Friedrich Peter
Encyclopedia
Friedrich Peter was an Austria
n politician who served as the chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria
from 1958 to 1978.
engine driver and a master baker
's daughter, Peter joined the NSDAP in 1938 and volunteered for the Waffen-SS
at the age of barely 17. During World War II
, he served at the western and eastern fronts and achieved the rank of Obersturmführer
in the 10th regiment of the 1st SS Infantry Brigade. This unit was part of the Einsatzgruppen
which systematically shot hundreds of thousands of Jews behind the front during the summer of 1941. Although his unit was almost exclusively engaged in this activity, Peter denied any involvement or knowledge about them after the war. He was interned by American forces for a year in Glasenbach.
After his release, he became an elementary school
and special education
teacher, later Landesschulinspektor (state school supervisor).
n Landtag
, first as a representative of the Verband der Unabhängigen, later of the Freedom Party (FPÖ), whose chairman he became in 1958. In 1966, he was elected into the Austrian Nationalrat
and became the leader of his party's delegation in 1970.
As early as in 1962/1963, the FPÖ began to cautiously approach the Social Democratic Party
(SPÖ), which antagonized parts of the right-wing extremist-national
wing and caused some members to split away from the party. The SPÖ wanted to maintain the option of a coalition with the FPÖ and also supported that party financially. The idea was to weaken the Austrian People's Party
(ÖVP), which turned out not to work. Under Peter's chairmanship, the FPÖ attempted to gain a reputation to become a potential coalition partner and tried to give a liberal
impression on the outside. At the party convention
of 1964, Peter declared that "nationalists and liberals together have a place in the FPÖ."
This "liberalization" of the party led to some internal resistance, against with Peter reacted by expelling dissenters. However, this process did not thoroughly transform the party, neither in terms of its political program nor in terms of its membership. The political views of the party ranks had not shifted towards liberalism.
", it supported Bruno Kreisky
's minority government
after the 1970 elections. This greatly increased the party's significance.
Simon Wiesenthal
, at that time head of the Jewish Documentation Center in Vienna, published a report on Friedrich Peter's Nazi past after the 1975 elections. The report documented that Peter had served as Obersturmbannführer
in an SS unit involved in mass murder
. Chancellor Kreisky, who had himself been persecuted by the Nazis, defended Peter and accused Wiesenthal of employing mafia
methods and of collaboration with the Gestapo
. This public dispute is remembered as the Kreisky-Peter-Wiesenthal affair.
In 1978, Peter stepped down as party chairman to be succeeded by the mayor of Graz
, Alexander Götz. However, he retained control over the party behind the scenes. After the SPÖ had lost its majority in 1983, he negotiated a coalition between SPÖ and FPÖ with Bruno Kreisky, which took office under the leadership of Chancellor Fred Sinowatz
(SPÖ) and vice chancellor
Norbert Steger
. However, he had to decline the offer to take the office of the third president of the Nationalrat
after severe public protests, in order not to endanger the coalition.
was rather strained. The final split came in 1992 after Haider made a public comment on the "Third Reich's proper employment policies". Peter spoke of a "shameful lapse" of Haider, saying that this statement "forced him to break his self-imposed silence and to remind party leaders of their political and statutory responsibilities in public."
Friedrich Peter died on 25 September 2005 in Vienna's Hanuschkrankenhaus hospital, where he had been treated for kidney disease for several weeks.
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n politician who served as the chairman of the Freedom Party of Austria
Freedom Party of Austria
The Freedom Party of Austria is a political party in Austria. Ideologically, the party is a direct descendant of the German national liberal camp, which dates back to the 1848 revolutions. The FPÖ itself was founded in 1956 as the successor to the short-lived Federation of Independents , which had...
from 1958 to 1978.
Early life
Born as the son of a social democraticSocial Democratic Party of Austria
The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the two major parties in Austria, and has ties to trade unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour. The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social-democratic parties that have preserved...
engine driver and a master baker
Baker
A baker is someone who bakes and sells bread, Cakes and similar foods may also be produced, as the traditional boundaries between what is produced by a baker as opposed to a pastry chef have blurred in recent decades...
