Haider, at this time governor of Corinthia state in Austria, died an unlamented death on the road, breaking one law too many. Driving at a dashing 142 kph (90 mph) instead of 70 kph (45mph) he lost control over his car and smashed into a concrete pillar.
Haider was the leader of the far right political fraction in Austria and has been known worldwide for his Nazi thinking, condoning Hitler's death camps as punishment centres and the slave work of prisoners of war as outstanding politics for general work. Being the son of a Nazi Stormtrooper father and a Hitler Youth leader mother seems to have predisposed him in that direction.
It came as a surprise to me that he was driving a Volkswagen phaeton when speeding (and thank you Volkswagen), and no as I had expected an Audi. Maybe you don't know, but all Nazi greats had driven an Audi during the war, though then it was known as Horch. (Explanation: Horch, German, means listen!; Audi, Latin, means listen!; got it?) Also, Audi was preeminent in using forced labour in its factories during the War. Actually so did Volkswagen, so it's not too far off.
Haider had managed to bring back brown politics into the mainstream of the Austrian party landscape, with his rhetorical skills he won many voters over to the far right edge of the political spectrum. Far from rejecting his obvious Nazi dealings, the population seemed to welcome this kind of throw back into an ugly past. Bu then, one forgets that Austria is the only country in Europe who merged with Hitler's Germany of its own free will. How else could they allow this obvious offspring of the NSDAP into government from 2000 to 2006?
It is almost funny to see how everybody tries to be politically correct when commenting on his death. And this towards a person who was not only completely and utterly politically incorrect, but broke every law he could, lied, cheated, and generally made such an obnoxious pest of himself and his Nazi thinking that all one can think is: Thank god, it's over. But it is telling how reticent people are to call a Nazi a Nazi.
Haider joined the right wing Freedom Party in 1976 to become its chairman in 1986. Amid a row about his homosexual interests he was ousted from the post, but remained the brown strategist of the party until he drew up his own Alliance Party in 2005. Both parties together have polled more votes than the main parties in the last general elections.
Privately, he lived in a £25 million ($50 million) estate called Baerental inherited from his great uncle in 1980 who had ‘bought' it 1940 from a fleeing Italian Jew for a piece of bread and a drink of water.
His funeral will be a major venue for old and young Nazis from all over the continent. It is just to be hoped that somebody is there to shoot photographs and to put them on the internet, as it recently was done at a Nazi meeting held in the Mud of Switzerland. With a bit of luck, more names could be published of the Fifth Column trying to gain power in Europe.
