Authors urge four of nine federal provinces to make changes but local leaders accuse them of trying to ‘cancel history’
Austria is in the thick of a debate about the origins of the “homeland” anthems that celebrate its federal states after the Nazi allegiances of their composers were brought to light by a group of prominent authors.
The authors are calling on regional politicians to rewrite some of the anthems and to acknowledge the melodies’ Nazi-era roots.or states, are tainted. It has written to the leaders of Upper Austria, Carinthia, Lower Austria and Salzburg, urging them to take action. In some cases it says that whole verses should be erased or that single lines identified as problematic should be dropped and that historical research is carried out on their origins and musical composers.
The authors, including Robert Menasse, Doron Rabinovici and Gerhard Ruiss, have been accused of “cancelling history” by two local leaders in Carinthia, from the Social Democrats and the far-right populist FPÖ, who are refusing to give in to their demands. The authors deny the claims. “In all these cases this is not about cancelling history,” IG Autorinnen Autoren said. “It’s about dissociating ourselves from antisemitism, racism, nationalism and national socialism … ensuring historical political falsehoods are discontinued and ensuring, as would be a worst case, that they are not resurrected.”
Nazi troops march through Vienna, Austria, in 1938, the year in which the country was annexed to Germany.is that of Carinthia, the text of which was written by Agnes Millonig, considered a fully fledged Nazi, which contains the line: “Where we scribed our borders with blood.” The final line: “That is my beautiful homeland,” is a reference to Germany, to which Austria was annexed in 1938. The authors have called for the line to be scrapped.
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