ABSTRACT
One of the most prominent themes in treatment of the Holocaust was the idea that it was not a unique aspect of the war, but simply part of the larger pattern of suffering which everyone experienced. Of all the evidence against the idea of “Austria-as-victim,” Austrian participation in the Holocaust and the anti-Semitic violence which preceded it stood as graphic reminders of complicity in Nazi crimes. Placement of material in texts also served to undermine the uniqueness of the Holocaust. Not all history textbooks propagated purely mythological accounts of the Holocaust. In a 1982 history text for polytechnic schools, the authors forthrightly covered the Holocaust, addressed contemporary Austrian anti-Semitism, and challenged students to go behind Jewish stereotypes. In a final de-emphasis of the Holocaust, the authors included two separate lists of casualties—soldiers and civilians—in which Jews and other victims of the Holocaust went without mention.
