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Introduction The Haider Phenomenon Austria’s Burden of History Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions Comprehensive News in Review Study Modules Using both the print and non-print material from various issues of News in Review, teachers and students can create comprehensive, thematic modules that are excellent for research purposes, independent assignments, and small group study. We recommend the stories indicated below for the “Canada’s Anti-hate Law: The Keegstra Case,” February 1991 “New Germany: Old Problems,” December 1992 Refugees in Canada: Getting Through the Door,” March 1994 The New Republicans: The Shift to the Right,” February 1995 “Ontario Turns Right: Harris Hits Hard,” September 1995 “War Criminals: Hiding in Canada,” April 1997 Gypsies in Canada: The Promised Land?” December 1997 Senator Pinochet: The Face of Chile,” May 1998 Other Related Videos Available from CBC Learning Does Your Resource Collection Include These CBC Videos?A Place That Works France Today: The Cost of Social Welfare Introduction Jorg Haider: Austria Veers Right On February 28, 2000, the rising star of Austria’s extreme-right-wing Freedom Party surprised his country and the world by coalition with the right-of-centre People’s Party. In the national elections of October 1999, the Freedom Party had stunned record as praising some of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi policies, proclaiming members of the SS (Nazi secret police) as “honourable men,” and suggesting that the Holocaust of the Jews during the Second World War had been exaggerated. In might do the same. Haider now said that he was leaving the national political stage obscure. Haider’s unexpected announcement left many observers puzzled as to his motives and long-term strategy. To some, it appeared to be a manoeuvre designed to deflect some Haider’s party is only one of a number of similar right-wing groups that have been gaining support in various European Hitler’s Nazi regime, the rise of these parties has provoked some ’s history. One common trait of these movements is their strong The presence of these newcomers has led to sharp social and political conflicts between them and native-born residents who immigrants pose to their “national culture.” Immigrants have also been unfairly linked to rising rates of crime and diseases such as AIDS. Charismatic, demagogic leaders like Haider, France’s Jean-Marie Le Pen, and others have successfully tapped into these prejudices and fears, and have transformed their parties from extremist fringe groups to forces to be reckoned with. Contents Introduction The Haider Phenomenon Austria’s Burden of History Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions Comprehensive News in Review Study Modules Using both the print and non-print material from various issues of News in Review, teachers and students can create comprehensive, thematic modules that are excellent for research purposes, independent assignments, and small group study. We recommend the stories indicated below for the “Canada’s Anti-hate Law: The Keegstra Case,” February 1991 “New Germany: Old Problems,” December 1992 Refugees in Canada: Getting Through the Door,” March 1994 The New Republicans: The Shift to the Right,” February 1995 “Ontario Turns Right: Harris Hits Hard,” September 1995 “War Criminals: Hiding in Canada,” April 1997 Gypsies in Canada: The Promised Land?” December 1997 Senator Pinochet: The Face of Chile,” May 1998 Other Related Videos Available from CBC Learning Does Your Resource Collection Include These CBC Videos?A Place That Works France Today: The Cost of Social Welfare The Haider Phenomenon Jorg Haider: Austria Veers Right The spectacular rise of Jorg Haider, leader of Austria’s Freedom Party, is as much a triumph of political style as it is of substance. Haider’s popularity with a growing number of Austrian voters is based on how he looks, talks, and acts as well as on what he inside Austria itself. Even Haider’s mysterious trip to Canada in February 2000 became a topic of media speculation.A First Impression As you watch this News in Review report, think about the How does Haider look to you? What qualities does he seem to possess that you think might be advantageous for a political ideas, how would you react to his image? Why is image so important for a politician’s success in any country today? Why do you think Haider would be particularly popular with younger When you have finished viewing the video, form groups with your classmates to share your impressions of Jorg Haider as a Critical Thinking Knowing the facts is very important when examining social and public opinion or the social and political environment of Austria, Europe, or indeed other nations.1. France and Belgium also have extreme right-wing