Jörg Haider

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Jörg Haider (born 26 January 1950) is an Austrian politician. He is currently Governor of Carinthia.

Haider was a long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ). When he stepped down as that party's chairman in 2000, he remained a major figure until 2005. In April 2005 he founded a new party, the "Alliance for the Future of Austria" (BZÖ), and was subsequently expelled from the FPÖ by its interim leader Hilmar Kabas.

Haider is married and has two daughters.

Contents 1 Early life 1.1 Haider's parents 1.2 Haider's youth 1.3 Haider's rise to power in the FPÖ 2 Carinthia 2.1 Bärental 2.2 Political struggle in Carinthia 3 FPÖ chairman 3.1 Haider as opposition leader 3.2 Coalition government with Wolfgang Schüssel's People's party 4 Collapse of the (first) coalition and decline of the Freedom Party 5 Creation of a new party 6 Haider's political views 6.1 Far right extremist or populist? 6.2 Accusations of Nazi sympathy 7 External links

[edit] Early life

[edit] Haider's parents

Haider's parents were Nazis and early NSDAP party members. However they had different family backgrounds. His father (Robert Haider) was a simple shoemaker and his mother (Dorothea Rupp) was the daughter of a wealthy medical doctor of note who headed the general hospital of Linz (see [1]).

Robert Haider had joined the NSDAP in 1929 as a fifteen year-old boy long before Adolf Hitler had come to power in Germany. Robert Haider remained a member even after the Austrian Nazi Party was banned in Austria after Engelbert Dollfuss had dissolved the Austrian parliament and established a Ständestaat, a fascist dictatorship. Robert Haider left Austria in 1933 and moved to Bavaria, returning in 1934 in the wake of the failed Nazi attempt to overthrow the Austrian government. However, after being arrested he returned to Germany where he joined the 'Austrian legion', a division of the Sturmabteilung (see [2], [3]).

Robert Haider completed a two-year military service in Germany and returned to Austria after it was incorporated into Nazi Germany in 1938 in the events known as the Anschluss. From 1940 onwards he fought as a low-ranking officer on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. After being wounded several times he was discharged from the Wehrmacht with the rank of a Lieutenant. In 1945 he married Dorothea Rupp, who at that time worked as a leader in the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM).

Following the end of the war, proceedings against both Haider's parents were conducted to determine what measures should be taken because of their NSDAP membership (proceedings against all former Nazis - NSDAP members and collaborators - were undertaken as a matter of law in both Austria and Germany directly after the war had ended). [4] They were labelled as 'minderbelastet' (meaning only low-ranked in the NSDAP structure) and Robert Haider was forced to work in a shoe factory (see [5]). Dorothea Haider, who had been a teacher, was prohibited to work for a couple of years following the end of the war.

[edit] Haider's youth

Jörg Haider was born in the Upper Austrian town of Bad Goisern in 1950, a time when his parents' finances were rather moderate. He was a good student in primary school and attended high school in Bad Ischl despite his parents' financial situation. Haider was reportedly always top of his class in high school (see [6]). During his time in Bad Ischl he had first contacts with nationalist organizations, such as the Burschenschaft Albia, a right-winged student group.

After he graduated with highest distinction in 1968, he moved to Vienna to study law. During his studies he was affiliated again with a Burschenschaft such as Silvania. After graduating from University of Vienna with the title of Dr. iur. in 1973 he was drafted into the Austrian Army where he voluntarily spent more than the mandatory nine months (called 'the voluntary one year'). In 1974 he started to work at the University of Vienna law faculty in the department of constitutional law.

