“Scares me”: Antisemitic Slogans on Jewish Stores in Vienna
Die Presse/ Eva Schrittwieser, May 2, 2024
German original: https://www.diepresse.com/18426645/macht-mir-angst-antisemitische-parolen-auf-juedischen-geschaeften-in-wien
One of the businesses affected is a travel agency. The owner feels that this takes him back to the Nazi era, he says in an interview with the “Presse”. The Jewish Community has noticed an increase in anti-Semitic incidents.
Several Jewish businesses in Vienna's second district have been sprayed with anti-Semitic slogans. One of them is Isaak Pretzel's travel agency. “I was walking past my store in the morning on the holiday (May 1st, note) and saw this,” he told the newspaper Presse. “We are all shocked and devastated”.
Several houses in Heinestraße in Vienna's second district were affected. Slogans such as “Death to Zionism” and “Victory to Palestine” can be read. There had never been anything like this before, says Pretzel, not on this scale. It is more than just an anti-Semitic incident. “I see it as a death threat,” says the managing director of the travel agency, which specializes in trips to Israel. His parents survived the Shoah, he explains. This action takes him back to that time. “That scares me.”
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Israeli ambassador David Roet immediately spoke out about the “anti-Semitic graffiti”: “The ugly face of anti-Semitism is once again visible”. He also referred to Austria's National Socialist past: “It is always astonishing how little people have learned from history”. Moreover, no one should be fooled by the use of Zionism instead of Jews. “The vast majority of Jews are Zionists,” said Roet. Constitution Minister Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP) was “deeply shocked and disgusted by the anti-Semitic smearings”.
Stones thrown at them
The President of the Jewish Community (IKG), Oskar Deutsch, reported to the APA that there had recently been an increase in anti-Semitic incidents. A public lecture by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese at the University of Vienna on Tuesday was followed by a march by an anti-Semitic group chanting hate slogans. The following night, the anti-Semitic smearings were placed on the walls of houses in a Jewish neighborhood.
On May 1st, “terror slogans” were also chanted at a demonstration on the Ring and calls were made for the destruction of Israel. In the afternoon, young people who were recognizable as Jewish because of their clothing were then pelted with stones while shouting “Free Palestine”. “First the word, then the deed: the ground is gradually being prepared for anti-Semitic attacks in Vienna,” he says. Pretzel also says that he has recently noticed an increase in anti-Semitism.