Bringing Peace to Society?

The Efforts of Austria's Catholic Bishops on Behalf of Former Nazis After 1945 

After the end of World War II, a socially and politically contentious question arose: How should one deal with former Nazis, who, together with their families, made up a quarter of the Austrian population? Under the denazification laws, they were dismissed from their jobs and punished with the forfeiture of assets, a ban on further education, or imprisonment. The Catholic bishops, led by Salzburg’s Archbishop Andreas Rohracher, vigorously advocated for the integration of the “former Nazis” into postwar society. “Restoring peace to society” was the rallying cry. In the process, little consideration was given to the victims of the Nazi regime. Speaker: Dr. Eva Maria Kaiser (ORF, Religion and Ethics) Start: 7:00 p.m. at the ZME