's daughter, Peter joined the NSDAP in 1938 and volunteered for the Waffen-SS
Waffen-SS
The Waffen-SS was a multi-ethnic and multi-national military force of the Third Reich. It constituted the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside...
at the age of barely 17. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he served at the western and eastern fronts and achieved the rank of Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer
Obersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi party that was used by the SS and also as a rank of the SA. Translated as “Senior Assault Leader”, the rank of Obersturmführer was first created in 1932 as the result of an expansion of the Sturmabteilung and the need for an additional rank in...
in the 10th regiment of the 1st SS Infantry Brigade. This unit was part of the Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
which systematically shot hundreds of thousands of Jews behind the front during the summer of 1941. Although his unit was almost exclusively engaged in this activity, Peter denied any involvement or knowledge about them after the war. He was interned by American forces for a year in Glasenbach.
After his release, he became an elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
and special education
Special education
Special education is the education of students with special needs in a way that addresses the students' individual differences and needs. Ideally, this process involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials,...
teacher, later Landesschulinspektor (state school supervisor).
Early political career
From 1955 to 1966, Peter served as a deputy in the Upper AustriaUpper Austria
Upper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
n Landtag
Landtag
A Landtag is a representative assembly or parliament in German-speaking countries with some legislative authority.- Name :...
, first as a representative of the Verband der Unabhängigen, later of the Freedom Party (FPÖ), whose chairman he became in 1958. In 1966, he was elected into the Austrian Nationalrat
National Council of Austria
The National Council is one of the two houses of the Austrian parliament. According to the constitution, the National Council and the complementary Federal Council are peers...
and became the leader of his party's delegation in 1970.
As early as in 1962/1963, the FPÖ began to cautiously approach the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party of Austria
The Social Democratic Party of Austria is one of the oldest political parties in Austria. The SPÖ is one of the two major parties in Austria, and has ties to trade unions and the Austrian Chamber of Labour. The SPÖ is among the few mainstream European social-democratic parties that have preserved...
(SPÖ), which antagonized parts of the right-wing extremist-national
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
wing and caused some members to split away from the party. The SPÖ wanted to maintain the option of a coalition with the FPÖ and also supported that party financially. The idea was to weaken the Austrian People's Party
Austrian People's Party
The Austrian People's Party is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Austria. A successor to the Christian Social Party of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is similar to the Christian Democratic Union of Germany in terms of ideology...
(ÖVP), which turned out not to work. Under Peter's chairmanship, the FPÖ attempted to gain a reputation to become a potential coalition partner and tried to give a liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
impression on the outside. At the party convention
Party conference
The terms party conference , political convention , and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party membership...
of 1964, Peter declared that "nationalists and liberals together have a place in the FPÖ."
This "liberalization" of the party led to some internal resistance, against with Peter reacted by expelling dissenters. However, this process did not thoroughly transform the party, neither in terms of its political program nor in terms of its membership. The political views of the party ranks had not shifted towards liberalism.
Support of the SPÖ minority government and the Kreisky-Peter-Wiesenthal Affair
Even though the FPÖ had declared during the election campaign that there would not be a "red chancellorChancellor of Austria
The Federal Chancellor is the head of government in Austria. Its deputy is the Vice-Chancellor. Before 1918, the equivalent office was the Minister-President of Austria. The Federal Chancellor is considered to be the most powerful political position in Austrian politics.-Appointment:The...
", it supported Bruno Kreisky
Bruno Kreisky
Bruno Kreisky was an Austrian politician who served as Foreign Minister from 1959 to 1966 and as Chancellor from 1970 to 1983. Aged 72 at the end of his chancellorship, he was the oldest acting Chancellor after World War II....
's minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...
after the 1970 elections. This greatly increased the party's significance.
Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal KBE was an Austrian Holocaust survivor who became famous after World War II for his work as a Nazi hunter....
