NSDAP files document high density of former NSDAP members during FPÖ's founding phase

A change in 1958, according to Der Spiegel, merely brought another former NSDAP member into the party leadership. This means the FPÖ's previous portrayal that the party had emerged at the time from a melting pot of nationalist and liberal forces is no longer tenable. "Diese Behauptung lasse sich nicht mehr aufrechterhalten, so der Spiegel. Altnazis hätten mehr als nur eine wesentliche Rolle bei der Gründung der FPÖ gespielt."

Background: Evaluation of the NSDAP files

Several media outlets had made the NSDAP membership files publicly accessible in recent weeks, allowing anyone interested to research them. The files now combed through by Der Spiegel had been published by the US National Archives. They contain systematically recorded data on former party members and thus enable retrospective attribution.

The research confirms the criticism expressed by experts of the historian's report presented by the FPÖ in 2019. Several party officials who were described as "impartial" in the report or not mentioned at all appear in the NSDAP files, according to the findings. The SPÖ criticized on Friday that the "so-called historian's report" was not worth the paper it was printed on.

Criticism of the 2019 historian's report

Specifically, Der Spiegel names, among others, Franz Rainer, the chairman of the FPÖ founding committee, who became a member of the Hitler party shortly after the Anschluss. The later Styrian FPÖ state party chairman Alexander Götz senior had already joined the NSDAP in 1933. Wilma Jobst, the later FPÖ national women's leader, who was not mentioned in the historian's report, joined in 1938.

The FPÖ's confrontation with its own "brown stains" was triggered in 2018 by the emergence of antisemitic texts in the songbook of the fraternity of Lower Austrian Deputy Governor Udo Landbauer (FPÖ). Since then, the party has been trying to work through its founding history scientifically – an undertaking that is once again called into question by the new research findings.

SPÖ federal managing director Klaus Seltenheim said in a statement, with reference to contacts with the Identitarians: "Trotz Skandalen und Enthüllungen am laufenden Band kappt die FPÖ ihre Verbindungen zum Rechtsextremismus nicht." The SPÖ saw its finding confirmed that the FPÖ still has a "right-wing extremism problem" today.

Political reactions and current polls

The FPÖ initially did not comment publicly on the new allegations. The party is currently by far the strongest force in Austria in polls. The Der Spiegel report is expected to feed into the ongoing debate about how the party deals with its past.

The news was broadcast on July 18, 2026 on the Deutschlandfunk program. The Der Spiegel report is based on the evaluation of the NSDAP membership files and other archival sources.

The revelations cast new light on the founding phase of the Freedom Party and call into question the party's official self-portrayal. The historical classification remains disputed, while the political debate about how the FPÖ deals with its past is gaining sharpness in view of the current lead in the polls.

For the FPÖ, the reporting is delicate insofar as it comes at a time when the party has significant approval ratings at the national level. Observers see the research as evidence that the coming to terms with its own history was not completed in 2019.

Overall, the evaluation shows that former NSDAP members played not just an essential but a continuous role in the leadership bodies in the FPÖ's early years. A complete response from the FPÖ to the allegations has not yet been forthcoming.