Barbara Rosenkranz
Encyclopedia
Barbara Rosenkranz is an Austria
n politician for the Freedom Party of Austria
(FPÖ), currently serving as the Minister of Building Law and Animal Protection of the State of Lower Austria
(since 2008). She was a member of the Parliament of Austria, the National Council
, from 2002 to 2008, where she served as Chair of the Committee for Health Affairs. Rosenkranz was the Freedom Party candidate for the Austrian presidential election in 2010
. Rosenkranz received 15.62% of the vote, coming second after incumbent Heinz Fischer
.
, where she served on the committees for family, health, interior and education affairs, and chaired the committee on health affairs. She was her party's top candidate in Lower Austria in the 2008 election. The election was a major success for her party, which more than doubled their representation in the parliament. She resigned as member of the National Council on 9 April 2008, and the following day she was appointed to the cabinet of the state as Minister of Building Law and Animal Protection.
. Her candidacy was officially presented by the Freedom Party on 2 March 2010. The Kronen Zeitung
, the largest newspaper of Austria, supported her candidacy in articles written by its publisher Hans Dichand
. The conservative party, the Austrian People's Party
, didn't nominate a candidate (their last presidential candidate was Benita Ferrero-Waldner
in 2004, who narrowly lost to Heinz Fischer
), but refused to endorse any of the two major candidates, incumbent social democrat Heinz Fischer and Barbara Rosenkranz.
Rosenkranz received 15.6% of the vote, coming second after Fischer. A third candicate, Rudolf Gehring of the small Christian Party, polled 6 %. The voter turnout
was only 49.2 %, however (compared to 70.8 % in 2004, and the lowest in modern history).
, she is a controversial and polarizing figure in Austria. She has been a vocal critic of the European Union
, immigration
and restrictions to the freedom of speech
like the Austrian anti-Nazi laws. She is known for her conservative views on the family and social policy
, and in her book MenschInnen, she argues that gender mainstreaming
attempts to create sexless human beings. She advocates equal rights for men and women
She rejects gay marriage and argues marriage is between men and women only.
Barbara Rosenkranz advocates a tough stance on immigration
and crime
.
. She advocates a decentralized Europe and nation states. She also advocates the reintroduction of border controls.
is a publisher of far right
material and was formerly a member of the now-banned National Democratic Party (NDP)
, a far right party, and the question of whether she shares her husband's beliefs has caused some controversy. Some Austrian media have referred to Rosenkranz as "Reich Mother".
In 1995 Rosenkranz brought a defamation case against the publicist Hans-Henning Scharsach for referring to her as an example of a "Kellernazi", that is, a closet sympathizer of National Socialist beliefs. The lawsuit led to a fine against Scharsach's newspaper, "News". This decision was criticised by the European Court of Human Rights
, however, as a violation of freedom of speech, as they considered it a matter of opinion, and that Rosenkranz's attitude towards the Nazi past was thoroughly ambiguous. Key points in this ruling were that she had never distanced herself from her husband's activities in the extreme right, and that in the past had been a vocal public opponent of the Verbotsgesetz 1947
law banning Holocaust denial
. Both Scharsach and "News" were awarded damages.
When once asked whether she believed in the existence of gas chambers
in the concentration camps during World War II in an interview with Austrian Radio (ORF), she replied that she has the knowledge of an Austrian "who went to school in Austria between 1964 and 1976 -- so that is my knowledge of history and I have no plan whatsoever to change it". As this answer was criticised as being "evasive", she later stated in an interview with Die Presse, that there is no doubt that terrible crimes were committed during the Nazi regime.
Historian Lothar Höbelt
, head of the supporting committee for Rosenkranz, criticized the media of a "manipulating campaign" against her, and argued that some of these statements were several years old or taken out of context.
, but didn't graduate. Although raised as a Catholic, she has criticised the church authorities in Austria, and left the Church several years ago. None of her children are baptized.
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 for 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...
(FPÖ), currently serving as the Minister of Building Law and Animal Protection of the State of Lower Austria
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...
(since 2008). She was a member of the Parliament of Austria, the National Council
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...
, from 2002 to 2008, where she served as Chair of the Committee for Health Affairs. Rosenkranz was the Freedom Party candidate for the Austrian presidential election in 2010
Austrian presidential election, 2010
The Austrian presidential election took place on 25 April 2010. It was the twelfth election of an Austrian head of state since 1951. The candidates were Heinz Fischer, Barbara Rosenkranz and Rudolf Gehring . Heinz Fischer won with just under 80% of the valid votes...
