NEOS politician Josef “Sepp” Schellhorn caused a stir when he announced that he would participate in the online medium “Zackzack”, founded by ex-politician Peter Pilz. Now he’s giving up his shares again – because of a “trivialization of the Holocaust,” as Schellhorn explained.
The reason was a caricature by ‘Zackzack’ illustrator Othmar Wicke, in which Chancellor Nehammer says: ‘Work brings freedom’. The shape of the speech bubble and the font are a clear allusion to the infamous slogan ‘Work sets you free’ above the camp gate of the Auschwitz concentration camp, which the National Socialists built in occupied Poland, one of the centers of extermination by the Nazis. policy.
Schellhorn: “Distance yourself from me completely”
The cartoon was originally published on “Zackzack” in October 2023. Due to the renewed discussion about working hours, it was reshared on Platform X on Thursday. Schellhorn responded. “I would like to inform you that I have already initiated the unconditional transfer of my shares in Zack Media GmbH and that the transfer will be carried out immediately. “I completely distance myself from the current trivialization of the Holocaust,” he wrote on X.
Commenting on Schellhorn’s post, cartoonist Wicke said: “And I expressly distance myself from any trivialization of the Holocaust.” Shortly afterwards, he wrote that he had deleted the cartoon in question to avoid “any more misunderstandings”.
Nehammer’s statement caused a furore
The direct link to the cartoon now leads nowhere, but hours later on Thursday evening the drawing could still be found in the cartoon gallery on “Zackzack” (see screenshot below) and on Wicke’s “Bluesky” profile. The background of the cartoon: “Work brings freedom,” Nehammer said on October 13, 2023 at an event under the motto “Ask the Chancellor” in Vienna. Poverty was discussed with NGO representatives; the goal was reconciliation with the aid organizations after the ÖVP boss was heavily criticized for the infamous citizen video.
Nehammer was again criticized by some for his statement about work bringing freedom because it was linked to the inscription above the camp gate of the Auschwitz concentration camp. On the same day, the cartoon by illustrator Othmar Wicke appeared under the title “Restitution in Nehammerisch”.
Even then, the cartoonist was clearly criticized for downplaying symbols of Auschwitz. Other users on X, however, did not understand Schellhorn’s outrage Thursday evening. They defended the drawing, saying the chancellor had made the statement without considering the type of depiction in the cartoon.
Much older than the Nazis, so to speak
The statement that work sets you free is much older than the Nazi regime, which – like many other things – abused and cynically twisted it. “It is precisely through work that man becomes free,” wrote the Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard in 1843. The saying was gradually separated from its original philosophical-religious context until it became a slogan mocking the victims of forced labor, torture and murder.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
