Key actors — tap for context
Anton Reinthaller
first chairman of the FPÖ, an agricultural functionary, joined the NSDAP as early as 1928
Why here: led the party from the founding congress in 1956 until his death in 1958
More info →Franz Rainer
chairman of the FPÖ's founding committee in the mid-1950s
Why here: joined the NSDAP shortly after Austria's annexation to Germany in 1938, though a party report from 2019 labeled him "unburdened"
Alexander Götz
FPÖ functionary in Styria from the party's first generation (not to be confused with the later federal chairman of the FPÖ of the same name)
Why here: joined the NSDAP as early as 1933, when the party was illegal in Austria
Wilma Jobst
later federal women's leader of the FPÖ
Why here: joined the NSDAP in 1938; she is not mentioned at all in the party's 2019 historical report
Oliver Rathkolb
Austrian historian of contemporary history at the University of Vienna
Why here: criticized the methodology of the FPÖ's 2019 "Historikerkommission" (historians' commission), which he says never met in plenary session
More info →
Herbert Kickl
current chairman of the FPÖ; under his leadership the party won the most votes in the 2024 parliamentary election but remained in opposition
Why here: at the party's 70th anniversary celebration in June 2026 he promised a future "Volkskanzlerschaft"
More info →
Viktor Orbán
leader of Hungary's Fidesz, Hungarian prime minister until May 2026
Why here: traveled to Vienna in person for the FPÖ's 70th anniversary to congratulate Kickl
More info →
Andrej Babiš
Czech prime minister, leader of the ANO movement
Why here: sent a video greeting to the FPÖ celebration at the Hofburg
More info →Alice Weidel
co-chair of Germany's AfD
Why here: traveled to Vienna in person for the FPÖ's 70th anniversary
Tino Chrupalla
co-chair of Germany's AfD
Why here: traveled to Vienna in person for the FPÖ's 70th anniversary
Geert Wilders
leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV)
Why here: traveled to Vienna in person for the FPÖ's 70th anniversary
It was this 668-page report that the FPÖ commissioned in early 2018 and presented in December 2019 with the aim of "investigating" its past — it labeled several functionaries in it as "unburdened" or omitted them entirely. The NSDAP card index processed by Spiegel now shows that at least Rainer and Jobst were members of the Nazi party NSDAP. Historians criticized the report already at the time of its publication: according to historian Oliver Rathkolb, the commission never met in plenary session, and several of its authors were not even historians. News.at ↗
The FPÖ's first chairman, Anton Reinthaller, joined the NSDAP as early as 1928. After Austria's annexation to Hitler's Germany, he served as minister of agriculture in the Austrian Nazi government from March 1938, and later attained the rank of SS-Brigadeführer. The party's creation was prepared by an agreement between the VdU and the Freedom Party on 17 October 1955; the founding congress took place on 7-8 April 1956 — and it was from that point that Reinthaller led the FPÖ until his death in March 1958. Wikipedia ↗
On 20 June 2026, the FPÖ marked 70 years of its existence with a ceremonial event at Vienna's Hofburg. Among the guests were the leader of Hungary's Fidesz, Viktor Orbán, the leader of Germany's AfD, Alice Weidel, together with Tino Chrupalla, and the Dutch politician Geert Wilders — Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš also sent a video greeting. Kickl, whose party won the most votes in the 2024 parliamentary election but did not enter government, promised in his speech a future "Volkskanzlerschaft" as the goal for the next, as he put it, "fateful election." ORF ↗
