Two charged after Hitler speeches played on Austrian train intercom
Two people have been charged in Austria for allegedly playing speeches by Adolf Hitler via the loudspeaker system of a train running from Bregenz to Vienna.
The two suspects, who were not identified, also allegedly blasted “Heil Hitler” via the train’s intercom several times on Sunday. The authorities tracked them down by analysing video from the train cameras. Spreading Nazi propaganda is a criminal offence in Austria.
Passengers took notice of unusually loud messages being played over the high-speed Railjet train’s intercom shortly before its stop at St Pölten. Instead of announcing the next stop, the system initially played a series of bloopers by the actor usually voicing the train’s announcements, as well as a fire alarm message.
Over a period lasting about 20 minutes, snippets from Hitler’s speeches were then played, as well as several shouts of “Sieg Heil” and “Heil Hitler”.
One of the passengers on the train at the time was Schlomo Hofmeister, the community rabbi of Vienna. In a tweet, he said he was disturbed by the fact that some other passengers laughed when they heard the words “Sieg Heil”, and that the train staff seemed to ignore the goings-on.
The two are also suspected of being responsible for two other incidents last week on trains running from St Pölten to Vienna, in which recordings were played over the train intercom. It was not clear if those recordings also had a Nazi connotation.
The national railway company ÖBB ruled out a cyber-attack on the train’s intercom system. Instead, the pair are believed to have opened the train conductors’ cabins with a key owned by the train company’s employees.
“They will have used the communication point in the usual manner, with a key, and then simply put a mobile phone next to it,” a spokesperson told Austrian newspaper Der Standard.
ÖBB said it was unclear how the suspects had obtained the key but ruled out that the charged individuals were themselves employed by the train company. At no point had the suspects obtained control over the train itself, the spokesperson said.