Alarming figures

No plan to counter the rise in right-wing extremist crimes

The Mauthausen concentration camp memorial has been desecrated 38 times in ten years.

(Bild: Spitzbart Wolfgang/Wolfgang Spitzbart)

The number of right-wing extremist crimes in Austria skyrocketed by 44% in the first half of 2024 - and Upper Austria is traditionally at the forefront in a comparison of federal states. A national action plan against right-wing extremism, which has been under consideration since 2016, has yet to materialize. 

The Mauthausen Committee Austria (MKÖ) and Antifa have recently sent an urgent appeal to the chief negotiators of the planned federal government, Christian Stocker (ÖVP), Philip Kucher (SPÖ) and Stephanie Krisper (Neos): The "long overdue" National Action Plan against right-wing extremism should be anchored in the government program and then worked out swiftly with the involvement of civil society.

Adopted more than three years ago
"Such a plan was promised back in 2016 by the then Minister of the Interior, Wolfgang Sobotka," recalls MKÖ Chairman Willi Mernyi. In June 2021, the National Council - with the exception of the FPÖ votes - adopted the corresponding action plan. "However, the Ministry of the Interior ignored this decision until the end of the last legislative period," says Mernyi.

556 right-wing extremist acts in six months
The demand has a justified background: according to the Ministry of the Interior, right-wing extremist crimes increased by 30 percent from 2022 to 2023. In the first six months of this year, the number skyrocketed by 44 percent to 556 compared to the first half of 2023. 403 people were reported for Nazi reactivation, Holocaust denial and incitement to hatred, including 350 men and 53 women.

Concentration camp memorial desecrated dozens of times
In this statistic, Upper Austria is in second place in a comparison of federal states with 125 offenses behind Vienna (136). "The neo-Nazis have the Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial in particular in their crosshairs, which was desecrated a total of 38 times between 2013 and the end of 2023. None of these crimes could be solved," criticizes Antifa spokesperson Robert Eiter.

A new federal government must respond to this and implement the action plan - in coordination with the existing National Strategy against Anti-Semitism and deradicalization work, they demand.