parties.2. The Social Democrats won the most seats, but not enough to form a government. The Freedom Party came second, with 27 with the centre-right People’s Party, which came in third, just behind the Freedom Party.3. Haider wants to restrict further immigration to Austria, because he thinks the country is becoming “over-foreignized.”4. Haider praised the “orderly employment policies” of Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime in Germany, something he claims the government in 5. Haider signed a pledge renouncing Austria’s Nazi past and promising to uphold traditional European values such as respect 6. Vienna, the capital of Austria, was once the home of Austria’s ruling dynasty during the Imperial era. Adolf Hitler spoke to a huge crowd there after annexing Austria in 1938. More recently, protest Haider’s party’s entry into the Austrian government.7. Haider is governor of Carinthia, a province in southeastern Austria. 8. Haider’s parents were strong Nazi supporters, and never repented for it. Their beliefs shaped his life and influenced his welcomed their country’s union with Hitler’s Germany, and supported it during the Second World War. The Holocaust practically wiped out Austria’s once large Jewish community. Most Austrians would prefer to forget this painful history.9. Haider apologized for his previous pro-Nazi statements, saying he regretted any hurt feelings they may have caused among families of victims of the Nazis.10. Ex-Freedom Party member Heide Schmidt describes Haider as a populist willing to do or say anything to get power, which is 11. Haider is a charismatic political leader with a great deal of personal magnetism and an attractive public image. He is may be unpopular with certain segments of the public. The phrase “piano of social anxiety” refers to the growing worries among some Austrians about the number of immigrants coming those who want to see immigration restricted or totally stopped, and those immigrants already in Austria encouraged to leave.12. Many immigrants living in Austria are worried that the entry of Haider’s party into the government will encourage racially inspired attacks on them. They are also concerned that the new 13. Huge demonstrations against Haider and his party have been held in Vienna and other cities, indicating that a large number of Austrians are opposed to its entry into government. to Haider’s party by imposing strict sanctions against Austria.14. Haider said that his trip to Canada was private, to visit friends. Freedom Party officials claimed that Haider had been invited to Montreal to meet a small Orthodox Jewish group whose members said they accepted his apologies for previous 15. Haider’s goal may be to become president of Austria.A Summative Viewing Watch the video a third time. You will now be much more 1. Do you think other countries should be concerned about Jorg Haider’s political success in Austria? Why or why not? 2. Do you think Haider’s apologies and clarifications of pro-Nazi comments he made in the past are credible and sincere? Why or 3. Do you think Austria’s past history has any influence on ’s party and its rise to power? Why or why not? 4. Do you think immigrants in Austria have reason to be worried about Haider’s party now that it is in power? Why or why not? 5. Do you think that a political leader with an image and/or message similar to Haider’s would be able to gain much political support in Canada? Why or why not? 6. Why is this story another example of the aphorism “Those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them”? 7. Why is this story of importance to Canadians? 8. What are the universal principles behind this story? Contents Introduction The Haider Phenomenon Austria’s Burden of History Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions Comprehensive News in Review Study Modules Using both the print and non-print material from various issues of News in Review, teachers and students can create comprehensive, thematic modules that are excellent for research purposes, independent assignments, and small group study. We recommend the stories indicated below for the “Canada’s Anti-hate Law: The Keegstra Case,” February 1991 “New Germany: Old Problems,” December 1992 Refugees in Canada: Getting Through the Door,” March 1994 The New Republicans: The Shift to the Right,” February 1995 “Ontario Turns Right: Harris Hits Hard,” September 1995 “War Criminals: Hiding in Canada,” April 1997 Gypsies in Canada: The Promised Land?” December 1997 Senator Pinochet: The Face of Chile,” May 1998 Other Related Videos Available from CBC Learning Does Your Resource Collection Include These CBC Videos?A Place That Works France Today: The Cost of Social Welfare Austria’s Burden of History, Pt 1 Jorg Haider: Austria Veers Right Austria is a small, tranquil European nation