. Rosenkranz received 15.62% of the vote, coming second after incumbent Heinz Fischer
Heinz Fischer
Heinz Fischer GColIH is the President of Austria. He took office on 8 July 2004 and was re-elected for a second and last term on 25 April 2010. Before he took office, Fischer was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria...
.
Member of parliament and state minister
She was elected to the Parliament of Lower Austria in 1993, and chaired her party group from 2000 onwards. In 2002, she was elected to the National Council of AustriaNational 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...
, where she served on the committees for family, health, interior and education affairs, and chaired the committee on health affairs. She was her party's top candidate in Lower Austria in the 2008 election. The election was a major success for her party, which more than doubled their representation in the parliament. She resigned as member of the National Council on 9 April 2008, and the following day she was appointed to the cabinet of the state as Minister of Building Law and Animal Protection.
Party offices
Barbara Rosenkranz was elected deputy chair of her party in the state of Lower Austria in 1996. She was additionally secretary general of the state party 1998-1999, and in 2003, she was elected chair of the state party. Since 2005, she has also been deputy chair of the Freedom Party at the federal level.Candidate for President of Austria
Barbara Rosenkranz was the candidate of the Freedom Party for the Austrian presidential election, 2010Austrian presidential election, 2010
The Austrian presidential election took place on 25 April 2010. It was the twelfth election of an Austrian head of state since 1951. The candidates were Heinz Fischer, Barbara Rosenkranz and Rudolf Gehring . Heinz Fischer won with just under 80% of the valid votes...
. Her candidacy was officially presented by the Freedom Party on 2 March 2010. The Kronen Zeitung
Kronen Zeitung
The Kronen Zeitung, commonly known as the Krone, is Austria's largest newspaper. According to a Österreichische Media-Analyse study, the average daily readership is 2,970,000 , which corresponds to 43,7% of all newspaper readers...
, the largest newspaper of Austria, supported her candidacy in articles written by its publisher Hans Dichand
Hans Dichand
Hans Dichand was an Austrian journalist, writer, and media businessman. He published the tabloid newspaper Kronen Zeitung, Austria's largest newspaper in terms of readership, in which at the time of his death he held a 50% stake...
. The conservative party, 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...
, didn't nominate a candidate (their last presidential candidate was Benita Ferrero-Waldner
Benita Ferrero-Waldner
Dr. Benita Ferrero-Waldner is an Austrian diplomat and politician, and a member of the conservative Austrian People's Party . Ferrero-Waldner served as the Foreign Minister of Austria 2000–2004 and was the candidate of the Austrian People's Party in the Austrian presidential election, 2004, which...
in 2004, who narrowly lost to Heinz Fischer
Heinz Fischer
Heinz Fischer GColIH is the President of Austria. He took office on 8 July 2004 and was re-elected for a second and last term on 25 April 2010. Before he took office, Fischer was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria...
), but refused to endorse any of the two major candidates, incumbent social democrat Heinz Fischer and Barbara Rosenkranz.
Rosenkranz received 15.6% of the vote, coming second after Fischer. A third candicate, Rudolf Gehring of the small Christian Party, polled 6 %. The voter turnout
Voter turnout
Voter turnout is the percentage of eligible voters who cast a ballot in an election . After increasing for many decades, there has been a trend of decreasing voter turnout in most established democracies since the 1960s...
was only 49.2 %, however (compared to 70.8 % in 2004, and the lowest in modern history).
Political positions
A self-described national conservativeNational conservatism
National conservatism is a political term used primarily in Europe to describe a variant of conservatism which concentrates more on national interests than standard conservatism as well as upholding cultural and ethnic identity, while not being outspokenly nationalist or supporting a far-right...
, she is a controversial and polarizing figure in Austria. She has been a vocal critic of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
and restrictions to the freedom of speech
Freedom of speech
Freedom of speech is the freedom to speak freely without censorship. The term freedom of expression is sometimes used synonymously, but includes any act of seeking, receiving and imparting information or ideas, regardless of the medium used...
like the Austrian anti-Nazi laws. She is known for her conservative views on the family and social policy
Social policy
Rosenkranz advocates conservative views on immigration, social policy and the family. She is critical of feminismFeminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, and in her book MenschInnen, she argues that gender mainstreaming
Gender mainstreaming
Gender mainstreaming is the public policy concept of assessing the different implications for women and men of any planned policy action, including legislation and programmes, in all areas and levels...
attempts to create sexless human beings. She advocates equal rights for men and women
She rejects gay marriage and argues marriage is between men and women only.
