Trying to Ensure Democratic Future : Austria Marks Annexation By Germany

With mournful ceremonies, Austria marked the 50th anniversary Friday of the anschluss, its annexation by Nazi Germany.

President Kurt Waldheim, who has been accused of complicity in war crimes as an officer in the German army during World War II, placed a wreath at the Heldenplatz, where Adolf Hitler arrived in triumph after joining Austria to his Third Reich on March 11, 1938.

Later in the day, in a series of speeches, Austrian leaders declared that focusing public attention on their sometimes hushed-up past is the best way to ensure a democratic future.

In remarks to a special Cabinet meeting, Chancellor Franz Vranitzky said that if Austria tried to avoid coming face to face with its history as a collaborator of Nazi Germany, “sooner or later that would catch up with us.”

Vranitzky, the leader of Austria’s Socialist Party, said Austria was both “victim and perpetrator” in its relations with Nazi Germany.

‘Disastrous Behavior’

He warned that the oppression of the Jews, which began soon after the anschluss , “was not something planted from the outside.” He said Austria’s history “served as a preface” to its disastrous behavior toward the Jews and other minorities after the anschluss .

“We can have a (positive) future only if we look at the past,” he said.

Vranitzky also addressed an afternoon meeting at the Hofburg palace, the seat of the old Austro-Hungarian empire, which now contains the office of the president. Again he emphasized that Austria’s future will be determined by “young people who will, through knowledge, be prepared to avoid the evils of Nazism.”

Waldheim was among those present at the palace. He had been asked not to speak.

Outside the palace about 300 demonstrators paraded with signs calling for Waldheim to resign because of his wartime activities as a German army officer.

Praise for Waldheim

The only reference to Waldheim in the official ceremonies was made by Vice Chancellor Alois Mock, who, like Waldheim, is a member of the Conservative Party. Mock praised Waldheim as one of the international figures who had added to postwar Austria’s prestige.

Waldheim was secretary general of the United Nations for two terms before becoming president of Austria two years ago.

Television carried the speeches live and also showed film clips made in concentration camps in Austria during the Nazi period.

Members of the Greens party boycotted the official ceremonies in Parliament and the palace. They went to Mauthausen, site of a Nazi concentration camp near Linz, where they placed wreaths and gave speeches denouncing the Nazi period in Austrian life.

Today an anti-Waldheim demonstration is scheduled to take place in Central Vienna. Waldheim has resisted demands for his resignation, arguing that a committee of historians has absolved him. The committee reported last month that although Waldheim was not guilty of war crimes he had lied about his war record and failed to take steps to stop atrocities of which he was aware.

Wiesenthal Documentary

Tonight, the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center will present a documentary on the Holocaust.

And on Sunday, Chancellor Vranitzky will mark the end of the ceremonies with a visit to the Vienna Synagogue. Its membership today is about 7,500. More than 200,000 Jews lived in Vienna before the Nazi period.