The debates on migration and immigration have often held an important place in the Austrian politics and society. A number of factors determine Austria’s attitude towards the immigrants and the subject of migration. Austria is a small country with a population of 9.13 million people only. It has historically attached a huge importance to its identity. For ages Austrians have prided themselves for being” better German Kulturnation,” a German nation with a great cultural history. The Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburgs, the Austro-Hungarian dual empire have all gone into the formation of the historic cultural identity of modern day Austria. The subject of migration and immigrants in Austria is closely intertwined with the subject of its identity.
While the rest of the world mostly sees Austria as a land of music or a setting of the iconic 1965 movie Sound of the Music, the identity of Austria is far more fascinating and complex than just being home of Mozart and the land of music. A beautiful Alpine landscape, high culture based on achievements in literature, art, music, Psychology and sciences and a neutral posture in the modern global affairs, are some of the important elements of the Austrian identity. The Austrians also celebrate sports successes and attach importance to physical fitness. Similarly, the Catholic faith stays an important element of the Austrian cultural life.
Austrians are not a xenophobic people. They have extended a generous help to immigrants over the past century. During the Cold War they welcomed immigrants from the Eastern Europe on the occasions of the Hungarian revolution 1956, the Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia 1968 and the Polish crisis of 1980-81. During the Balkan Wars in the 1990s Austria allowed 150000 refugees from the crisis hit areas to enter its territories. Austria has also been a generous aid donor to other crises-hit nations. This charity is in keeping with Catholic tradition of ‘poor relief.’
It is another fact that Austria has remained more of a transit point for immigration to the Western European countries rather than a final destination for the refugees and migrants. This has been the case with the flow of refugees during the refugee crises during the Cold War and the Balkan War of the 1990s. The more recent episode of the refugees’ inflow into Austria after the 2015 upheaval also illustrates a pattern of Austria serving as a clearing house for refugees travel to the Western Europe.
During the summer of 2015 and Spring of 2016 Austria became a hot spot of migration and asylum seekers as well as transit bridge into Germany. Austrians welcomed them as long as they moved on to the rest of Europe. Refugees from the Conflict zones in the Middle East and North Africa shuttled through Austria on the buses and trains from Hungary on to Germany. 63000 people arrived in Munich during the first two weeks of September 2015.Under a tacit agreement between Austria and Germany 430000 people moved to Germany via Austria during the refugee influx to Europe following the Syrian Civil War. The Austrians restricted this refugee inflow only when the Germans started controlling and restricting the entry of more refugees into their country.
A small country, Austria can afford to host a limited number of immigrants before its economy and social fabric starts feeling unbearable stresses and strains. More than that, the immigrants are viewed as a challenge to their cultural identity by the Austrians. Austrians are very sensitive to the influx of foreign immigrants who bring in cultural practices that might challenge the historic, Austrian cultural identity. Austria’s experience with the Muslims, in recent years, is an example of this attitude. The OVP governor of Lower Austria, Erwin Proll, commented in an interview with Austrian Public Television (ORF) on 4th September, 2007, “ Minarets are something foreign [artfrremd], and foreign stuff is not good for a culture in the long run.” Similarly, In 2008 Jorg Haider combined the BZO, OVP and FPO to pronounce a construction ban on mosques in Carinthia. They declared that they wanted the ban for the protection of heritage. Again, on April 14th, 2016, a group of right-wing extremist ‘Identitarians’ disrupted a performance of Elfreide Jelinek’s play Die Shutzbefohlene (The Ward) at the main lecture hall of the University of Vienna. This was a protest against the inflow of refugees who were seen as a threat to the Austrian identity.
Some cultural and social analysts blame Austria for solipsism and self-obsession. The charge misses the point of Austria’s small demographics and the scale and nature of threats which globalization brings to the traditional and cultural identities of countries such as Austria. Austrians cherish their beautiful culture like any other nation. One of their most cosmopolitan and progressive founding fathers was Karl Rennere. (1870-1950). He was a classic example of the generation of Austrians in whose life the old Austria met with the new republic. Rennere was a Social Democrat in politics. Culturally he too was a Dual-Monarchy, German-nationalist. Most Austrians, such as him, value their culture immensely despite their cosmopolitan and normal internationalist world views. Their instinct to cultural protectionism has been determining their attitude towards the subjects of migration and immigration through the closing decade of the first quarter of the twenty-first century.
