Guilty Victim - Austria from the Holocaust to Haider [Illustrated] (Hardcover)

His small country had offered asylum to 180,000 Hungarian refugees in 1956 and to 96,000 Czechs after the collapse of the Prague Spring in 1968. When the Soviet bloc began to allow Jewish emigration to Israel, Austria provided transit facilities for 270,000 Jews; and she did all this without seriously endangering her relationships with the Soviet Union. Kurt Waldheim, a former Austrian foreign minister, had been chosen by East and West alike to be Secretary General of the United Nations: his war-time career had, amazingly, not then been investigated. And the fact that the Jewish Kreisky had been elected Chancellor seemed to acquit Austria of continuing anti-Semitism.

However, many Jewish refugees had rejected invitations to attend the celebrations of 1980; and inside Austria Simon Wiesenthal tried to make the country face up to the guilt it had shared with the Nazis. But in 1980 his was a lonely voice. In 1943 the Allies had recognized the Austrians as Hitler's first victim rather than as his eager collaborators; and this helped the Austrians to present themselves in that light also. So when Jewish organizations began to press for compensation, Austrian governments told them that these demands should be addressed to the successor government in Germany. In 1961 they set up a risibly small fund of just 6 million dollars to pay pensions to some 4,000 Jews.

Austrian democratic governments aimed for consensus even with ex-Nazis. Four members of Kreisky's Cabinet had belonged to the Nazi Party, one of them even to the Waffen-SS. Kreisky had friendly relations with the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party, home for many ex-Nazis. He bitterly resented the agitation of Simon Wiesenthal for trying to disturb this complacent attitude towards the past.

But eventually Wiesenthal gained a wider hearing in the world outside Austria, and the rosy picture of the 1980 celebrations began to be tarnished. In 1983 Kreisky's Socialist Party lost its overall majority; Kreisky retired; and his successor, Fred Sinowatz, actually made a coalition with the Freedom Party. In 1985 his Defence Minister welcomed home with a handshake the former SS-Major Walter Rede, a convicted Nazi war-criminal who, at the behest of both Kreisky's and Sinowatz's governments had been released by the Italians from serving the life-sentence to which he had been sentenced. This created a major storm both inside and outside Austria; but a rising member of the Freedom Party, Jörg Haider, defended Rede as a soldier who had only done his duty.

And then Kurt Waldheim, at the end of his term at the United Nations, became a candidate for the Presidency of Austria. It was only now that rumours surfaced about his Nazi past and presence in Yugoslavia while members of his unit carried out massacres there. During his six-year presidency not only was he himself treated as a pariah by Western governments, but his image rubbed off on the Austrian nation: the world was now alerted to the fact that Austrian politicians had never confronted the past.

Austrians, for their part, initially dug in their heels in bitter resentment. Waldheim's term ended in 1992, but in every election Jörg Haider, now leader of the Freedom Party, gained more votes. As he had praised Hitler's employment policies, inherited property that had been confiscated from Jews, and opposed immigration of foreigners, his rise caused great unease and did further damage to the image of Austria in the rest of the world.

On the other hand, now that the question of Austria's past had been so sharply raised and her standing in the world so besmirched, other Austrians woke up to their responsibilities. When Haider became leader of the Freedom Party in 1986, Chancellor Franz Vranitsky ended his alliance with it and went back into coalition with the Conservatives. A determined effort was now made to confront the past: in 1991 Vranitsky publicly admitted the guilt of many Austrians and apologized for it in the name of the whole nation. Real efforts were now made in the areas of education, memorials, commemorative events, and reparations.

But in the 1999 elections in Austria, Haider's party , with 27% of the vote, came second and held the balance of power between the Socialists (the largest party) and the Conservatives. These two parties had been in coalition continuously since 1986; but that coalition now broke up, and the Conservatives brought the Freedom Party (though not Haider himself) into the government. It seemed that many Austrian were prepared once more to risk their country's good name in the rest of the world, and indeed there was a temporary boycott of bilateral relations between the individual governments of the European Community and the Austrian government. Haider, from outside the Cabinet, tried to force extreme policies on his ministers; but that split his party. The Haiderites resigned; the coalition came to an end; and in the elections of 2002 the Freedom Party's vote dropped from 27% to 10.2%. Has the ghost of Austria's ambivalence towards the past at last been laid to rest?

This excellent and judicious book, which hopefully will appear before long in its original English, traces the history of Austria's standing in the post-war world. Hella Pick opens the book with the celebrations in 1980 of the 25th anniversary of the State Treaty which had given Austria her independence in 1955. The Soviets had agreed to withdraw their troops because at that time, just before the Hungarian uprising of 1956, Khrushchev was following a policy of détente, and during the celebrations Macmillan was to characterize the Treaty as the only real success in international politics during the preceding 25 years.

In 1980 the prestige of Austria was at its height. Economically she was remarkably successful, partly because she had received a disproportionate amount of Marshall Aid, but also because she could show full employment, social peace with next to no strikes, and a very low inflation rate. The electorate had rejected communism and embraced western-style democracy. Austria's political system was very stable: it was based on consensus, not only when governments were coalitions, but even when the Socialists were able to rule alone between 1971 and 1983. Above all, in international affairs she followed a policy of "active neutrality": although committed to western values, she had good relations with both the Eastern and the Western bloc, and especially under Bruno Kreisky (foreign minister from 1959 to 1970 and Chancellor from 1970 to 1983), played a mediating role between them and hosted many an East-West conference. He tried to play a mediating role in the Middle East also, being in 1974 the first western statesman to engage in public discussion with the PLO, then still regarded by the West as a terrorist organization but thought by Kreisky to be an essential participant in any Middle Eastern settlement.

