Viktor Riemann (25 January 1915 - 7 October 1996) was an
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n author, commentator, journalist and politician (
VdU). He sat as a member of the
"Nationalrat" (''"National Parliament"'') between 1949 and 1956.
Despite his involvement in
liberation activism and subsequent imprisonment following the country's
incorporation into Hitler's Germany, Riemann found himself identified as a controversialist, or on occasion more simply as an embarrassment, by representatives of the consensual centrist Austrian political mainstream during the
postwar decades. A succession of political biographies and his newspaper contributions may have contributed to this.
Biography
Early years
Viktor Reimann was born and died in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
.
[ Successful completion of his schooling led him to the ]University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...
where he studied History
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
and Germanistics
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star.
Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...
. Heinrich von Srbik and Hans Hirsch were two of his history tutors.[ In 1936 he was actively involved with the (still, in Austria, illegal) National Socialist Party.] After 1938
Events
January
* January 1
** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...
he switched to a position of opposition
Opposition may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars
* The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band
* ''The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Comed ...
, driven primarily by simple hostility to Austria having recently been integrated into an enlarged German state. In the Autumn of 1938 Reimann teamed up with the Augustinian canon regular Roman Karl Scholz
Roman Karl Scholz (16 January 1912 – 10 May 1944) was an Austrian author and Augustinian canon regular at Klosterneuburg. He became a resistance activist after attending a Nuremberg Rally in 1936 and was executed fewer than eight years later. ...
to set up a "catholic-conservative" resistance group. After war broke out, in September 1939, the group was renamed, becoming the "Austrian Freedom Movement" (''"Österreichische Freiheitsbewegung"''). Their political objectives were to start by educating people about the true nature of National Socialism, and then to accomplish the downfall of the Nazi regime. This should be accompanied by the extraction of the Danube and Alpine provinces from the recently enlarged German state, and the re-establishment of an independent Austria, which should also incorporate Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, thereby extending in a northerly direction all the way to the River Main
The Main () is the longest tributary of the Rhine. It rises as the White Main in the Fichtel Mountains of northeastern Bavaria and flows west through central Germany for to meet the Rhine below Rüsselsheim, Hesse. The cities of Mainz and Wies ...
. In the end, there were around 300-400 members, many of whom had been taught by Scholz at the monastery school an hour's walk downriver
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...
from Vienna. The group was also networked with other resistance groups, notably in former Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
, and maintained contacts with agents of the allied powers. Such contacts were not without their own risks, however. The "Austrian Freedom Movement" was smashed thanks to betrayal by one of its members, the government spy and Burgtheater
The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...
stage actor Otto Hartmann. The authorities arrested Riemann towards the end of 1940.[ He was held in investigatory detention for two years and then, early in 1943, sentenced by the special People's Court to ten years imprisonment.][ Till 1945 Viktor Reimann survived his detention at the punishment prison in ]Straubing
Straubing () is an independent city in Lower Bavaria, southern Germany. It is seat of the district of Straubing-Bogen. Annually in August the Gäubodenvolksfest, the second largest fair in Bavaria, is held.
The city is located on the Danube form ...
.[
]
After the war
Soviet troops reached the border from Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
at the end of March 1945 and captured Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
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after two weeks of savage fighting by the middle of April. By the end of 1945 the Soviet occupiers had acquiesced in the creation of a provisional government under Karl Renner
Karl Renner (14 December 1870 – 31 December 1950) was an Austrian politician and jurist of the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria. He is often referred to as the "Father of the Republic" because he led the first government of German-A ...
which immediately came into line with the tide of history by endorsing the 1943 Moscow Declarations and repudiating the 1938 annexation. War
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
formally ended in May 1945, and with it the National Socialist chapter in Austrian (and European) history. When he was released from prison Viktor Riemann was already relatively close to home and in July 1945 he became a contributing editor on the newly launched Salzburger Nachrichten
The ''Salzburger Nachrichten'' is a German language daily newspaper published in Salzburg, Austria. It has been in circulation since 1945.
History and profile
''Salzburger Nachrichten'' was established in 1945 by the American forces occupying Au ...
(daily newspaper). Austria had been divided into four zones of military occupation: Salzburg had ended up not in the Soviet occupation zone but in the US occupation zone, and initially the newspaper's publication was under the close control of General Eisenhower's twelfth army corps. By the end of 1945 Reimann had become deputy editor in chief, a position he retained till 1948.[ There are nevertheless suggestions that his (at this stage) pro-US political stance sometimes led to difficulties with senior colleagues at the paper.]
During his time at the ''Salzburger Nachrichten
The ''Salzburger Nachrichten'' is a German language daily newspaper published in Salzburg, Austria. It has been in circulation since 1945.
History and profile
''Salzburger Nachrichten'' was established in 1945 by the American forces occupying Au ...
'' Viktor Reimann rediscovered an appetite for political activism more generally. With Herbert Kraus
Herbert Kraus (2 January 1884 – 15 March 1965) was a German professor of public international law. He was the first director of the Institute of International Law at the University of Göttingen. Due to his criticism of Nazism he was forced to re ...
, he was a co-founder, in March 1949, of the "Verband der Unabhängigen" (''"Federation of Independents"'' / VdU) party. When a Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
party branch was set up on 1 September 1949 Reimann became its chairman, as well as head of the party press department.
Politician-journalist
Viktor Reimann became a member of the "Nationalrat" (''"National Parliament"'') in 1949
Events
January
* January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022.
* January 2 – Luis ...
