Austrian far-Right Freedom Party on brink of power ditches 'Nazi' cornflower 

Heinz-Christian Strache, chairman of the right-wing Freedom Party, wearing the white and yellow Alpine flower that is a symbol of Austria at the first session of parliament 
Heinz-Christian Strache, chairman of the right-wing Freedom Party, wearing the white and yellow Alpine flower that is a symbol of Austria at the first session of parliament  Credit: AP

A far-Right party expected to be part of Austria’s new coalition government has given up wearing a flower associated with the 1930s Nazi movement in the country. 

When MPs from the Freedom Party (FPÖ) took their seats at Thursday’s opening session of parliament, they were not wearing their customary blue cornflower buttonholes. 

Instead they were wearing edelweiss, a white and yellow Alpine flower and traditional Austrian symbol that is best known outside the country for its appearance in The Sound of Music.

The FPÖ’s use of the cornflower has caused considerable controversy in Austria, where it was used as a secret sign of support for the banned Nazi party in the 1930s. The party has been condemned for wearing cornflowers to previous openings of parliament.

The decision by its 51 MPs to ditch the cornflower was welcomed by Sebastian Kurz, the 31-year-old who is expected to become Austria’s next chancellor after winning last month’s election.

“A new legislative period is always an opportunity for a fresh start,” Mr Kurz said. “And I think that if we look back not only on the election campaign but also on the last few years, one can say some things have to change change. Above all, the way we deal with each other has to change.”

Mr Kurz is currently in talks on forming a new coalition with the Freedom Party’s support after his centre-right People’s Party (ÖVP) failed to win an outright majority.

Heinz-Christian Strache, the Freedom Party leader who is in line to become vice-chancellor, said the party had chosen the edelweiss as a symbol of “courage, bravery and love”.

The Alpine flower features in a famous song from The Sound of Music sung by the von Trapp family as a statement of Austrian patriotism and refusal to join the Nazis following the 1938 takeover by Germany.

The flower features on modern Austrian two-cent euro coins, and is also traditionally associated with Switzerland and Bavaria.

Mr Strache was arrested in Germany in 1989 for taking part in a Hitler Youth-style torchlit neo-Nazi rally. He has also been photographed posing with guns alongside known neo-Nazis.

The Mauthausen Committe, which represents victims of a Nazi concentration camp in Austria warned before the election that the Freedom Party has a “distinct closeness to Nazi ideology”. 

Incidents documented by the committee include a Freedom Party politician who called for the concentration camp to be put back in operation; another who posted a picture of SS troops on Facebook with the caption “Our grandfathers were not criminals”; and a third who openly displays an SS Death’s Head emblem and other Nazi memorabilia in a pharmacy he owns.

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