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Austria has a reputation for being a bit weird.
I remember reading Bill Bryson's account of a trip to Europe that he had taken many years ago, when he ran into locals who were seriously thinking of making him, and the other foreigners that he was with, eat cow shit. He went on to say that Austrians had a reputation for being rednecks.
Now, I cannot say for sure. After all, Austria has some wonderful history, and some remarkable beauty, not to mention a world-class city, Vienna, steeped in rich traditions in architecture, music, and the arts. Mozart. Strauss. Schubert. Sigmund Freud. Wittgenstein. I have never been there, but I would jump at the chance to go! My God, who wouldn't?
Then again, Adolf Hitler was from Austria. And when he returned in triumph, the whole nation seemed to join Nazi Germany willingly enough. Hell, they even did so enthusiastically, with ceremony. Sure, there may have been opposition, but it was quickly snuffed out, as all competing visions to Nazism were at the time. But the fact remains that Austria joined Nazi Germany without a shot fired, and with a strong base of support. The Nazi Party in Austria had been growing stronger and more relevant over time, so attracted were they with what Hitler was doing in Germany, and the changes he was ushering in. Three days after German troops marched peacefully into Austria, unopposed, Hitler delivered an address to a delighted crowd of a quarter of a million people, hanging on his every word. An overwhelming majority of Austrians supported merging with Nazi Germany, and the tide was against Austrian chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg, who had remained opposed to the Nazi takeover. For all intents and purposes, Austria was a part of greater Germany until the end of the war, and defeat. It was occupied by Allied forces, just like Germany.
The role that Austria played remained controversial, and there were various different interpretations, with reasons given, for what happened. But the main debate about Austria's role boiled down to this: was it guilty for supporting and joining the Nazi cause, or was it a victim of an aggressive act by an obviously ambitious nation seeking to expand it's borders? Were crimes perpetrated there, in the name of the Nazi cause, forced upon Austria, or did Austrians do them willingly enough on their own?
These questions have persisted, and clarity has never been achieved, although many remained suspicious of Austrians as a result.
Austrians have, increasingly, begun to acknowledge a more sober assessment of their own role during the war years. George Jahn of the Associated Press writes in his article, "Anschluss Anniversay: Germany's Annexation of Austria 75 Years Ago Remembered As 'Darkest Time'" (see link below):
Since the end of the war, Austrians have moved from claiming to be Hitler's first victims through the Anschluss to widespread acknowledgement that they were among the most committed of Hitler's henchmen, and the government has tried to make amends through reparation payments, restitution of property and – like on Monday – public acknowledgement of the country's guilt.
Yet, Austrians often seemed to take the position of victim following the war, thus avoiding their measure of responsibility that the Germans were held accountable for.
This, in turn, has led to criticism over the decades following the end of the war that Austria, unlike West Germany, had never fully opened up to it's own role during the war, and the Holocaust. That, in essence, Austria shirked responsibility for anything and everything. They were the victim, and that seemed to be the official line. And without confronting the demons of the past, those demons began to haunt Austria, since the fire of anti-semitism, even within official ranks, never seemed to be fully extinguished.
The former President of Austria, Kurt Waldheim, fought on the Eastern Front for the Wehrmacht. That much is indisputable, but there were a lot of questions regarding his service. He was injured in 1941, and in an autobiography, he claimed that this was the end of his military service, and that he got married and studied at the University of Vienna. But records and witnesses have indicated otherwise, that he continued to fight on. Not only did he continue to fight, but reportedly, there were prisoners routinely shot within a few hundred yards of his office. Also, he was stationed only 35 kilometres from Jasenovac concentration camp. Despite all of this, Waldheim insisted "that he did not know about the murder of civilians there."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Waldheim)
Austria has also received some criticisms for the attitudes of many of it's citizens, in regards to foreigners and prejudices in general. The country elected Jorg Haider's Austrian Freedom Party to a power sharing in the coalition government in 2000, which triggered some mild diplomatic sanctions. Haider and the government were the most far-right wing government in Europe since the end of World War II, and many felt that Haider and his followers were anti-semitic and xenophobic. Haider seemed to show signs of being somewhat sympathetic to Nazism to worst, and at best, seemed to minimize the Holocaust, and the guilt associated with it.
