Vienna as the main location

Sharp rise in right-wing extremist crimes in 2023

(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut, Krone KREATIV)

The number of right-wing extremist crimes has risen sharply in 2023. It stands at 1208, according to a response to a question from Interior Minister Gerhard Karner (ÖVP) to the SPÖ. In 2022 it was still 928.

Specifically, 1080 offenses had a right-wing extremist background (2022: 791), 66 were motivated by racism (2022: 51), 43 by anti-Semitism (2022: 33) and seven by Islamophobia (2022: three).

Number of crimes lowest in Burgenland
Most of these crimes were committed in Vienna (263), followed by Upper Austria (252) and Lower Austria (203). The fewest were in Burgenland (27). 1203 people were reported for violating the Prohibition Act in 2023 (2022: 929) - 773 of the known perpetrators were male, 64 female.

(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut, Krone KREATIV)

Sharpen strategy against anti-Semitism
The federal government has failed to "take proper measures against this anti-democratic ideology", commented SPÖ remembrance culture spokesperson Sabine Schatz in a press release. The fact that the number of anti-Semitic acts has risen shows that the strategy against anti-Semitism needs to be sharpened.

"There must not be a resurgence of anti-Semitism in Austria in the slipstream of the Middle East conflict, regardless of ideology." She also called for an action plan against right-wing extremism.

The federal government has failed to take proper measures against this anti-democratic ideology.

SPÖ-Erinnerungskultur-Sprecherin Sabine Schatz

First right-wing extremism report in the fall
The first right-wing extremism report is due to be published in the fall; the Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance (DÖW) was commissioned by the Ministry of the Interior to compile it. It is to cover the years 2020 to 2023. Schatz hopes that it will "provide a detailed database and assessment of the situation."