Vienna Woods Campus

Refugee home in Lower Austria again in the crossfire

Two years ago, during a local inspection by the "Krone" at the Wienerwald campus, the refugees described their suffering in the bombing hell of the Ukraine war.(Bild: Judt Reinhard)

Problems again at Campus Wienerwald in Unterdambach in the district of St. Pölten: The private operators are alleging intimidation by the owner and the state. Money was apparently not paid out to the refugees.

Christian Zeitz and Reinhard Fellner from the Initiative Soziales Österreich (ISÖ) have been helping Ukrainian refugees for 25 months. Their home on the Wienerwald campus in Unterdambach is currently looking after 170 people. In total, there have been around 800 people so far. For weeks, the two operators were in negotiations with the state for a contract as a full-service home.

(Bild: Judt Reinhard)

However, according to Zeitz, after they were supposed to have a "watchdog" in the form of Diakonie, the proposal failed. The contract was therefore arranged on a private basis between the refugees and ISÖ. They are paid 11 euros per day for basic services such as food and rent. However, the refugees can earn some money by working.

All other refugees have been paid the money for basic services as usual. We don't know how we are going to bridge the month financially.

Christian Zeitz, Initiative Soziales Österreich, Campus Wienerwald

According to the two home operators, the sale of the former home for the blind resulted in debts of 4.5 million euros. The municipality alone is said to have 70,000 euros in outstanding debts. Just two weeks later, the new owner filed for bankruptcy. Since then, the trustee in bankruptcy has tried everything to evict the home operators and "their refugees". "To use the site profitably", Zeitz suspects.

Suddenly, the money for the refugees was withheld by the authorities. "Basic services were stopped here for no reason," Zeitz rages and therefore considers this to be a "serious political abuse of authority".

Allegations not tenable
The payment method was merely changed "due to the current uncertain situation caused by the insolvency of the owner", according to the office of the responsible FPÖ provincial councillor Christoph Luisser. The accusation of abuse of authority is rejected in the strongest possible terms - and there are also threats of legal action.