Page "Social Democratic Party of Austria" Paragraph 50

Concerning the role of Austrian Socialists during Nazi rule from 1938 – 1945, the party started opening its archives and set in a commission to investigate its past conduct.

The fact that, having been outlawed and imprisoned under Austrofascism, many Socialists initially welcomed the Anschluss of Austria into Germany back then could not be denied, as well as the fact that some became members of the Nazi party.

Alfred Gusenbauer issued a declaration promising and supporting a full and open investigation (" Klarheit in der Vergangenheit-Basis für die Zukunft ").

In 2005 the report about the so-called “ brown spots ” ( braune Flecken ) was completed and published.

The report talks about SPÖ members and leaders who became members of the Nazi party during German rule after the Anschluss.

One example given in the report is the case of Dr. Heinrich Gross, who received many honours from the SPÖ and even the government in the post-war period.

This was despite the fact that he worked as a Nazi doctor in the euthanasia ward “ Am Spiegelgrund ” in Vienna, where human experiments on children were performed.

Those children with presumptive mental defects were eventually killed, often by lethal injection.

Dr.

Gross was probably himself involved in the experimentations and killings.

The Austrian judicial system protected him for a very long time from any kind of prosecution, something that was very typical in the post-war period.

He enjoyed wide support from the SPÖ party and party leaders for a very long time.