Now a new poll is out, and it suggests that 54% of Austrians believe that Nazis would win seats and have representation in the government. Mind you, that does not mean that 54% of Austrians are Nazis, or identify with Nazis. But a majority of Austrians do believe that the Nazis would enjoy some influence today, if they were not outlawed. A majority of Austrians are opposed to the Nazis. Still, according to this article, a majority of Austrians believe the Nazis would get support today! Yet, rather a bit of a contradiction, a majority of 57% believed that nothing was good under Hitler.
What alarms people about Austria, other than the obvious questions regarding certain leaders such as Waldheim and Haider, are headlines that seem to betray an underlying xenophobia that remains prevalent in the country. The same poll found that 42% of Austrians felt that "not everything was bad under Hitler". Also, a strong majority of Austrians, over sixty percent, felt that the country had dealt adequately with the country's past.
The poll was taken among 502 eligible voters in Austria by the newspaper Der Journal, and the results were published this past Friday. Some have questioned the validity of these findings, based on a single poll. That should be understood, otherwise you might get some sensationalists, and alarmist, headlines such as this:
AROUND 3.5 MILLION AUSTRIANS BELIEVE NOT ALL WAS BAD UNDER NAZI RULE…….
http://tundratabloids.com/2013/03/around-3-5-million-austrians-believe-not-all-was-bad-under-nazi-rule.html
The blog goes on to say:
In a population of 8,200,000, that’s 3,444,000 people who think that not everything was bad under the Nazi dictator’s rule. What that tells me is that not enough has been done to educate the Austrian people about Fascist socialist totalitarianism during the Nazi years, nor about destructive socialism in general.
While I would generally agree with whoever wrote this that not enough has been done to educate the Austrian people, these are the kinds of knee jerk reaction headlines that use a poll, and a limited poll at that, to make sweeping judgments that may not be true. How can you prove that almost three and a half million Austrians actually feel this way? That is not what the poll means, necessarily. Whoever wrote this utilized it for their own purposes and prejudices, whatever those might be.
Still, it reinforces just how many questions persist about Austria and the general sentiments of Austrians in general, and the degree of damage control that Austrian officials seemingly routinely have to do.
Today, amid solemn ceremonies, Austria recognizes the anniversary of the Anschluss that essentially led to Germany's annexation of Austria. The questions and the debates, as well as the suspicions about how Austrians truly feel underneath the surface, however, will surely continue far beyond this day.
This was an informative and fascinating article by Agence-France Presse on the subject that I would highly recommend:
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/international/anschluss-1938-a-brain-drain-for-cultural-austria/578904
Here is an article that delves into the polls mentioned in this blog. According to this article, a majority of Austrians believe the Nazis would get support today! Yet, rather contradictorily, a majority of 57% believed that nothing was good under Hitler. "75 years after the Anschluss, 54% of Austrians think Nazis would get support today" by Ofer Adaret of Haaretz
http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/75-years-after-the-anschluss-54-of-austrians-think-nazis-would-get-support-today.premium-1.508320
Here is an article by Georgina Prodhan of Global Post ("RPT -Incidents make Jews wary, 75 years after Hitler annexed Austria") that addresses the nervousness that Jews feel living in Austria in the present day, three quarters of a century after the Anschluss:
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/thomson-reuters/130311/rpt-incidents-make-jews-wary-75-years-after-hitler-annexed-aust
A fascinating article that expands on the polls, "42% of Austrians think Hitler rule wasn't all bad" by Jpost.com staff (3/9/13):
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=305814
"Grim 75th anniversary: Hitler's Dream, Austrian Jewry's nightmare" by Rafael Medoff of JNS.org:
http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2013/3/11/grim-75th-anniversary-hitlers-dream-austrian-jewrys-nightmare
"Austria marks annexation by Germany 75 years ago" by George Jahn of the Associated Press
http://www.whig.com/story/21573984/austria-marks-annexation-by-germany-75-years-ago
Anschluss Anniversay: Germany's Annexation of Austria 75 Years Ago Remembered As 'Darkest Time'" by George Jahn of the Associated Press
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/11/anschluss-anniversary-germany-annexation-austria_n_2853723.html
Some other information used in this blog was obtained by Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Waldheim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6rg_Haider
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