German National Student Fraternities and Politics in Austria

This publication project concerns itself with the political behavior of Burschenschaften (German nationalist student fraternities) and their members in Austria from the post-war era until today. Analyzing previously untapped original sources and based on grounded theory methodology according to Juliet Corbin and Anselm Strauss, structural characteristics of fraternity political behavior and ideology are investigated against the background of contemporary Austrian history. At the outset, the author traces the re-erection of German nationalist fraternities in Austria around 1950 and then goes on to portray the ideological framework within which they operated. Their decision to eschew thorough reflection on the causes of fraternity involvement with national socialism and in its crimes initiated a process of near seamless restoration with respect to organizational form as well as to fraternity customs, policies and ideology. In the medium and long run, the decision fostered politico-ideological torpor and helped preserve inner homogeneity, if not uniformity. When it comes to understanding how effective and lastingly organizational change and inner differentiation could be suppressed, the fraternities educational efforts, authoritarian structures and pursuit of unity go a long way. Other key factors include their fundamentally oppositional stance toward the two longtime governing parties (and via the Austro- nationalism that these two represented), as well as the image of masculinity that the Burschenschaften cultivated an image revolving around an ideal of stalwartness. As the core feature of fraternity Weltanschauung, the author identifies völkisch (biologistic as opposed to republican) German nationalism. Its specifically Austrian manifestation, which arises from a self-perception as borderland Germans that have to defend German soil and character in the face of adversity, holds prime responsibility for the extraordinarily rigid shape that German nationalism assumed among Austrian Burschenschafters. The fraternities political practice is being addressed on two levels: that of stand-alone political activism and that of engagement within or mediated by political parties. While they failed to make noteworthy public impact when acting autonomously throughout the research period and for most policy fields, the South Tyrolean question in the 1960s and university policy up until the 1970s must be mentioned as notable exceptions. For the realm of party politics, the author shows and statistically substantiates that the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) has managed to preserve a quasi-monopoly on fraternity support since its founding in 1956. Across the investigation period and different functional areas on the party and public office levels, roughly a third of FPÖ functionaries/officeholders were fraternity members. A key finding here is that, as depicted in detail for the Freedomite parliamentary (Nationalrat) faction, growth in electoral support has historically been accompanied by declining ratios of fraternity members among Freedomite parliamentarians. The author argues that this is due to the strategy of vote-maximizing that the party employed in these historical phases, which included diversifying the partys personnel as well as increasing arbitrariness at the ideological/policy level. The influence that the fraternities exerted on the FPÖ is assessed on the basis of inner-party in-fighting and leadership debates, as well as on Freedomite program development and policy-making. It can hereby be shown that although fraternity members can historically be found among different party wings, their overall effect on the partys development over decades was clearly conservative and anti-liberal. Their relationship with the FPÖ can be conceptualized as a one of reciprocity: while they provided the party with academically trained cadres, the party served as a multiplier for fraternity talking points. From the partys perspective, it has to be taken into account, however, that fraternity involvement came with harmful effects, too: repeatedly, the fraternities inner-party leverage compelled party leaders to defend standpoints that did not at all resonate with public opinion and thereby undermined the leaders populist agenda. In the final chapter, the author recapitulates that the political relevance of Burschenschaften in Austria after 1945 was tied almost exclusively to their standing within the FPÖ. He also comes to the conclusion that compatibility between the fraternities political thinking and basic imperatives of liberal democracy is to be classified as limited. Völkisch nationalism, anti-individualism, politico-ideological rigorism, elitarism and, not least, the Männerbund (male society) as organizational form and ideology coalesce with fundamental democratic principles only precariously at best.

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