Austria: How Extreme Are the FPÖ’s Young Activists, and the AfD’s?

For a long time, Austria’s Freedom Party, or FPÖ, sought to distance itself from the far-right Identitarian movement. Investigations by Der Standard now suggest that its youth organisation, Freiheitliche Jugend, is well connected to the far-right milieu.

The reporting indicates that the Identitarian front organisation Aktion 451 may serve as a training ground for future party cadres. Insiders told the newspaper that members have gone on what they call “race-defilement hunting,” entering venues popular with left-wing or migrant audiences to seduce women and then reveal that they are right-wing extremists.

The episode of Der Spiegel’s Inside Austria podcast examines what whistleblowers reported to journalists Colette M. Schmidt and Fabian Schmid of Der Standard. It also looks at the alleged overlap between the FPÖ’s young activists and far-right groups including the Identitarian movement and Aktion 451.

The discussion asks how extreme the FPÖ’s younger generation has become and how much influence it holds inside the party led by chancellor candidate Herbert Kickl. The podcast presents the issue alongside comparisons with the youth wing of Germany’s Alternative for Germany, or AfD.

“

race-defilement hunting