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Austria and the "refugee crisis"

Theme has been part of Austria's political and public discourse

11 October, 15:41

by Sarah Knoll, Karlo Ruzicic-Kessler, researcher of Modern and Contemporary Research Institute of Osterreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften in Vienna.

 

(ANSA) - Vienna (Austria) - In summer 2015 the "refugee crisis" reached Austria through the so called "Balkan route" that has ever since been closed, not least due to the efforts of Austrian foreign minister and candidate for the chancellery, Sebastian Kurz. Since then, the question of the "wave of immigrants" has been part of Austria's political and public discourse. Two weeks before the next national elections, this topic is dominating party debates. Now that German chancellor Angela Merkel continues to stress, she will not limit the number of refugees entering Germany, it is worth noting that the Austrian social democrat-popular coalition has already introduced yearly quotas for asylum seekers. This manoeuvre proves the fear of centre parties regarding the affirmation of the extreme right, headed by the freedom party, FPÖ. Considering the fact that the Austrian political elite and society tend to see the country as a champion of human rights and acceptance of refugees throughout the history of the second republic, it is worth taking a step back and putting this notion into a broader historical context.

There were five major "waves" of immigration into Austria after 1945. The first regarded the Hungarian upheaval against communist rule in 1956, followed by the "Prague spring" in 1968.

Later the Polish crisis of 1981/82 led to yet another influx of immigrants. In 1989/90 East German and Romanian immigrants were the focus of attention. Finally, the bloodshed in Yugoslavia in the early to mid 1990es brought yet another "human wave" to Austria.

The master narrative, depicting Austria as a hospitable country for refugees starts with the events of Hungary in 1956.

At first, Austria gladly accepted the new arrivals from the east, a factor in close connection to the general anti-communist attitude of the time. As international support reached Austria only slowly, the refugees started to compete for jobs and accommodation, turning the initial acceptance into the opposite.

At this moment, the transit of refugees to other countries became imperative. This demonstrates a peculiarity of Austria's dealing with refugees: Austria always wanted to be a land of transit, not a new home - a fact very well demonstrated in recent years, when refugees from Syria were channeled to Germany. Regarding the Hungarians, the expatriation to other countries, mainly in North America, was achieved.

In 1968 this policy was still intact. The people fleeing Czechoslovakia were perceived as "tourist-refugees" and in most cases left Austria towards other destinations or repatriated. As for the refugees from East Germany in 1989, those were the most accepted group, as it was clear from the start that their aim was to reach the Federal Republic of Germany, which covered all Austrian expenses.

The case of the Polish immigrants in 1981/82 is an interesting one. From the start, they were perceived as "economic refugees" - an argument very much present in the current political discussion. This changed briefly due to the imposition of material law in Poland in December 1981, while Austria pushed for transit to other countries in this case as well. Similar was the case of Romanian immigrants in 1989/90.

These had the same disadvantage of the Poles, being condemned as "economic refugees", while the perception even ranged to seeing them as a threat to national security and "potential sexual predators".

Hence, these "refugee crises" demonstrate another important phenomenon: the acceptance of refugees was strongly connected to the economic situation of the hosting country. In 1981 the public pointed out, in times of economic troubles and high rates of unemployment, the government should not spend too much on "economic refugees".

All of this does not mean that Austria cannot look back at an impressive record in acceptance of immigrants during the second half of the twentieth century. Yet, it must be stressed that only years later those phenomena were perceived as a success story. Especially during the current days of campaigning for the upcoming national elections, where the question of refugees is omnipresent, the political class should consider which examples can be found in Austria's recent history to conclude how to deal with new challenges.

(ANSA).

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