(JTA) Less than one year after the election of Sebastian Kurz as Austria’s leader, he has taken his government to the forefront of the fight against Europe’s spiraling anti-Semitism problem.
Frequently criticized for failing to own up to Nazi persecution, Austria with Kurz as chancellor has become an international hub for top-level conferences and symposia on the issue.
It began with February’s five-day “An End to Anti-Semitism” conference at the University of Vienna. In October, the National Student Union held a conference on anti-Semitism. This month, Kurz invited survivors to parliament for a commemoration of Kristallnacht’s 80th anniversary.
And this week the effort is culminating with two high-level events held in the framework of Austria’s rotating presidency of the European Union.
