In 2017, the rightwing Austrian Freedom party (FPÖ) became part of a governing coalition in Vienna for the first time in its history. “The party owes much of its appeal to its anti-immigration campaign,” writes Hella Pick, “but alarm bells are also ringing because of the FPÖ’s anti-Semitic roots—its first leader was Anton Reinthaller, a former senior SS officer.” The party, which is expected to do very well in the upcoming elections, has tried to distance itself from its past, but its recent rise is not the only thing that disturbs the country’s Jews. Pick continues:
Today, the Jewish community in Austria has shrunk to near invisibility, standing at around 10,000 members. Anti-Semitism has become both a political and a church taboo, as the authorities promote a wide range of measures to drive home the lessons of the Holocaust. Yet anti-Semitism has not disappeared. It is nowhere near prewar levels, but it simmers below the surface.
[The former Austria president Heinz Fischer] cites general fears and uncertainties about the future as . . . factors that are driving people to vote for the FPÖ. Yet he admits that concerns about the place of anti-Semitism in the party are not without foundation: “All that having been said,” Fischer adds, “I don’t doubt that the ranks of the FPÖ still contain some anti-Semites.” Austrians designate such people as Kellernazis (cellar Nazis).
He steers clear of assessing the degree of anti-Semitism in Austria today, but a disturbing study commissioned by the Austrian parliament was published only this April. . . . The study shows that many of the old anti-Semitic shibboleths survive, with a third of those questioned believing that Jews “dominate international business” and exert growing “power and influence in politics and the media.” Between 2020 and 2022, the percentage of respondents who said Jewish people had “too much influence” rose from 11 to 19 percent.
It notes that there is significant anti-Semitism among Austria’s Turkish and Arab immigrants. . . . Negative attitudes to Israel play an important part in stimulating Austria’s anti-Semitism. The study alarmingly points out that 31 percent of people questioned believed that Israel’s treatment of Palestinians was no different from Nazi Germany’s treatment of Jews during the Second World War (the figure was 57 percent among Turkish- and Arabic-speaking respondents).
Read more on Prospect: https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/62118/nazis-in-the-cellar