that rarely finds itself in the international headlines. But the entry of Jorg Haider’s Freedom Party (FPO) into a coalition government in February Union (EU) watched uneasily as Haider’s party moved from the extremist fringe of racist, xenophobic politics into the corridors of right People’s Party (OVP), led by the new chancellor (prime minister), Wolfgang Schussel.How had this happened? And why was the world so concerned? Was the chorus of outrage against Haider and his party justified? After all, this was not the first time that an extreme-right wing group with similar anti-immigrant, ultra-nationalist policies had Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Party, had briefly been part of a coalition in Italy from 1994-96, a move that had been met with reasons, the Austrian case was viewed differently. To Haider’s many supporters in the country, and not only to them, the world’s negative reaction seemed to be an unfair and hypocritical among many Austrians, and the extreme anxiety this has provoked among others inside and outside his country, it is necessary to gain a perspective on Austria’s troubled history during the 20th century.From the First Republic to the Anschluss Focus for Reading: What lessons from history in this time period could be applied to contemporary Austria? Suggest reasons for the collective behaviour demonstrated by Austrians during this The modern Austrian state emerged after the First World War as the defeated and truncated remnant of what had once been one of Europe’s great powers. Pre-war Austria-Hungary had been a vast, multinational empire ruled by the Habsburg dynasty, the new republic of Austria was to be a small, landlocked nation, shorn of its former territories in what were now the independent once one of Europe’s great artistic and cultural centres, would remain the centre of government. But this humbled and ���Part 2 Comprehensive News in Review Study Modules Using both the print and non-print material from various issues of News in Review, teachers and students can create comprehensive, thematic modules that are excellent for research purposes, independent assignments, and small group study. We recommend the stories indicated below for the “Canada’s Anti-hate Law: The Keegstra Case,” February 1991 “New Germany: Old Problems,” December 1992 Refugees in Canada: Getting Through the Door,” March 1994 The New Republicans: The Shift to the Right,” February 1995 “Ontario Turns Right: Harris Hits Hard,” September 1995 “War Criminals: Hiding in Canada,” April 1997 Gypsies in Canada: The Promised Land?” December 1997 Senator Pinochet: The Face of Chile,” May 1998 Other Related Videos Available from CBC Learning Does Your Resource Collection Include These CBC Videos?A Place That Works France Today: The Cost of Social Welfare Austrias Burden of History, Pt 2 Jorg Haider: Austria Veers Right The Austrian First Republic lasted from 1918 until 1934. During this unstable and politically tumultuous period, the country conservative People’s Party (OVP), which drew its backing from the rural, more traditional and religious areas of the country. Both (protection union) and the OVP’s Heimwehr (home defence force), whose members frequently clashed in the streets as their During the 1920s and early 30s, the SPO local government created an exemplary state-within-a-state in Vienna, providing welfare facilities for the city’s working-class residents. For instance, the Karl-Marx-Hof, named after the founder of becoming increasingly influenced by Mussolini’s fascist ’s Viennese stronghold with considerable suspicion. In February the better-armed right-wing forces had prevailed. The OVP’s leader, Englebert Dollfuss, proclaimed a dictatorship. The SPO was banned and its leaders arrested or driven into exile. modelled closely along Mussolini’s Italian lines was installed.Upon assuming power, Dollfuss had also banned another political force, the Austrian Nazi Party that had been clamouring for Anschluss with Germany, now under the rule of Adolf Hitler. In July 1934, the Austrian Nazis staged an abortive coup d’état, which the government put down with Mussolini’s support. But in the process, Dollfuss was assassinated and was replaced by his confident enough to demand Austria’s annexation to his new Third German Reich (empire). Himself an Austrian by birth, Hitler now ruled. Schuschnigg was summoned to Hitler’s Bavarian chalet at Berchtesgaden, close to the Austrian border, and On March 31, 1938, a triumphant Adolf Hitler entered Vienna to massive popular acclaim. Not a single shot had been fired in and political leaders of Hitler’s New Order in Europe were themselves Austrian, like him. Vienna and other cities were soon Vienna’s substantial Jewish community was no stranger to persecution. Anti-Semitism had emerged as a popular force city’s mayor, Karl