Who would have thought that following the resignation of Sebastian Kurz, the
inter-war period would
suddenly be
discussed
in Austria
?
Karl Nehammer probably not: The new Chancellor wants to present himself as a consensus-oriented and "learner" - and now has a debate on his neck that could tear old scars in Austrian domestic politics.
Nehammer's successor in the Ministry of the Interior, Gerhard Karner, is responsible for this. As
mayor of the Texingtal community
, Karner ran a museum that commemorates Engelbert Dollfuß, who was born there. However, according to the criticism, there is no critical discussion of the "Chancellor's dictator": it is a "museum memorial via the detour of a museum," analyzed the historian Lucile Dreidemy. The writer Ludwig Laher reported in STANDARD that the exhibits should include a piece of earth that came from the Dollfuss grave in Vienna. It is presented with the words: "Austrian soil, which harbored the greatest son of the fatherland".
The fact is that Dollfuss
abolished parliament in 1932 after a crisis of rules of procedure and became a dictator
.
He set up camps for political prisoners and had them executed without trial.
Bloody fighting broke out under his rule when the banned paramilitary arm of social democracy was to be disarmed.
The armed forces, police and the Christian Social Home Guard faced the remnants of the armed social democracy;
Field cannons were used to fire on municipal housing in Vienna.
"Great Chancellor and Renewer"
But it is also a fact that the political system in Austria was in a major crisis long before Dollfuss; that he stood up against the illegal National Socialists and was murdered by their supporters in 1934. Under his chancellorship, Dollfuss had hardly taken any anti-Jewish actions, but had previously worked
on the Aryan paragraph on student associations
.
At the entrance to the museum, Dollfuss is advertised as a "great Federal Chancellor and innovator"; for Karner the historical is "well worked out and treated critically" there. Well, after a lot of excitement, the museum should still be modernized. But the Dollfuss birthplace is
not Karner's only problem
: after starting out as press spokesman in the Ministry of the Interior, Karner was managing director of the Lower Austrian People's Party from 2003 to 2015 - and in this role he was responsible for tough battles with political opponents. Over the years there have been so many border crossings: Karner railed against the social democracy, which had
"worked with gentlemen from America and Israel against the country"
, they were
"climate poisoners"
.
Karner regularly referred to the political competition as "hostile to the country" and as "polluting the nest".
Jewish university students: protests
The Organization of the Jewish Austrian Students: Inside (JÖH) has therefore now sent a
resignation
request
to Karner. Nobel laureate Elfriede Jelinek, the former liberal highest judge Irmgard Griss and the author Doron Rabinovici signed as supporters. Karner took the accusations calmly at first: The fight against anti-Semitism was a "personal concern" for him, during election campaigns people "generally used words and sentences that one probably no longer used afterwards." In any case, this week he will seek a conversation with the President of the Israelite Religious Community. On Monday afternoon it was said that he regretted his choice of words.
And Chancellor Nehammer?
In his first major television interview, he pointed out that you were sitting in the room in which Dollfuss had been murdered.
Although he condemned its "Austrofascism", he also referred to "Austromarxism"
without explaining this reference.
That, in turn, earned Nehammer some criticism.
For the Minister of the Interior, it was a very bad start: Vice-Chancellor and Green Leader Werner Kogler told him in the STANDARD conversation that he was not enjoying a great deal of trust.
So the lesson from this first week: It won't be boring even without Sebastian Kurz.
Social media moment of the week
After violent ridicule about her Advent wreath in turquoise party colors, the Austrian
Minister of Economic Affairs Margarete Schramböck
(ÖVP) now
shows
a different colored table decoration every week.
But was it really a coincidence that the departure from the color turquoise coincided with the final withdrawal of party leader Sebastian Kurz?
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Essay: Six men and one woman wore Austria since 2016 in the Federal Chancellery.
The country's reputation has suffered massively in recent years.
There are reasons for this - and those responsible.
Government reshuffle in Austria: The new interior minister and his problem of fascism
Gerhard Karner has long been considered controversial: He is said to have insulted political opponents and attracted attention with anti-Semitic remarks.
And then there's a museum that pays homage to a dictator.
Interior Minister Karner is asked to resign because of anti-Semitic rhetoric
Jewish students and a large number of celebrities are calling for a new appointment to be made to the Ministry of the Interior.
IKG President sees statements as "highly problematic"
"Karner doesn't get a big leap of faith from me"
Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler hopes that the new Chancellor will rethink the ÖVP.
However, he denied the Minister of the Interior the leap of faith.
Kind regards,
Fabian Schmid (Deputy Head of Chronicle and Domestic Policy DER STANDARD)
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