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POLTICIAL SCANDAL

Chancellor Jörg Haider makes controversial comment
referring to Anschluss as a "Rescue"

Austrian Chancellor Jörg Haider has stirred up yet another controversy, this time likening the Anschluss
of 1938 to a "rescue" from "political instability and chaos."
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Karl Bockerer, 28. January 2023, 16:22

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VIENNA — During a press conference at the Bundeskanzleramt earlier today, 28. January, Chancellor Jörg Haider was asked
to publicly condemn recent comments made by Heinz-Christian Strohmeier, a prominent member of Haider's Party, who said
that the Anschluss "wasn't what it's been made out to be." Rather than distancing himself from Strohmeier's remarks, the
Chancellor rushed to his defense, claiming that the Anschluss "rescued Austrian society from political instability and chaos,"
and that therefore there was "some truth to Strohmeier's statement."

Haider has been known to make controversial comments about Austria's history as it pertains to World War II and National
Socialism. On several occasions Haider has made remarks about Austrian World War II veterans that were represented as an
endorsement of the war and of the Nazi SS. Speaking to a gathering of veterans from several countries in 1990, he said that
the veterans were "decent people of good character" and "remain true to their convictions". Haider stated that he did not
specifically address Waffen-SS veterans with his remarks. On another occasion, he said, "the Waffen-SS was part of the Wehr-
macht (German military) and because of that it deserves every honour and recognition". The Waffen-SS was not, in fact, part
of the Wehrmacht.

Then, in 2000 at a gathering of Wehrmacht veterans in Ulrichsberg, including Waffen-SS veterans, he said, "Those who come
to Ulrichsberg are not the old Nazis. They are not neo-Nazis, they are not criminals." That same year Haider compared the de-
portation of Jews by the Nazis to the expulsion of Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia after World War II.

Nevertheless, Haider and the Austrian Freedom Party continue to receive broad support election after election. Political
analysts remain baffled as to how such a controversial figure is able to build and maintain the kind of political career that Haider
and his allies have enjoyed. Thus, whilst today's comments are shocking, they're nothing new in Austrian politics.

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