Antisemitism in Austrian Parliament. Polarisation and Blurring of (Populist) Party-Rhetoric and Party Positions

The aim of the paper is to trace anti-Semitic utterances in Austrian post war parliamentary debates through the example of how the issue of National-Socialist persecuted emigrants is dealt with in those debates. Between 1933 and 1945, about 130.000 people were forced to flee Nazi persecution, a majority of them Jews according to the Nuremberg Race Laws. Myths about the privileged status of those who succeeded to escape Nazi persecution (‘those who could afford flight’) have been very tenacious, and they are traditionally connected with anti-Semitic stereotypes. Antisemitism is located at the core of populist and extremist party ideologies. The presentation analyses how party-positions in the course of the postwar period are polarized or blurred with regards to the construction of the Austrian people (‘demos’) in anti-Semitic rhetoric strategies of Austrian political parties and their rhetorical strategies. Alternative: Open section