BBC: Holocaust historians condemn Austria jailing of Jewish writer

[Martinus]

Holocaust historians condemn Austria jailing of Jewish writer
By Jasmine Coleman
BBC News

Holocaust historians have hit out at the Austrian government after a Jewish writer, who catalogued the state's failure to return properties seized by the Nazis, was jailed in Vienna.

Stephan Templ, 54, has begun a one-year sentence for defrauding the state.

He was convicted in 2013 after omitting the name of an estranged aunt in an application on behalf of his mother for the return of property seized in 1938.But legal experts said it was not his responsibility to find other heirs.

The lengthy case has drawn widespread condemnation amid allegations Austria has not done enough to return property looted under the Third Reich.

Historian Efraim Zuroff, renowned for his efforts at bringing Nazi war criminals to court, told the BBC on Tuesday the jailing of Templ was "absolutely outrageous".

Meanwhile, Templ's lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, described it as "outright injustice".

Vienna prosecutors have not commented on the case.

'Damaged Austria'

Templ, a leading critic of Austria's restitution record, caused controversy in Austria in 2011 with a book called Our Vienna: Aryanization Austrian-Style.

The book, co-written with historian Tina Walzer, documented properties in the Austrian capital - including apartment buildings, cinemas and even a ferris wheel - that were confiscated from their Jewish owners.

One of the buildings was a sanatorium owned by Templ's relatives, Lothar Fuerth and his wife.

When Austria was annexed to Nazi Germany in March 1938, Lothar Fuerth was forced to clean the pavement in front of the hospital using toothbrushes as part of the mass persecution of Vienna's Jews. The couple later made their way back into the building and took their own lives.

In 2006, Templ made a claim on behalf of his mother to a share of the property's value - but failed to specify the name of an aunt, who also had inheritance rights.

Templ told the Guardian: "Owing to the fact that the state stole the property from my family, the obligation should be on them to track down the relatives.

"My only obligation as far as I was concerned was to assure those deciding on the restitution that my mother's claim was bona fide."

Vienna's Regional Criminal Court originally sentenced him to three years in prison in 2013 after the government argued the aunt could have given her share over to the state. The sentence was later reduced to one year.

In September Austrian President Heinz Fischer rejected a request for clemency, saying the punishment was fair because the court had ruled that Templ had "damaged Austria" by his actions.

'Touched a nerve'

Critics have called the decision to jail the writer an "overreaction" and have suggested it may be linked to his criticism of the government's restitution record.

"A lot of people wanted revenge," said Mr Amsterdam, a leading human rights lawyer who defended Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

"A lot of people are angry at Stephan for the book."

Karl Pfeifer, a veteran Austrian journalist and a Holocaust survivor, has been quoted as saying: "The only reason Templ was prosecuted is that he touched a nerve with his book, which reminded the Austrians of how they stole Jewish property."

Speaking to the BBC after his client went to jail on Monday, Templ's lawyer described his shock that the jail sentence was being served.

"It was a difficult day for me not only as a lawyer but as a witness and a Jew," Mr Amsterdam said.

Meanwhile Efraim Zuroff, one of 75 Holocaust historians who signed a letter urging the government to cancel the sentence, criticised Austria's handling of cases relating to the Third Reich - including the prosecution of Nazi war criminals.

"This a country that has a really very twisted way of dealing with Holocaust related issues," he said.

This is pretty fucked up. Not least because his 1-year sentence is exactly one year longer than the combined sentences of all people ever prosecuted in Austria for nazi-related crimes. What a shitty little nazi craphole that country is.

[Martinus]

I also read that the jail authorities refused to give him kosher food during the first three days in prison, because they demanded he "proves" he is Jewish. I am sure they could have called on some of the experts that may still be alive in Austria.

[Admiral Yi]

That's pretty fucked up.

[Eddie Teach]

the government argued the aunt could have given her share over to the state.

[Syt]

Yeah, this is a very iffy case, and Austria has a pretty shitty track record when it comes to restitution.

Templ knowingly left out the Aunt in his request. His mom received 1.1 million, instead of 550k that way. Legal experts here say that there's no damage to the state and that the dispute between mom and aunt is a case for the civic courts.

Austrian view of the Nazi period has changed a bit in recent decades but remains problematic, because you had many nazi supporters, but also many who were prosecuted by the regime. It's not helping that before the Anschluss Austria was already a conservative dictatorship that didn't like the Nazis.

[The Brain]

Weird country, right or wrong.

[Admiral Yi]

Legal experts here say that there's no damage to the state and that the dispute between mom and aunt is a case for the civic courts.

So are the legal experts saying the judge fucked it up when he gave his judgement?

[Syt]

Yes, and there's a push to take this to the European Courts.

[Admiral Yi]

Do you ever talk to Austrians about their fucked up politics and their fucked up acceptance of the past?

[Syt]

I try to avoid talking politics with most people I know in real life, because that's a quick way to alienate people. Most friends or colleagues have similar views to mine, though. Then again, most my friends are academics, and my work colleagues here, past and present, are all people who work in very international environments, so my sample may be skewed. If you asked people in public housing, or blue collar workers you would probably get a different view of things.

[Admiral Yi]

Do me a favor and ask your circle of Austrians how far they have to go in the family tree to get to an FPO voter.

[Syt]

  Some, not so far. 

But let's remember that while the FPÖ is strong, they're not representing the majority of people, and their current strength is partially due to the big parties not moving things along or doing much of anything and politics being "stuck" on federal level. If ÖVP/SPÖ would tackle some overdue reforms (education, labor market, pension system, taxes - yes, there's a small tax reform, but that's basically just moving money from left pocket to right) they might have better standing.

[The Brain]

Like in Sweden. The Sweden Democrats are pretty much the only opposition party (and the past 10 months this was even officially the case since the flaming faggots in the "non"-Socialist parties had a deal with the Communist-backed government that let it do whatever the fuck it wanted even when it didn't actually have the votes). Small wonder SD gets like 20% in the polls.

If you voted for a party in the "non"-Socialist alliance last year your vote was in actual fact a vote for the Communists. So by fool me once logic I can never vote for an alliance party again. The Socialists are scum. SD are retards with a sprinkle of brown crazy. Likely I will never vote in Sweden again.

[Duque de Bragança]

Well, that's a common pattern, demonising the far right and claiming it is the biggest danger, while doing nothing of significance to improve the situation is what the PS has been doing since 1983 when they reneged on their socialist agenda. Of course, the right has not been doing much, though it abstains from demonising.

[Martinus]

Well, that's a common pattern, demonising the far right and claiming it is the biggest danger, while doing nothing of significance to improve the situation is what the PS has been doing since 1983 when they reneged on their socialist agenda. Of course, the right has not been doing much, though it abstains from demonising.

The question is - what can you do? In the global economy, everybody is interconnected with everybody, so there is only so much you can do if you want to be the part of it - hence a growing convergence of mainstream parties into a sort of Blairite third way, differing in only minor, secondary aspects when it comes to their programmes.

The only alternative is to break the game board, throw out the pieces and go populist isolationist - this is the common feature of all the "alternative" parties, from FPO, to Syriza and leaders from Trump to Corbyn to Orban.