Austrian fuehrer retires

The ex-chairman of nationalist Austrian Freedom Party, Jorg Haider, known for his criticism of Jews, has decided to completely leave the political arena.

While speaking with journalists, Haider stated that now he will not participate in the coming election. According to Heider, his decision was caused by some discrepancies between party members about the terms of future tax reform in Austria. In his time, Haider caused much sensation. When his party came to power, newspapers wrote that black sheep had appeared in the EU, while the EU threatened Austria by separating it from united Europe, diplomatic isolation, and breaking-off bilateral relations. Jorg Haider was the cause for all this sensation; to be more precise, his glib tongue was the cause.

In particular, Haider once said that the Third Reich did indeed have a positive econonmic policy and wiped out unemployment in Germany. His second "sin" was to say that that soldiers of the SS were not oportunists. However, the Jewish community especially finds him guilty for some of his statements about the Holocaust. Of course, it should be remembered that, not only Jews, but also Slavs, including Russians, were annihilated in the Germany's death camps. Hitler intended to reduce the number of Slavs to the level of the Napoleon's time. Moreover, in the camps, people of other nationalities were also held, including Germans and Austrians.

Later, Haider disavowed these statements. He publicly said that he had made these statements without thinking. Nevertheless, he was called the “new Hitler.”

“Is he a new Hitler? His wife, 44-year-old Claudia, is perplexed. – He is not a fascist, and, all the more, he is not a new Hitler. He is a person with great imagination, nice, considerate, and becoming more romantic with years.”

Actually, couldn't his wife's words be used to describe Haider's political life? No. But this is not so important. Haider is choosing to becoming part of history.

Dmitry Chirkin PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/08/31/46480.html