Lueger, had built his political movement, the Christian Socialists, a forerunner of the OVP, on anti-Jewish time, Hitler had been greatly impressed with Lueger’s political skills, and sought to emulate them upon assuming the leadership The Second Republic and Its Legacies Focus for Reading: After reading the following material, suggest how a historical cause and effect can be seen in this period of Austria’s history. How do post-war events give us a better perspective on Austria today? What warning about the dangers With the end of the Second World War in 1945, Austria again emerged from continent-wide destruction as a defeated state. The much-welcomed Anschluss with Hitler’s Germany had resulted in catastrophe. Much of Vienna lay in ruins, occupied by community was no more, its members either in exile or exterminated in the Nazi death camps. Like Germany itself, time, learning the bitter lessons of their country’s troubled past, their leaders agreed to share the fruits of government peacefully Postwar Austria benefited from massive American economic assistance and soon became one of Western Europe’s success stories. Austrians enjoyed hitherto unimaginable levels of integrity had been guaranteed by both of the world’s superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. The pre-preferred to rewrite their country’s recent history, implausibly but comfortably claiming that far from being enthusiastic supporters of Hitler’s regime they had instead been the first victims of Nazi aggression in Europe.During the postwar decades, Austria was politically stable. The two main parties agreed to share not only government power, the popular vote. The SPO-OVP deal was known as the “Red-Black” coalition, based on the party colours of the left-of-centre ’s Party (black). Despite the cronyism, corruption, and mutual back-scratching ���Part 3 Comprehensive News in Review Study Modules Using both the print and non-print material from various issues of News in Review, teachers and students can create comprehensive, thematic modules that are excellent for research purposes, independent assignments, and small group study. We recommend the stories indicated below for the “Canada’s Anti-hate Law: The Keegstra Case,” February 1991 “New Germany: Old Problems,” December 1992 Refugees in Canada: Getting Through the Door,” March 1994 The New Republicans: The Shift to the Right,” February 1995 “Ontario Turns Right: Harris Hits Hard,” September 1995 “War Criminals: Hiding in Canada,” April 1997 Gypsies in Canada: The Promised Land?” December 1997 Senator Pinochet: The Face of Chile,” May 1998 Other Related Videos Available from CBC Learning Does Your Resource Collection Include These CBC Videos?A Place That Works France Today: The Cost of Social Welfare Austrias Burden of History, Pt 3 Jorg Haider: Austria Veers Right For many years after the end of the Second World War, most Austrians also preferred not to dwell too much upon the role their distinguished Austrian diplomat, was running for the country’s presidency. As in many Western European democracies, the evidence emerged of Waldheim’s involvement in Nazi war crimes in Greece and Yugoslavia between 1941 and 1945, the eyes of of state.Enter Jorg Haider Focus for Reading: How do events and attitudes in Austria’s very recent past clearly demonstrate that historical analysis and The year 1986 was a pivotal time in Austrian politics and Austrian society. Despite a massive public campaign against him, both inside and outside the country, Waldheim was elected president. Most Austrians seemed willing to overlook his abominable wartime record and instead reward him for his many took on its leadership, the FPO was languishing at a miserable five per cent level of voter support. Its main policy was support Haider came from a family with strong Nazi sympathies. His parents had both been early members of the Austrian party, and political ideas were shaped by his family background but characteristically refrained from going into details about exactly It was at this time that Haider began to develop a new image and policies for the FPO that would markedly increase its appeal to the “orderly employment policy” of Hitler’s Nazi regime, contrasting ’s failure to guarantee jobs for native-born citizens.In 1995, he paid tribute to the memory of the Waffen SS, the elite Nazi military unit responsible for mass executions of Jews in occupied Europe, calling them “honourable men” who were ’s respect. He called the Nazi concentration camps, where millions of Jews and others had been gassed, “punishment camps,” implying that those who had been sent there had committed some kind of crime. And to make matters even Nazis with the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans from the Czech-ruled Sudetenland after the war.Growing Support and Rising