Vöslau expressly the neo-Nazi NPD party in Germany (see praised her deceased father-in-law Rudolf individual case 65). Witzmann for his role as mayor of the city from 1940 to 1942. The appraisal included Finally the publication of „Aula“ was banners at the Witzmann-Köhler hotel stopped after the „June“ edition, however in the center of the spa town. Rudolf it will be replaced by a new tabloid. Witzmann was - according to historian Dominik Zgierski - “very active” in the NSDAP local group and district leadership. At a minimum he supported the expropriation and expulsion of the Jewish population of Bad Vöslau.

40 Acknowledgement

The Mauthausen Committee Austria wants to thank several personalities and institutions for their intensive support with the research for this brochure, especially the Upper Austrian Network against Racism and Right-Wing Extremism, the human rights organization “SOS Mitmensch” and the websites “stopptdierechten.at” and “fpoefails.org”!

41 Editorial deadline: August 2, 2019

IMPRINT: Media owner: Austrian Mauthausen Committee, 1020 Vienna Homepage: www.mkoe.at, e-mail: [email protected] ZVR: 545896703 For further information according to § 5 E-Commerce-Act (ECG) see the General Terms and Conditions. Produced by: ÖGB publishing house, Johann-Böhm-Platz 1, 1020 Vienna The Mauthausen Comitee Austria works everyday for a „Never again“.

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BAWAG “Mauthausen Committee Austria” IBAN: AT62 1400 0100 1067 4528 BIC: BAWAATWW In May 2019, the so called “Ibiza affair” caused a sudden end for the coalition government of the ÖVP and FPÖ. However, in the weeks and months before, the individual cases had burdened the coalition increasingly. After the end of the coalition, ÖVP Federal Party Chairman Sebastian Kurz complained that they had “drained a lot of my strength”.

On two occasions, the Mauthausen Committee Austria had already researched the extreme right-wing activities of FPÖ politicians and presented them in a chronological way. The documentation “Nothing but individual cases?” had been published before the parliamentary elections in fall 2017. It received a strong response. Since then, the term “individual cases” had become commonplace for describing the continuous anti-democratic activities of the FPÖ.

The sequel followed with the publication of “Individual cases and repeat offenders” in June 2018. It proved that the FPÖ even as a governing party did not become more moderate. For the period since the beginning of 2013, i.e. for five and a half years, the documentation thus comprised a total of 106 extreme right-wing activities.

With this third documentation, the Mauthausen Commit- tee investigates the most recent individual cases - dating from June 2018 until the end of July 2019. The new documentation clearly demonstrates that the many individual cases have a pattern in common. And it makes clear what this pattern looks like.

In addition, it addresses an important question: Could the FPÖ be capable of governing? Or does it give reason to assume that the FPÖ as a ruling party would continue to cause serious damage with its extreme right-wing activities?

The new documentation “Several individual cases = one pattern” provides a clear answer.