Karl Lueger

Karl Lueger (1844-1910) was the leader and founder of the Austrian Christian Social Party in Austria.

"Here in our Austrian fatherland the situation is such that the Jews have seized a degree of influence which exceeds their number and importance. (Interjection: ‘Very true!’) In Vienna the poor craftsman has to go begging on Saturday afternoon, to turn the labour of his hands to account, he has to beg at the Jewish furniture dealer’s. (‘Quite right!’) The influence on the masses, in our country, is in the hands of the Jews, the greater part of the press is in their hands, by far the largest part of all capital and, in particular, high finance, is in Jewish hands, and in this respect the Jews operate a terrorism of a kind that could hardly be worse. For us, in Austria, it is a matter of liberating Christian people from the hegemony of Jewry.", An extract from a speech given by Mayor Karl Lueger at a meeting of the Christian Socialist Workers’ Association held on July 20, 1899 in Vienna.

Lueger's administration pursued antisemitic practices, mostly by not employing Jews in the city services and limiting them from educational institutions. He supported politicians who actively perpetuated the myth that Jews ritually sacrificed Christian children and supported a bill against Jewish immigration from Russia and Romania.

Hitler
“If Dr. Karl Lueger had lived in Germany, he would have been ranked among the great minds of our people...”, Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, Volume 1, Chapter 3.