'Closet-Nazi' in Running for Austrian Presidency
THE TELEGRAPH: A far-Right candidate for Austria's presidential election has brought the country's dark past to the surface again, by denouncing a law banning Nazi groups and Holocaust denial.

Barbara Rosenkranz, a far-Right candidate for the upcoming Austrian presidential election. Photo: The Telegraph
Barbara Rosenkranz, 51, a regional leader of the Freedom Party (FPOe), looks likely to be the only candidate to run against the incumbent, President Heinz Fischer, on April 25.

But her comments supporting the scrapping of the tough prohibition law have renewed the debate about a heritage with which the country, which was under Nazi rule from 1938 to 1945, has never fully come to terms.

Austrian leaders and the press already fear for the country's image abroad.

Under the 1947 Verbotsgesetz law, anyone who seeks to set up a Nazi organisation, propagates Nazi ideology or denies Nazi crimes can be jailed for up to 20 years.

But Rosenkranz, a mother of 10 and the wife of an outspoken figure in Austria's far-Right scene, insists the law constitutes "an unnecessary restriction" and that, on the contrary, people should be allowed freedom of opinion.

In 2003, the European Court of Human Rights already allowed a journalist's description of her as a "closet-Nazi", noting that her attitude towards Nazism was ambiguous.

Such comments from a woman running for the country's highest office prompted scorching criticism from politicians of all colours, civil groups and the Catholic church.

Rosenkranz's own supporters did what they could to limit the damage.
"Somebody like this is not eligible for election," said Vienna's Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, while the Jewish community described her as "an embarrassment for Austria".

"Rosenkranz challenges the Republic's anti-Fascist foundation. That is unacceptable," added Norbert Darabos, the social democratic defence minister.

Meanwhile, Hans Dichand, publisher of the influential tabloid Kronen Zeitung, reversed his earlier position and urged Rosenkranz to "distance herself from all national socialist ideas", just days after he had called on voters to support her.

On Monday, Rosenkranz issued an affidavit saying, "I condemn outright the crimes of national socialism and categorically distance myself from the ideology of national socialism."

Nevertheless, she refused to answer journalists' questions on statements she had made last week in which she affirmed that denying the Holocaust came under "freedom of expression".

Last week, the leader of the FPOe, Heinz-Christian Strache, also attempted some damage control.

"Nobody in our party is talking about scrapping the prohibition law", he said. >>> Sim Sim Wissgott in Vienna for AFP | Monday, March 08, 2010

KRONEN ZEITUNG: Video anschauen – Barbara Rosenkranz distanziert sich von NS-Ideologie >>>

Barbara Rosenkranz distanziert sich von NS-Ideologie
KRONEN ZEITUNG: Präsidentschaftskandidatin Barbara Rosenkranz hat sich am Montagvormittag nach ihren umstrittenen Aussagen zum Verbotsgesetz öffentlich von der NS-Ideologie distanziert. In einer eidesstattlichen Erklärung beteuerte sie, "zu keinem Zeitpunkt die Grundwerte unserer Republik infrage gestellt" zu haben.

"So habe ich auch das Verbotsgesetz als Symbol für die Abgrenzung vom Nationalsozialismus niemals infrage gestellt und werde es auch nicht infrage stellen", sagte Rosenkranz in der eidesstattlichen Erklärung, zu der sie in der vergangenen Woche in einem "Krone"-Kommentar (siehe Infobox) aufgefordert worden war, weiter.

Die FPÖ-Kandidatin wies in ihrer Erklärung "jede Interpretation, dass ich dieses Gesetz abschaffen wolle, mit aller Entschiedenheit zurück. Für mich sind Demokratie, Freiheit und Menschenwürde die Fundamente meines Welt- und Menschenbildes und meiner politischen Arbeit. Ich verurteile daher aus Überzeugung die Verbrechen des Nationalsozialismus und distanziere mich entschieden von der Ideologie des Nationalsozialismus." "Sehr betroffen" über Wirbel über ihre Kandidatur >>> | Montag, 08. März 2010

Reaktionen: Rosenkranz-Erklärung "wertlos"
DIE PRESSE: Als "wertlos" und "Nicht-Erklärung" werten die anderen Parteien die eidesstattliche Erklärung der freiheitlichen Hofburg-Kandidatin, in der diese sich von der NS-Ideologie distanziert.

Die freiheitliche Kandidatin für die Hofburg-Wahl, Barbara Rosenkranz, hat sich am Montag mit einer eidesstattlichen Erklärung von der NS-Ideologie distanziert. Bei den anderen Parteien stößt ihre Erklärung durchwegs auf Ablehnung.

Klubchef Josef Cap vermisst im Gespräch mit Ö1 zwei Punkte: Erstens, Rosenkranz müsse ganz klar festhalten, dass sie nichts am Verbotsgesetz ändern will, auch nicht einzelne Paragraphen. Und zweitens, sie müsse eindeutig sagen, dass es während der Nazi-Zeit Gaskammern gegeben habe und dass sie dies verurteile. >>> APA/Red. | Montag, 08. März 2010

Vatican Controversy Spreads to the Netherlands
NRC HANDELSBLAD: The controversial rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denying bishop by pope Benedict XVI is arousing strong reactions in the Netherlands. A theologist is leaving the church and the minister of foreign affairs is getting involved.

Roman Catholic bishop Ad van Luyn of Rotterdam has said that the pope's decision to rehabilitate renegade British bishop Richard Williamson is "disastrous". Speaking on public television, Van Luyn said that Williamson's denial of the Holocaust and its gas chambers are "shocking, totally a-historic, and at odds with the second Vatican Council [the 1962-65 church reform - see below*]". Williamson has claimed that the Nazis did not kill six million Jews, but 300,000 at most.

Following his opposition to modernising the Roman Catholic church, bishop Williamson was excommunicated in 1988, together with three other traditionalist bishops who had turned against reforms. The pope reinstated the four conservatives last week, as part of his stated ambition to reunite all forms of Christian worship under the umbrella of Rome.

A professor of theology and ethics at the Roman Catholic Radboud University in Nijmegen is leaving the church over the issue. Professor Jean-Pierre Wils told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, "For many years it has been known that Williamson and the other three traditionalists are anti-Semites. The pope must have known about this. Only now are people beginning to see what is really happening in the Vatican. People were idolising the pope over the past few years without asking themselves what his political ambitions were. These are political actions, it's not just a theological problem. It is important that political consequences are drawn from this." >>> By Rob Kievit for Radio Netherlands Worldwide | Monday, February 2, 2009

*Traditionalists and the Roman Catholic church

The four bishops whose excommunications were remitted by pope Benedict XVI are Richard Williamson, Bernard Fellay, Bernard Tissier de Mallerais, and Alfonso del Gallareta. They are the leaders of a schismatic society, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) inspired by the late archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of Switzerland. Lefebvre, who died in 1991, founded the SSPX in 1970. It is named after pope Pius X, who firmly opposed modernism in the church.

The society rejects the Second Vatican Council of 1962-1965 which decided, among other things, that neither today's Jews nor the Jews of the time of Christ were all responsible for the death of Christ. The council also revised the liturgy, lifting some of the restrictions of the traditional Latin mass. Finally, the council aimed for pan-Christian unity (ecumenism) without requiring the conversion of non-Catholic Christians.

Traditionalists view the changes ordained by the Second Vatican Council as contrary to the interests of the church, and want to roll them back.

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback & Hardback – The Netherlands) >>>