The paper “die Presse” (2013) reports on overt racism in the calendar of the Upper Austrian Federal Association of Retired people of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP). The paper warns senior citizens about the dangers of relatives impersonators. It states that: “offenders are mainly members of the Roma and Sinti. […] This ethnic group is very ruthless, exploiting their victims often up to the economic destruction of their existence.” A concerned citizen filed a complaint for incitation of racial hatred. A spokesperson of the Austrian People’s Party Association apologized for the inadequate representation, but justified the statement by noting that the wording had been taken unedited from straight the police. Sarközi Andreas, Head of the Cultural Association of Austrian Roma, denounced the formulation as a “stereotypical, racist and discriminatory” (the Press, 2013).

The problem of this racist formulation, in addition to their obvious incompatibility with Anti-Semitisms regulations, is that thousands of seniors receive this calendar and are therefore influenced by this one-sided picture of the Rroma. The authors of the contributions for this  calendar are not named, but the calendar is issued under the joint authorship of the Association of the Upper Austrian SAeniors, who thus bear the responsibility for the inappropriate statements (stone Lechner 2013).

Sources:

• Die Presse (2013) Seniorenbund-Kalender: ‘Roma und Sinti sind skrupellos’. In: DiePresse.com vom 18.4.2013.
• Steinlechner, Daniel (2013) Roma-Hetze bei ÖVP. In: News.at vom 18.4.2013. 

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