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different than the deeds of Stalin or Churchill, has depicted the
Wehrmacht (and occasionally even the SS) as something positive and
even heroic, and has interpreted World War II as a fight against Com–
munism; the past has been excused, explained away. In this view, it was
thanks to the Wehrmacht and its fighting spirit that the advance from
the East was slowed, and that the Western part of the continent was not
squeezed under the Communist yoke.
Haider grew up in this segment of Austrian society. There, in
1986,
he wrested intra-party power from his more liberal predecessor.
It
is this
worldview that shaped his innermost convictions, and that shimmers
through his declarations-at least in unguarded moments. And this is
the worldview that makes him so unacceptable to mainstream European
politics.
Postwar European politics and European unification is based on a
consensus that is the antithesis to Haider's worldview. This consensus
implies that the two sides had not operated on the same moral level in
World War II; there had been criminals on the one side, and victims on
the other. Postwar European politics are shaped by this perspective, and
by the resolve to prevent a repetition of the past. Whoever challenges
this project challenges Europe's postwar order. Haider does so by, for
instance, feigning moral indifference when equating Churchill and
Stalin, by praising the Waffen SS, or by equating the suffering of the
"Sudetendeutschen" (expelled cruelly by the Czechs after
1945)
with
that inflicted upon the Jewish population by the Nazis. Obviously, the
European reaction to such views has to be strong. It would be disquiet–
ing were it otherwise. The parallels to Nazi verbiage and emotions add
to this sense of outrage, and present a fundamental challenge. This
alone could explain the strong reaction of the members of the European
Union. But, in addition, it is due to a specific political constellation pre–
vailing in today's Europe.
The founding fathers of the European Union were mostly Christian
Democrats, members of a moderate right, informed and leavened by
Christian thought, with personalities like De Gasperi and Adenauer. Now,
the Christian Democratic parties are under siege. They are in a decline
that threatens all former mass parties, and are being assaulted from their
right fringes: the Vlaams Block in Belgium, the Republicans in Germany,
the Northern League in Italy, or the parties of Le Pen and of Megret in
France. These parties draw political strength from being anti-European
and anti-foreigners. Haider's FPO belongs to that league. Should the
assault by these parties against the Christian Democrats be effective, one
of the most important political pillars supporting the unification of