Barbara Rosenkranz advocates a tough stance on immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
and crime
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
.
Views on the European Union
Barbara Rosenkranz is critical of the European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
. She advocates a decentralized Europe and nation states. She also advocates the reintroduction of border controls.
Views on national socialism
Rosenkranz' husband, Horst RosenkranzHorst Rosenkranz
Horst Jakob Rosenkranz is an extreme right publisher and former politician in Austria. He is married to Freedom Party leader Barbara Rosenkranz.- Political Activity :...
is a publisher of far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
material and was formerly a member of the now-banned National Democratic Party (NDP)
Nationaldemokratische Partei (Austria, 1967–1988)
The National Democratic Party was a far-right political party in Austria from 1967 until 1988 when its status was revoked for violating the country's anti-Nazi legislation.- Party History :...
, a far right party, and the question of whether she shares her husband's beliefs has caused some controversy. Some Austrian media have referred to Rosenkranz as "Reich Mother".
In 1995 Rosenkranz brought a defamation case against the publicist Hans-Henning Scharsach for referring to her as an example of a "Kellernazi", that is, a closet sympathizer of National Socialist beliefs. The lawsuit led to a fine against Scharsach's newspaper, "News". This decision was criticised by the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
, however, as a violation of freedom of speech, as they considered it a matter of opinion, and that Rosenkranz's attitude towards the Nazi past was thoroughly ambiguous. Key points in this ruling were that she had never distanced herself from her husband's activities in the extreme right, and that in the past had been a vocal public opponent of the Verbotsgesetz 1947
Verbotsgesetz 1947
The Verbotsgesetz 1947 abbreviated VerbotsG, is an Austrian constitutional law, which banned the Nazi Party and provided the legal framework for the process of denazification in Austria, as well as aiming to suppress any potential revival of Nazism.The law was amended in 1992 to prohibit denying...
law banning Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial
Holocaust denial is the act of denying the genocide of Jews in World War II, usually referred to as the Holocaust. The key claims of Holocaust denial are: the German Nazi government had no official policy or intention of exterminating Jews, Nazi authorities did not use extermination camps and gas...
. Both Scharsach and "News" were awarded damages.
When once asked whether she believed in the existence of gas chambers
Gas Chambers
Gas Chambers is a fast, hollow and shallow point break type of wave. Being that it is a high performance wave it is well suited for the average to pro level surfer. Gas Chambers is located on the North Shore of Oahu about a 1/4 of a mile north of Ehukai Beach Park and 1/2 a mile west of Sunset...
in the concentration camps during World War II in an interview with Austrian Radio (ORF), she replied that she has the knowledge of an Austrian "who went to school in Austria between 1964 and 1976 -- so that is my knowledge of history and I have no plan whatsoever to change it". As this answer was criticised as being "evasive", she later stated in an interview with Die Presse, that there is no doubt that terrible crimes were committed during the Nazi regime.
Historian Lothar Höbelt
Lothar Höbelt
Lothar Höbelt is an Austrian historian and adjunct professor of Modern History at the University of Vienna. His research areas are political and constitutional history of the 19th and 20th centuries, and the Thirty Years' War...
, head of the supporting committee for Rosenkranz, criticized the media of a "manipulating campaign" against her, and argued that some of these statements were several years old or taken out of context.
Personal life
Barbara Rosenkranz is married to Horst Rosenkranz, and has 10 children, 6 girls and 4 boys. She studied history and philosophy at the University of ViennaUniversity of Vienna
The University of Vienna is a public university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world...
, but didn't graduate. Although raised as a Catholic, she has criticised the church authorities in Austria, and left the Church several years ago. None of her children are baptized.
Honours
- Grand Decoration in Gold for Services to the Republic of AustriaDecoration for Services to the Republic of AustriaThe Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria...
(2007)
Publications
- Barbara Rosenkranz: MenschInnen. Gender Mainstreaming – Auf dem Weg zum geschlechtslosen Menschen. Ares Verlag, Graz 2008, ISBN 978-3-902475-53-4.