Berger on ABC Radio: Austria’s Nazi Past
Thomas Berger, Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, said that Austria had a mixed record in reckoning with its past in World War II.
Berger made the argument on a Nov. 4 Broadcast of Rear Vision, a program on ABC Australia Radio, entitled “Austria Struggles to Come to Grips with Nazi Past.”
From the text of the radio program and accompanying article:
‘When Austria was taken over by Germany … almost immediately anti-Jewish pogroms broke out, Jews were being attacked, there was an Aryanisation program where Jewish property was taken away and Aryanised,’ says Thomas Berger, professor of international relations at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.
‘Many Jews were killed. And there were many, many Austrians who were very happy to participate in these events. But there were also many people who were in tears, who were devastated by the disappearance of Austria.’
You can read the article here, or listen to the audio below.
Berger is the author of War, Guilt and World Politics After World War II, Cultures of Antimilitarism: National Security in Germany and Japan and is co-editor of Japan in International Politics: Beyond the Reactive State. His articles and essays have appeared in numerous edited volumes and journals, including International Security, Review of International Studies, German Politics and World Affairs Quarterly. Learn more about him here.