[edit] Haider's rise to power in the FPÖ

The Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) was founded in 1955, and initially was a mixture of various political currents opposed both to the political catholicism of the Austrian People's Party and the socialist views of the Social Democratic Party of Austria. With its roots in the Pan-German movement, it included both German-nationalist and liberal political views. In 1970 Haider became the leader of the FPÖ youth movement and headed it until 1974. Haider rose rapidly through the party ranks. In 1972, at the age of 22, he was already a well-established leader and was made party affair's manager of the Carinthian FPÖ in 1976. In 1979 he was the youngest delegate among the 183 members of parliament, at age 29. From 1983 his policies became more aggressive, when he rose to party head of the Carinthian FPÖ and started to criticise the leaders of the FPÖ, which at that time was still a minor political movement in Austria with about 5 to 6% of the votes (see [7]).

The decisive point of his career came in 1986 when he defeated Austrian Vice Chancellor Norbert Steger in the vote for party leadership at the party convention in September in Innsbruck, as many delegates feared that Steger's liberal political views and his coalition with the Social Democrats threatened the party's existence.

[edit] Carinthia

[edit] Bärental

Haider has throughout his career concentrated his politics on Carinthia. In addition, Haider's personal life is heavily connected with this part of Austria: Haider became wealthy when he inherited the estate of his uncle Wilhelm Webhofer in 1983, who had owned a large parcel of land in Carinthia commonly known as 'Bärental' (bear valley). This estate has a history that came up in the 1990s in the Austrian media. The land had been owned by an Italian Jew until 1941. At that point of time the Nazis still hesitated to take possession of "Jewish property" owned by non-German nationals without any compensation. Thus when the estate was "sold" in 1941, Haider's great-uncle Josef Webhofer (a resident of South Tyrol, Italy) paid 300,000 Reichsmark (about 1.5 million dollars today) to obtain title to the land. After the war Mathilde Ruifer, the widow of the former Jewish owner of Bärental demanded compensation and was paid an additional 850.000 schilling (around 400.000 dollars today). In 1955 Josef Webhofer's son Wilhelm Webhofer inherited the estate and later bequested it to Jörg Haider. The land is estimated at about 15 million dollars today (see [8]).

[edit] Political struggle in Carinthia

Until 1989, the socialist/Social-democratic party SPÖ had held an absolute majority in the Austrian province of Carinthia; when it received less than 50% of seats in 1989, ÖVP and FPÖ formed a coalition and elected Haider as governor of Carinthia.

In 1991, in a debate in the regional parliament, a speaker attacked Haider's plan of reducing unemployment payments for people seen as "freeloaders", calling it forced work placement reminiscent of Nazi policies. Haider replied, "It would not be like the Third Reich, because the Third Reich developed a proper employment policy, which your government in Vienna has not once produced." The remark caused an uproar, Haider had to resign his governor post, and the FPÖ-ÖVP coalition was replaced by an SPÖ-ÖVP coalition.

In 1999, Haider again was elected governor of Carinthia by the Carinthian parliament, where the FPÖ now held a plurality of more than 42%. Even after the FPÖ fell to only 10% from 27% in the national elections in 2002, Haider's support in Carinthia did not diminish and he succeeded in the 2004 elections receiving even slightly higher percentage (42.5%) than in 1999.

[edit] FPÖ chairman

[edit] Haider as opposition leader

Under Haider's leadership, the FPÖ moved to the far right, reflecting Haider's nationalist, anti-immigration, and anti-EU views. Haider especially used populism (see below) to advance his interests. From 1986 when Haider became the FPÖ's chairman the party's share in elections rose from 5% in the 1986 elections to almost 27% in 1999.

With Haider practically leading the FPÖ single-handedly, he was able to unite the scattered, divided extreme-right in Austria and establish a party that was not so much founded on leading personalities or an ideology but on just one leader - Haider himself, who used to change his opinions frequently. His style to govern the party became rather authoritative in the following years, however his followers did not challenge his ultimate authority in the party, especially because Haider was able to gain one victory after another in elections (see [9]).

An exception was the split off by the Liberal Forum in the mid-1990s headed by Heide Schmidt, a long-time political supporter of Haider and the FPÖ's candidate for presidency in 1992. The liberals initially gained the support of about 6% of the voters nationwide, but Schmidt was not able to uphold this support and the Liberal Forum subsequently dropped out of parliament in 1999.

