Braunau-am-Inn, Austria, now: Politician from Hitler's home town resigns over 'deeply racist' poem (Philip Oltermann, Guardian 04/23/2019
Austria is a small country with a population of around nine million. When it makes international news, especially outside the German-speaking countries, it's usually because of some kind of disaster like avalanches or because of some unusual and/or obnoxious political development.
(I've posted a general description of the Austrian political situation as of April 2019 here {English} and here {German}. There is a German version of this post here.)
Braunau is a small city of 17 thousand residents. But it's probably the best-known Austrian city after Vienna (because it's a big city) or possibly Salzburg (because The Sound of Music was filmed there). Braunau is (in)famous because it is the city where Adolf Hitler was born. Hitler actually grew up in the city of Linz. But Hitler and his supporters celebrated Braunau as his birthplace. So lots of people outside Austria have heard of Braunau.
Which means that any political controversy involving Braunau and anything reminiscent of Nazism is more likely to make international news than a similar event in other Austrian cities of its size.
And that's what happened a week ago (Easter weekend), when a Vice Mayor of Braunau, Christian Schilcher, a member of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) that is a junior partner in the national coalition government and in two of Austria's states/provinces. He published a newsletter in verse form comparing immigrants to rats. I'm now an Austrian immigrant myself, so it didn't strike me as very friendly. It's also well known as an image in Nazi propaganda in the 1930s and 1940s used to incite hatred and violence against Jews, Gypsies, and foreigners. Observers of rightwing extremism often see the use of this kind of symbolism as a danger sign that the person or group employing it may be ready to engage in direct violence against the target group.
The incident quickly turned into a national political issue. That's partly because of the embarassing international news coverage of it. But mainly because it reinforces doubts about how much the FPÖ actually supports the democracy of whose national government it is part.
An ironic expression has become part of the Austrian political vocabulary, Einzelfall ("isolated incident"). It's come to stand for cases like this one out of Braunau in which the FPÖ does or says something that indicates sympathy or agreement with far-right extremists or employs rhetoric or symbols distinct to the Nazis. It happens quite often. Sometimes several times in a week. The FPÖ calls them "isolated incidents." And they keep on happening. So now Einzelfall has acquired an opposite meaning, standing for FPÖ incidents that are clearly not isolated events.
Christian Schilcher had to resign his city office and leave the FPÖ over his action, which is known as the "Rattengedict" (rats poem) incident. The national Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz of the conservative People's Party (ÖVP), made a public statement scolding the FPÖ over this one, the strongest public statement he's made since taking that office in December 2017 against the "isolated incidents" of the FPÖ. The national Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache (FPÖ) felt compelled to make a public disavowal of the Rattengedicht. But after the upteenth in the last year and a half of distancing himself from such "isolated incidents" in the party he leads get harder to take seriously with each succeeding one.
The President of Austria, Alexander Van Der Bellen, also took the unusual step of very publicly taking a stand after the Rattengedicht case. It's unusual, because the Austrian President is the elected head of state, who has responsibility for officially approving a new government after an election. He also has the power to dismiss a government and required Parliament to build a new governing coalition, which a President has never done in the history of the Second Austrian Republic (1945-today). He does not have the authority to call new elections, however, or to dismiss Parliament. Given his position, the President is expected to intervene directly in current political conflicts only in cases where he considers something to be a potential Constitutional problem.
Van Der Bellen called Strache into his office for a formal interview, a protocol gesture signalling that the President thinks Strache and his party has really screwed up. He also issued this statement statement on Facebook specifically focusing on the Rattengedicht case and the FPÖ (24.04.2019):
In recent days and weeks, statements with which incitement against particular groups of people have become public. Such statements lead to the poisoning of the social climate in our country. They lead to division rather than strengthening the common bonds in our homeland. And this also massively damages Austria's standing in the world. We will never accept incitement against fellow human beings in Austria.Additional reports on the Rattengedicht incident:
I welcome the clear reaction of the Chancellor [Sebastian Kurz] and take note of the fact that, in the case of the FPÖ Braunau, consequences have been drawn. In a personal conversation in the Hofburg [Presidential palace] with the Vice-Chancellor [HC Strache] yesterday, I noted that all politicians, but especially the officials of a governing party, bear responsibility for the cohesion of our society and be concerned for [maintining] a climate of respect.
Today, I would like to remind you once again what I admonished when the federal government was being shorn into office in December 2017: Special mindfulness in the use of language is needed. Since I took office, I also see it as my duty and task to keep the will and well-being of all in view. This is, of course, also a central task of the Federal Government under the leadership of Chancellor Kurz and Vice-Chancellor Strache. They are the ones who, as representatives of Austria, have to take special care of our homeland's standing in the world and for Austria as a business location. (my translation)
Fabian Schmid, "Stadtratten"-Gedicht der FPÖ: Skandale als Normalzustand Standard 23.04 2019
Nur Einzelfälle? Die lange Liste rechter Ausrutscher Standard 23.04.2019
Karin Riss, Kurz und Strache: Angriff bleibt die beste Verteidigung Standard 24.04.2019
"Ratten-Gedicht": Van der Bellen warnt vor "Vergiftung des Klimas" Oberösterreichische Nachrichten 24.04.2019
"Rattengedicht" bringt Österreich in die internationalen Schlagzeilen Oberösterreichische Nachrichten 23.04.2019
FPÖ-EU-Spitzenkandidat Vilimsky: "Sie machen permanent Stimmung gegen uns" ORF/ZiB2 23.04.2019 (Video bis zum 30.04.2019)
"Rattengedicht": Ein Rücktritt in der FPÖ reicht der Opposition nicht Oberösterreichische Nachrichten 24.04.2019
Van der Bellen warnt vor "Vergiftung des Klimas" Oberösterreichische Nachrichten 24.04.2019
https://tvthek.orf.at/profile/ZIB-2/1211/ZIB-2/14011345/FPOe-EU-Spitzenkandidat-Vilimsky-Sie-machen-permanent-Stimmung-gegen-uns/14484455
„NS-Koketterie“ bei Burschenschaft ORF 24.04.2019
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