. His was one of 16 seats allocated to the "Wahlpartei der Unabhängigen" (as the VdU was briefly known) which had won nearly 12% of the national vote. In the previous election, which had taken place in 1945, approximately 556,000 former members of the National Socialist
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
party had been deprived of the right to vote. These people regained their voting rights ahead of the 1949 election. There were strong inferences drawn from the pattern of the election results, that the former National Socialists voted in disproportionately high numbers for the VdU rather than for the mainstream centre-right and centre-left ÖVP
The Austrian People's Party (german: Österreichische Volkspartei , ÖVP ) is a Christian-democratic and liberal-conservative political party in Austria.
Since December 2021, the party has been led provisionally by Karl Nehammer. It is currentl ...
and SPÖ
The Social Democratic Party of Austria (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs , SPÖ), founded and known as the Social Democratic Workers' Party of Austria (german: link=no, Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei Österreichs, SDAPÖ) unti ...
parties (with respectively 44% and 39% of the national vote). Attitudes towards Reimann, a relatively high-profile VdU member of parliament, were affected by those perceptions, both during his political career and subsequently.
During the build-up to the ("anti-communist") Vienna Brecht boycott which took hold in the city's theatres for ten years between 1953 and 1963, Reimann joined in the criticism of the iconic playwright. In a contribution which he made in October 1951 to the bimonthly periodical "Die Neue Front" under the headline "Wer schmuggelte das Kommunistenpferd in das deutsche Rom?" (''loosely, "Who smuggled the communist wooden horse into the German Rome?"''), Reimann wrote that "giving Bertolt Brecht Austrian citizenship n 1950shows that our country is still undermined by communism and the Americans are continuing to fund the spiritual Bolshevisation of Austria, exploiting the eager collaboration of certain socialist intellectuals along with the uncertainties and weaknesses of the cultural power-brokers of the overning (in coalition) ÖVP ("centre-right Austrian People's Party"),
Throughout his time as an opposition member of parliament, Reimann's increasing public profile seems to have owed more to his continuing work as a journalist than to any contributions he made with his parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...
work. He was editor-in-chief of the party's daily newspaper, "Österreichische Allgemeine Zeitung" from its launch on 1 December 1949 till April 1950 when publication came to an end for reasons of cost. The party's weekly newspaper, "Neue Front", fared better, printed in Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
alongside the Salzburger Nachrichten
The ''Salzburger Nachrichten'' is a German language daily newspaper published in Salzburg, Austria. It has been in circulation since 1945.
History and profile
''Salzburger Nachrichten'' was established in 1945 by the American forces occupying Au ...
for seven years between 25 February 1949 and 1956.[ Viktor Reimann was its editor-in-chief throughout.] Reimann's own contributions to "Neue Front" did much to burnish his credentials as a polemic
Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topics ...
ist. "Neue Front" contained frequent articles criticising the activities of the Austrian People's Courts which had been established in 1945 (and which are ''not'' to be confused with the National Socialist era special People's Court that had concentrated on "political cases"). The post-1945 Austrian People's Courts were condemned and, some felt, defamed by "Neue Front" over their continuing attention to denunciations received concerning alleged "Nazi-era crimes". Sometimes the condemnations published had been written by Reimann himself. Those who saw "Neue Front", its editor in chief, and indeed the VdU (party) itself, as apologists for former National Socialist
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
members and collaborators could be sharply critical, not simply within Austria, but also across the frontier in West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
where some of the same concerns still resonated.
Journalist and author
Between 1956 and 1960 Reimann was employed as the Press Department head of the National Theatre Administration.[ One source describes his departure from that position a few years later as "noisy" (''"geräuschvoll"''), possibly because he followed it up with a sensationalist book about the widely revered ]Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...
. In 1970 he became a regular columnist with the mass-market Kronen Zeitung
The ''Kronen Zeitung'' (), commonly known as the ''Krone'', is Austria's largest newspaper. It is known for being Eurosceptic.
History
The first issue of the ''Kronen Zeitung'' appeared on 2 January 1900. Gustav Davis, a former army officer, ...
. His columns were not uncontentious.[ In 1972 he became editor-in-chief for the paper's ]Upper Austria
Upper Austria (german: Oberösterreich ; bar, Obaöstareich) is one of the nine states or of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, a ...
edition, and in 1974 he moved across from Linz
Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846.
In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...
to Vienna in order to take charge of the arts and culture section, retaining this position till 1987.[
Several of Reimann's contributions, notably his 1974 series of articles in a series called "The Jews in Austria" which appeared in the ]Kronen Zeitung
The ''Kronen Zeitung'' (), commonly known as the ''Krone'', is Austria's largest newspaper. It is known for being Eurosceptic.
History
The first issue of the ''Kronen Zeitung'' appeared on 2 January 1900. Gustav Davis, a former army officer, ...
, became a focus of research involving possible antisemitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
content. Conclusions were far from unanimous. There were findings along the lines that neither the intent nor the spirit of the content were as crudely or overtly antisemitic as some of the material appearing in the gutter press at the same time: that fell far short of a complete exoneration.
Under the title "Die Dritte Kraft in Österreich" (''"The Third Force in Austria"''), Viktor Reimann published a history of the political Austrian "Third estate" since 1945. This study of the frequently over-looked classes drew praise from Wolfgang Purtscheller who found it a "deeply apologietic and for that reason deeply interesting book over the re-emergence of a national identity".[Wolfgang Purtscheller: Aufbruch der Völkischen. Das braune Netzwerk. Picus-Verlag, Wien 1993, , p. 418]
Publications (selection)
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reimann, Viktor
Politicians from Vienna
Members of the National Council (Austria)
Federation of Independents politicians
1915 births
1996 deaths
20th-century Austrian journalists