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(4) The modern-day relevance of the work; anti-Semitism in the German-speaking world

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• Austria

  • The FPÖ

  • The Austrian People

• Switzerland

• Germany

Austria

Andorra tells of the terrible consequences of prejudices - and of anti-Semitism in particular.  I believe that the work is still relevant, and in order to analyse this relevance, I will use examples of anti-Semitic behaviour in the modern German-speaking world which I will illustrate using extracts from the play.  I have chosen the countries in the German-speaking world as my examples, principally in Austria, where 8000 Jews live currently, mostly in Vienna.  Most of the Austrian Jews have left the country in recent times - before the war there was a population of at least 80000, possibly 183000.  There are two main areas of discussion: anti-Semitism in public life (especially in politics but also in the press); and anti-Semitism within the population in general (their opinions, and anti-Semitic crime).

The FPÖ

Right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism have always been rife in Austrian society, but what has been shocking and (for many in the Jewish community especially) worrying was the large election successes of the anti-Semitic and racist Austrian Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ)). For instance one of their slogans is "Vienna must not become Chicago" (Chicago is famous for its multicultural mix, among them many Jews); and the FPÖ's leader, Jörg Haider is well-known for his racist opinions.  In 1991 he had to resign as Governor of Carinthia because he praised Hitler's employment policies.  Yet in 1998 he was reelected with 42% of the vote and took up the same post again.

In the October 1999 general election, the FPÖ became the second biggest party in the Austrian parliament.  FPÖ politicians received cabinet positions, because the largest party (the conservative Austrian Peoples Party (Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP))) needed a new coalition partner after negotiations with there former allies (the Austrian Social-Democratic Party Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs (SPÖ))) broke down. They entered into a coalition, but this led to strong condemnations throughout the world, and it is fortunately extremely unlikely that there extreme right-wing politics will have much of an influence. Jörg Haider resigned as leader, so that things did not look so bad, however he is still the Governor of Carinthia.

During the 1980s, there was also the "Waldheim Affair".  The central figure was the ÖVP politician Kurt Waldheim (a former General-Secretary of the United Nations), who was elected in 1986 as the Austrian president. However there was controversy during the presidential election race as documents were found that alleged that he had participated in Nazi atrocities by (among others) deporting Greek Jews to concentration camps whilst he was a German army officer.  He denied all the allegations.

The biggest cause for concern in this affair was, however, the reaction of the Austrian politicians, press and population to these claims.  During the campaign, anti-Semitic opinions became more widespread.  According to an expert, there is now a consensus that since 1986, anti-Semitic and xenophobic political statements have become accepted - a so-called "ethnicification of politics.  The affair uncovered the willingness of an important political party (the ÖVP) to go along with anti-Semitic prejudices.  It marked the start of using anti-Semitism in politics for tactical reasons, and may perhaps have led to the current success of the FPÖ.

Even today there are newspapers like the tabloid Neue Kronenzeitung, who publicly show their prejudices against Jews.  The paper is still well-known for the publication of anti-Semitic letters and columns, and - through a former editor - has a direct link to the founding of the FPÖ.  Despite this, it has begun in recent years to change, and is strongly against the FPÖ playing any part in Government, despite having previously supported Haider.

The Austrian People

Yet needless to say, Jörg Haider and the Kronenzeitung are not the only anti-Semites in Austria.  The FPÖ was only voted in because there is quite a lot of institutional racism throughout the entire Austrian society.  There are many shocking examples from several studies which show that there are still strong Jewish stereotypes amongst the population as a whole (especially concerning their (perceived) power and influence within Austria, despite only making up 0.01% of the population).  For instance, in his book Neither Here Nor There, In a study in 1996, Austrians were asked "should Jews live with us in Austria?"  Less than a half (49%) agreed, but 22% disagreed (compared to only 16% in 1984). In the same survey, 34% of the sample had the opinion that "Jews in Austria today have too much influence", and 24% (35% of the over-60 age group) that "access for Jews to influential jobs should be controlled".  16% believed that "the elimination of the Jews from our country has also had positive effects".  49% said "Jews control the world", which reflects the comments of The Doctor in Andorra („sie hocken alle Lehrstuhlen der Welt“ ("They are sitting on all the [university] chairs in the world") (Fourth Picture)). Yet The Doctor was only jealous because he himself had had little success with his own career.

In another study by the same author it was estimated that 7% of the inhabitants if Vienna have a "very strong prejudice"; 18% "strong prejudice"; 25% "moderate prejudice" and only 35% "largely free of prejudice".  Taking Austria as a whole, the level of prejudice is probably 5-10% higher.

Another source is the Institute for Social Research (Institut für empirische Sozialforschung) (IFES), that has also found out a lot that is shocking - especially the study where 10% said "When I shake hands with a Jew, I can't suppress a feeling of physical revulsion".  33% believe that "Jews have too much influence on the world"; 23% "because of their behaviour, Jews are not entirely blameless for their persecution"; 19% "Jews have done much damage throughout history"; 9% "for us Austrians it would be best to have no Jews in the country".