The party's mixture of populism, anti-establishment and nationalist themes steadily gained support over the years. In addition to far-right voters, the FPÖ was able to attract protest voters from both the Social Democrats and the Conservatives in both the national and regional elections of the 1990s. Along with those who were fed up with decades of government by the 'Great Coalition' (see also: Proporz), Haider always had the unconditional backing of the core far-right voters due to the lack of any more outspoken far-right parties (which are forbidden under anti-Nazi laws).

[edit] Coalition government with Wolfgang Schüssel's People's party

In 2000, Haider's Freedom Party and the People's Party joined to form a coalition government. This caused widespread outrage both in Austria and the rest of Europe. The heads of government of the other fourteen EU members decided to cease cooperation with the Austrian government, as it was felt in many countries that the cordon sanitaire against coalitions with parties considered as right-wing extremists, which had mostly held in Western Europe since 1945, had been breached. For several months, other national leaders refused to shake hands and socialize with members of the Schüssel government. This was described as "sanctions" by representatives of the ÖVP and FPÖ, and supporters of the government often blamed social democrats and President Thomas Klestil for them, and questioned their loyalty to the country.

The EU leaders soon saw that their measures were counterproductive and returned to normality during the summer of 2000, even though the coalition remained unchanged. (See Austria legislative election, 1999.) Nevertheless it is not easy to measure effects of the "sanctions". Short-term effects seemed to be counterproductive, but it is still possible that "sanctions" later helped to decrease the popularity of Freedom Party and also to prevent such coalitions in other EU countries.

At the end of 2000, Jörg Haider stepped down from the leadership of the Freedom Party. This was widely regarded as a cynical move to appease foreign criticism, as he appeared to continue to control the party from behind the scenes, with Susanne Riess-Passer who was the following party chairwoman being only pro-forma in charge. Haider proclaimed that his move was just the fulfillment of his promise to Carinthian FPÖ voters he gave prior to the Carinthian election that had been held in the same year (see[10]).

[edit] Collapse of the (first) coalition and decline of the Freedom Party

In September 2002, after a special party convention ("Sonderparteitag") in Knittelfeld (Styria), the so-called Knittelfeld Putsch, Riess-Passer lost the support of many party members. This meeting is also sometimes considered as a rebellion against the members which are currently involved in the government, which was thought to be started or at least supported by Haider. Thus Riess-Passer resigned as Vice Federal Chancellor and Party Chairwoman and with her went Karl-Heinz Grasser, the finance minister, and Peter Westenthaler, the head of the Freedom Party's Parliament Club. This resulted in new general elections in November.

They resulted in a landslide victory (42.27% of the vote) of the conservative People's Party led by Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel. Haider's Freedom Party, which in 1999 was slightly stronger than Schüssel's party, was (see [11]) reduced to 10.16% of the vote.

In response, Haider stated that he had demanded that the leader of the FPÖ must step down to allow him to be leader, and on being refused, stated that he would leave federal politics permanently.

In October 2003, a cabinet reshuffle instigated by Haider took place. Haupt had to step down as Vice Chancellor to be replaced by Hubert Gorbach.

On 7 March 2004 the FPÖ won a plurality (42.5%) of the vote in the elections for the Carinthian parliament. On 31 March 2004 Haider was re-elected Governor of Carinthia by the FPÖ and SPÖ members of the state parliament.

However, outside of Carinthia, Haider's charisma seems to have largely lost its appeal among voters. The FPÖ incurred devastating losses in several regional elections, the European Elections of 2004 and in elections for the Austrian Chamber of Commerce. In each of those elections, it lost between one half to two thirds of their previous voters.

