Austria’s National Council’s newly released antisemitism report has revealed that over a third of the country believes Jews try to take advantage of being victims of the Holocaust and that antisemitism is a widespread problem coming from Austrian society, especially those from immigrant backgrounds.
The report, commissioned by the Austrian parliament and conducted by by the Institute for Empirical Social Research, studied data on attitudes toward Jews in the country, including antisemitism related to conspiracy theories and the Holocaust.
“Antisemitism is not a phenomenon of the political fringes, but it comes from the centre of society,” National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka said at the announcement of the release of the report, according to The Local. “On the fringes, it becomes visible; on the right-wing edges, we’ve seen it for years and decades; on the left-wing fringes, we haven’t paid attention for a long time.”
Sobotka added that today antisemitism takes the form of anti-Israel and anti-Zionist rhetoric.
“In the third form, we see it among those people who have come to us for migration reasons because they come from countries where antisemitism or anti-Jewish attitudes are almost part of the state’s reason of [existence].”
The survey interviewed 2,000 Austrians aged 16 and older by phone and online, focusing on people under 25. They also focused on people with an immigrant background from Turkey or Middle Eastern nations such as Syria and Iraq.
The report found that group “consistently displays a much stronger antisemitic attitude than the Austrian population as a whole.” But researchers also found that the Austrian general population holds views on antisemitism that are a cause for concern.
The study found that over a third of Austrians view Jews as attempting to exploit the Holocaust for personal gain. This belief is especially common among participants from Turkish and Arab backgrounds, with it applying to over half of that population.
Asked about conspiracy theories containing antisemitic tropes, over a third of respondents said they believe Jews control international commerce, with a majority of those from migrant backgrounds agreeing with the statement, and a near majority responding approvingly to statements that “Jews have too much influence in Austria” and “Jewish elites in international corporations are often behind current price increases.”