, at that time head of the Jewish Documentation Center in Vienna, published a report on Friedrich Peter's Nazi past after the 1975 elections. The report documented that Peter had served as Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer
Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank used by both the SA and the SS. It was created in May 1933 to fill the need for an additional field grade officer rank above Sturmbannführer as the SA expanded. It became an SS rank at the same time...
in an SS unit involved in mass murder
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
. Chancellor Kreisky, who had himself been persecuted by the Nazis, defended Peter and accused Wiesenthal of employing mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
methods and of collaboration with the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
. This public dispute is remembered as the Kreisky-Peter-Wiesenthal affair.
In 1978, Peter stepped down as party chairman to be succeeded by the mayor of Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, Alexander Götz. However, he retained control over the party behind the scenes. After the SPÖ had lost its majority in 1983, he negotiated a coalition between SPÖ and FPÖ with Bruno Kreisky, which took office under the leadership of Chancellor Fred Sinowatz
Fred Sinowatz
Alfred "Fred" Sinowatz was born in Neufeld an der Leitha, Burgenland, Austria. He was an Austrian politician of the Social Democratic Party of Austria , and was Chancellor of Austria from 1983 to 1986.- Career until 1983 :Sinowatz, educated as a historian, was Minister of Education and Art in the...
(SPÖ) and vice chancellor
Vice Chancellor of Austria
In Austrian politics, the Vice-Chancellor is a member of the federal government acting as a deputy to the Federal Chancellor.Art. 69 of the Constitution of Austria states:...
Norbert Steger
Norbert Steger
Norbert Steger is an Austrian lawyer and former politician for the Freedom Party of Austria . He was the FPÖ party leader from 1980 to 1986, and Vice Chancellor and Minister of Commerce of Austria from 1983 to 1987....
. However, he had to decline the offer to take the office of the third president of the Nationalrat
National Council of Austria
The National Council is one of the two houses of the Austrian parliament. According to the constitution, the National Council and the complementary Federal Council are peers...
after severe public protests, in order not to endanger the coalition.
Controversy with Jörg Haider, later life
His relationship to Jörg HaiderJörg Haider
Jörg Haider was an Austrian politician. He was Governor of Carinthia on two occasions, the long-time leader of the Austrian Freedom Party and later Chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Austria , a breakaway party from the FPÖ.Haider was controversial within Austria and abroad for comments...
was rather strained. The final split came in 1992 after Haider made a public comment on the "Third Reich's proper employment policies". Peter spoke of a "shameful lapse" of Haider, saying that this statement "forced him to break his self-imposed silence and to remind party leaders of their political and statutory responsibilities in public."
Friedrich Peter died on 25 September 2005 in Vienna's Hanuschkrankenhaus hospital, where he had been treated for kidney disease for several weeks.
Political career
- 1955-1971 FPÖ State party chairman of Upper AustriaUpper AustriaUpper Austria is one of the nine states or Bundesländer of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders on Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as on the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg...
- 1958-1978 FPÖ Federal Party Chairman
- 1955-1966 Member of the Upper Austrian Landtag
- 1966-1986 Member of the Nationalrat
- 1970-1986 Party delegation leader of the FPÖ
- 1992 Resigned his party membership because of the FPÖ's shift to an anti-EC position
Literature (in German)
- Brigitte Bailer-Galanda, Wolfgang Neugebauer: Handbuch des österreichischen Rechtsextremismus. Wien 1996, ISBN 3-216-30099-4.
- Kurt Piringer: Die Geschichte der Freiheitlichen. Beitrag der Dritten Kraft zur österreichischen Politik. Wien 1982.
- Wolfgang Neugebauer: Die FPÖ: Vom Rechtsextremismus zum Liberalismus? In: Rechtsextremismus nach 1945. Hrsg. v. Dokumentationsarchiv des österreichischen Widerstandes. 1981.
External links (in German)
- www.wienerzeitung.at/ Friedrich Weissensteiner: Der Wegbereiter Friedrich Peter
- http://www.nationalsozialismus.at/ Skandale und tabuisierte Vergangenheit Österreichs
- Wandelte sich vom SS-Mann zum Demokraten auf www.networld.at
- Obituary from Der StandardDer StandardDer Standard is an Austrian national daily newspaper which is published in Vienna . It was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and the first edition was published on 1988-10-19...