Concerns rise in Austria’s Jewish community following far-right Freedom Party's victory

The Jewish community in Austria has voiced significant concerns after the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) secured a political victory on Sunday. Under the leadership of Herbert Kickl, the FPÖ garnered 28.9% of the vote, finishing ahead of the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP), which received 26.3%. This marks the FPÖ’s first political victory in post-World War II Austria.

Despite failing to achieve a majority, Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jewish Community of Vienna, views the outcome of the election as a "direct threat" to Austria’s Jewish minority, which numbers approximately 10,000.

The FPÖ's success has been attributed to various factors, including the ongoing Ukraine war, economic challenges, and a rising opposition to large-scale migration into Austria. As the political landscape shifts, concerns about the implications for minority communities are growing.

“The electoral success of the FPÖ is a threat to the Jewish community,” Deutsch warned. He emphasized that, unlike most European far-right parties, the FPÖ is considered an ideological descendant of National Socialism.

"Two days before the election, three of the party’s top candidates were caught on tape participating in a funeral where the loyalty song of the SS was sung, “ Deutsch said.

"It is part of the FPÖ’s political DNA and a whole legacy of scandals pointing to their sympathy for National Socialism. Even the courts have ruled that one may speak of the 'Kellernazis‘ (cellar Nazis) in the FPÖ," he added.

The head of the Jewish community cautioned that FPÖ members may publicly profess support for democratic values while privately harboring beliefs associated with Nazism and antisemitism.

“In the public, they pretend to be democratic, but then the members of these secretive German nationalist fraternities go to the cellars of their clubhouses to sing nazi-songs and plan their dangerous revolution,” Deutsch stated.

“Today, their antisemitic rhetoric comes veiled in demands to ban Shechita, while framing the practice as torture. Therefore, they are not only trying to ban practices enabling Jewish life in Austria, but they are also demonizing Judaism. Mr. [Herbert] Kickl defends the SS, criticizing the Nuremberg guilty verdict against the SS.”

However, Deutsch noted that so far no other party has agreed to enter a potential coalition government with FPÖ.

"All other parties ruled out entering a coalition with Kickl’s FPÖ because of the radicalization of the party under Kickl.”

While the head of the local Jewish community is concerned, he noted that more than 70% of the extended Austrian population opposes FPÖ in government.

"Even the conservatives ruled out Kickl as a coalition partner – for the first time. Yes, the FPÖ became biggest group in the Parliament, but every Democrat knows, that democracy is about having a majority and not a horse race where one can win medals. And more than 70 % of voters voted against having the FPÖ in government. Along with the Jewish community, the FPÖ is taking the free press, arts, education, and democratic processes into its crosshairs.”

During the tenure of the former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Austria established close diplomatic relations with Israel. In addition, Kurz insisted that Austria needed to face its darker history of antisemitism and Nazi sympathies.

Prior to World War II and the events of the Holocaust, Austria was home to some 200,000 Jews who played a prominent role in the European nation's culture, economy and sciences. Some 70,000 Austrian Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, while over 100,000 Jews were forced to flee from Austria to the United States and other countries.

Theodor Herzl, the Budapest-born founder of political Zionism, lived much of his life in Vienna. Born into an assimilated Jewish family, Herzl was allegedly shocked by the levels of antisemitism and eventually concluded that the only solution to the threat was to establish a Jewish state.