Austria:Jewish cemetery in Eisenstadt attacked
01 January 1991
Austria:Jewish cemetery in Eisenstadt attacked
artdoc March=1993
A group calling itself the `Aryan Racial-Socialist Resistance
Group', which according to the police is linked to the Ku Klux
Klan in the USA, has claimed responsibility for an attack on the
Jewish cemetery in Eisenstadt, capital of the Burgenland
province. Slogans such a `Hitler forgot many' and neo-nazi
symbols were daubed on 80 gravestones. A pamphlet left at the
scene of the desecration warned that the group would not permit
`the corpses of primitive monkeys to occupy space in an Aryan
nation'. Following the attack, the police made an appeal for
information. But, of the 30 people who phoned the police in the
next few days, one-third said they were in favour of the neo-
nazis' action (Inter Press Service 6.11.92).
Freedom Party launched campaign against immigrants
The leader of the far-Right Freedom Party, Jorg Haider, has used
the Eisenstadt attack to further inflame anti-immigrant
sentiment. As he had recently launched a `popular campaign
against foreigners in Austria', he now claims that the
desecration was carried out by `left wing provocateurs' who,
presumably, wanted Haider to be blamed for the violence.
Harder's plan is to launch a petition demanding that Austria's
borders be immediately closed to political asylum seekers and
immigrants. A list of demands submitted to the government
includes: the introduction of a German language test for the
children of foreigners as a condition of their being admitted
into Austrian schools and an upper limit of 30 per cent for
foreign pupils in the classroom; the deportation of immigrants
with criminal records; and the introduction of a paragraph to the
constitution which would state that `Austria is not a country for
immigrants'. (Inter Press Service and Jewish Chronicle 6.11.92)
Meanwhile, an opinion poll published at the end of October
showed that three out of four Austrians would back a ban on
immigration, while two out of three wanted to close the doors on
refugees. (Guardian 30.10.92)
Racist attacks fascism
IRR European Race Audit no 1 1992
Contact: Liz Fekete Institute of Race Relations, 2-6 Leeke
Street, London WC1X 9HS. Tel: ++ 071 837 0041