Story By: Koen Berghuis, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: CEN
An ambulance medic who previously served as a far-right city councillor has been sacked after he posted pictures of swastika cookies, a ‘Twitler’ bird and the Nazi leader working at McDonald’s.
The man, whose identity has not been publicly reported, was caught frequently posting Nazi and Hitler images to social media by his chefs at the ambulance service of the Austrian capital of Vienna.
One picture which the man posted shows an old woman showing freshly baked cookies in the shape of swastikas.
Pictures Credit: CEN
He wrote: “Grandma’s cookies are the BEST!”
Another picture which he posted shows Adolf Hitler working as a McDonald’s employee. He also posted an image of a Nazi version of the Twitter bird called “Twitler” wearing a red swastika armband.
Spokeswoman Corinna Hart of the Vienna ambulance service said: “We have released him from active duty and given him an entry ban to the premises of the professional rescue services.”
A criminal complaint was also filed against the paramedic for re-engagement in National Socialist activities.
Under Austrian de-Nazification laws which were passed after World War II those using Nazi symbols such as swastikas, spreading Nazi propaganda or denying the Holocaust can be punished by jail sentences of up to ten years depending on the severity of the crime.
The Austrian Constitutional Protection Office has launched an investigation into the incident.
The paramedic was previously a city councillor for the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPO) in the municipality of Sieghartskirchen in the state of Lower Austria.
FPO district chief Andreas Bors said: “He resigned from his office and quit the party. We were absolutely not unhappy about that at the time.”
The FPO was founded by former Nazis, with SS officer Anton Reinthaller being the party’s first leader in 1956.
Currently, the party is the junior coalition partner in the national government led by Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of the conservative Austrian People’s Party (OVP).
