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An acclaimed Swiss theatre director renowned for staging landmark court cases has been instructed by a Vienna judge to withdraw a book in which he alleged that a far-right political figure performed a tune deriding victims of the Holocaust.

Judicial Ruling and Penalty

On Thursday, an Austrian regional court fined an autonomous Germany-based publishing house €1,500 over publishing a book in which Milo Rau stated that a former Austrian leader sang a line referencing the murder of approximately 6 million European Jews.

The director conceded that the allegation was a “inaccurate claim”, but contended that the defamation suit fits into a wider trend of nationalist groups using lawsuits to intimidate critical voices.

“We are witnessing is far-right parties utilizing the tools provided by democracy in order to destroy it,” he said.

Background and Additional Legal Action

The politician, who was Austria’s deputy leader from 2017 and 2019, announced his plan to file a additional lawsuit against the director individually.

Rau, meanwhile, stated he intends to turn his ordeal the subject of a new stage play at Hamburg’s Thalia theatre early next year.

Origin of the Claim

The defamatory statement was included in a address the director made in Germany in March, in which he discussed the far-right party’s agitation against “woke events”.

The talk was published in a collection of his essays titled Resistance Has No Form, Resistance Is the Form, which was removed from sale before the trial.

Historical Reference

The mention of the song refers to a 2018 scandal where an FPÖ politician was found to have been part of a fraternity whose songbook made light of the genocide and glorified the Nazi military.

One chant included the lyric: “Step on the gas, you ancient Germanic peoples, we’ll manage the next million.”

Originating to the 1800s, the song was originally sung by liberal groups to mock the Nazi paramilitaries, but was later co-opted by neo-Nazi groups.

Artist’s Stand

Rau emphasized that while the particular allegation against the politician was incorrect, he continued to support the broader criticism: that the FPÖ, established by ex- Nazi party affiliates, was now posing to act as protectors of Jewish interests.

Strache undertook several trips to Israel and caused a scandal in 2010 when he visited Yad Vashem wearing not a kippa but the headgear of a nationalist group.

“Strache’s appearance to Yad Vashem in the cap of a German nationalist organization was more brazen than any allegation in my work,” said Rau.

Wider Implications

While German-language student fraternities can range from far-right to moderate associations, Austrian fraternities have traditionally been situated on a more narrowly patriotic spectrum, and more vocal about their dedication to the idea of a “unified German realm” based on ethnicity.