FPÖ MP’s son ‘faces Nazi mindset charges’
The son of Freedom Party (FPÖ) MP Barbara Rosenkranz is accused of having shouted “Heil Hitler!” at a group of teenage students.Newspapers report today (Thurs) that a teacher reported 20-year-old Volker Rosenkranz to police for allegedly making the infamous Nazi greeting towards his students outside Vienna City Hall on 24 April. The group were leaving a youth ball which took place at the building.The teacher said Volker Rosenkranz physically attacked some members of the group before shouting “Heil Hitler!” twice when they did not believe he was the son of Rosenkranz.Reports have it that state prosecutors started investigating the incident which occurred one day before the defendants mother Barbara Rosenkranz ran for president. The ultra-conservative mother of ten garnered 15 per cent of the overall vote in the election won by incumbent President Heinz Fischer with the support of almost 80 per cent.The accused refused to comment the allegations, while his mother announced: “He told me he did not shout Heil Hitler! and I believe him.”The young politically active man could face several years in jail over the incident under Austrias strict anti-Nazi mindset laws which forbid spreading far-right ideology.The election campaign of Rosenkranz was overshadowed by her failing to clearly disassociate from Nazi ideology before calling in a press conference in which she pledged never having doubted the existence of death camps in the German Third Reich.