Why neo-Nazis, Holocaust deniers and the FPÖ are attacking the DÖW

Der Standard, January 10, 2024

German original: https://www.derstandard.at/story/3000000202406/warum-neonazis-holocaustleugner-und-die-fpoe-das-doew-attackieren

FPÖ Secretary General Hafenecker is currently rehashing old legends and false allegations

Alongside the ORF, the Documentation Archive of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) is something of a favorite enemy of the Freedom Party. For decades, neo-Nazis, Holocaust deniers and top FPÖ politicians have repeatedly claimed that the work of the DÖW is "unscientific" and that it is a "communist front organization". The calculation behind this polemic is obvious: research into resistance against Nazi terror and work in the field of anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism is to be discredited. These attacks are particularly loud when right-wing extremist activities by Freedom Party members are picked up by the media. Currently, well-known insinuations are being rehashed by FPÖ Secretary General Christian Hafenecker.

"It is more than significant that the FPÖ has been attacking an organization founded by resistance fighters, Holocaust survivors and people returning from exile for decades - we are not only a seismograph as a research institution, but also for the state of the FPÖ in general: When it goes against us, it shows its true face," says DÖW director Andreas Kranebitter.

Memorial work, school projects and research

Hafenecker considers the DÖW, which was founded by resistance fighters and survivors of the Nazi murder machine, to be a "private association that creates a climate of suppression of opinion and opinion in Austria". He also claims that the DÖW collects taxpayers' money in order to carry out "left-wing agitation for targeted denunciation". For this reason, Hafenecker made inquiries to ministries a few months ago to find out what the documentation archive is being subsidized for. The answers state that the subsidies are used for memorial work, school projects and research, in particular on topics such as "Mass deportations and destinations - the living conditions of Jews deported from Vienna".

The legend of the "communist front organization"

For the attacks against the DÖW, a court ruling is also repeatedly mentioned that would allow the DÖW to be called a "communist front organization". However, this is an appeal decision of the Vienna Higher Regional Court of May 4, 1998, in which a right-wing extremist was sentenced to a conditional fine for defamation.

The background: In 1992, the author Friedrich Romig rode sharp attacks against the Documentation Archive in an article in the now defunct right-wing extremist magazine "Aula". Among other things, he demonized it as a "front organization" and described Wolfgang Neugebauer, the scientific director at the time, as a "denunciator". Neugebauer sued for defamation and Romig was sentenced to a conditional fine on a number of points.

However, the Higher Regional Court qualified individual passages as "value judgments in the context of a political debate" and exempted them from punishment. The judge thus followed the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. However, this does not mean that the court considers such statements to be correct. According to the same case law, for example, "the term 'moron' for an Austrian politician was also considered to be covered by the protection of freedom of expression under certain circumstances", stated the non-party Justice Minister Nikolaus Michalek in a response to a question.

Right-wing extremism report

FPÖ Secretary General Hafenecker is also annoyed that the DÖW is currently compiling a right-wing extremism report for the Ministry of Justice and the Interior. He suggested that the archive would receive intelligence service information through this cooperation. This statement is false. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner also stated just a few weeks ago: "As part of the public tender for the preparation of the right-wing extremism report, all bidders - including the DÖW - were subjected to a review. In this context, no facts were found that cast doubt on the necessary objectivity."

Donation from Armin Wolf

In addition to the polemical attacks, Hafenecker also made a financial donation to the DÖW. The FPÖ Secretary General had to pay compensation to ORF journalist Armin Wolf for a false allegation. "I am donating his compensation payment of €1,000 to @doew_at for his important work," Wolf wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Just how strongly the FPÖ leadership reacts to the DÖW was demonstrated when the current "Krone" journalist Rainer Nowak was discussed as a possible director general of the ORF. The FPÖ was against this, as Nowak wrote critical commentaries as the then editor-in-chief of the "Presse" and was once a civilian servant at the DÖW, as could be read in internal chats.

Liberals ensnared the DÖW in 2019

It wasn't so long ago that the Blue Party was ensnaring the DÖW and showering it with flowers. When they were looking for material for their "historian's report" on the party's history and "brown spots" presented in 2019, the FPÖ approached the documentation archive. Party grandees even thought aloud about the possibility of cooperation and assistance from DÖW researchers in the report.

However, this did not happen. When it was presented, the report turned out to be largely an unscientific document without much value, which largely omitted sensitive topics for the party, such as its links to German nationalist fraternities, and in places reads like a whitewash. Parts were simply copied verbatim from Wikipedia or from the work of the renowned scholar Margit Reiter.

Jörg Haider had the handbook confiscated

The FPÖ's appreciation was also short-lived. After the publication of the report at the latest, the DÖW was once again the old enemy, and the then party leader Jörg Haider took legal action against its "Handbook of Austrian Right-Wing Extremism" in 1993. On the day of the presentation, he obtained an injunction aimed at stopping its distribution. This was because the cover featured a portrait photo of Haider and the "Reichskriegsflagge" (imperial war flag) popular with neo-Nazis. For Haider and his lawyer, the later Minister of Justice Dieter Böhmdorfer, this was a dishonest combination. The DÖW reacted by painting over Haider's photo in black or covering it with stickers. This solution enabled the book to be sold again and - thanks to the enormous publicity - it was on the bestseller lists for months.

The STANDARD later uncovered that Haider was at a Heurigen with militant neo-Nazis in those years, who were rarely out and about without the "Reichskriegsflagge". Today, activists from back then can be found in the FPÖ - as functionaries or employees.

Fighting "left-wing" anti-Semitism for over 20 years

In addition to right-wing extremists, the DÖW is also seen as an opponent by organizers of anti-Israel demonstrations following the terrorist attack by Hamas on 7 October 2023, as it has repeatedly made anti-Semitism in left-wing garb an issue for more than 20 years. Its danger lies in the fact that the left "unlike right-wing extremists, however, denies this and thus finds a hearing among people who would otherwise close their minds to such propaganda". According to a paper published by the DÖW in 2003, the resentment is not so quickly recognized as such by many people in a "left-wing cloak". (Markus Sulzbacher, 10.1.2024)