New 'Simon Wiesenthal' award for work fighting antisemitism in Austria

Green MP Eva Blimlinger said that naming the award after Simon Wiesenthal was a “double honour,” explaining that it would honour Mr Wiesenthal as a “great, important Austrian” while also recognising those bettering society by leading the fight against antisemitism and Holocaust denial.

Oskar Deutsch, the President of the Jewish Community of Vienna, welcomed the initiative saying that it would provide an “incentive” for Austrians to follow in the footsteps of Mr Wiesenthal.

According to the draft law, the award will be made by the National Fund for the Victims of National Socialism, based on a proposal by a six-member jury that is said to include the president of the Austrian Jewish community and a descendant of Mr Wiesenthal.  

Simon Wiesenthal, dedicated his life after his liberation from Mauthausen in 1945 to tracking down fugitive Nazi criminals.

All parties in the Austrian Parliament are backing the award, with the exception of the right-wing Freedom Party.

The Freedom Party claimed that they objected to the name of the award and had proposed that it be named after long-serving post-war Social Democratic Chancellor Bruno Kreisky.

Mr Kreisky, who served as Chancellor between 1970 and 1983, had a difficult relationship with Simon Wiesenthal whom he referred to as a “Jewish fascist” after Mr Weisenthal pointed out that four cabinet appointees had Nazi pasts.