Word: haider
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...seemingly unwitting instigator of the latest Haider frenzy is his former spokesman and confidante Petzner. Petzner, who became acting head of the Alliance for the Future of Austria following Haider's death, held a press conference on the morning of the accident in which he repeatedly broke down in tears and referred to the loss of Haider as "the end of the world." In a subsequent interview on Austrian radio, Petzner said of Haider: "He often said to me, 'You are my lebensmensch [life partner]'. He and I know what this means, and it should stay between...
...Several German and European commentators took Petzner's comments as confirmation of Haider's sexuality, though the party denied that his description should be taken in that way. Following the interviews, Petzner was passed over as parliamentary leader for the party. "Either he explains what was so special about his relationship with Haider, or he stops playing the role of successor and widow at the same time," blogged the editor of Austrian newspaper Die Presse, Michael Fleischhacker...
...details from the night of Haider's death have fanned media interest further. Petzner says he saw Haider the night he died; several media outlets, including website scoop.at, allege the two men quarreled. Petzner has admitted that he rode with Haider for several hundred meters in his car before getting out. Eyewitnesses at a second bar, which Haider apparently visited after leaving Petzner behind, told Austrian reporters that Haider was drinking vodka heavily. The venue was described as a gay bar by several Austrian papers. After leaving, Haider was offered a lift home but insisted on driving himself. The coroner...
...While most Austrian journalists were aware of the allegations about Haider from the early 1990s, they remained reluctant to publish anything - in part, says Hofer, because however polarizing Haider's politics, his sexual orientation was not considered particularly relevant; he may have been sympathetic with former Nazis and favored anti-immigrant policies, but he never opposed gay rights. Many critics also believed that attacking him on personal grounds would only shore up his support among those who considered the media...
...fact, the current round of attention could work in the far right's favor, says Hofer. Haider was a divisive figure who once referred to the members of Nazi Germany's Waffen SS as deserving of as much honor as any German soldier, and who praised Hitler's employment policies. But the emotion and media frenzy around his death, which Hofer compares to England's trauma over the passing of Princess Diana, has distracted people from Haider's far-right legacy. Haider's party will contest elections in the province of Carinthia next spring. Few observers doubt that the party...