His small country had offered asylum to 180,000 Hungarian refugees in 1956 (of whom 10,000 were given permanent residence) and to 96,000 Czechs after the collapse of the Prague Spring in 1968. When the Soviet bloc began to allow Jewish emigration to Israel, Austria provided transit facilities for 270,000 Jews; and she did all this without seriously endangering her relationships with the Soviet Union. Kurt Waldheim, a former Austrian foreign minister, had been chosen by East and West alike to be Secretary General of the United Nations: his war-time career had, amazingly, not then been investigated. And the fact that the Jewish Kreisky had been elected Chancellor seemed to acquit Austria of continuing anti-Semitism.

Many Jewish refugees had rejected invitations to attend the celebrations of 1980; and inside Austria Simon Wiesenthal tried to make the country face up to the guilt it had shared with the Nazis; but in 1980 his was a lonely voice. In 1943 the Allies had recognized the Austrians as Hitler's first victim rather than as his eager collaborators; and this helped the Austrians to present themselves in that light also. They even persuaded the Allies to drop a phrase in the preamble of the State Treaty in which they were to acknowledge some responsibility for having participated in Hitler's war. General Clark, Commander of the US forces in Austria, was able to declare that in Austria, unlike in Germany, the task of the Allies was not the reeducation of a people but the restoration of a state. So when Jewish organizations began to press for compensation, Austrian governments told them that these demands should be addressed to the successor government in Germany. In 1961 they set up a risibly small fund of just 6 million dollars to pay pensions to some 4,000 Jews.

Austrian democratic governments aimed for consensus even with ex-Nazis. Four members of Kreisky's Cabinet had belonged to the Nazi Party, one of them even to the Waffen-SS. Kreisky had friendly relations with the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party, home for many ex-Nazis, and had even considered forming a coalition with that party rather than with the more Centrist Austrian Conservative Party. He bitterly resented the agitation of Simon Wiesenthal for trying to disturb this complacent attitude towards the past. He both attacked Wiesenthal personally and, in a moment of exasperation, described the Jews, in an interview with the Spiegel as a wretched people (ein mieses Volk).

But eventually Wiesenthal gained a wider hearing in the world outside Austria, and the rosy picture of the 1980 celebrations began to be tarnished. In 1983 Kreisky's Socialist Party lost its overall majority; Kreisky retired; and his successor, Fred Sinowatz, actually made a coalition with the Freedom Party. In 1985 his Defence Minister welcomed home with a handshake the former SS-Major Walter Rede, a convicted Nazi war-criminal who, at the behest of both Kreisky's and Sinowatz's governments had been released by the Italians from serving the life-sentence to which he had been sentenced. This created a major storm both inside and outside Austria; but a rising member of the Freedom Party, Jörg Haider, defended Rede as a soldier who had only done his duty.

And then Kurt Waldheim, at the end of his term at the United Nations, became a candidate for the Presidency of Austria. It was only now that rumours surfaced about his Nazi past and presence in Yugoslavia while members of his unit carried out massacres there. Waldheim denied that he had been a member of any such unit; but the World Jewish Congress launched an investigation which proved Waldheim to have lied about his past. The news leaked out that the American government was considering barring him from entry into the United States. Instead of giving up his candidature, Waldheim used the leak to urge the Austrians not to yield to foreign pressure, and he persuaded 53.87% of them to vote for him in the second round.

During his six-year presidency not only was he himself treated as a pariah by Western governments, but his image rubbed off on the Austrian nation: the world was now alerted to the fact that Austrian politicians had never confronted the past. In 1988 a British historian published his researches into Cabinet minutes which revealed the outspoken antisemitic tone in which for years Austrian ministers had resisted the demands of the Allies and of Jewish organizations for adequate reparations, although that obligation had been paid upon them by the State Treaty of 1955.

Austrians, for their part, initially dug in their heels in bitter resentment. Waldheim's term ended in 1992, but in every election Jörg Haider, now leader of the Freedom Party, gained more votes. As he had praised Hitler's employment policies, inherited property that had been confiscated from Jews, opposed immigration of foreigners and urged Austrians to vote "no" in the referendum to join the European Community, his rise caused great unease and did further damage to the image of Austria in the rest of the world.

On the other hand, now that the question of Austria's past had been so sharply raised and her standing in the world so besmirched, other Austrians woke up to their responsibilities. When Haider became leader of the Freedom Party in 1986, Chancellor Franz Vranitsky ended his alliance with it and went back into coalition with the Conservatives. A determined effort was now made to confront the past: in 1991 Vranitsky publicly admitted the guilt of many Austrians and apologized for it in the name of the whole nation. Real efforts were now made in the areas of education, memorials, commemorative events, and reparations. In 1995 a fund of 500 million dollars was set up, from which all Austrian Jewish survivors were paid 70,000 Schillings (about £3,500). Works of art which had been plundered from Jews were restored to them.

The German edition of this book was published only days before the 1999 elections in Austria, after which Haider's party , with 27% of the vote, came second and held the balance of power between the Socialists (the largest party) and the Conservatives. These two parties had been in coalition continuously since 1986; but that coalition now broke up, and the Conservatives brought the Freedom Party (though not Haider himself) into the government. It seemed that many Austrian were prepared once more to risk their country's good name in the rest of the world, and indeed there was a temporary boycott of bilateral relations between the individual governments of the European Community and the Austrian government. Haider, from outside, tried to force extreme policies on his ministers; but that split his party. The Haiderites resigned; the coalition came to an end; and in the elections of 2002 the Freedom Party's vote dropped from 27% to 10.2%. Has the ghost of Austria's ambivalence towards the past at last been laid to rest?