How party founded by SS henchman swept to power in heart of Europe amid meteoric – & troubling – rise of the far-right
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A PARTY founded by a former Nazi SS henchman has swept into power in a major European country - signalling the worrying continued growth of the far-right. Austria's Freedom Party has been asked to form a government but how did this anti-EU group come to lead a key nation?.
![[The leader of the Austrian far-right Freedom Party (FPO) Herbert Kickl]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/leader-herbert-kickl-leaves-meeting-961985012.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The Russia-friendly FPO party won nearly 29 per cent of the country's parliamentary election in September. Its far-right leader was initially pushed to the sidelines after the conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer's party came second. Despite this, he was asked to form a coalition as no other party was willing to work with the FPO.
![[Kickl's anti-EU party won nearly 29 per cent of the Austrian parliamentary election vote]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/herbert-kickl-waits-start-constitutional-961984992.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The FPO's leader Herbert Kickl has since been asked to form a government after coalition attempts failed. Nehammer handed in his resignation on Saturday, pushing Kickl to the front of Austrian politics. These talks, if successful, could lead to Austria's first-ever anti-EU and pro-Russia government which could shake the nation.
![[Supporters wave a flag during the local elections in Vienna for the FPO]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/supporters-wave-flag-local-elections-193033769.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The hard-right party, with deep Nazi roots, called for tougher immigration policies and cutting aid to Ukraine. Kickl even campaigned using the "people’s chancellor" moniker which was once used to describe Hitler. This party's worrying start came when it was founded by Nazi SS officer Anton Reinthaller in 1956.
The group started as a Germanic national liberal party and its second Chairman Friedrich Peter was also a former SS officer. The FPO started as a fringe right-wing party during the Cold War but a worrying rise in populist and extreme parties across Europe has given the party its first huge leap into power.
![[The Secretary General of the far-right FPO Christian Hafenecker and supporters react to initial results in Austrian parliamentary elections on 29 September 2024]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/2024-vienna-austria-fpoe-led-936962144.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