Concerns Focus for Reading: With reference to the information below, explain why silence aids and abets destructive social forces. “them versus us” mentality is a manipulative, insidious, and dangerous political strategy?To observers outside Austria who were beginning to develop concerns about the rising popularity of Haider and his party, such concern to many of the country’s voters. What were they? For one thing, a new generation of Austrians had become including privatization, government spending cuts, and other austerity measures to reduce the fiscal deficit, there seemed to But by far the single most popular plank in the FPO platform was its strong anti-immigrant stand. Haider continually hammered away at what he called the Uberfremdung (over-foreignization) of Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, in his campaigns against the Jews and their allegedly negative influence on German society during the 1930s. Haider accused immigrants of country’s unemployment rate was very low by EU standards, and the jobs most immigrants accepted were those considered too low-paying to attract many native Austrians.Haider also condemned what he claimed was the threat unassimilated immigrants posed to Austrian culture and the abolished Slovenian-language classes for that province’s linguistic minority. He warned that the generous settlement refugees fleeing conflicts in the war-torn Balkans, would engulf the country in a sea of unfamiliar faces. He also played skilfully ���Part 4 Comprehensive News in Review Study Modules Using both the print and non-print material from various issues of News in Review, teachers and students can create comprehensive, thematic modules that are excellent for research purposes, independent assignments, and small group study. We recommend the stories indicated below for the “Canada’s Anti-hate Law: The Keegstra Case,” February 1991 “New Germany: Old Problems,” December 1992 Refugees in Canada: Getting Through the Door,” March 1994 The New Republicans: The Shift to the Right,” February 1995 “Ontario Turns Right: Harris Hits Hard,” September 1995 “War Criminals: Hiding in Canada,” April 1997 Gypsies in Canada: The Promised Land?” December 1997 Senator Pinochet: The Face of Chile,” May 1998 Other Related Videos Available from CBC Learning Does Your Resource Collection Include These CBC Videos?A Place That Works France Today: The Cost of Social Welfare Austrias Burden of History, Pt 4 Jorg Haider: Austria Veers Right Haider packaged these policies effectively. Presenting himself as a youthful, dynamic, athletic leader with a good sense of humour voters skyrocket. In 1995, he led the campaign against Austria’s joining the EU in a national referendum. Even though he lost, this to form a coalition with the FPO. While Haider himself would not be part of the government, leading members of his party were As his party prepared to assume the responsibilities of government for the first time, Haider was forced to confront a extricate himself from the difficulties his remarks had caused him by offering half-hearted and vacillating apologies. He claimed even further controversial, inflammatory statements.Haider has tried to model himself after British Prime Minister Tony Blair, posing as a champion of market-friendly but socially conscious economic policies. However, during the last election campaign, he repeatedly suggested that foreigners living in that taxpayers’ money had previously been wasted on them. And after his party won the election, he suggested that Austrian Austria to block the FPO’s entry into the government.In Denial? Focus for Reading: There have been those who have attempted to deny that the Nazi Holocaust took place (See “Canada’s Anti-” News in Review, February 1991). Why might such denial perhaps be an understandable defence mechanism on some people’s part and yet essentially reprehensible in intellectual and humanitarian terms?What is the verdict on Jorg Haider? To many outside Austria, he is viewed as a dangerous demagogue, who employs a political Haider’s progress for years, regard such conclusions as simplistic and inaccurate. According to Christoph Kotanko, a political “neither a neo-Nazi nor a fascist, but rather an unscrupulous ”In the view of Andreas Kirschhofer, a pollster who surveyed Austrian voters during the recent elections, “Haider’s appeal is that he says what many people think. There is much skepticism has proved more clever than other politicians in exploiting it.” But ’s Green Party, “a proven liar and a stubborn repeat offender when it comes to ethnic call him a racist.”After the initial furor over the FPO’s entry into government and Haider’s bizarre visit to Canada, followed by his surprising announcement that he was vacating the party leadership, Austria’s current political upheavals are no longer receiving