Amid growing uproar over a tabloid campaign to make her president, Barbara Rosenkranz, a deputy leader of the far-right Freedom party, surprised the Austrian elite last week by announcing she would challenge Heinz Fischer, for the Austrian presidency next month.
Rosenkranz, a mother of 10 married to a man who was prominent on the Austrian neo-Nazi scene for two decades, has repeatedly criticised Austria’s laws criminalising denial of the Holocaust. Following an outcry and criticism from her main backer, the mass-circulation Kronen Zeitung newspaper, she publicly signed a statement today pledging never to contest the country’s anti-Nazi legislation. (more…)

FPÖ-Leader Strache about bodyguards and media manipulations

by Martina Salomon (Die Presse)
Translated by Galina Toktalieva
Preface of translator:
Heinz-Christian Strache (40) is political leader of Freedom Party of Austria. The dental technician by training, he is considered to be populist and ultra right-wing politician. His election campaigns, which were often xenophobic in their nature, included such slogans:(Vienna must not become Istanbul; At home instead of Islam; German instead of “Don’t understand”; Jobs instead of Immigration) The party received 12.8% in the last European elections, 2009
Interview (excerpt) (more…)

Wien (OTS) – Die zahlreichen Einbrüche in Einfamilienhäuser, Geschäftslokale und Gaststätten in den vergangenen Tagen nimmt die steirische FPÖ-Nationalratsabgeordnete Dr. Susanne Winter zum Anlass, um ihre Forderung nach mehr Sicherheit für die Steiermark zu bekräftigen.
“Die kriminellen Diebesbanden aus dem Osten räumen unser Bundesland leer! Ich fordere Innenministerin Maria Fekter auf, diesem wilden Treiben zu Lasten der Steirerinnen und Steirer, ein rasches Ende zu setzen. Die offenen Ost-Grenzen sind ein Freifahrtsticket für organisierte Kriminelle. Und wegen der Personalknappheit in den Wachstuben sind zu wenig Exekutivbeamte auf der Straße – dort wo Verbrechensbekämpfung am Effektivsten wäre”, so Frau Winter.

HITLER and LENIN – their opposing ideologies would be a central part of the most destructive military clash of the 20th century.
But here the battleground was just a chessboard. This remarkable picture supposedly shows Adolf Hitler pitting his wits against Vladimir Lenin. And its owners claim it is based on a real chess game between the men 100 years ago.
While historians have cast doubt on its authenticity, the family which owns the picture is convinced they can prove it is genuine. The image is said to have been etched in Vienna by Hitler’s art teacher, Emma Lowenstramm. It is also said to be signed on the reverse by the men who would go on to lead their respective nations. Hitler was a 20-year-old jobbing artist in the city in 1909 and Lenin – twice his age – was in exile from Russia. The house where they apparently played the game belonged to a prominent Jewish family.
In the run-up to the Second World War the family fled and gave many of their possessions, including the etching and chess set, to their housekeeper. (more…)

MOSCOW (RIA Novosti) – Three watercolor paintings by Adolf Hitler will go under the hammer at an auction to be held in Bavaria on September 5.
Three landscapes by the Nazi dictator are to go on sale at a Weidler auction with a starting price of 3,000-3,500 euros each, the Nuernberger Nachrichten said. Before going into politics, Hitler twice unsuccessfully attempted to enter the Vienna arts academy. Hitler mostly painted postcards and advertisements, but also managed to sell a few of his watercolors. In 2006, 21 pictures authored by Hitler were found in Belgium. In April 2006, two of his watercolors were sold to an unknown buyer for 32,000 euros.
LONDON (The Independent) As a German auction house prepares to sell off three of Adolf Hitler’s watercolours, new evidence has emerged suggesting that the Nazi leader remained convinced he was an artistic genius and was often irritatingly obsessed by art despite his failure as a painter. (more…)

