Nine Austrian neo-Nazis with links to far rightwing political parties and groups in this country and West Germany, went on trial here yesterday. They are charged with terrorist bombings, Nazi propaganda, recruitment of youths for Nazi organizations and the establishment of paramilitary training camps. The trial is expected to last about six weeks during which 61 witnesses will testify.
A trial in Graz ended Monday with the conviction of four other neo-Nazis for illegal possession of arms and the vandalization of memorials to victims of the Nazi regime in Austria.
The State Police believes that the hard core of neo-Nazis in Austria consists of no more than 200 persons who are under surveillance. But the connections between neo-Nazis and the far right have prompted several government ministers to call for stricter laws to ban extremist political parties.
CHARGED WITH TERRORIST ATTACKS
One of the principal defendants in the Vienna trial is 34-year-old Ekkehart Weil who is charged with terrorist attacks on several houses and shops in Austria.
Weil is believed responsible for the bombs which exploded within a period of a few weeks last year out side the homes of Nazi-hunter Simon Wiesenthal and Alexander Giese, a prominent journalist. Other bombs went off outside two clothing stores in Vienna and Salzburg which belong to a Jewish-owned chain.
A powerful bomb planted in the textile district, once a center of the Jewish community in Vienna, was defused before it detonated.
Weil, who has served sentences in West Germany for similar offenses, was sheltered for a time by Austria’s far rightwing National Democratic Party (NDP) which turned him over to the police when they thought he was discovered.
Another defendant, Bruno Haas is charged with neo-Nazi activities. He is a leading member of the NDP and head of the Action New Right (ANR), a Nazi group which operates on university campuses. Gottfried Heinrich Kuessel, who faces the same charges as Haas, is a former member of the Free Party, an alliance of liberals and rightwingers that is the ruling Socialist Party’s coalition partner in the present government.
Kuessel worked for the ANR recruiting young soccer fans. He and his comrades are believed responsible for provoking anti-Semitic incidents at recent soccer matches.
Three other defendants are accused of supporting Weil in his terrorist bombings by supplying the explosives or fabricating the bombs.
At a Socialist Party cultural meeting in Wels last week, Education Minister Helmut Zilk and Interior Minister Karl Blecha, said the party would introduce a bill in Parliament that would close loopholes in the law which allow neo-Nazi and fascist parties to run candidates in university and parliamentary elections.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
