Austria's Jews wary of quiet rise in anti-Semitism

[Behind the Aegis]

Source: Reuters

On Tuesday, Austria's 75th anniversary of its annexation by Hitler's Third Reich will be the occasion for various soul-searching ceremonies, as some say anti-Semitism quietly lingers in a nation that was once an executor of the Holocaust.

VIENNA - Marina Plistiev, a Kyrgyzstan-born Jew, has lived in Vienna for 34 years but still doesn't like to take public transport.

She recalls the day in 1986 as a teenager when she and her four-year-old brother, whom she'd collected from school with a fever, were told to get off a tram for having the wrong tickets, and nobody stuck up for them, apparently because they were Jews.

"With me (now), you don't see I'm Jewish but with my children you see that they're Jews. They get funny looks," she told Reuters at Kosherland, the grocery store that she and her husband started 13 years ago.

While Austria is one of the world's wealthiest, most law-abiding and stable democracies, the anti-Semitism that Plistiev senses quietly lingers in a nation that was once a enthusiastic executor of Nazi Germany's Holocaust against Jews.




Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/austria-jews-wary-quiet-anti-semitism-article-1.1285357

---

Interesting given an article I posted a couple of weeks ago about Hungarian Jews emigrating to Austria.

[Skittles]

1. disturbing

may I ask, when she says ".....But with my children you can see they're Jews" - what does she mean? I might be naive but unless someone is seriously decked out in Jewish decor I would have no clue

[Behind the Aegis]

2. Honestly, I am not sure.

She could be refering to dress (yarmulke and the like) or possibly Semitic looks. But, this trend is popping up all over Europe.

[Skittles]

3. terrible

very disturbing indeed

[olddots]

4. She means Eastern European .

My father's and my wife's family look Jewish which I think is beautiful .Unfortunately racism and culture hatred is still out there everywhere .

[JDPriestly]

5. It was definitely still there when we lived in Austria some years ago.

I'm not Jewish so people would make remarks to me. It was just second-nature to them. They had no idea that to me, as an American, it was extremely offensive.

[leftynyc]

6. This is depressing

Another day to be very glad I live in New York and not somewhere I have concern myself with what I'm wearing and what it tells people. That woman has had to deal with it every single day. Depressing.

[Bohunk68]

7. Doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

I would be more surprised if it were the other way. I remember reading your other posting, Shield, and replying to it. My Hungarian relatives are still all sorts of pissed with me for discovering that great-grandpa was Jewish. 'Course they weren't exactly ecstatic about me being gay either. Whoopee do for them. So glad I wasn't raised by that side of the family. The strangest thing is that I now live in rural Upstate NY about 45 minutes from Albany and the people here that I have shared that with think it's kind of cool. Both the Jewish heritage and being gay. There are detractors, but they wouldn't have the 'nads to say anything to my face.

[leftynyc]

8. I guess this wont come as a surprise

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=305814&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=1a105


snip
Forty two percent of Austrians think "not everything was bad under Hitler," while 57% think "there was nothing positive about the Hitler era," according to a poll conducted by newspaper Der Standard that was published on Friday.

The poll was conducted among 502 eligible voters in Austria and published ahead of the 75th anniversary of the country's annexation by Nazi Germany.


snip
54% answered that neo-Nazi groups would be successful in the Austrian elections, if there was no law banning them.

[Solly Mack]

9. They say "most law-abiding" as if that was necessarily a positive thing.

This isn't a case of telling people to go out and be law-breakers, so let's not pretend I'm saying that.


If you just see the law as an instrument of how you must behave (obedience to authority) then you risk giving over your ability to question bad law. Milgram proved that.

If authority says this then this is just the way it is and people behave accordingly. A lot of horrible things have been done to people simply by labeling abuses and atrocities legal.

So when I see the phrase, "most law-abiding" I don't think good. I think "Hmmm. Let's look at this closer".

Phrase just struck a nerve with me.

Thank you for both articles!

[geek tragedy]

10. The nation that elected Kurt Waldheim PM? Surely you jest. nt