Krone.at
Foto Galina Toktalieva
FPÖ-Chef Heinz-Christian Strache nach drei Jahren ist wieder Single, wie eine Sprecherin des 40-jährigen Politikers bestätigte. Wer Schluss gemacht hat, das wollte sie nicht kommentieren. Man wolle keine Details über das Liebes-Aus nennen, hieß es. Gerüchten zufolge war es die 24-jährige Andrea, die sich von dem FPÖ-Chef getrennt hat.
Kennengelernt hatten sich die beiden nach der Nationalratswahl 2006 in der Wiener In-Disco Passage. Strache hatte sich einige Monate davor von seiner aus der Gastronomie-Familie Plachutta stammenden Frau Daniela, mit der er zwei Kinder hat, scheiden lassen.
Derzeit urlaubt der FPÖ-Chef mit den freiheitlichen Abgeordneten Johannes Hübner und Harald Stefan sowie seinen Kindern auf Ibiza.

Galina Toktalieva for die Wiener Nachrichten

Far-rights in Austria: hard times bring chauvinistic core of many to the surface

(VIENNA) – The far-rights in Austria may get strong gains when the nation goes to the polls on Sunday to elect its 17 members of the European Parliament.
The FPOe – with xenophobic slogans such as “The Western lands are in the hands of Christians” – may effectively divert the electorate attention for its own populist and highly nationalistic agenda.
With only a few days to go before the vote, the FPOe and its handsome blue-eyed Aryan leader dentist Heinz Christian Strache, 39, looks probable to win 14-17 percent of the vote, three times more than in 2004. At the same time, the Social Democrats SPOe and the conservative OeVP parties are expected to receive a defeat, after running dull election campaigns. I talked to a few supporters of FPÖ in Graz and Vienna, who declared the main reason of their vote for Strache is deep dissatisfaction with present economic situation in the country, passiveness of SPÖ, overall conservatism of ÖVP, and lack of efficiency of Greens and also decline of KPÖ popularity in Graz. One can see on Internet photos of Graz teenagers tossing their arms in Nazi Salut  as their FPÖ blue-eyed  idol once did. The overall opposition to present state of things in economics, politics and media supports tentative sympathies of many adult Austrians for nationalists.

Galina Toktalieva für die Wiener Nachrichten  (Fotoreportage)

„Mit der Strache-FPÖ haben wir nichts gemeinsam – nicht in der Vergangenheit und nicht in der Zukunft“. So hat sich Bundeskanzler Werner Faymann (SPÖ) am Freitag in seiner Rede beim Maiaufmarsch der SPÖ auf dem Wiener Rathausplatz abgegrenzt.
“Wir haben ja immer gewusst, Wien ist die Nummer 1 in Hinblick auf die Lebensqualität in der Welt. Jetzt wissen es die anderen auch!”, betonte der Wiener Bürgermeister Michael Häupl unter großem Applaus. “Wir verteidigen diese schöne Stadt!” Insgesamt fanden sich laut SPÖ rund 100.000 Menschen auf dem Rathausplatz ein. Die dominierenden Themen der Reden waren Wirtschaftskrise, Null-Lohnrunde und Steuerreform.

Heinz-Christian Strache, du bist der beste Mann!

Die FPÖ feiert den 1. Mai traditionell in einem Bierzelt beim Jahrmarkt in Linz. Heuer nutzt die FPÖ die Maifeier für den EU-Wahlkampfauftakt.
Begleitet von lautstarken Gesängen des Publikums mit dem Text “Strache, du bist der beste Mann” stellte der FP-Chef seine Partei und deren Kandidaten als einzige Alternative bei der EU-Wahl.”Rache mit Strache ist möglich”, erklärte er.
Herr Strache sprach sich erneut gegen einen EU-Beitritt der Türkei aus. “Wir wollen ein christlich-europäisches Abendland bleiben und wollen keine Islamisierung in Europa.” Kritik kam auch am amerikanischen Präsidenten Barack Obama:”Wenn er so ein Fan der Türkei sei, solle er sie zum 51. Bundesstaat machen, die Einwanderer und die Kosten übernehmen”