much international media attention. Two FPO cabinet members, wielding power in Vienna. Haider’s withdrawal did nothing to change the minds of EU leaders, who announced that their Jorg Haider’s FPO is in many ways similar to other extreme-right-wing forces now gaining votes in various European countries. But it is also the product of one country’s specific historical trajectory over the course of a tragic century. Two world wars and their calamitous consequences left deep scars on both resulted in a mass collective denial of the country’s complicity in Nazi-inspired genocide that amounted to a severe case of In his work with psychologically disturbed individuals, Sigmund Freud, himself a Viennese Austrian, found that denial was a memories were too powerful to be kept below the surface for long, and would spring to the surface in unexpected and often unpleasant ways. This phenomenon Freud called “the return of the repressed.” While he hesitated to apply his psychological theories to entire countries, it could be said that Austrian society accumulating over the course of the 20th century. From this perspective, Jorg Haider’s FPO and its policies could be viewed as the “return of the repressed” on a societal level. Whether or not Austrians will be able to deal with this disturbing presence in Contents Introduction The Haider Phenomenon Austria’s Burden of History Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions Comprehensive News in Review Study Modules Using both the print and non-print material from various issues of News in Review, teachers and students can create comprehensive, thematic modules that are excellent for research purposes, independent assignments, and small group study. We recommend the stories indicated below for the “Canada’s Anti-hate Law: The Keegstra Case,” February 1991 “New Germany: Old Problems,” December 1992 Refugees in Canada: Getting Through the Door,” March 1994 The New Republicans: The Shift to the Right,” February 1995 “Ontario Turns Right: Harris Hits Hard,” September 1995 “War Criminals: Hiding in Canada,” April 1997 Gypsies in Canada: The Promised Land?” December 1997 Senator Pinochet: The Face of Chile,” May 1998 Other Related Videos Available from CBC Learning Does Your Resource Collection Include These CBC Videos?A Place That Works France Today: The Cost of Social Welfare Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions Jorg Haider: Austria Veers Right 1. Using resources such as an atlas, encyclopaedia, or almanac, prepare a chart illustrating important information about Austria, Wilbrod St., Ottawa, ON K1N 6M7, tel: (613) 789-1444, fax: (613) 789-3431. Barbara Jelavich; Contemporary Austrian Politics, edited by Volkmar Lauber; Austria in the New Europe, edited by Gunther 4. Find out more about the reaction of other countries to the entry of the FPO into the Austrian government. For the European Union’s position, consult its official Web site at www.europa.eu. ’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lloyd Axworthy, consult the Web site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and contrast them to Jorg Haider’s FPO. Among them are: Le Front National (Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader, France); The German People’s Union (Gerhard Frey, leader, Germany); The People’s Party (Christoph Blocher, leader, Switzerland); The National Alliance (Gianfranco Fini and Alessandra Mussolini, leaders, Italy). The People’s Party (Pia Kjarsgaard, leader, Denmark); The Flemish Bloc (Filip Dewinter, leader, Belgium). Emergence of a Euro-American Radical Right, by Jeffrey Kaplan and Leonard Weinberg, and The Radical Right in Western Europe, by Herbert Kitschelt. See also the article “Europe’s Hard Edge,” by Barry Came in the February 21, 2000, issue of ’s magazine. Contents Introduction The Haider Phenomenon Austria’s Burden of History Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions Comprehensive News in Review Study Modules Using both the print and non-print material from various issues of News in Review, teachers and students can create comprehensive, thematic modules that are excellent for research purposes, independent assignments, and small group study. We recommend the stories indicated below for the “Canada’s Anti-hate Law: The Keegstra Case,” February 1991 “New Germany: Old Problems,” December 1992 Refugees in Canada: Getting Through the Door,” March 1994 The New Republicans: The Shift to the Right,” February 1995 “Ontario Turns Right: Harris Hits Hard,” September 1995 “War Criminals: Hiding in Canada,” April 1997 Gypsies in Canada: The Promised Land?” December 1997 Senator Pinochet: The Face of Chile,” May 1998 Other Related Videos Available from CBC Learning Does Your Resource Collection Include These CBC Videos?A Place That Works France Today: The Cost of Social Welfare