A name causes a stir

Storming against FPÖ meeting in the House of Representatives

FPÖ politician Walter Rosenkranz causes a stir with a special symposium.(Bild: APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER)

Next week, FPÖ National Council President Walter Rosenkranz is organizing a symposium under the name of the founder of the Greater German Union and "founder of the republic" Franz Dinghofer. Numerous experts criticize the event surrounding this "problematic and anti-Semitic figure". The Freedom Party countered.

Just in the week of the commemoration of the "Reichspogromnacht" and the Holocaust, National Council President Walter Rosenkranz (FPÖ) invites people to the "Dinghofer Symposium" in Parliament on November 11. This causes enormous excitement in the run-up to the event. What is it about? The FPÖ, in important parts not far removed from German nationalist ideas, sees the German nationalist, proven anti-Semite and later National Socialist Franz Dinghofer as a great historical figure.

In the run-up to the symposium organized by Rosenkranz in honour of the controversial former mayor and high court judge, renowned historians wrote an open letter opposing the event. He was a "forerunner of the Reichspogromnacht" and the program of the Greater German Party founded under his leadership in 1919 resembled an "anti-Semitic diatribe."

The historians, as well as other parties and the Jewish Community, called - in vain - for the event in the House to be canceled.

"Was practically a letter carrier"
One of them is Helmut Konrad, former rector of the Franzens University in Graz. "The FPÖ always had this symposium, but now there is the provocation by the President of the National Council with his invitation to Parliament." From the FPÖ's point of view, Dinghofer was central to the founding of the republic on November 12, 1918. He had proclaimed the republic. "But that's not what happened," said Konrad. "It was decided by the Provisional National Assembly. Dinghofer was involved, but he was more or less just the letter carrier." Regardless of his undeniable achievements for the city of Linz, the whole affair was "unsavory. Especially as he is often portrayed as a victim."

Dinghofer was President of the Supreme Court and "retired at 65 with a fat salary. His character trait is anti-Semitic and problematic," says Konrad.

"Without him, the Republic would not have existed in this form"
National Council President Rosenkranz did not want to comment on the criticism when asked. He left the field to General Christian Hafenecker. He sees this as a "shameful" left-wing attempt. "Without Dinghofer, this republic would not have existed in this form. Together with the Social Democrats and Christian Socials, he stood at the cradle of the new state - as a symbol of national unity across party lines."

He was also removed from his office as President of the Supreme Court by the Nazis after the Anschluss in 1938. This apparently did not stop him from joining the NSDAP in 1940.