These statistics are naturally very worrying, and there is no proof that they have been exaggerated.  I think that this is very concerning, and that something must be done to improve the situation.  It should not be possible nowadays for such opinions to still be in existence.

A widely-spread point of view is that stories of concentration camps and the hate campaign against Jews have been exaggerated - but holocaust denial is now a criminal offence.

We must however be fair - anti-Jewish prejudices are no longer (as in the studies of the 1970s) found all throughout all sections of society, rather only in particular social groups, especially those with a low general education, those who live in big cities, older people, and those from the right-wing.  Also - in general - women have less prejudice than men.  Perhaps the problem is dying away.

In general, Austrians show a strong anti-Semitic potential, but extreme anti-Semitic opinions are not widely spread.  Also whereas there was formerly no strong disapproval against it all (as in Andorra), but now the situation is changing gradually.  100000 people protested in Vienna against the FPÖ joining the Government.

Another important point to make is that in all these surveys and questions, about 30% of those asked always claimed to have "no opinion" (i.e. they neither agreed nor disagreed).  This could be said to reflect the indifference and unwillingness to make a stand that characterised the Andorrans.

Luckily most peoples' anti-Semitic opinions remain as stupid - but harmless - stereotypes inside their heads.  Yet unfortunately there are always those right-wing extremists who turn their thoughts into deeds  The number of crimes with anti-Semitic motives in Austria has fluctuated in recent years.  In 1998 there were eight, but there were 17 in 1997.  Most were desecration of Jewish cemeteries or monuments.  It must however be said that this total is much less than that in Germany - about 1000.

We must also remember that anti-Semitism (and racism in general) exists everywhere.  Austria is only an especially shocking example, which has become more well known in recent years due to Jörg Haider's election victories.

But it is not enough just to describe the problem, rather we should also try to find solutions.  Through the clear structure of Andorra, we can see how the Andorrans' behaviour was wrong and ought to have been different, and these ideas are still relevant in real life.  We need, however, firm proposals and laws from our Governments.  The German Government for example has increased the number of police officers and prosecutors who are specially trained to deal with racist crimes.  There is also a new working group that aims to improve police methods of surveillance of and fighting right-wing violence. More neo-Nazi organisations have been banned, and through may raids the police have confiscated much propaganda material and many weapons.  In general, it is important that all social institutions (e.g. schools, churches, Government) do something to break down stereotypes.

The population has made its opinion clear.  There was protests in Vienna, but also vigils and demonstrations following high-profile xenophobic crimes.

Switzerland

In 1997 there was the scandal of the swiss banks who had been hoarding Nazi gold that had been stolen from Jews.  18300 Jews live in Switzerland (mostly in Zurich, Geneva, Berne and Basel).  Because of the higher profile of Jewish issues, there have been more anti-Semitic "incidents" in the last three years, including anti-Jewish letters to newspapers, as well as more negative opinions about Jews.  There are no large extreme-right parties or a very high number of anti-Semitic crimes, as in Austria or Germany.

Germany

Since, the war, anti-Semitism has not been so "bad" in Germany.  It was worse in the fifties, and has decreased since then.  There have however been problems since reunification: there were 1040 anti-Jewish crimes in 1994 (a 60% increase on 1993), 817 in 1996 and 965 in 1997.  The 68175 German Jews live mainly in Berlin.  It is thought that increasing numbers of Germans are becoming members of extreme-right groups; the most recent total is 37000. In recent years, there have been problems with a planned Holocaust memorial in Berlin, as some believe that such a monument would become a focus for neo-Nazis, and others that none of the proposed constructions would do  aesthetic justice to the Holocaust.  There was also much controversy about the exhibition Vernichtungskrieg – Verbrechen der Wehrmacht 1941-1944 (Extermination War - Crimes of the Army 1941-1944), that became the focus of the extreme-right.  It opened in 1995 and travelled to many Germany and Austrian cities.

Since 1960, anti-Semitic incitement (doing something bad to Jews) became an offence punishable by law.  Since 1985 Holocaust denial has been forbidden.  There is a ban on extreme-right parties.

The racist parties in Germany (The Republicans (Die Republikaner (REP)), German Peoples Union (Deutsche Volksunion (DVU)) and the National Democratic Party of Germany (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (NPD))) have had little success in elections.  In 1998 they received only 3.3% of the vote and so got no seats in Parliament because of the "five percent rule".  However the DVU got 12.9% of the votes in 1998 in Saxony-Anhalt, and so got 16 seats in the regional parliament.  Their campaign was not openly anti-Semitic (though they did say "Germany for the Germans" and that foreign children should not be allowed to attend school in Germany). Out of all the federal lands, the population of Saxony-Anhalt has one of the lowest proportions of foreigners.

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