Challenging Austria's Victim Status: National Socialism and Austrian Personal Narratives

Abstract

The stories a group tells about its past reflect its collective memory and construct a sense of group identity.1 In both public and private discourse in Austria, the dominant narratives concerning the seven years under National Socialism portray the country and the general population as victims.2 The storytellers deny widespread Austrian approval of the Anschluf3 and any complicity in the crimes committed under the National Socialists. Moreover, Austrian Jews, Sinti and Romany Gypsies, homosexuals persecuted under National Socialism, and political or religious opponents of National Socialism rarely exist in these versions of the past. Their histories have been misrepresented, distorted, or effaced in order to uphold Austria's and Austrians' victim status. Only in recent years have Austrian historians, linguists, writers, filmmakers, artists, and individuals from these marginalized groups set out in substantial numbers to challenge the mainstream victim narratives.3 Personal narratives by Austrians persecuted under National Socialism will be the