Vienna Airport
I know that some of my Austrian friends get annoyed and think I exaggerate when I say there is a Nazi vibe in Austria.
Reality is that right-wing extremist ideas are so well established and deeply rooted in Austria that even some left-wingers often consider some right-wing extremist attitudes as being normal.
A few days ago, the party leader of the extreme right-wing party of Austria was invited for an interview the ZIB2 news. His Freedom Party has once again managed to be in the lead in the Sunday poll – if elections were held this Sunday – i.e. Goebbels 2.0 would become Federal Chancellor of Austria.
The Freedom party is an extreme right-wing party with strong influence of Nazi ideology! Even if many Austrians still do not want to believe it or trivialize it – a specialty of Austrians.
So,just to give you some ideas: One of their party symbols is the cornflower, which – quite officially – is an identifying symbol of Nazis among themselves.
The party calls itself the “social homeland party” (Soziale Heimatpartei) which Germans understand to be a clear Nazi refercence (in Austria it is considered conincidence) as “Heimat” is a term coined by Nazi Propaganda and “Soziale Heimatpartei” litterally means national socialist party, i.e. Nazi party.
I know, my Austrian friends, it is really hard not to trivialize facts like these and admit that Austria has an ambivalent relation to Nazi ideology. It is deeply embedded in the Austrian DNA.
It’s also not the first time that the Freedom Party is ahead in the Sunday polls. They were already ahead in 2012. What happened then? Frank Stronach – a kind of Austrian Donald Trump (to exaggerate a bit) – entered politics and made it impossible for the Freedom Party to take first place in the national elections.
In 2016, they were again clearly ahead in the Sunday poll, and then The Messia Sebastian Kurz came along and stole the Freedom Party’s xenophobic agenda (and made this attitude even more acceptable in Austria), thus winning the national elections.
I wonder who is going to steal first place from the far-right party this time.
Austrians want to vote Herbert Kickl into first place? Seriously?
A man some people call a “would-be Goebbels”?!
but no, austria does not have a nazi vibe 😉
Of course not all who vote for the Freedom Party are Nazis, but it means that the Nazi vibe is deeply rooted in the Austrian DNA and a large part of the population at least tolerates it.
I know, those who like to trivialize will continue to say that I exaggerate.
I don’t care. I’m not writing this for them.
Oh, I have forgotten a very important example:
The 2016 federal presidential election. 50% of the voters voted for a man whose ideological father is a Nazi. Most Austrians would say that this guy is not Nazi. If you do a little research into his biography, you will clearly find traces of brown vanilla ice cream 😉
50%!
His opponent was a former university professor, very well respected in Austria, who – possibly – is slightly demented. But what the heck, the Austrian president is not very powerful anyway and especially, if the “most powerful man in the world” – the U.S. president – is slightly demented, then the Austrian president may certainly be as well.
50%
And the Nazi vibe does not only shine through right-wing extremist ideas. It is also about a fundamentally fascist attitude, which I very often spot in left-wingers as well, and which has come to the fore, for example, in Austria’s handling of the pandemic… I may remind, Austria, was the only Western country, that introduced mandatory vaccination and considered – among other things – imprisioning for contempt unvaccinated people to “not force” them to get vaccinated 😉
In Austria such thoughts are not absurd.
I think the Austrian society is seriously sick. I would almost say psychotic and hope that it will really come to terms with its true identity for once.
The day will come when I will share publicly all the psychological, physical and sexual violence and abuse I have experienced in Austria through institutions – especially as a child, but also as an adult. I know that it has a lot to do with the fact that originally I am from the Middle East. The time will come.
In the meantime, I will reguraly return to let my daughter feel my heartbeat and to feel hers.
And yeah, I have to say, experiencing the Austrian vibe once in a while also really seems to give me a kick. It makes me appreciate the paradise I live in now.
vox