Introduction

This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part examines the principal critique that most historians and social scientists, who are doing research on contemporary Austria, express with regard to post-1945 Austria. For an analysis to be more than mere provocation, one must use the tools of comparison to be convincing. Austria’s responsibilities for the rise of Nazism must be seen in the context of Germany’s responsibilities. Waldheim’s successful presidential campaign gave Austria an almost completely new image, especially in the United States and in Western Europe. Since 1986, a common joke defines Austria as the country which made the world believe that Beethoven was Austrian, but Hitler German. In Gabriele Holzer political fight against Austria’s memberhsip in the European Union, Haider not only uses a pseudo-Marxist vocabulary, arguing against “huge multi-national corporations,” he also uses a vocabulary that stands traditionally for Austrian patriotism—arguing in favor of defending “Austrian identity.”