'Aryan bones': Austria's fascist youth are bringing back weird Nazi pseudo-science
Right-wing extremists are measuring skulls again.
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Fascist youth in Austria are measuring skulls and trying to prove their belonging in a master race, while the far right in Germany is celebrating its greatest victory since the last world war. What was formerly extremism — a campaign of ethnic cleansing, proposed, against those with insufficiently Aryan genetics — is mainstream, the treatment of immigrants, women and other purportedly lesser human beings discussed as blithely as a garden pest.
The 21st century, so far, is feeling a bit derivative. When fascism comes back to Europe, you're telling me it's going to look exactly the same?
Afraid so. An investigation just published by Der Standard, a liberal newspaper in Vienna, has revealed that Austria's 20- and 30-something fascists are even bringing back the race science. That is correct: we are at the measuring-skulls stage of the revival.
Charles R. Davis
Citing whistleblower testimony, Der Standard reported that the youth wing of the far-right FPÖ, or Freedom Party, has effectively merged with the neo-fascists of "Aktion 451," a front group for the extremist Martin Sellner and his anti-foreigner "Identitarians." In short, the same fascists attend the same protests and get hired to work for the FPÖ, which is Austria's most popular political party and hoping to gain power in 2029.
These leaders of tomorrow? They are not subtle. After a couple pints of lager, they're breaking out the calipers.
According to Der Standard, FPÖ recruits have a measuring device they use to detect each other's racial purity. The pseudo-scientist examines the patient's facial features and side profile, always on the lookout for a dead-giveaway "Aryan bone," said to reside somewhere in the back of a superior man or woman's head.
Charles R. Davis
As with their predecessors who wrecked the continent, it can be hard to gauge the sincerity of today's fascists. The Aryan bone exam is just some cheeky fun to trigger the liberals — until the moment it's used to purge the executive council. Certainly not in question is whether today's neo-Nazi youth aspire to villainy, which the men of the far right see as their path to respect and status.
Fascism has always attracted the weak and off-putting; the sort of men who, prone to failure, believe that superiority can still be achieved through facial structure and a racial category.
"I have the longest Aryan bone here," bragged one FPÖ youth, per one former member's account. This is not the language of someone who has other reasons to be confident.
Charles R. Davis
Mockery is a vital response to foolishness; those who purport to be gods should be reminded of their flaws, if only so no one else believes them. At the same time, mass graves across Europe serve as a reminder that the clownish and mediocre, once organized around and identifying with their resentment, can inflict unfathomable pain.
The neo-fascist youth are increasingly open about the violence they would like to commit, as a collective. They don't dispute the evils of the past, or lament that too much time is dwelt on them, as their elders on the far right have done. Among themselves, at least, there is no facade.
"No one denies the Holocaust," as one whistleblower told Der Standard. "They think it's good and they want to repeat it."
The extreme right, dictating the conversation on immigration, dominating social media and leading in the polls, is getting comfortable. That is undeniably a product of success; they are comfortable because they believe themselves to be winning, and they are not wrong.
But the arrogance that comes with an expected victory can also facilitate defeat. Hubris has buried Nazis before. Dodgy as the median voter might be, measuring skulls and celebrating the state-sanctioned killing of millions? These are still not the ways to make friends. In Austria as elsewhere, one hopes that the fascists get a chance to further reveal who they truly are — before another calamity.
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