[edit] Creation of a new party

In consequence of this, the party, whose chairman was Haider's sister, Ursula Haubner, was ridden by internal strife. On 4 April 2005, Haider, Haubner, Vice Chancellor Hubert Gorbach and other leading figures of the FPÖ announced the creation of a new party called Alliance for the Future of Austria (Bündnis Zukunft Österreich — BZÖ) with Haider as leader. Effectively, this resulted in a split of the FPÖ in two parties.

In the following months the BZÖ tried to establish themselves within the Austrian political landscape, with little success. As their profile seems unclear, especially because Haider and his new party remain in the coalition with the People's party and the FPÖ, a fierce fight between the FPÖ and BZÖ broke out after the split-up over their joined pool of voters. Subsequent polls showed that Haider's old party and his new one are both struggling in voter approval and currently only about 4% of the eligible voters would give their support to each party - in light of the 4% threshold to get into parliament in the national elections, these polls reflect that FPÖ and BZÖ are practically fighting to survive.

[edit] Haider's political views

[edit] Far right extremist or populist?

Haider is commonly labelled a far-right politician and is often put in the same corner as Jean-Marie Le Pen, Belgium's Flemish Block or Switzerland's Christoph Blocher outside Austria. However, within the country, Haider's political movement has always been treated as a normal part of the political landscape by most of the media.

Haider's actual political ideas and strategies are far from clear, sometimes incoherent, and seem to be changing frequently. For example, in early 2005, he publicly supported Turkey's bid to enter the European Union (unlike most of his fellow party members), which seems inconsistent with his opposition to immigration, particularly considering that Turkey is a Muslim nation.

Thus to fully understand the widespread support Haider had during the 1990s and still has in Carinthia, can only be understood if we look at the real essence of his political success: populism. Haider has been foremost a critic of Austrian politics since he began his political career in the 1970s, using simple sentences and logic to point at issues the general public perceived as unjust or self-motivated politics of the big parties politics the Austrian Social Democrats and the Austrian People's party (see [12]). Therefore, in many respects (programme, campaigning) it is more appropriate to compare Haider to the Dutch populist Pim Fortuyn than to far-right extremists like Le Pen.

With the recent decline of the FPÖ and Haider's new party, the BZÖ, to voter approvals of not more than 3% each (09/2005) on the national level, it is hard to predict what his next moves will be. However, for more information on his current party's political program, see BZÖ.

[edit] Accusations of Nazi sympathy

Haider has made statements that seemed to imply support for some ideas of National Socialism, and has associated with Waffen-SS veterans publicly, including attending a major remembrance ceremony. On one occasion, he insulted Ariel Muzicant by saying "I do not understand how someone named Ariel [the name of a washing powder] can catch so much filth." Haider's critics claimed this remark was anti-Semitic.

In February 2002, a year before the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, he made a visit to Saddam Hussein, whom he has since then labeled a friend. [13]

[edit] External links

• Le Monde diplomatique - Austria's fascination with Jörg Haider (February 1997)
• Official site of the BZÖ - Haider's new party
• Haiderwatch - Haider bio, by opponents (1999)
• BBC Article Controversy and Joerg Haider (February 2000)
• Time magazine Collection of Haider quotes (February 2000)
• The Guardian "Europe rallies against Haider coalition" (February 2000)
• The Guardian "Haider embraces SS veterans" (October 2000)
• The Guardian "Remember Jorg Haider?" (January 2001)
• Daily Telegraph "Haider 'will quit' party he founded" (note: headline is incorrect, FPÖ was founded before Haider was born) (February 2001)
• Anti-Defamation League "Joerg Haider - The Rise of an Austrian Extreme Rightist" (updated 2004)

Preceded by: Peter Ambrozy	Governor of Carinthia (First period of office) 1989 – 1991	Succeeded by: Christoph Zernatto
Preceded by: Christoph Zernatto	Governor of Carinthia (Second period of office) Since 1999	Succeeded by: ---
Norbert Steger	FPÖ Party Chairman 1986–2000	Susanne Riess-Passer