The Social Democratic Party (SPO) is set to introduce a draft bill that would allow descendants of those who fled the Nazis in Austria during World War II to receive Austrian citizenship.
The SPO’s proposal addresses those people whose ancestors had to leave the country before 9 May, 1945, fearing persecution by the Third Reich’s authorities or were hunted down for defending the democratic Austrian Republic. However, the blueprint excludes descendants registered as convicted offenders, war criminals, terrorists, or extremists. Descendants up to the third generation would be entitled to the privilege, which would cover a family history of about 100 years.
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The Social Democrats, who have been in parliamentary opposition since last year’s election, decided to introduce the draft bill to prompt the government, comprised of the Austrian People’s Party and right-wing Freedom Party (FPO), to stick to their previously announced plans. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz voiced his intention to implement an exemption to the prohibition of dual citizenship last month.
“What we want to do is to give all children and grandchildren of Holocaust victims the opportunity to become Austrian citizens if they want to”, Kurz told to the newspaper The Jewish Chronicle at the time.
Although the chancellor’s spokesperson told Haaretz that the initiative “requires complex legislation that is still in the pipeline”, the Israeli outlet claimed the legislative moves had been stalled by some of his junior coalition partners.
The FPO, which has repeatedly had to fight off accusations of anti-Semitism and distance itself from its alleged neo-Nazi past, with Israel refusing to communicate with the party’s ministers. Tel Aviv has frowned upon Austria's choice for foreign minister, Karin Kneissl, who is affiliated with the FPO. While not a member of the party, Kneissl has evoked criticism from Israel, for instance, when comparing Zionism and Nazism in her book, as well as for criticising the Israeli military and the country’s prime minister.
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Chancellor Kurz has been undertaking efforts to improve relations between the two countries, announcing earlier in November that Benjamin Netanyahu would attend a conference in Vienna centred on the fight against anti-Semitism.
However, due to domestic political developments, the Israeli PM had to cancel what would have been the first visit by an Israeli prime minister to the Austrian capital since 1997.
