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01. 06. 09. - 15:00

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01. 06. 09. - 15:00

Police track down Nazi euthanasia memorial attackers

By Thomas Hochwarter

Police have tracked down three teenagers in connection with the destruction of a memorial to Nazi euthanasia victims in the town of Vöcklamarkt.

Authorities in Upper Austria said today (Mon) all three suspects are aged 17. They are accused of vandalising the memorial erected by the province’s Comrades Association on the night between 22 and 23 May.

Alois Lißl, chief of the Upper Austrian security directorate, said the youngsters argued they were not aware of the meaning of the plaque resting on triple steel pillars. It listed the names of three community residents who had died at the Nazis’ euthanasia facility at nearby Hartheim Palace. The monument was erected three years ago.

Apart from the destruction of the plaque, other acts of vandalism were carried out in the town as park benches and posters were destroyed.

Lißl said investigations turned out to be difficult since the teenagers were afraid of being linked with a far-right mindset. The incident occurred two weeks after a gang of four attacked concentration camp survivors in Ebensee, only 50 kilometres from Vöcklamarkt.

But Lißl stressed that the offenders of Vöcklamarkt were heavily drunk when they wrecked the commemoration plaque and had no Nazi mindset.

As far as investigations of graffiti smeared in the same night are concerted, Lißl offers a slightly confusing argument. He said cops tracked down three 13-year-olds who admitted vandalising the town’s half-pipe. Lißl said the youngsters’ anger with a local girl of the same age tempted them to spray the word "Scheiß" (Damn) and her name. To avoid being tracked down and being accused of having the intention to do harm to her, the gang later on smeared "Juden" (Jews).

All suspects will escape sentences because of their age and the fact that investigators estimated their actions were not sparked by fascist mindset.

The two 16-year-old boys who attacked French and Italian Holocaust survivors in Ebensee were recently released from preventive detention.

The Wels prosecutor’s office said the court had imposed certain conditions on the boys. They are to have no contact with the other three boys who were reportedly involved in the attacks and they are banned from visiting the former concentration camp where the attacks occurred. One boy must undergo counselling, it was added.

The public prosecutor did not object to the court’s decision to release the boys, so the decision is legally binding.

Three of the six boys in question shot at the Holocaust survivors with so-called "softguns" and two others joined them in shouting Nazi slogans at the survivors on 9 May. The two released boys were put into custody four days later.

The boys’ lawyers said they wanted personally to apologise to their victims. Daniel Simon, the president of the French Mauthausen Committee who was hit on the head by a plastic bullet fired by one of the youths, said he would accept such an apology. The boys’ decision came in the wake of a written apology by one of them.

Heinz-Christian Strache, head of the right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) came under fire from all political competitors as well as from Catholic Church representatives for refusing to apologise for statements made at a party summit a few weeks ago.

Strache said the incident of Ebensee was nothing more than "a foolish act of boyish stupidity." He also criticised authorities to put the suspects into preventive detention "like serious criminals" for weeks but suggested someone just "needs to have a word with them."

Strache said criticism would just show how nervous competitors were regarding the upcoming election for the European Parliament (EP), making aware of the fact that one of the two boys who were in custody was a member of the "Kinderfreunde" (Children’s Friends) and the "Rote Falken" (Red Falcons), organisations closely linked to the ruling Social Democrats (SPÖ).

The FPÖ also warned of the possibility of Israel’s entry into the European Union (EU) although there are no such precise plans at present by the Union or any political parties.

Anas Schakfeh, the President of the Islamic Community in Austria, said he was reminded of the Nazi persecution of Jews after seeing the FPÖ’s poster campaign for the EP election. Schakfeh stressed the horrors of the Nazi era also started as verbal attacks.

Austrian Times

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